these industries in 1914, the date of the last official census. These women were trained to perform a variety of skilled and semi-skilled tasks in the metal trades, in electrical and chemical occupations, in the making of fine instruments, in wood, rubber and leather work, all trades which had been considered beyond their capacity. The substitution of women for men on street railways and subways, in railway yards, banks, offices, shops and hotels and in agricultural pursuits, increased steadily until the signing of the Armistice.
This invasion of industry and commerce by women was accompanied by an effort to preserve existing legal safeguards and to ensure suitable living and working conditions. In 1918 Congress established a women’s bureau in the Department of Labor, the aim of which was to develop the most effective use of women’s service in production for the war, and at the same time to prevent their employment under injurious conditions. The bureau adopted a set of standards governing women’s employment. Although created for the war emergency, the woman’s bureau in June 1920 was made a permanent section of the Department of Labor.
No official nation-wide registration of women for war service was ever made; plans for such registration were completed by the women’s committee of the Council of National Defense and approved by the Government, and it was left to each state to decide whether or not there was a need for registration in its territory. But it is a fact that practically all the women of the United States were doing volunteer war service at the time of the Armistice. They served in the food army, in the farm army, in- the chapters of the Red Cross, in the many drives for funds, and in many other less conspicuous but essential activities backed by the Government. (I. M. T.)
WOOD, SIR HENRY EVELYN (1838–1919), British field-
marshal (see 28.789). The field-marshal, who retained his
mental and bodily vigour almost to the end, died at his Essex
home Dec. 2 1919 and was buried at Aldershot. His record in
Zululand indicated unmistakable capacity for command in
presence of the enemy, and he was perhaps unfortunate in that
his presence during the hostilities with the Boers in 1881 and at
Alexandria in 1882 afforded him no further opportunities of a
similar kind. From the period when he was chief at Aldershot
dates the introduction of military training on practical lines into
the British army, and during a prolonged and distinguished
career as a soldier he proved himself a keen reformer and an
untiring worker, wrapped up in the profession which he adorned.
WOOD, SIR HENRY JOSEPH (1860–), English conductor
and musician, was born in London March 3 1869. His musical education was largely received at the Royal Academy of Music and when only ten years old he became deputy organist at St. Mary’s, Aldermanbury. As a conductor, he first appeared in 1889, when he joined the Rousbey opera company, and for some years he toured with various companies, including the Carl Rosa (1891). In 1895 the Queen’s Hall concerts were started under a system of guarantees, with Henry Wood as conductor and
Robert Newman as manager. Under his conductorship the
standard of English orchestral playing was notably raised, and
his work for music in London was deservedly honoured by a
knighthood in 1911. He married, first, in 1898, a Russian lady,
Princess Olga Ourousoff (d. 1909); second, in 1911, Muriel,
daughter of Major Greatrex.
WOOD, MRS. JOHN [Matilda Charlotte] (1833–1915), Eng-
lish actress, was born at Liverpool Nov. 6 1833, the daughter
of Henry Vining, and first appeared on the stage at Brighton at
the age of eight. As a young girl she played leading parts in
comedy at the Theatre Royal, Manchester, and in 1852 appeared
there as Ophelia. After her marriage she acted for some years
in America, beginning in 1854 with The Loan of a Lover, followed
by many other parts. She opened a theatre of her own in New
York in 1863 but returned to England in 1866. From that time
until her retirement from the stage in 1905, she was in the first
rank of robust comedy actresses. Her management of the Court
theatre between 1883 and 1891 saw the production of many of
Pinero’s best comedies. Later she appeared in elderly r61es in
most of the Drury Lane melodramas, her last appearance
being in Hall Caine’s The Prodigal Son in 1905. She died at
Birchington-on-Sea Jan. n 1915.
WOOD, LEONARD (1860–), American soldier, was born
at Winchester, N.H., Oct. 9 1860. He graduated from the
Harvard Medical School in 1884, was appointed assistant
surgeon with the rank of first-lieutenant in the U.S. army in
1886, and at once joined Capt. Lawton’s expedition against the
Apaches in the southwest, resulting in the capture of Geronimo.
For distinguished services he was awarded the Congressional
Medal of Honor. In 1891 he was promoted captain and full
surgeon, and later, while stationed in Washington, D.C., was
President McKinley’s personal physician. Here he became the
close friend of Theodore Roosevelt, then Assistant-Secretary of
the Navy. On the outbreak of the Spanish American War in
1898 Wood was commissioned colonel of volunteers, and
together with Roosevelt, as lieutenant-colonel, raised the famous
regiment of “Rough Riders,” composed of western ranchmen
and cowboys as well as members of prominent eastern families
eager to serve under these two strenuous leaders. For conduct
at Las Guasimas and San Juan Hill, Wood was promoted
brigadier-general July 1898 and in Dec. major-general of
volunteers. He was military governor of Cuba from 1899 to 1902
when the Cuban Republic was established. Under his guidance
great improvements were made in schools and sanitation.
Meanwhile he had been honourably discharged from voluntary
service and appointed brigadier-general in the regular army
Feb. 1901. In March 1903 he was sent to the Philippines and in
Aug. promoted major-general. For three years he was governor
of the Moro Province and during 1906–8 was commander of the
Philippines Division. In 1908 he returned to America as
commander of the Eastern Department for a year. In 1910 he was
special American ambassador to the centenary celebration of
Argentine independence. On his return he was appointed
chief of staff, serving until 1914, when he was again given
command of the Eastern Department. General Wood often had
disapproved the policies of the War Department, and as early
as 1908 had urged preparedness. To him was largely due the
establishment of a summer camp at Plattsburg for training
civilian officers, which, was taken as a model for other camps of
the kind after America’s entrance into the World War. In 1915,
when he gave unofficial indorsement to the proposed formation
of the American Legion whose purpose was to establish a body
of some 300,000 men ready for immediate service, he was
rebuked by the Secretary of War. Just before America's entrance
into the World War in 1917 it was announced that the Eastern
Division, then under Gen. Wood’s command, had been divided
into three divisions, and Gen. Wood was assigned to the
Southeastern Division, with the alternative of choosing either Hawaii
or the Philippines. As a soldier desiring active service he naturally
chose the American post; but the apparent motive of the
War Department to humiliate him aroused criticism. He was
later transferred to Camp Funston, where he trained the 89th
Div., N.A. In Jan. 1918, while in France, presumably preparatory
to bringing his troops there, he was painfully wounded by
the explosion of a French mortar. After his return to America
he was on the point of embarking with the 89th Div., when he
,was suddenly assigned to the Western Department, no reason
being given. It was generally understood that his name was
not on the list of officers submitted by Gen. Pershing as acceptable
for duty overseas. By change of orders he was returned to
Camp Funston, where he trained the 10th Div. of the regular
army and other troops. In 1919 he was put in command of the
Central Department, with headquarters at Chicago. In 1920
he was a prominent candidate for the presidential nomination
at the Republican National Convention. He led on the first
four ballots and never fell below second place. When the
supporters of Governor Lowden, his chief competitor, were released
after the eighth ballot, they swung to Senator Harding, a “dark
horse,” who was nominated on the tenth ballot, with 69212 votes
to 156 for Gen. Wood. In 1921 Gen. Wood was sent on a
special Federal mission to the Philippine Is. to report on
conditions there. During his absence he was appointed head of the
university of Pennsylvania. In Oct. 1921 he retired from active
service in the army and was appointed governor-general of the
Philippines. He was granted a year’s leave of absence from the
university of Pennsylvania, but it was thought that he might be
able to assume his academic duties in Oct. 1922. He was the author
of The Military Obligation of Citizenship (1915, lectures at Prince-
