The Red Cloud chief., 1882-01-19
Women rs Telegraph Operators.

graphers, said to the reporter: 1.-The
general public has a very insufficient
idea OF what il owes TO female opera
tors. Little more than five years ago
we were the slaves of our men. They
formed q high,priced, a thoroughly in
dependent body. They made money
and spent it. Telegraph operators arc
as Bohemian in their instincts rs actors
and newspaper men. They never
work while they have cash or credit to
play on. Their pay-days fall b:-month-
~. and every payday left us crippled
for operators till the registering alb
sentees had run their money through.
Ii we ventured to expostulate. they
would refuse to work at all. IL we eX-
pressed disapprobatiOn at any thing
they did they would let messages ac-
cumulate till there would be half @
days, and ever longer, delay in the
most important business. There was no
actual trades union among them. but
they stuck together and had things
pretty much their way.
Then the suggestion was made
that we should employ women as ope
rators. The late President orion was
tho originator of this idea. His friends
would frequently send young ladies,
who bad learned te!egraphy in private
schools. to him for employment, and
he knew that q number whom he had
found positions in business houses for
were capable of excellent work. Final
ly we employed a few on the short and
easy lines. They did their work adj
mirably. They were not as fast as the
men, and could not work the heavy dis
lance wires. But for all ordinary work
they were quite capable and satisfac-
tory.
1.-THE male operators made 4 vigor-
Gus kick. and distinguished themselves
by no little boorishness toward their
sister professors. but they had to cave
in. They made a strike of it and held
out for a week, when the usual break
up occurred. and they staggered in til!
ali were forced to terms. From that
time forth the public were better served
than it had ever been before. The old
rule or ruin reign of the dandy opera
tor was over. But the greatest con-
veniencc the employment of one
rendered possible WAS the establish
ment of the small local Offices in hotels
and the uptown districts, where it
would never have paid to keep a high
toned male operator ut 4 salary of al
most as much as the Office brought in.
Many of our local Offices were Mt the
start attended to by young women who
took commission on their returns rs
pay. Now, however, we have them all
under salary. Out of town we have
hundreds. l was going to say, of Offices
in the care of female operators. They
are small offices, at places where 4 man
would not stay. For instance, II a viii
lage of a couple of score of houses we
could not afford to keep IN operator at
a city salary. But by paying some
young girl who lives there twenty-five
or thirty dollars a month, which is more
than she could earn in such a place at
much harder labor, we are able to keep
the line open to furnish facilities which
the residents find frequent need of.
The same remarks apply to many
branch offices here and in other cites
where business is light, but there is
still a demand for local service. If it
was moi for our women operators these
places would not be supplied with tele-
| graphic service ut ALL"
If the public have been benefited by
the introduction of the female opera
tives into telegraphy, the male
operatives certainly have not.
There has been q marked decline IN
salaries since the women entered the
business. The best operators. giants
in their line. who send and take mes
sages with incredible speed, still make
handsome salaries enough. as salaries
=. .lo-l- no onl L.. abI, n,n.,
tors, by doing extra work, earn good
livings. But among the mass of opera
tors salaries have been seriously eat
into. Women are doing for from SO
to $50 month now what ten years ago
men got from $50 to $50 and 500 for
doing. The pay of operators outside
has similarly suffered. Many manu-
factories and large business houses en-
Joy private telegraph lines. These used
to employ men. Now m do the
service at nearly all of them. In the
same way, ut hundreds OF minor coun-
try stations. where a man, b. combin-
ing the wretched salaries OF station
agent for the railroad and operator for
the telegraph company, contrived to
exc out a comfortable living. women
now do their work for even less than
half their Old remuneration.
And it's going to be worse yet"
said an operator, who was standing
guard over a Park Row l~unch-counter.
to n reporter. "FOr the telegraph col
leges keep grinding EN- out like corn
at a mill. Give 'em $50 a month and n
loOking-glass and a cheap novel, and
they don't ask any more. What show
has a decent man got alongside Of such
opposition, I'd like TO know?"
.Did he say that?' asked the young
lady at the = Hotel. when the re-
porter communicated the remarks to
her, and asked if they were true.
"He did"
The young lady tapped the lever of
her instrument with expressive vehe-
mence.
We'll, all I've got to say is that he
is an OPERATOR" she replied. II don't
know any worse name for him than
that."-NeW YorS Sunday Ncus.