The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-02
ARMY OF TYPEWRITERS.
How Hundreds Of Women Earn Their
Living in New Orleans.

ferred TO rs the pretty typewriter, ."
when the reference means beauty; il
should refer to the refining influence that
surrounds an office where a female is en-
ployed to 90 the typewriting, and not her
personal charms
1t has been estimated that there are
about 600 women employed as typowritists
in this city. This army of operators work
ing daily on the typewriter do an i'm
mense volume of work, which three times
their number could not accomplish with
the pen.
Women learn stenOgraphy and the
operation of the typewriter quicker and
are more tractable as Office assistants
than men. A cosy Office and typewriter
are more COngenial to the female mind
than kitchen, factory, the counter, or
even teaching, and there IS more money
in 1T than in any of these other employ
nents. There are q few women that get
SEQ a week and even as high as $25, and
they are worth it, too.
When we get above S25 a week the
number grows smaller at once in fact
almost ceases, and the principal cause of
low wages is incompetency, as most women
look upon employment as but temporary,
and do not consider il worth while to do
any better than is necessary to make
living. Efficient male stenOgraphers get
from Sl5 to 50 per week. OF course, Al
men get frOm-S30 to $50 but there are few
of them here, but they are worth every
cent they get, and some as high as 81 500
to $1,000 per annum. These men are, of
course, at the top; in fact, way at the top,
and below them comes an immense gap
The average salary paid male StenOg-
raphcrs is about SIS per week.
The average paid female stenOgraphers
is about IS per week, but n large number
of women get from SO to Sl2 per week.
OF course, these stenOgraphers would be
una bic to take testimony in court or re
port speeches verbatim, but they do good
Office work. 1t is the indifference and the
supposed temporary character of the work
that prevents a better salary. Owing to
the tedious study of stenography, many
women become so expert that they take
from dictatiOn direct on the machine, and
this class of operators is daily increasing
as in the end it is more speedy than the
ordinary sJenographer
New York pays the best wages for ex-
pert work. In the other cities wages are
generally low and in the small towns eX-
tremely small StCnOoTaphers are con-
stantly changing, and about One-half make
d change every year, the changes caused
by either a little better salary or better
treatment.
The stenographer who graduates from
a school and goes to work at once is usu-
ally unfit for business by reason OF de-
ficient education and immature years.
These schools, with a very few eXccp-
tions, accept anybody as pupil who has
money to put up for the tuition. IL is
wholly immatcrial whether they possess
the other requirements or not, they al c
taught stenography, though those who
teach them must be fully aware that the
money thus spent is thrown away.
In accepting pupils to learn stenography
and typewriting, they should require the
pupil TO pass an examination in the con-
struction of the English language and
spelling.
One great trouble with the female oper-
ators is their inability to separate their
personality from their business. If the
/ boss gets angry and speaks sharply 1t
is received in the light of a personal in
suit The big merchant has not time to
waste upon pleiminaries, and is fire.
qucntly abrupt IN speech. Some women
never get accustomed TO this, ana some
get right up and look for another posi-
ton. They are looking for some one that
will treat them like a lady Of the
house,
It must not be lost sight of that many
of these young women are serious in their
work: they are the support of children
brothers. sisters and mothers, aged par
ents and invalid husbands-women Of
culture and social refinement who would
never be caught idling their time. They
carry with them everywhere the gentle
dignity of pure wOmanhOod ana their
faces bear the soulfulnesS OF intel
lectual life. These are the women who
are unfrcquently lifted suddenly from the
position of amanUcnSiS to dictator OF
domestic fortunes of their former en-
lover. Wherever they are employed
they bring with them an unmistakabe
air of refinement, and all who are brought
within the range of business contact with
them are impcrceptibly drawn under
their gentle influence.
The business Office to-day is
more refined, and the women
typewritists make it more homo like,
and the rough, brusque manner of
most mon yield to their influence and
mako the Office more like a drawing room
than an Office, and the clerks all seem
more like a big family than wage carriers.
That women stenOgrapherS are invading
every class of business and crOwding out
the men is true, and they will continue
to hold positions in every class of bus
mess except law offices and in those
where night work is the rule, and will
carry refinement wherever they so.
W e must JILL lItItiOIC. etuliAlt fFAIllOuu
any hesitation that whatever the type
writer has done for women, il has UNI
questionably done mUch-it has practi-
cally revolutionized the general conduct
of business materially and greatly i'm
proved the conduct of men.
Therearea great many ugly girls whe re-
gard the business as a kind of a picnic,
others a romantic road to matrimony, but
they soon find their level and drop out of
the race. There are others who really do
not need to work, who have big brother
two or three, perhaps who can well sup
port them, but in order to secure the lit
Tie delicacies and ribbons. lacos and fancy
articles their purses cannot reach seek
employment and shut out worthy young
women who really need it and to whom it
is a necessity.
Summing up the result, it is work that
is easily adapted to women; it is refined,
and it needs brains and education to be-
come an expert, so that "a good stem
ocrapher and typewriter need never feel
ashamed Of profession that has done so
much for women and cannot but lend a re-
fining influence to offices where they are
employed.
TEA HoARDED LIKE GOLD.
nj, s,.-Az.-- ego11 rrt,ai- rbi1Srey7 for II