WOMEN JOURNALISTS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1629, 21 December 1912, Page 5

WOMEN JOURNALISTS.

. . FLEET. STREET CHANGES. Editors, novelists, aud publishers attended tho annual dinner of the Society of Women Journalists, held at tho Criterion Restaurant last month, and presided over by Mrs. Perrin, tho president, says tho "Daily Mail." Among tho guests, were Lord Northcliffo and Mr. bidney Low, both of whom had warm praiso for tho woman journalist and, high hopes for her future in the press world. Others present were Lady Robinson, Lady Gorst, tho Hon. Mrs. Montague Forbes, Mrs. Mary Gaunt, Mrs. John Lane, Mrs. BellocLowndes, Mrs. Wentworth James, Mrs. Gerald Du Maurier, Mrs. Bruce Ingram, Mrs. T. P. O'Connor, Mrs. Havelock-Ellis, Mrs. James Douglas, Mrs. Harold Gorst, Mine. Susan Strong; Sir Mortimer Durand, Sir Ernest Hobinson, tho Hon. Montague Forbes, Dr. Thekla Hultin (tho Finnish woman M.P.), Mr. Mostyn Pigott, Mr. Algernon Blackwood, Mr. St. John Adcock; Mr. T. H. Baily, Mr. John Lane, Mr. Baillie Reynolds, Mr. Harold Gorst, and Mr. W. J. Looke. Mrs. Perrin, tne successful writer of Anglo-Indian stories, declared that in journalism women had a harder fight than mAn. They had more to overcome and more to contend against; but, unlike men, they would not allow themselves to be beaten by small obstacles. Mr. Sidney Low. said that within the last few years there had been a drawing together of literature and journalism, not to the disadvantage of literature and to tho great advantage of journalism. Only those who knew what the papers of the past were could 'appreciate the excellence of the newspapers of tho present. Ideal Work for Women. Lord Northcliffe said: I should need no introduction to, many of you, for women journalists and I have been associatedmost happily associated—since my earliest. Fleet Street adventures. I have had

' , SOJEG DAINTY ACCESSORIES. 1. If; a collar of handkerchief linen with a. jabot llnisihed with £•. hemstitched hem bordered with dote, embroidered -In : Chinese blue. . 1 2. A cut eteel bufiklo for. an evening shoo, edged with a pleated ruche of moire ribbon. , 3 Smai<t velvet neck bow, edged with small brilliants. 4. . Shoe, showing' the new fan-shaped buckle of ribbon and jet bads, edged with narrow baby ribbon. 5. TJp-to-date collar in 6hadow lace and black satin. ' .6. The latest bag—the fad of tho moment, made of moire silk, and trimmed with a frill of the same material. "I and 8 illustrate tie. newest hair ornaments worn at the back. of the head, which consist of black marcurjr wings holding in position a tall airgrette of uncurled bluiGh-gyey quills, hold erect by a wired middle .rib of large brilliants.

no more loyal, no more sympathetic, no more courageous comrades than the women who have fought fights with me. Let me express an opinion that there is an obvious main reason why women are ideal journalist's. I am sure thatl shall have the cordial agreement of every man present when . I say that your'powers of quick observation greatly excel ours. Then, though your sympathy with the poor and the .suffering may not he greater than ours, it is certainly more often evoked, and we know that much of tie great attention that' is now being paid to the housing and general condition of tho noor .has been aroused largely "by the pens" of women—professional journalists and others. . ' . ' Journalism is an ideal profession for women because- it is not necessarily one of the tedious forms of toil demanding long hours away from the. home. Thus it is that' the toman journalist as I have found her is as feminine and domestic in private-life as she is effective in her work. She has her limitations. Even our sex has some. ' . •• , I can remember, for example, being so

unwise as to venture a considerable fortune in tho endeavour to establish for women readers a newspaper mainly organised by women journalists. It was, perhaps, the worst of my many failures. There were many hidden reasons why it did not succeed. . 0110 of them was that ladies are not fond of taking orders from other ladies. Another is that their dispositions and ambitions frequently induce them to attempt tasks beyond their powers. ' • " The situation to-day is that if women'B work were suddenly removed from the newspapers and kindred publications, tho recent giant growth of such reading, not only here, but iii 'the United States and tho Dominions, would revert very much to its original position as I remember it in tho days before tho woman worker had come to our help. In other words, the output would bo reduced by 50 or GO per cent. The Woman Reader. I notice that there are here to-night one or two ladies who remember tho Fleet.. Street of a quarter of a century ago, and they will bear me out that at that • time, oven in connection with such 'matters as raiment and the pictures relating thereto, tho work now done so admirably by women was often in the hands of men. The comparatively few women's periodicals, since' greatly grown in number, were not as a rule conducted by women. Few people indeed realise that tho feminine influence in the world's press has at least doubled the extent of that press. And sometimes I think that those ladies who are so worried about 1 votes a little discount tho immense power the printing machine has given to the woman writer, and the woman reader, for most certain it is that the coming of the woman writer in her hundreds has brought the woman reader in her millions;; and the coming of the woman reader has developed the advertiser, upon whom all of us journalists, however ■ lofty may think ourselves, depend for our existence. That immense-

w EVENING COAT WITH TEAIN. ' This is an example of the now. draped opera coat, which is lined, has a email tTain, and is trimmed with guipure lace. It would look well carried out in any two pretty contrasting night 1 Bhad«3. A very handsome draped and 'trained evening coat 1 is one' m ado of Bulphur-colourod satin and Oriental embroidery 'in 'irxidascerit nh'ades of blue, maai/ve, and grey. A fenturo of 1 this model is a one-sided cape with a point drooping over the left shoulder, at the.back, -and in front. This onesided cape effect is the natural outcome of the one-sided draped skirt.

ly expensive product, tlie modern newspaper could not possibly exist without ■the. woman reader, and our acute manufacturers, well awaro of the fact that the hand that rocks the cradle buys the' boots, aim their announcements almost entirely at your sex. 1 To come to tho more local question of the personnel of the newspaper world woman's influence in Host, Street has been a good one. The old Bohemiauism. which I remember-~so much more attractive in retrospect than in actuality—has gone, perhaps owing. somewhat to. changing times, but not a little, I think, to feminine influence. And the newspaper itself, how different! Distance may lend enchantment to the recollection of them, but his Majesty's Government has an awkward provision prescribing the preservation of newspapers. I have compared witli amazement the old and the new, and. am p'roiid of the clean and independent press of ' to-day. To the woman, reader who 'lias been created by the

SPORTS WOITEN'B BLOUSE, showing tho new lines and inlet Bleo7ea.

woman writer I attributo not a little of tho elimination of crime, indecency, puffery, and mournful accounts of the fast meals of the condemned which adorn-, ed tho leading morning papers until very, very recently, as I can. easily prove or you could see for yourselves. But perhaps old newspapers, like old love-letters, aro best left unread, so I will thank you for your patienco and ask you to join with mo in drinking the health of this delightful society, and equal opportunity and equal remuneration for men and women ill tho field of journalism.