 | University of Virginia record October 1, 1914 |  |
Division of Labor.
The growth of civilization increases the division of labor as between
individuals, but lessens it as between the sexes. One woman
no longer spins and weaves, and manufactures the clothing for the
men of her family, at the same time carrying on all the housework
and in addition making butter, cheese and candles, as our great-grandmothers
did. This work is now sub-divided among a number of specialists.
On the other hand, in the old times women were excluded
from almost all the occupations of men. Housework and sewing
were practically the only ways open to them to earn a living. Today,
oue of more than 300 trades and professions followed by men,
women are found in all but three or four.
But this objection about the sub-division of labor is really irrelevant,
voting is not labor, in the sense of a trade or profession. The
tendency of civilization has been to a greater and greater specilization
of labor, but not to a closer and closer restriction of the suffrage. On
the contrary, that has been steadily extended. The best results are
found not where public affairs are left in the hands of a small class
of "professional politicians," but where the largest proportion of
the people take a keen interest and an active part in their own government.
| University of Virginia record October 1, 1914 | |