Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-14
SHORTHAND WRITERS
Male Stenographers Said to
Be Better Than Female.
MORE TRUSTW GRITTY
YOUNG WOMEN DO NOT LIKE TO
LABOR OVERTIME.
Comparison Of the Work of the Sexes
Jealous Wives Figure in Consid-
Grafton of the Question.
MORE TRUSTWORTHY
Special Correspondence of The Star.

Special Correspondence Of The Star.
NEW YORK, October 13, 1906.
Not long ago one of the great railroads
of the west gave notice to its large stan
| of women stenographers that. after GER
tain date. their services would be dispensed
with. No reason for the dismissal of the
women shorthand writer's was offered. The
officials approached on the subject merely
| stated to inquirers that the road Intended
to replace women by male stenographers.
and that was all the Information given out
few. weeks ago a New York young wo-
man employed as a stenographer by a
prominent New York politician was con-
victed of having attempted to blackmai
him by threatening to disclose the contents
of certain letters he dictated to her unless
he gave her a certain sum of money
With these things in mind the writer
hereof went to the manager of a large
Stenographic bureau here for enlighten-
ment. The congratulations of the manager
of the stenographic bureau were interest
ing.
II can only infer why the women Ste
nographers employed by the railroad were
given their notice." he said. las to the
woman stenographer who attempted the
Matchmaking scheme. her case was GER
tainly the exception that proves the rule.
She is the first female stenographer 1 ever
heard of-and my experience with short
hand writer's of both sexes has been
large one-who attempted to give her en-
ployer the worst of 1t in that way.
lon the other hand, know of many in
stances in which male stenographers have
essayed to blackmail their employers. some
of them successfully. Such inst ances how
ever, have become pretty rare in recent
years. Employers are considerably more
cautious nowadays in dealing with their
stenographers than they used to be.
They're not SO confidential.
II don't know Just why this is So but IL
Is fact Most employers who have very
| personal letters to write nowadays now in
dite them themselves with the pen 1t Is
probable that this sort of caution on the
part of New York employers, at any rate
has spread from the financial district.
Some years ago a clique of confidential
stenographers In the employ of a number
of big Wall street operators got together,
pooled the information they had severally
| derived from their employers, sold 1T on the
| outside and profted largely through series
of transactions of this sort extending over
| a period of nearly a year.
Clique Won Out
"They speculated themselves on the
| strength of their confidentially derived tips,
| and all OF them won out handsomely. SO
| that they weren't much bothered when
| their little game was tumbled to and they
were fired from their jobs. One of them
turned broker himself as soon as he lost
l
| successful figure on the curb.
| But while the woman stenographer is
! nearly always perfectly trustworthy. 1 am
| bound to state that her vogue. not only In
| New York but all over the country, seems
| to be rapidly departing. s-.
| Five years ago / got three calls for
women stenographers where l now get only
| one. This, too, in spite of the fact that
| there are probably one-half again as many
shorthand writer's now employed in New
| York as there were so short a time five
years ago. And yet the ranks of female
| stenographers are being constantly recruit
| ed. Every year the shorthand schools are
| graduating hundreds of them. more or less
| efficient, Notwithstanding the fact that for
some time past there have been whole regi-
| ments of unemployed female stenographers
| in New York
| Many of the unemployed ones, despair
| ing of finding stenographic work, have
| sought employment in other lines al much
| smaller salaries than they could gain If
| competent, in the shorthand field If COM
| petent,' 1 say. Since the question is put
| plainly to me I am bound to say that the
| great trouble with a very great many fe-
| male stenographers is that they are not
| competent.
| Possessed of quite ordinary educations,
| young women with their iivings to earn,
| and many who simply desire to achieve
| that species of independence which comes
| with the possession of weekly pin money,
| flock to the shorthand schools. apply them
| selves to the study of shorthand with
| what they imagine to be vast diligence for
| a few months get their diplomas, and fare
| forth in search of employment. confident
| that they are up to any test that may be
| given them.
j "a great many of them come here and
| have their names enrolled on my lists, or
| try to have them so enrolled That, how
| ever. is not so simple a matter. 1 always
| give candidates for enrolment on my lists
such tests as they themselves tell me they
| are capable of passing successfully.
Overstate Their Capabilities.
ST find that four out of five of the women
| overstate their capabilities, perhaps with
no idea of deceiving, but simply because
| they really imagine themselves to be mere
| capable than they are.
IF young woman tells me that she can
| take dictation at the rate of 125 words a
minute, give her dictation at that speed.
In very many cases the young woman who
| informs me that she can take notes at that
| rate falls down gIfevously in the test She
| either fails to follow the dictation and has
| to break frequently, which rattles her so
| that she can scarcely do anything at all,
| or when she gets to transcribing her notes
| she finds that she can't read them any
| more than she can read modern Greek or
| Arabic.
81 have, in fact, caught a lot of young
| women in the act of bluffing sadly in taxi
| ing dictation. They would overState their
| speed, find that they couldn't possibly keep
| up with my dictation given at that speed.
| and then. ashamed to break and frankly
| to own up that they couldn't follow the
pace, they have kept right putting down
characters that meant absolutely nothing
| at all-mere juggling with the pencil. Some
of them have even carried these bluffing
methods so far that they have actually at
tempted to transcribe the dictaton from
memory. and when l would gently sug-
gest that the transcription was not ex-
actly accurate. they would flush and tell
me that / was wrong, and point to their
notes, which were simply nonsense.
II put down the name of one woman out
of dozen, say, who applies to be enrolled
on my lists. The others are simply not
competent. Even a young woman who Is
willing to work for 81 or So a week as an
amanuensis ought to be able to write at
| least 10 words minute, and to transcribe
her notes intelligently on the typewriter.
But scores of girls come here every week
| who are not capable of passing even this
simple trial. They can generally struggle
through the dtctation in some sort of a
way, but when 1t comes to transcribing
their notes on the machine they go wrong
in many different ways.
Few of them have any idea as 10 the
proper arrangement of business letter.
| good many of them spell not only badly,
Of fhnvS1 y-frr~v,