The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-07-23
CAN'T AFFORD TO MARRY
And Tha4 Is tho Reason Why tho
Dappvv Dry Goods Clerk
Doesn't.
His Earnings Are too Meagre and
His Chances of Promotion
Slim.
The Ranks OF Clerks Arc OvorcrOwded
and Underpaid, Skilled Mechanics
Scarce and Get Good Wages

"But what became of the dry goods
clerk. the young man whom the Globe
Democrat last Sunday called 'calicoes' and
'linens?' Does he marry? and if so, to
whom? You have painted Il very nice pic
ture Of the matrimonial possibilities that
arc lying in wait for the shoplady. Now. in
all fairness, give the young man u chance
This bunch Of inquiries. suggestions and
demands was hurled at IL st. Louis Globe
Democrat reporter by a matron Of middle
age, who has a son engaged in one of the
big dry goods stores. And then, vomn nm
like, before opportunity for reply was
given, she contInued: IF the newspapers
keep on with their fino talk about the
graceful figures, shapely hands, good
style, natural refinement and all that
OF the salesladies, it will not be long
before no person can be waited upon
unless he happens to be a prosperous farmer
from Kansas who is in search of a wife.
Pity for him hat he cannot find one In his
own section. know that store girls are to
a large extent things of beauty, but i doubt
If they are joys forever. A girl that must
work ought not to be ashamed to learn to
cook and attend to household duties. My
son is getting $12 per week, and if he
wanted to marry right now, and he ia only
20 years of age, l would not say a word. so
long az he did not marry a girl from his
store, one that would either want to board
or keep a hired girl in a three-room fiat. /
am not trying to say mean things about the
stors girls, but as II mother who has raised
quite Il little family and seen my daughters
all married we'll, I will state that
do not believe that a place behind
the counter Of a store is the place
to train a poor mans wife, and l do not
believe that we'll TODD men look for their
wives in the store. Sweet faces DO not al
ways 80 with sweet hearts. To my mind the
admitted fact that the majority of the store
girls seek employment i'll the stores because
the work is genteel and that they may dress
Themselves well, is really against them.
A good, intelligent houssmoid can get
from $12 to SIG per month, with good living
and all reasonable and respectable liberties,
and that is better than the wages of the
average xaleslady. If l were a young man l
would rather have n wife that could mako q
good pie than one who could by long practice
do up her own hair in evening-party style.
But this is an old question and the situation
is well understood. Foolish pride makes the
American girl averse to livingou She is then
q slave. 1t is SO much better to get 81 per
week and live off of struggling parents
and stand up in a store from eight
O'clock in the morning until six
hour for luncheon, than it is to get "a
q week and a comfortable home, with a
training that will be useful in later life.
AS for myself l have little use for women in
the stores, and l do n great deal of shopping
for one of my means. / would ten to one
any day have a man wait on me. He is not
80 apt to look Mt the customers clothing,
and he has no call TO smirk and try to say
smart things should l have my husband or
any other gentleman with me. | was
pleased to see hat Mr.. Crawford in his lit
tie talk last Sunday said that the ladies
were only good for handling light things
like notions, laces or ribbons. l don't 90
that far. hhe is all right, perhaps, at a
notion or a bargain counter, but when it
Games to laces or ribbons or dress goods l
prefer q man. He certainly does not in
trude HIS individual taste ON you, and re-
sent 1t if you have ideas of your own as to
shades and colors. Take my advice and
look a little deeper into the subject, and
shop girls do not marry their fellow-clerks
may be found in these traneposed lines:
What is your fortune, my pretty maid.
My face is my fortune, Fir, she said;
Then l won't marry You, my pretty maid.
And he doesn't. nordoes he want to hear
her say, Nobody asked you SIR she said,
because he knew that if he did she would
have said yes."
but doea he marry?' the reporter asked
himself, as he left the matron, and it
required some research to settle the ques-
ton. The answer is this: ''He does, when
he can get a good, thrifty girl to share his
joys, sotrows and salary, which, as a rule,
comes under the latter head. Nine young
men out of ton of American birth. who 20
into a dry goods store, retail or Wholesale.
or into a retail or wholesale house, whether
it bs a grocery, boot and shoe, hardware or
any other commercial establishment, must
accept salaries at the outset that are little
more than nominal. There is no system
of commercial apprenticeship, and the head
of Il house appreciates the fact that he ig CIV
ing instruction for which he has no assur-
ance of ever receiving a return. While on
this branch of the subject it might be "a
we'll to say that in most instances the head
of n big commercial establishment would
recommend a young man to begin life in n
retail store. He will within a few years be
qualified to accept Il position in my stock
department of n Wholesale house. As n
clerk in a wholesale house, he is likely to
be confined in one department for years.
and is certainly not prepared to u into
business for himself with n miscellaneous
stock. The country merchant and store
keeper il recruited rs q rule from the man
with 4 retail training. The most that the
shipping clerk in the wholesale house can
look forward to is promotion to tho stock,
and then he may get out on the road, but
ASSs RSAt
tlon. he marries, of course, according to
his means. and some of the latter make
good salaries. but it is hard to get out OF
the rut rs y clerk.
If "Caiicoes' or "Linens'' 10 dependent
upon his own e%xertion for support and is
without family aid, he is likely to be found
in middle age 4 bachelor, with strong social
instincts to be sure, q good parlor COM
panion, but not widely hunted after by en-
terprising mammas with marriagoable
daughters, or daughters who have the prob
ma. 1t may be that when young he uspires
too high. He must either get an heiress or
wait until his ship comes III. HeiIesses are
elusive, and too many ships fail to reach
the harbor. The clerk ia therefore fonnd
in boa ding houses, a social butterfly with
advanced ideas as to neokwear. lio asso-
ciates much with his W kind. There il
no false %p.stense among them, and when
four or Eve of them combine TO have II sun
day afternoon barouche for four hours of
glory on the boulevards. each man is ri2or-
ously required to pay his own proportion
of the total expense of $40 for the dav, in
Guiding ref eshmerts.
With the mechanic it ia not the case. He
marries az soon us he is out OF his Tina TO II
woman of his own line of life, VINO il will
ing to wash, iron and cook and nurse ba
bies. If she is tho right kind of a woman
she helps him To lay up il little something,
or encourages him to keep in line with his
building association. With n trade he 10
IL = H.