376 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



must attend, and the speed at which the machines are driven are con- 

 stantly being increased. Coupled with piece-work wages, the " speed- 

 ing up " results in a nervous tension and strain almost wholly lacking 

 in the domestic system. 



Although a woman might work for long hours at home, she could 

 stop when it was necessary to attend to her natural bodily needs. In the 

 factory she has not that freedom, and the result is a whole train of ills. 



As a quadruped the female suffered little handicap because of the 

 functions peculiar to sex, except when actually carrying or nursing the 

 young. But after mankind had learned to stand erect, her support was 

 far from ideal. The bones of the ankle and feet are too small to sus- 

 tain great weight. A woman's knee is not so well adapted as a man's 

 to form part of a sustaining column. The muscles of the leg, too, have 

 a shorter purchase than a man's, hence the leverage between the trunk 

 and the extremities is less. The strain of support is transferred to the 

 back. Thus any work which requires long standing for a woman is 

 injurious. All the pressure of the body's weight is brought to bear 

 upon a portion where the sex organs and others are crowded together, 

 and produces a dragging feeling above and about the hips. Women 

 performing such work are especially liable to congestion of all the 

 organs enclosed by the hip bones, because standing and the habit of 

 resting on one leg only, causes a narrowing of the hips. This narrow 

 ing is especially apt to occur because the greater proportion of women 

 workers are too young to have become securely and permanently estab- 

 lished physiologically before going to work. The average age for men 

 at work is between 25 and 30, whereas the average age for women is 

 between 16 and 20. In 1900 49.3 per cent, of the women were under 

 25 years of age. In the silk, knitting and hosiery mills there are as 

 many girls between 16 and 20 years as all women over 21 years. By 

 far the greater number of girls do not break down while they are at 

 work, but after leaving the work for matrimony the deformities caused 

 by the work become apparent. Specifically the uterus is very apt to be 

 crowded out of place, or to be congested. Menstruation is made irreg- 

 ular and difficult. Factory women frequently stand at their work to 

 within a few hours before giving birth to a child, with the result of 

 premature labor. Miscarriages occur oftener among factory wives than 

 in the general population. It is more frequently necessary to use 

 instruments in childbirth among such women. 



The mill hands are not the only women who suffer from long stand- 

 ing. The girl clerks in department stores are subject to the same con- 

 ditions. Although 37 states require seats to be placed for clerks, there 

 is no law enforcing their use. Many stores have a rule that clerks must 

 stand at all times, because they look less alert when seated. Clerks on 

 the first floor are seldom allowed to sit down. When sitting is per- 

 mitted at all, the number of seats is inadequate for the sales force. In 



