USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Fifty years of Boston; a memorial volume issued in commemoration of the tercentenary of 1930; 1880-1930, Pt. 2 > Part 28
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The greatest percentage of increase during the years 1880-1920 was in the field of clerical work,- 523 per cent,- due chiefly, it would seem, to the perfection of the typewriter and the need for stenographers and typists which it brought about. Another invention which opened a new field of work for women was the telephone. In 1900 women telephone operators were not important enough to merit a separate listing; by 1910 the number of women employed in this work in Greater Boston was 1,561, and in 1920, 3,216.
In 1880 more than three times as many women of Greater Boston were engaged in manufacturing industries as in clerical work; in 1920 the number had almost doubled, but fell behind the number of clerical workers that year. Perhaps the most significant fact which the figures reveal is that seventy per cent of the women listed as engaged in some form of manufacturing in 1880 were private dressmakers and milliners, while in 1920 only sixteen per cent were thus privately employed, and women workers had found their way in large numbers into clothing factories, textile mills, shoe factories and factories for the manufacture of foods.
That the pioneers whose persistent efforts ultimately secured for women educational opportunities equivalent in scope and variety to those for men served the generations that were to come materially as well as culturally, is strikingly shown in a recent study of the relationship between education and salaries among women. The report of this study, which covered the country as a whole, states that:
"The holder of a B. A. or B. S. degree usually makes more than a woman who attended college without graduating; the holder of an M. A. more than holders of lower degrees, and the holder of a Ph. D. more than a Master of Arts.
"Bachelors of Arts or of Science earn $1,759 annually, as com- pared with annual earnings of $2,349 for Master of Arts or of Science, while Ph. D's. and Doctors of Science have median earnings of $3,167 annually.
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"From this figure down to the earnings of normal sehool graduates there is a pronounced drop. They earn $1,506 annually and high school graduates earn $1,463. Grade sehool graduates have a trifle the better of the latter group, their annual earnings amounting to $1,480.
"The apparent inconsistency is explained on the ground that the women who are graduates of grade sehools only are mature women, who went into business years ago.
"While eollege women consistently earn more than noncollege women, they have a tendency to concentrate in those occupations where the possibilities for money-making are not large. More than half the college group is engaged in teaching, and teaching and clerical work together claim two-thirds of all women holding A. B. or advanced degrees."
The average business woman, meaning the women in positions of responsi- bility in offices, earns probably four or five thousand a year, the exceptional between fifteen and twenty thousand, and this last figure may also represent what women who run their own businesses, such as interior decorating or tea and lunch rooms, are earning.
Miss Ethel M. Johnson, herself holding until recently a position of high responsibility as Assistant Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Labor and Industries, says in commenting on the ever-increasing number of women in business, professional work and public office, "On the whole it is a rather impressive showing. And, as the indirect result at least, all this has come of teaching girls to read and write." *
To sum up: What lasting or comparatively lasting differences do we find in the world of 1930, as compared with 1880?
Freedom to choose one's own mode of life,- yes, but no fundamental overturns in living. Conventions held far more loosely, but standards of behavior on the whole more conscientiously lived up to when adopted. The young girl has a more definite sense of duty to others, even though her outward obedience to parents and elders is fragmentary; it is no longer sufficient to live idly, if beautifully, waiting for "fate," in other words a husband, to enter. She is better educated, far more healthy in mind and body, and has the sense of team-work and fair play produeed by the aetive athletics and games in which she takes part. The disciplined and submissive attitude of the past has been lost in the independent thinking of the day; where parents onee were obeyed, they are now listened to.
The middle-aged women of the past, who were old maids or grandmothers after forty, have been completely eliminated, and a continuing "prime of life" has been established which, with the resulting fullness of interest and experience, has had a distinct influenee on society.
In 1900 Boston society was said to be composed of "buds," ehaperoned by Kenny and Clark, the livery-stable firm. In 1930 the independent girl in
*** Women in Business and Public Affairs," by Ethel M. Johnson. American Mutual Magazine, Sep- tember, 1929.
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her own apartment, working hard at her chosen job, is said to be answerable only to her push-button and calling-tube; while literature for the jeune fille has given place to "those plays and books that one's mother shouldn't see."
Present-day women are generous-minded, eager to play their part, of fair judgment, adventurous. They have taken an increasing share in the idealistic affairs of life; they are appreciators but not creators; they are great "seconders of motions." For some reason, perhaps through lack of thorough- ness in preparation and in thinking things through, they are not yet leaders of progress. However, the world of Boston is indebted to its women for untold service and value and we can look to the future with optimism.
The new freedom has resulted in better organized society, although the disintegrating effects of great wealth and the irresponsible use of it by young and old have produced new dangers and difficulties. Genius develops from a hard fight with life, as well as in stillness, and it may be that our existence is too easy, too comfortable, for great talent, not to speak of genius, to appear among the average women of our day.
CHAPTER X PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENTS IN BOSTON
By GEORGE W. COLEMAN
Economists who attempt to appraise Boston solely on the basis of its material resources invariably fail to understand how this city gained its position of power and importance. What unseen asset is it that could give such prestige and leadership where the natural handicaps seem so great? To find the answer one must look beyond such factors as agriculture, mineral deposits, timber lands or even our seaport facilities. Many other cities are endowed with a sum total of these things in a greater measure than we. The prosperity and prestige of Boston is founded on one basic asset - the habit of honest, straight thinking. Neither the sacred cod, nor, by itself, New England thrift, can claim any large share. It is the inbred desire for sound principles and straight thinking upon which the colony originally was built that has characterized the city and given it the prestige it now enjoys.
To some the above analysis will seem overdrawn, perhaps contrary to fact. If so, it is because they know only part of Boston. They are thinking of the widespread reputation for reactionary conservatism that is ours. The sheer anomaly of calling reactionary a city which has given to the nation and has carried through more revolutionizing new ideas than any other city is enough to appeal to the humor of the most hardened critic. Boston at heart is the same today as it was in the days when it cradled the American Revolution, when it lcd in the abolition of slavery, and when it made up the vanguard of pioneers who developed the new lands of the West. Here in the midst of supposedly cold, impassive conservatism is the same passion for freedom of thought and speech which nearly two hundred years ago at Faneuil Hall created the New England town meeting.
PUBLIC FORUMS
During the past twenty-four years I have had good reason to know at first hand this characteristic of Boston people. Surely I may be pardoned if I mention the Ford Hall Forum first among the progressive movements of Boston during the past fifty years. To me it naturally is first, so why should I try to say something different? But first or not, the fact remains that here in this city was born and bred the movement that developed the Open Forum, which today has spread to nearly every part of the United States and even to foreign countries. This fact alone should be sufficient to give credit to my opening statements.
As I review the course of the Forum, I realize that if it had not been for the inbred interest of the Boston people in finding the truth, Ford Hall could never have survived. In its meetings the audience from both the masses and the classes frankly and openly discuss social, economic, religious and political
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questions in a manner that would not be possible in a community less demo- cratic and less anxious to know both sides of every important question. "The story of Ford Hall is a story of personalities, of men and women seemingly poles apart, brought together by the spirit of friendliness and good will which is but a reflection of their own selves." Of course there has been opposition, but the final answer is that the Forum has grown and prospered to such an extent that it not only is known as the inother of the Open Forum but after twenty- four years is still used as a pattern by new forums throughout the country.
Of less cosmopolitan but equally sincere make-up are many other organiza- tions throughout Boston where straight thinking, tolerance of diverse opinions and honest seeking of truth are the controlling motives. Take, for example, the Twentieth Century Club, which since its founding in 1894 has been a large factor in keeping for Boston the position of progressive leadership which it has enjoyed. Not only has it furnished intelligent and open-minded hearing for all new, worth-while ideas, but it has been responsible for bringing here the ideas underlying many of our most helpful movements and institutions. As Robert A. Woods described it: "Quite aside from the constant, widespread but untrace- able influence of the Club - going where no organized publicity or propaganda could go - its discussions have given countenance and authority to practically every worth-while new enterprise that has risen in the city affecting its general well-being and its higher life."
Closely allied in the same cause of clear, progressive thinking is the Old South Forum, operated under the auspices of the Old South Meeting House. It is designed to bring to its audience the best thought on a wide variety of subjects important to the public good. Here again the active interest of its large group of sponsors gives proof of the readiness of Boston people to hear all sides of each question in order that they may choose their own course in the light of fact rather than prejudice.
The Calvert Round Table is rendering a service deserving of widest recogni- tion in its campaign to create better feeling and understanding between religious and racial groups. Realizing that religious bigotry and intolerance thrive mainly on ignorance, this group, composed of members of all the prominent religious sects, is organized to bring together in personal, friendly discussion the representatives of different beliefs; also to spread as widely as possible the essential truths about the beliefs of each. Surely this is a progressive move- ment of the first order and one which promises great benefits to us all.
The Foreign Policy Association, of which the Boston group is a branch, covers still another field, furnishing a background of unbiased facts against which may be formed independent, accurate judginents on international events. This organization may rightly be classed as a forum. Through a program of luncheon discussions hearing is always given to opposing sides of every question discussed. Through speakers, research and publication the established facts on each of these questions are given wide distribution.
The Common Cause Forum is still another type - the church forum - which is under the supervision of the Catholic Church. Here the main speech of the evening is usually a frank and open exposition of the Roman Catholic position on the subject of the evening. An opportunity is given for discussion
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from the floor. This Forum also is a movement to overcome ignorance and prejudice and is of real benefit to the city.
The Community Church with its Sunday morning service in Symphony Hall is another type of church forum. It brings to Boston a notable array of able speakers, competent to deal with the vital questions of the day. The address is followed by a lively discussion period in the form of questions from the floor and answers by the speaker. The congregations, ranging from a ' thousand to twenty-five hundred, comprise a church outside the churches. It is a sanctuary of leading and light to honest minds and earnest hearts among the great throngs of the unchurched to be found in every city.
SOCIAL PROGRESS
Those of us who sometimes wish we were young again forget how many of the fruits of social progress we should be obliged to forfeit if the desired transformation were effected. We should have to carry the present back with us into the past or else suffer the sight of unfortunate conditions which have since been remedied. The story of social progress in Boston during the last fifty years has been told in great part by Miss Johnson, Mrs. White and Doctor Burke and Mr. Fish, in their articles in this volume, but it will bear further reference and expansion as an answer to the pessimists who think the world is standing still or going backward. This is certainly not true of Boston, which is in many ways a better place to live in than ever before.
It is only natural that among a people alert to social and civic responsibil- ities there should spring up innumerable pioneers who have shown the nation newer and better ways to right social wrongs. It is natural that the city which produced such leaders as Susan B. Anthony, Julia Ward Howe and Lucy Stone should have had a leading place in the final victory of woman suffrage; and that the Boston League of Women Voters should have been created immediately upon the structure of the Suffrage Association to organize and educate the new women voters so that they might at once become a force for good at the polls.
Throughout the entire fifty-year period from 1880 to the present time the women of Boston have taken an ever-increasing part in public affairs. The formation, in 1913, of the Women's City Club marked an important step in the organization of work which before had been carried on by individual leaders. The club was patterned in many respects after the Boston City Club, which led the way in developing a cosmopolitan social gathering representative of all the elements in a metropolitan community, and has been the inspiration of similar organizations in all parts of the country.
The State Legislature on Beacon Hill during the past fifty years has led in the passage of at least fourteen new statutes which have been used as models for similar legislation throughout the country. The list has already been given by Mrs. White at the end of her article. But these legislative movements, for most of which Boston people have been responsible, by no means include the whole story.
Certainly, we must not leave the field of legislative movements without mention of the work of the Consumers' League, with which are linked such names as those of John Graham Brooks, Justice Brandeis and Robert H. Gardner,
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and in which Mrs. Walter A. Hosley and Mrs. Davis R. Dewey are now active. This group, now part of the national organization, has been primarily responsible for vast improvements in the working conditions in our industries, using pressure only where other methods failed. In most instances they secured the desired betterments in working conditions by enlisting the friendly co-operation of employers. Investigations of the hours of work for women, sweat shops and other evils and the securing of necessary legislation to alleviate these abuses are only part of the accomplishments of this organization. In the same breath, we also must remember the Women's Trade Union League and its accomplish- ments for the protection of working girls. For improvement in the living quarters of working girls the settlement work of Helena Dudley, head of the Denison House, and the far-reaching accomplisliments of such women as Eva Whiting White should be given the fullest recognition.
Probably the most complete organization for the welfare of women is the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, which was founded in 1877 "to promote the educational, industrial and social advancement of women." This organization was the first of its kind and has been a pioneer in many departments. It competes with the New York Exchange for Woman's Work as the first woman's exchange to be founded in this country. Twenty-one years ago it established a Credit Union, the first of its kind except one in the country. It helped to establish the Boston Trade School for Girls, not only a new but a daring idea. It was responsible for work which was later taken over by the Massachusetts State Commission for the Blind. Two departments of Simmons College had their origin here - the Household Economics Department and the Prince School of Store Service. The organization provides a market for goods made by women at home; conducts a Vocational Training Department and Bureau for Vocational Advice and Appointment. During the winter of 1930-31 its Emergency Employment Bureau, between December and May, placed five hundred women in jobs created especially to meet the unemployment crisis. These with other important services place this organization in the front rank of progressive civic enterprises.
In the work for world peace Boston likewise has led through the World Peace Foundation founded in 1910 by Edwin Ginn. Truly an International School for Peace, as it originally was named, this organization is quietly bring- ing together the facts bearing on international relations and disseminating them in such a convincing way that ultimately the seed must bear fruit. Closely linked with the conception of this important work are the names of Edward Everett Hale and Edwin D. Mead, who at the Annual Conference on Inter- national Arbitration at Lake Mohonk as early as 1895 had a direct part in crystallizing the idea which fifteen years later was to be carried forward in a permanent way. "Worcester, Channing, Ladd, Burritt, Sumner, Emerson, Parker,- a great apostolic succession - all these were friends and helpers of this high cause in New England."
Perhaps no other city has realized so fully the power that lies in training its young people. With a background of three hundred years, our leaders have always been willing to sow where they must wait a generation or more for the harvest. Many of our institutions have blazed new trails of thought
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and deed by giving proper training and treatment to the younger generation, knowing that in this way only are the greatest reforms accomplished. From this standpoint one of the great institutions of Boston, the Juvenile Court, was founded some twenty-five years ago through the efforts of the Massa- chusetts Civic League. Another institution, connected with this court, is the Judge Baker Foundation, which, since its beginning in 1917, has helped in guiding over sixty-five hundred boys and girls who had started on dangerous paths. In this work the late James J. Storrow was intensely interested and the Foundation has lately moved into the old Mason house, presented to it by Mrs. Storrow. Judge Frederick P. Cabot, recently deceased, who gave the last fifteen years of his life to the work of the Juvenile Court, was a citizen of whoin any city in the world inight be proud.
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Nor can one pass this subject by without paying tribute to Joseph Lee for his lifetime of devoted and effective service to the boys of Boston. It was he who first developed supervision of large public playgrounds and was the leading spirit in bringing them into being. Smaller playgrounds started with the work of Ellen M. Tower of Lexington, establishing gardens in connection with the Massachusetts Emergency and Hygiene Association. Through the efforts of this group and later through the help of the Massachusetts Civic League, the Playground Association and the Russell Sage Foundation, the public playground has become an established part of American civic equip- ment. Similarly the names of Olmsted, Eliot and Baxter are associated with the origin of Boston's Metropolitan Park System, which in many respects is the finest in the world.
Allied with the playground work is the energetic work of the Community Service of Boston, which is doing so much to provide healthy recreation for the young people and for which we must be grateful to Joseph Lee and to Mrs. Eva Whiting White. Following a slightly different trail is the activity of the Wells Memorial Institute, which caters more to the grown-ups. The Wells Memorial Institute's checker and chess club has gained world-wide reputation in the English-speaking centers where these games are played. Still another work of great local importance is that of the Morgan Memorial. Since its founding, in 1868, this institution has been salvaging, from the things we other- wise would throw away, a livelihood for many workers and inexpensive mer- chandise for a host of needy buyers. At the same time its effective mission work supplies a need even deeper than the lack of material things.
The Massachusetts Civic League, organized as far back as 1897, has been largely responsible for the legislation providing medical inspection in our public schools, housing regulations, appointment of competent nurses in the schools, the licensing of newsboys within school age, continuation schools and special classes for retarded pupils. This group has gone far in establishing the prin- cipłe of knowing what is the matter with children before attempting to pre- scribe cures. In this field we think of the wisdom of Harry E. Burroughs in establishing the Newsboys' Foundation and also all the good accomplished by the Boys' Club of Boston.
This brings us to still another progressive movement for which Boston will always be grateful. It is the work of the United Improvement Association
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and the twenty local societies of which it is composed. This group can always be depended upon to support and energetically advance every development to make Boston a more beautiful and healthy place in which to live. Nor can I pass on without a word of praise for Captain Michael J. Norton, president of the association, who has been the leader in so many battles for progressive civic projects.
The Women's Municipal League, founded in 1908 by Katherine Bowlker, has been responsible for so many developments for the public good that they cannot all be mentioned. It gave Boston the Household Nursing Association and has provided clinical treatment during pregnancy so helpful that all parts of the United States and much of Europe have come to follow the methods here established. It was the Boston Council of Social Agencies which enabled the many independent societies of social workers to present a united front and co-ordinate their efforts for greatest efficiency. In this way were brought about the Workmen's Compensation Act, the Mothers' Aid Act, the Old Age Assistance Act, and many other forward-looking measures.
No one in Boston or its vicinity, no matter how poor, need suffer for lack of legal protection. This is made possible by the Legal Aid Society, organ- ized in 1900, connected with which are such illustrious names as George Wiggles- worth, Frederick Cunningham, Charles P. Greenough, Edward W. Hutchins, Moorfield Storey, Moses Williams, Arthur D. Hill, Robert Homans, and numerous others. The purpose of this organization is to protect the lowly and the poor, to secure for them the vindication of their legal rights and legal redress for the wrongs they may sustain. This task the Boston Legal Aid Society has accomplished in such a thorough fashion as to give it an out- standing place in our progressive movements.
PROGRESS IN THE SCHOOLS
In the city which since the earliest Colonial days has held the leadership in education, what a space would be required to mention all the forward steps even during the past fifty years! Much of this history is told in Doctor Burke's article, but the larger items will bear reassembling here. In 1894 Boston blazed the way for the whole country in providing medical inspection in the schools. In 1907 it again was a pioneer in uniting and co-ordinating the depart- ments of work affecting the physical welfare of pupils and teachers. A radically advanced method in the teaching of the arts was introduced in 1910, which fosters in the pupil a desire to create and ability to appreciate truly artistic work. This method has been developed until today Boston has an enviable system of art education.
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