Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1892-07-21
IN W0MAN'S BEHALF.
THE ELECTRIC KEY.


attractive and remunerative field for
woman's work is amply shown by the
fact that the number of women who
practice II from day TO day probably eX-
coed in number those who devote them
selves to any of the other so-called
"genteel' professions, and the number
is all the time increasing. Telegraphy
seems to have an irresistible charm for
many young women, and for the matter
of that many that are not young. The
interest of the plodding student in her
work is kept from tagging in anticipa-
ton of the day when she will be able to
communicate with another operator
hundreds of miles away with the same
ease and confidence as II they were In
the same room. Even those TO whom
the question of money Is but consider
alton of secondary Importance are sus-
tanned by the prospect of indulging in
this unalloyed delight. 1t Is just pos
sible, when the young woman arrives
at this stage in her experience, that her
ardor will have become somewhat
dampened, and she will have received
very forcible illustration of the truth of
the saying that anticipation and real
ization are very different things, in
deed. Very few professions are pleas
ant to learn, however valuable they
may be when proficiency has been ac-
quired, and l mention this as showing
that telegraphy has its redeeming feat
ures even at the beginning.
Women, as in nearly every other walk
in life, are beginning to take more
important part in conducting the bust
ness of the telegraph. The number of
women engaged in the various branches
of the telegraph service has increased
very largely within the past few years.
Not many years ago it was an unusual,
ms well as an unwelcome sight to some,
to see woman working in Office where
as many as twenty or thirty male oper-
ators were employed; and even in the
larger Offices, where the employment of
women was almost necessity, they
were secluded from the men, and work.
ed in separate departments, sacred to
themselves. Little by little the barriers
were thrown down, until at the present
time men and women work indiscrim-
inately together in every department,
and the relations existing between
them are of the most cordial aud pleas
ant character.
1t would be safe to say that the num-
Der of women who earn livelihood as
operators in the telegraph service in
this country is now fully thirty-seven
thousand. This does not include wom-
en- who are employed in other depart
ments of the service. OF this number,
New York and Brooklyn alone have
nearly one thousand. They are en-
ployed in the main offices, in the hotels,
railroad offices, on the famous big ex-
changes and in the brokers offices, and
in fact in every form of business activ-
ity in which the telegraph is called
upon to play n part. Many industrious
their spare moments and when they be-
come proficient in both branches, good
paying positions are nearly always
ready for them.
Very few Of the women telegraphers
who fill the highest positions are ''col-
lege Bred" term sometimes applied to
those who have learned the business
outside regular telegraph office in a
school. The explanation Of the large
number of women telegraphers in New
York city is sometimes attributed to the
presence of these schools, but in reality
the number of young women who at
tend them are rarely qualified for pfac.
teal work. The Western Union Tele-
graph Co. alone, In New York city,
gives employment to several hundred
small girls who perform office work in
the operating and other departments.
They are given an opportunity to learn
the business, and In this way they soon
become capable of taking charge of
small branch offices. As they are
brought up in telegraphic atmosphere,
so to speak, they are familiar with all
the details of the business, and are very
naturally given the preference when va
cancies occur. AS they gain experience
they are transferred to more important
offices, or buster wires, as the case may
be, and receive higher salaries, until at
last they return to the main Office; not
as poorly paid Office girls, but as eXpe-
rienced and fairly paid operators
But even now they have not reached
the limit of possible success, for there
is more exalted position than that of
operator, to which any woman may
aspire. They are promoted to executive
Offices. or what are known as chiefs
and traffic chiefs, who look after the
movement of business and see that mes
sages are subjected to no unnecessary
delay. There are few offices of con-
siderable Importance managed by wom-
en-, but the number is not large. 1t has
always appeared rather singular to me
that, with the number of intelligent
and well-cducated women in the bus
mess, more of them do not interest
themselves in the study of the science
of electricity. Women rarely, If ever,
interest themselves in the phenomena
of electricity and although they arc
brought into daily contact with its
manifestations, they possess very little
information regarding it. The com
paratiyely recent inventions, the du.
pick and quadruplex, used for sending
number of messages over the same
wire simultaneously, are difficult OF
comprehension, and very few womer
have mastered their intricacies. The
men having this branch of the business
in charge have undergone a specia
training for the work, and up to the
present women have not entered into
competition with them.
III the work of receiving and send
ing messages women do equally as
good work as men. They may not b.
capable of such phenomenal bursts o
speed as the male telegraphers, but a
the same time extraordinary speed i
not so much an element of success c
necessity as accuracy and the ability t
maintain fair average rate. The,
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