This editorial appeared in the Latter-day Saint periodical The Contributor in June, 1894. It is unsigned, but was perhaps written by the Contributor’s editor Abraham H. Cannon.

Room for All

We have heard some young men complain because they are crowded out of positions by young women. They seem to feel that their sex entitles them to greater consideration, and they feel it an infringement on their rights for any female to even apply, much less to receive, positions which they have filled. Only within a very short time one hundred positions as ticket agents on the Illinois Central Railway, near the city of Chicago, were filled by woman who displaced men of long standing in the company’ s service. The cause of the change was not the inability of men to successfully discharge their duties, but because the stringency of the times required a reduction of salary, and men, especially those having families, felt they could not afford to work for the amount which the company was able to pay.

Women are rapidly taking the places of men in stores, offices and other places where the service is light, and where quickness and geniality are important qualifications. Because of this, however, men should not feel that their rights are being taken from them, or that they are to be the dictators to employers of the help they shall engage.

The times and conditions in our Territory are such that young women must look about them and find some employment other than ordinary house-work to engage their attention, if they would become both happy and useful. The chances of marriage are not so abundant as they were a few years ago, and though the sexes are nearly equal, the excess being in favor of the females, young women are running great risks in taking up with any male who happens to present himself for her acceptance. With the views of the Latter-day Saints concerning marriage, the conscientious young woman would much rather remain single all her life than to marry an unworthy member of the Church, or one who does not accept our religion. Hence, ambitious and energetic young women naturally look about them for opportunities of employing their time and earning the means which they need for their own sustenance.

This ambition on the part of our sisters to do something is perfectly right, and instead of meeting with disfavor from any source, the feeling should be encouraged, not with the idea that they will occupy all the positions, but because the field is so broad and the opportunities so numerous for the employment of young men that none need lack labor. Indeed it would be much better if many young men were taken from the easy positions which they now occupy, and be forced to do that work which women are incapable of performing. It would be better both for the development of their physical as well as their mental powers. There are trades and businesses which are specially adapted to men, and which women can never successfully fill. These same positions lack today men of energy and ability to fill them, and if women by their ambition to do something for their own welfare, will only force men to seek in other directions than clerking and ordinary office work the employment they need, and will thus establish industries and open new avenues for labor and thrift, great good will be accomplished.

There is nothing dishonorable, of course, in men performing these easy tasks, but every young man should be filled with an ambition to be something more than a mere retailer of goods, or a machine to labor under the direction of others. He should try to become a master in some branch of productive industry, uniting therewith that intelligence and wisdom which can be acquired by faith and by honest and severe study and toil.

The thing to which we object, is, that because young men occupy positions where they earn sufficient to keep them and their families comfortable, that they should be content with this, and feel no necessity for improvement and growth. If a man is a clerk, let him study thoroughly everything pertaining to that position, learning the source of supply, the methods of manufacturing the wares which are sold, and in other ways keep his mind so employed that he will become an intelligent workman, and one capable of rilling a higher position whenever a vacancy occurs, or whenever there is a demand for a person with more experience and knowledge than the ordinary day laborer.

Whatever the occupation is in which either men or women engage there is always room for growth. The man who shovels dirt, if he does so thoughtfully, and keeps his mind busy as well as his hand, will not only cause the time to pass much more rapidly, but he will do better work than his fellow who acts as a mere machine, having no thought of the labor required of him.

We are very glad to see the disposition on the part of young women to do something and to be something. While we think the principal duty of a woman is to become familiar with the home and its management, and to study all those nice arts which make her so desirable a companion for men, we do not know of any field which she is capable of filling that should be closed against her. We believe she is capable of bringing into every department of life a higher sense of honor, a more conservative spirit, a more exalting motive and a higher appreciation of the good and beautiful in life. Let no person place blocks in the way of her progress.