Huntsville gazette., 1892-07-23
In WOMAN'S BEHALF.
The ELECTRIC KEY.
Many Women Find Profitable Emplo,
ment as Teiegraphers.

| That the telegraph service offers an
| attractive and remunerative field for
woman's work is amply shown by the
| fact that the Eumber of women who
practice it from day to day probably ex-
ceed in number those who devote them
selves to any of the other so-called
'genteer 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-
tion of the day when she will be able to
| communicate with another operator
| hundreds of miles away with the same
ease and confidence as if they were in
| the same room Even those to whom
the question of money is but a 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 | 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 busi-
| 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,
| as 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 a 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 thirtyseven
| 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-
4 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 part Many industrious
| young women study stenography in
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 prac-
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 a 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 WON
en-, but the number is not large. 1t has
always appeared rather singular to me
that, with the number of intelligent
and well-educated 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 @he phenomena
Of electricity, and although they are
brought into daily contact with its
manifestations, they possess very little
information regarding it. The com
paratively recent inventions, the du
plex and quadruplex, used for sending
number of messages over the same
wire simultaneously, are difficult o.
comprehension, and very few womer
have mastered their intricacies, The