The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1884-01-05
NEW YoRUs WOMEN woRKERa
How Hard It Is for Them to strike
the Proper observation-disclosures
for CommercinI Firms

New York Cor. Milwaukee Sentinell
upon my word" said a young lady in
the position Of receiving clerk in the main
office of the Western Union telegraph Office,
cit doesn't seem TO me that tho men who do
business have brains enough to keep them
out of the poorhouse, IL they had to work for
other people. You've no idea how difficult
it is to strike just the right sort of demeanor
in a place like this The manager tell US
that we must be nice and amiable, and never
curt or saucy. That's all very well, but we
find that IL won't do to obey those orders too
fully. 1t don't take more than half a
smile, or more than a word sweetly spoken,
to excite insulting familiarity in a good
many customer / get mad enough twenty
times a day to strike my fist right through
that wicket, into their silly, ~aggravating,
mawkish faces.n
Notwithstanding the sentimental disabili-
ties which masculine idiocy thus imposes on
women, they are getting along first rate in
New York in making their way into good
employment Ten years ago the needle and
sewing machine provided the only work for
them above mental positions. Clerkships in
stores were opened more and more to them,
until at present they outnumber men ten to
one behind our retail counters. But it re-
mains for the typewriter, by its introduction
generally into mercantile and professional
offices, to provide wages for women
Of education and naturally bright intel
lects. The different makes OF these ma
chimes are clicking by the thousand in this
city. The operators commonly attain a
speed Of 1000 words an hour, which is about as
fast as the merchant, the lawyer or the
journalist cares to dictate letters, documents,
Or articles. Scarcely a brokers officein Wall
street is without a female amanuensis There
is a reason, aside from the fact that these
women are glad to work for less pay than
men Of equal attainments would accept, for
preferring them as private secretaries. Tbe
person in such a position necessarily gets at
the secrets of his employer. 1t is notorious,
for instance, that men acting in this capacity
for Jay Gould have enriched themselves by
making use of knowledge Obtained in the
course of their duty.
Now, it may be that women are worse than
men at keeping secrets, but it Is also true
that they are not so ready to use them for
Inercenary purposes. In the copying OF
legal papers and other manuscripts, these
nimble-fingered machinists find an extensive
industry; and here the requirements are of a
lower order than for writing for dictation,
since the latter necessitates expertness in or
biography. In one of the commercial agen-
cies, where the business consists largely in
furnishing reports to Subscribers, made
up of quotations from the recorded ratings,
saw over 200 girls at work in a single room.
1t may DO a long time before women will be
permitted TO vote or will have any desire to,
but the means of independent and pleasant
livelihood are rapidly opening to her in
various sections. The hardest obstacle which
she encounters Is the one that / have already
described. Too many men nave yet to learn
to treat her respectfully in business life.