The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-06
DEFENDS FAIR
STENOCRAPHERS
Chicago SalesWOman Resents
Mrs. Shumaker's Refer
ence to "FlirtatiOns."

Mrs. Alma Deane, travelling saIeswo-
man, of Chicago, who is in Minneapo-
lis selling women's lingerie, will paw a
visit to ST. Paul today for the ex-
press purpose of taking a fall so to
speak, out of Mrs. Juliet Shumaker.
principal of the Lancaster school in
this city.
Mrs. Deane is the accredited repre-
sentative Of the Chicago Business Wo-
mans club, and the club, at it's meet
Ing on Saturday, decided that Mrs.
Shumaker talked like an illustrated
German almanac, otherwise, that her
utterances concerning the American
business woman were neither fnstruc-
tive nor funny.
Chicago stenographers, is appears,
insist that Mrs. Shumaker has cast an
aspersion on all stenographers by
dwelling so strongly on the faults of
the minority At the meeting, at which
Mrs. Deane presided, attended speeches
were made by Miss Kate L. Blade, of
the Old Colony building; Edna Dickin-
son, one of the best known stenogra-
piers in the stock exchange, and many
others. They very strenuously resent
ed Mrs. Shumaker's references to the
'firtatious" stenographer.
For my oWn part" said Mrs. Deane
last night, Il think it quite possible
for Mrs. Shumaker to have been mis-
quoted Public officials generally
take refuge behind the long suffering
newspaper man when they find they
have committed some political faux
pas. It will therefore not be at all sur
prisfng to discover that Mrs. Shumaker
really said something entirely fattering
to the working woman. At the same
time, it is my purpose to call on her
ind ont yxy11r1 %eSl,l H.,
OF course, we are not taking up the
cudgelS for all women who are en-
ployed down town. Some Of them are
not entitled to much consideration, but
what is sauce for the goose is sauce
for the gander. Suppose the nice and
eminently respectable, but outrageous
ly f1irtatious, old gentlemen of Chicago
or st. Paul, for that matter, were to
be condemned wholesale for the eyes
they make at those poor little stenog-
rapherS whom Mrs. Shumaker consid-
ers fair target for her satire and
wrath?
1--WE women who work take the po-
Sition that there is proof of the value
of woman in down. town offices in the
increasing width of her field. Why is
it that even in court reporting, which
was originally given over to men eX-
clusively women are now coming to
be employed in such large numbers? 1t
is because the woman is sober, more
industrious than her brother, more So
licitous for the interests of her en-
plOyer, less given to abSenting her
self during business hours. I do ~
believe that you could persuade any
large business house in Chicago to sup
plant its women 'StenOgrapherS with
men. The latter are less skillful oper-
ators of typewriting machines. they
make more mistakes in proportion, as
they consume more cocktails, and are
altogether less desirable.
1T is not fair to make the rule
general, of course, but it is neverthe-
less largely true that women who work
may be classified according to the peo-
pie they work for. A man who wants
a f1irty stenographer can get her, eth
er in Chicago or st. Paul. There are
such stenographerS, and for my part
1 cannot see that the disposition to
f1irt on the part of girl is any more
heinously criminal than the counting of
such a disposition on the part of her
employer.
"On the other hand when a man wants
a steady hard working, accurate wo-
man assistant in his business, he is far
more likely to secure one able to fill
every requirement than he is to get a
man able to fill the same large con-
tract. I think, assuming that Mrs.
Shumaker has been correctly quot
ed, and as her utteranceS have been
telegraphed about the country as val
liable, the business women everywhere
should have something to say. The
business woman's reputation is just as
dear to her as was that of the girl Of
twenty years ago who had nothing to
do with business. The new type is
fully equal to the old in a moral sense
and UNNECESSARILY superior to it men
tally"