The age-herald., 1898-07-31
YOUNG WOMEN
 WHO MAKE CHANGE,
The Dreary Life of Cashiers In Restau- rants and Department Stores The
 Small Wages and Long Hours,

cheap; and she is perhaps helping hard- working parents to buy refuge for their old age.
 In cities women have displaced men as cashiers in restaurants, drug stores, mercantile houses-in fact, all the re- tail departments of trade. That woman as cashier is a faithful and effic,z mt servant Is proved by the increasing e- hland for her services. Like most vecl- tlons in which women have shown s9e- clal aptitude, those services as yet re but poorly appreciated. Ten years go, men m the same positions, accord ng 10 the New York bureau of labor were paid wages ranging from S10 to $25 a week. The woman cashier receives on an average $5 a week, is very we'll paid if she gets $ and is regarded as a per- son of affiuence if she commands Ss. Moreover, she works longer hours than did her predecessors. A man did not begin work until or 3 o'clock in the morning, and he relentlessly quit at 5 or 6 in the evening.
 The reasons for womens supersedure of men as cashiers are good ones The average woman is more honast, obedi- ent and conscientious than the average man. One never hears of a woman
 
 with the profit and loss account of the ledger. With that facile instinct which has proved so disastrous to men in com petition with women she quickly mas ters the details of her work and thus proves more rapid accountant.
 In herself she attracts trade. for most men will walk a block to patronize an establishment where there is a>'Charm- ing face.
 Twenty years ago it occurred to some bright restaurant or drug store keeper or other unclassihed and unrecorded tradesman that it might be pre- titable to replace the naughty young man be- hind the cash desk with a young, good looking and we'll dressed woman He reasoned that only man of more than ordinary strength of mind could refuse Canadian dimes and punched nickels from feminine vision of loveliness. No one would dare raise the question of short change or dispute in the face of her statement the identity of the quar- ter The was sure was a half dollar" The astute tradesman of course selected the very prettieSt and most stylish appli- cant. Doubtless he grew rich and has long ago retired from business, bat the result of his enterprise Eoes marching on.
 A dozen to two dozen cashiers usually have tables in the inclosures known as the cash desk in large dry goods and similar retail stores. The ages of these women range from 16 to 3O The youn- ger ones have begun work in the store in the humblest capacity. as csshgirls, and from that have risen to be wrap- pers of packages. From wrappers they were promoted to the cash desk They have had no special training for the work of accountants; merely have prov ed their ability to count rapidly and &C., eurately. At first they receive $350 or "A week. this sum being increased at the rate of 50 cents per year, as they please their employers From the cash desk there is no hope of q career in the business. Whatever the branch of trade in which she is employed, an knowledge gained in subordinate capacities is lost sight of in the routine of counting mon- ey. If she is ambitious and can afford it, she goes to night school studies stenography and typewriting. or, most likely, bookkeeping, and drifts into that sort of work. She imagines that it Is easier, and 1t does pay better The woman boolzkeeper gets $S. $1O or s12 week.
 In smaller Shops the cash register is in Use and greatly simplifes the work of the cashier. In places where very large business is done one of the cash railway or pneumatic tube systems is in operation. These do away with the expense of cashgirls, but add to the cashiers responsibilities, as it is very easy to confuse the different balls or tubes.
 n,,f Nf f1ni, na1a f<xx, men are able to save anything. Most of them marry before they are 90, and the remainder after a few years disappear to give place to younger and more at- tractive women. In no branch of work has the employee a greater responsibili- ty, and in no other has she so little chance of advancement
 CAROLINE WETHERELL.