portation." In 1900, 9 per cent, of all women workers were in this class. During one decade, from 1890 to 1900, the proportion of breadwinning women employed in trade and transportation increased 122 per cent. The following figures show the steady, enormous increase of women employed at various occupations summed up under "trade and transportation":
| 1880. | 1890. | 1900. | 1910. |
| 63,058 | 228,421 | 503,347 | 1,202,352 |
When we examine various special occupations in this general division we find no less marvelous gains. In 1890 there were 8,474 telegraph and telephone operators; in 1900, 22,556; in 1910, 96,481. In 1890 there were 21,270 stenographers and typewriters; in 1900, 86,118; in 1910, 263,315. In 1890 there were 4,875 women agents; in 1900, 10,556; in 1910, 19,102. In 1890 there were 58,451 sales-women; in 1900, 149,230; in 1910, 250,438. It is obvious then that during the two decades, from 1890 to 1910, there has been an immense increase of female breadwinners in all commercial occupations. What is the explanation of this phenomenon?
We have learned that the presence of women in the manufacturing occupations was not new. Women, as we have seen, were always engaged in manufacture, and when manufacture was taken out of the home and put into the factory, women merely followed their work; they merely performed their old occupations in a new way. But it was not so in trade and transportation. The entrance of woman into the commercial world is a distinctly modern feature. While woman's work was all performed at home, women had little or no connection with trade. Commerce was a function pertaining to the larger world beyond the home and was, therefore, monopolized by men. The more recent coming of women into commercial occupations in such large and rapidly increasing numbers can only be accounted for by strong economic causes and these causes we have seen to exist. In the course of this chapter the reader has had occasion to observe that the very traditional occupations of women are the ones that are most over-crowded, in which it has become hardest for women to compete. The reader has observed that the most
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