The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1904-08-13
U)oindn'S U)orId
OFFICE WOMAN AS A
STRONG BUSINESS GETTER.

MARY Todd in Chicago Tribuneo
An impression prevails among tbs
better class of young women who looH
| longingly toward the commercial Worlc
! that its ranks are filled and over
| crowded with women already Thai
| they are overcroWded to the bursting
point with ''incompetents" is the wal
that goes up at the Business Women 5
| exchange. 1t is a tale of woe, however.
| that can only be construed as mes
sage of encouragement to the intelli-
gent young woman who turns to Office
work either from natural taste or from
| lack Of special adaptation to anything
else. Tt is the experience of the ex-
change that the general education and
versatility which is usually the de-
| spair of the girl who is suddenly
! thrown upon her own resources can be
applied to commercial work better than
anywhere else, and that there is no
| business upon which they can be so
directly focused by a special train
| ing which takes as small an amount
of time and money as does the train
ing for the better class of office work.
1t is also the experience that out OF
flfteen or twenty applicants who have
already acquired the usual foundation
by taking a course in stenography,
'iNiN II puI Oile WHO possesses these
qualifications even in a moderate de-
gree
At the exchange now is a little Polish
girl named Annie. Annie. although only
thirteen years old and scarcely able
TO speak English, even though she has
! been through the grammar school. is
would be- stenographer; or. rather
thrifty and ambitious parent insists
that she shall be a stenographer
whether or no. Annie, quiet girl. She
bright. She make you no trouble" says
the fond father. Others, too, are de-
termined that Annie shall make a
stenographer, and five schools are al
ready after her. promising to teach her
the much coveted knowledge. The
small Polish maid in the meanwhile is
engaged in a desperate struggle to
even become fair typist and, as she
studies, she holds her book up high
and energetically whispers her lessons
after the fashion of a small school girl.
II is believed, however, at the exchange
that her persistent teacher will soon
turn her over to teach it while YOU
wait professor. and that some fine
morning Annie will be foisted upon a
long suffering employer as a stenog-
rapher full fledged and finished.
Surplus of Incompetent Help.
That the commercial world is crowd
ed with girls who are but little above
the average is believed by the exchange
TO be the strongest inducement to
women of the better class for entering
a field in which more than any Other.
there rs room at the top if there isn't
room at the bottom. The good edu-
cation, general intelligence, adapta-
plllty, and, by no means. least of all
the good appearance of the Young
woman is shown by the requests on
the part of the employers to be her
cnlef asset. The list of qualifications
SAID TO be oftenest asked for by the
average man who comes into the ex
change, is one in which good appear
ance, with the power to approach peo-
PIE nicely, is emphasized as strongly as
the technical equipment MY work
isn't heavy" he often says. Il have
only from fifteen to twenty letters a
day, but want good speller, a good
grammarian, somebody who can pune
tute, and there is a simple system Of
bookkeeping and a card cataloguing
which she must take care of. as We'll
as the stenography. l would rather nav
$50 week than Sc, !" he not infrequentIv
ADDS, for somebody who is thoroughly
This class, however the
exchange finds it the most difficult
ehlng TO supply, and it reports as the
more common applicant the young
woman TO whom respectively and
respectfully mean one and the same
thing.