Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-05-04

home. Man has always been the pro-
WIDER. When she leaves her proper
environment for the business life she
Is at once at disadvantage. The
qualities that make her fitted as q
power in the home are hindrance to
her in business. The nature that is a
shining light to husband, or to chill.
dren, is all at sea when it begins to
grapple with the problems Of money
making.
way the new woman who is sup
posed to be creature altogether diff
ferent from the old, does not make a
good business unit. For all the talk
about women replacing men in Office
work is wrong. There were few years
of experiments. Many firms, delighted
at the way in which women accom-
plished their duties as stenographers,
went to work and installed many
other women as clerks. But the ex-
periments are over now. When you
hear now of firm asserting that they
are putting in women clerks in their
offices@ you can depend upon it that
that firm is content to have and wants
to have, cheap class help"
A canvass of the larger Offices in
Chicago's business portion has
brought out the information that ex-
.cept as stenographers the women are
not being employed and that men are
replacing many Of them even as Ste
nograph'ers. There are two reasons
for this apparently. The men are
more able to work overtime and do so
with less trouble than do women. In
addition to this, they are regarded as
more capable of being developed into
confidential clerks. quasi officials of
the companies. Every live business
man of the present day is looking for
a man who can fill a position above
the one In which he begins work.
Then when an opening occurs he is
able to put into it man already in
his own employ without breaking i'm
a new man, one whom he does not
know and who does not know him.
Experience has shown, business men
say, that the men are more able to
take positions of business responsible.
ity than are women. SO the plant
that the woman is crowding the man
out of the business world and decreas.
ing his opportunity for making money
is not likely to be borne out in fact.
There are few women who have
risen to high positions in the world OF
business, but they appear to be excep
tions to the general rule and they are
in fact, so few that the names of all
of them could be remem bered with
but little effort. Miss Tarbell, who
was John D. Rockefeller's confidential
man" for some years and received a
large salary, has taken advantage Of
woman's prerogative since she left
his employ and has given away many
secrets, either real or alleged, which
have tended to injure John DIS. rep
utation for strict business integrity
and honesty. The young woman who
is President Alexanders private secre
| tary and draws a salary Of severa
thousands annually, was formerly 6
stenographer in his Chicago office an6
worked her way to her present posi-
ton. There are others, but they are
few. Still, they are frequent enough
to encourage any young woman who
does believe she has the ability tt
rise high, and not too frequent to jus
tify the pessimistic complaint ad
vanced by many men who say the
woman, with her cheap salary ant
pretty ways, is running them out O.
1 the business offices.