The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-03-05
TO RUSH BUSINESS.
Tyl ewriters Are in Unusual De
mand at Present
AND GIRLS TO WORK THEM, TOO
Great Lack of Accurate and Rapid
StenOEraphers Com
plined OF.

The typewriter firms are furnishing
daily proof OF the commercial prosperity
OF Minneapolis. business is booming with
all Of them as never before and they are
taxed to their utmost to meet the de-
mands for machines and supplies of vari-
GUS kinds. The call for machines, office
furniture, and supplies was never so great
and every department of the typewrtting
business is working overtime. Each OF
the firms conducts a sort Of employment
bureau for stenograrhers in connection
with It's Offices, and all report many
calls for efficient operators. One firm has
had number Of calls for good stenog.
raphers who are willing to leave the city
for salaries ranging from $50 to SIS per
month, and they are unable to fill them.
The trouble seems to be that only about
one stenographer or typewriter In TWEEN
ty can be relied upon for thoroughly &C
curate work. In learning, some young
women become proficient in shorthand but
neglect their typewriting. Others be-
come expert manipulators of the machine
but cannot write and intelligently traus-
scribe matter dictated to them at the
rate of forty words minute, even
though they may have graduated at
some of thu shorthand colleges. This
class of "stenographers" can do their
work better and faster on the machines,
if their employers will tell them when
and where to make periods, capitals, etc.
The manager of one OF the largest firms
in the city said to-day that he was sur
prised at the lack of preparedness of half
the stenographers who apply to him for
positions. They irform him, on applica-
ton blanks furnished for the purpose,
that they can write 100 words minute
when las matter Of fact they cannot
write half that number and be sure oi,
themselves. It is oDe thing to write
shorthand and quite another thing to read
cto rcrrQ nor
are embarrassed to the last degree by be-
ing called upon to read their notes IN
open court They have their "hooks' all
right, and if left to themselves could
read them readily enough, but they get
stage fright, and are unable to 90 any
thing but fry in their bushes until Inc
spell wears Oft. said L + .
informant to day:
There Is room at the top. We can usually
secure good paying positions for competent
writer's, but we are sick of trying to place
half-baked photographers. The trouble Is.
half of the young women who learn shorthand
never read anything except books or story
papers. They do not read the newspapers,
and have no knowledge Of affairs. How,
then is a girl who never heard the express
sion 'by metes and bounds" for example,
to write or transcribe these words intelli-
! gently? She doesn't know what the phrase
means, and she is likely to write 1t our
by meats ana MOUNDS as ally otner way.
| A knowledge of affairs, good general infor-
! NATION kept supplied and furnished up by
! careful reading, can alone save .stenog-
| rapher who hopes to become proficient in
all lines Of work. There are thousands OF
! girls who learn the tune of their employers
| dictation and can follow him because they
have his vocabulary and business expressions
| In their memory, but who would be unable
to write fifty words minute If they were
| taken out of a commission office, say, and
placed in a law Office In the latter place
| their ignorance of legal terms would tangle
| them up In minute, and they could do
| nothing. 49,
There is only one road to success, and that
! is hard, steep and thorny one. necessitat-
| ing any amount Of work-the writing Of SER
\ MONS law books, newspaper articles, several
hours q day, and study absolute accuracy II
they would secure and hold the good paying
| positions. ..-.-