The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-05-10

The big hotel of to-day is a remuner-
alive field for women workers. 1t de-
mands the services of hundreds of
them. 1t largely depends upon them
for ultimate success. 1t pays thou
sands of dollars weekly. In this one
thing alone it conspicuously differs
from the big hotels of yesterday.
The women employees of the spacious
hosiery of decade ago were all mere
servants. In it's monster counterpart
of the hour they are graded all the
way up from cleaners to college grad
uated clerks, whose abilities to direct
the satisfying of the wants of the oc-
cupants of entire floors enable them to
earn comfortable salaries.
Formerly two dozen chambermaids,
half as many cleaners, and three or
four linen room girls, with a none too
well educated housekeeper over them,
constituted an especially large corps of
female help. At the most typical ex-
ample of the up-to-date hotel-the
Waldorf-Astoria of New York-this
force would be just about large enough
to take care comfortably of two of it's
D.
keepers, each selected for her acknowl-
edged intelligent executive ability, en-
plOy, discharge and direct the tasks of
10 Darlor maids, 80 chamber maids, so
cleaners and 20 seamStresses and 9TH
er workers along allied lines. Each
housekeeper has charge of two floors,
and all of them report to the senior in
command.
hundreds of Women Employees.
Large as are these figures, they rep
resent scarcely more than half the
women regularly employed. The floor
clerks and cashiers number 49, Four
clerks and cashiers number thirty
three. Four controllers audit the checks
of the walters. The laundry employs
seventy-five, the kitchen fifteen. The
glass pantrieS are taken care of by
twelve, the store room by eight, and
sixteen mattresses serve all these wom-
en-, for they live in the hotel. The
grand total is 345.
But many other women not in the list
earn their living in such a place. Does
the business man want to answer a
days mail? A half dozen stenogra-
piers are at his elbow. Has a woman
left home without her maid? ALI she
has to do to secure the services of an
expert lady's maid is to- make applica-
ton to the floor clark. Does guest
want her trunks packed? Professional
packers are kept in the hotel for this
express purpose. Is a Turkish bath
desired? The attendants are within
the four walls of the hostelry, and
manicurists and masseures and the like
are also within call of the bell.
In brief, all told, the number of
women who find work in a modern
hotel is not much less than 500.
OF these women, the clerks and the
cashiers probably fill the most i'm
portant positions.
what the Clerks Do.
The clerks in the Waldorf-Astoria,
for example, number two to each floor.
Over them is a man, but for all prac-
teal purposes the women direct the
work of looking after the comfort of
the guests They dispatch their corps
of page boys to answer calls. They
take care of the keys and the mail for
the different rooms. They fill orders
for flowers, laundry and the theater.
They have charge of the walters who
serve meals in the rooms, and juss as
they see that new arrival is installed,
so they collect his bill and direct his
departure. They make it Unnecessary
for a patron to depend on the main Of
flee. on the first floor. for anything
whatever.
Not an insignificant duty OF the
clerks is to keep complete records of all
rings, when made and what for. These
records are filed, so that if any ques-
ton is raised concerning certain serv-
ices six months or a year after rendi-
ton, an authoritative answer can be
given in a few minutes.
1t goes without saying that the clerks
must be intelligent, levelheaded quick
of action, polite, and diplomatic enough
to met and satisfy the whims and ca