Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1904-06-09
MANAGE MALE HELP.
NEW YORK WOMEN WHO PER-
soNALLY DIRECT woRKMEN.
Business Methods Employed Bring
satisfactory Results-Peculiar
Features Of the Various
Systems.

Many Of the wealthy women OF New
York ind it necessary to personally
oversee the work of their employees, both
masculine and feminine, and they are
rarely found unequal to the task. Among
these fair ones, says Gotham exchange,
Miss Helen Gould assumes the role OF
overseer Of the workmen employed in
renoVating the Gould mansion from the
moment they enter the house until they
drop their tools at night and depart for
home. Hers is no lackadaisical inter-
est in the affairs Of her decorators and
carpenters, but she makes each man
Step lively" in a most businesslike
fashion. A rule that is never sweryed
from In the slightest degree is that OF
enrolment. II a man doesn't wish to
be enrolled he must go; II he objects to
being numbered there is another to take
his place. AS the average laborer is not
very rebellious when 1t comes to matters
of this kind Miss Gould usually finds no
difficulty In writing down the name OF
each man and setting q number oppo-
site 1t, this number corresponding 10 .
badge Of blue ribbon which she causes
to be pinned to the mans coat or sus-
pender strap.
This done in the first hour when the
workmen enter the house, they take up
their various branches Of work and the
unsophisticated thinks he is left to the
sole management Of his master work.
man. But not so; Miss Gould goes
among her workmen once during the
morning and surveys their work, with
the observation Of woman who may
change her mind hundred times before
the work is completed. Then comes the
noon hour. II the men are not back at
work when they should be Miss Gould
wants to know the reason for the delay
and Immediately inquiries into the mat
ter. When these men work in the after
noon Miss Gould is generally among
them twice, directing a change here,
suggesting a different pattern or some
new and fantastic idea
A different atmosphere pervades Mrs.
Stuyvesant Fsh's home. Mrs. Fish is
extremely considerate toward her work
people. If they are not exactly on time
she does not consider that serious Of
Tense has been committed; If they are
10 or Is minutes late at luncheon time
she does not call them to account for
1t; IL their work is we'll under way at
night they are dismissed little before
the usual time and are treated always
with dignifled amiability.
AS usual thing luncheon is brought
by them, but in this house they are
served with luncheon In a room set aside
for this purpose. Almost constantly a
band Of men are about the house They
may be carpenters doing odd jobs, or
decorators, but whoever they are this
room has been set aside and there at
noontime they are RECALLED with a SUBJ
stantial luncheon. There, too, are to be
found, books, papers and cards with
which they may pass away the time
after they have finished their meal
In Mrs. Clarence Mackay's home
there exists neither the strict rule of
the Gould home nor the almost too le-
nient atmosphere Of the Fish work
hours, but a happy medium is arrived
at and authority assumes mask that
is, to say the least, not disagreeable.
The old rule that is rarely ever broken
is that Of the workman's dress. He
must wear white. Mrs. Mackay may
then know just how neat the men are,
while in dark suits 1t is impossible to
tell whether they are full of dust or not
So band Of workmen clothed in " hite
is seen in the house, and they mount the
ladders and move about very silently in
felt-soled shoes; you might think they
were a band Of hospital attendants
rather than men who looked after the
welfare of the house. Each man Is en-
rolled here, too, but not il the manner
employed in Miss Gould's home. The
butler looks after this and their names
are taken, simply as matter of course,
so that should anything go amiss in the
work it may be easily set down TO the
man who was responsible for it and each
mistake "chalked" up against him. At
the end Of a day or week the man who
has made the most blunders is put on
the least particular work, and he who
has made the least is promoted, so that
there is something to strive for in this
house, and pleasant atmosphere is
created among the workmen, each doing
his best and knowing that this report
will be sent to the contractor who en-
ploys him, as 1t is always at the COM
pletion of each contract.