Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-02
WOman'S Capacity as aWage-earn-
er--H0W Woman Does
Her Work.
Compares with Men-WOmen who Re-
gard Business as a Makeshift
which Marriage will End.
Women Both Willing and capable Of AS
Stunning Commercial Responsibilities
She only Asks for Patience.
copyrighted 1890 by the authOr.I


been the favorite topic with writers upon wo-
man, and she has stood for all the weakness and
| general inadequacy of the sex.
! To-day the business woman takes her place;
fact that, even generation ago, could hardly
have had existence, since the business woman
| the growth of the present generation, and the
| last ten years have enlarged her place and pos
sibilities in fashion undreamed of by our
| grandmothers.
Whether her sudden development is only part
of this great transitional epoch in which we are
all experimenting, and is necessary merely to
demonstrate the right of all women to earn in
such way as best suits their taste and capacity,
comes only incidentally under consideration.
1t may be that when capacity has been demon
strated, and all questions of equal or unequal
wages, with every other point involved in the
labor of women a whole are settled on q just
basis, that the very settlement will bring in its
train less reason for work. and reversion, to a
certain extent, be the next step. This are
fortunately not called upon to decide. We have
only to ask what the business woman of to-day
represents; how she does her work; what are
her limitations and er possibilities in meth ods
and how we are to sum up her status as a whole?
First, then, how does she do her work! Very
badly if she is unframed, uneducated, and bent
merely upon using work as a stop-gap till mar
riage comes to relieve her. II, on the other
hand, she has both training and conscience, the
latter almost morbidly deyelo ped in most of our
educated women, she may in the beginning
make the mistakes of inexperience, but, &C.
cording to the testimony OF many employers,
learns with extraordinary speed, and works
with steady patience and hdel1ty that are I'M
questioned.
So far as comparison is to be made, the faults
of the lowest order of women workers are pre-
cisely the same as those of the order
among men, with this added difference, that for
all men is the inherited aptitude for business
methods which results from many centuries of
direction
with women it is all new ground.
In spite of this difference, however, he num-
Der of women in business for themselves in
creases steadily, is there failure among
them, save in rarest instances, AS rule, they
do not assume it till pushed into the ranks by
death or disaster of some nature; but there is
also the contingent who have broken ground for
themselves. Some OF the chief representatives
for New York are widows, in several cases per-
sonally known to the writer, who have chosen
to assume the management of the business left
involved and nearly wrecked by the husband.
Without exception they have weathered every
storm and come safely into port, if this meta
phor may hold of those who still sending
out new ventures, not OF which has failed
to prosper. Whatever shrinking may have been
felt in the beginning, all have recognized the
necessity of cultivating tLose qualities which
are the heart OF honorable business life, whether
for men or women; punctuality, accuracy, dis
patch and absolute fidelity to every engage
ment.
It is Just these qualities which distinguish
trained from unframed intelligence and the pos
session is precisely as much an essential for the
they are found success is tolerably certain.
Wherever they are lacking, comes necessarily
the inadequate wage, long hours, small oppor-
tunity and all the evils that are part of the lot
of the lower order of worker.
Within week so the same question as to
the status of the business woman having been
asked, wrote words that it seems worth while
to reproduce here: cone who deals much with
women of all orders realizes with more and more
distinctness that the vital wrong in the training
of girls is want of thoroughness. It is this ten
dency that even the most gifted and best edu-
Gated have to fight in themselves. For the
woman who would earn fair wage there must
be no falling back upon the fact that she is
woman, and therefore to be excused for small
lapses in punctuality and general thoroughness.
The one redeeming feature in the present rush
of young girls into shops of all orders is the
fact that often their first lessons in punctuality
come from the experience, even the fine system,
with all its petty injustices, being one means to
this end. Practically, there is premium
unbusinesS-liSe traits in women, and the
who owns them is counted more lovable than
the one who has their opposite. But till sterner
traits are cultivated in both men and women,
loose methods OF Judgment and action will re-
main current. Business life, then, with its de-
mands is the needed school, since homes prac-
tlcally deny that such need exists
In this is compressed all that needs mention
as to limitations. But for these unframed
workers, if the least opportunity is given. a
better ideal arises and the standard alters. The
working girls clubs have done untold good in
Just this direction, Till IN the fight for ex-
istence there has been small thought of standing
by each other, or of what value might lie in
union. But the spirit of mutual helpfulness
and the realization that better training must be
had, have worked together, till out of the
scanty earnings classes of every order have been
paid for, as well as rooms for the general meet
ing-place, and all the expenses arising from the
new methods.
1t is hardly possible to estimate the value of
this thought that is working out such results.
It's too soon to state definitely what the final
result is likely to be, but it is certain that not
only better service will be given, but better
idea as to the real meaning of work be born. It
cannot at once touch the myriads in shop and
the vexation of all who work for their advance
ment. There is, and must long be, an immense
number who, coming up under the worst condi-
lions for any acknowledgements, work merely
because they must; but even in this class,
dividual deviation from it may be, is gradual
rise, change that will affect the whole working
body. Most of this class have still to learn
it must be done as if it were the one and
only object in life. It is here that another
difference between the work of men and
that this is his Ife-work. The woman
is certain that it is makeshift merely, and
that marriage will end it.
To a great extent this is true, yet for all
workers the perplexities involved in the labor
alike, and make earning the necessity for both.
And in the end, so far as their personal share
in the problem is concerned, 1t is for both
question OF character. For any business the
question of sex must not enter in. 1t is the
human being that is to be considered, and the
qualities that go to make up the best type of
What is wanted for both is faithfulness, pa
tience, industry, courtesy, in short, the quail
ties that every good citizen must possess. II
the average business woman shows deficiency in
any all of these, give her little more time
and the role will be filed as woman has al
ways in the end filed any role thrust upon her
with full sense OF the responsibility involved and
full determination to meet every possible re-
quirement
wisdom, patience and sympathy will be
much more potent factors in bringing about such
result than the fault-fnding very popular
among few writer's, who select the worst speci-
mems that have come in their way as illustrative
of the whole, and address general snarl to all
concerned. A recent article of this nature by a
popular writer is ill-tempered to a degree and
while much truth is told, IL is told with such
petulance and injustice that it viii fail naturally
and utterly to fulfil its mission.
The business woman of to-day-physician
author, editor, journalist, merchant book
keeper in short, of every and all trades and
professionals doing her work with no sound OF
trumpets no noise nor buster of any descrin-
ton whatsoever, but with dignity and force
fulness that have won respect and recognition
from even the most critical. These women
need no word OF defense. For the many below
them who do, we have the matter much in our
own lands. Give them the chance denied by
birth and training. Give them the Justice OF
equal wage for equal time of working, and this
in itself would be one method of conversion to
better things.
The latest contribution to the literature of
this subject, the United States report on