Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1892-12-08
IN W0MAN'S BEHALF.
WoMAN's INFLUENCE.
Employers Admit Its Rehniug Character,
But DO They Pay for 1t:

Employers Admit Its Refining Character,
But DO They Pay for 1t?
II is often said that "Selfishncss Rules
he World" 1t would seem that this is
80, and one of its most stupendous
forms is comprised in the scale of wom-
ans wages as compared with mans.
A woman receives thirty-five dollars
month for work that her employer
would not think of giving less than
seventy-fve dollars for man. He will
pay sixty dollars to woman where he
would be compelled to pay one hundred
and twenty-five dollars 10 man. And
the self-complaisant capitalist will
smilingly assert that woman's presence
in the Office or counting-room is such
refining influence" that the day that
brought women into business was the
red-letter day in all his business eXper-
fence, and the woman he imposes upon
just takes the sugar-plum and says
nothing about what she thinks, for she
knows there are scores ready to slip
into her place should she for any rea-
son leave it. Yes, scores of women
ready to take up the work, so wild has
become the race for business among
women.
1t would not be an uninteresting
study to note the different plane upon
which woman stands to-day compared
with that she occupied fifty years ago.
But of that hereafter. She is in the
whirlpool of mans activity. She keeps
pace with him in ability to perform, in
some instances outstrips him in actual
labor accomplished, yet it is only in
exceptional cases that she receives
mans wages. Wherefore so? Let us
investigate. In an elegant counting
room, sits the head of a company own
ing line of steamers. He has q shrewd
business look, also a self-indulgent APP
pearance. He counts his dollars by the
thousand, and these in no smaller
groups than hundreds. He is happy.
He has not as yet learned by experience
that there is any such word in the
English language as failure. Pros
perity has been his constant companion
ever since his name was quoted "On
Change" He owns palatial residence
in "Gotham;" thoroughbreds draw his
handsome carriage, and he has pew
in church, and occupies it too. Well |!
there he sits, In small inner room
sits young girl at desk She is very
young and pretty. She is the book
keeper for the company She works
from seven o'clock in the morning until
six o'clock in the evening. Said the
self-complaisant gentleman, 81 find it
SO refining to have lady in my office. /"
What salary does she receiver"
Thirty-fve dollars month, and the
work she performs is perfectly astonish-
ing. Women work more rapidly than
men, and there are hundred things
that man never sees that a woman
takes right hold of. Now, there's our
book-keeper in the home office in c. :,
she does more work than any two
men l know of, simply because she
finds so many things requiring attcn-
ton. Why, you don't know what an
amount of anxiety she lifts from our
shoulders. Her salary, did you ask?
Well! we give her sixty dollars a month.
That's big pay for woman"
"Why so?"
Because they are more economical
than men. They know how to live
cheaper. But then, that is not the only
reason we engage them. AS before
remarked, their refining influence
makes such difference in the Office,
"Well, then, why not pay her the ex-
ira you would give to man instead OF
putting it into your own pocket?"
"There's no need of it. Women don't
require it, and of course one always
does the best he can for himself. Any
woman that goes into an Office gets
more money than she would by staying
at home, even if her salary Is smaller
than mans, and if they're satisfied
Pm sure we should be-"
So spake the sample capitalist for
hundreds of his kind. 1t is strange,
the self-complacency with which he ex.
patiates upon the beautiful Influence Of
woman, while he pockets the difference
her coming makes in the gains of his
business. -Housekeeper