The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-04-15

= perlorty In the world OF business,
laughed and said: 9 The idea that
woman Is threatening to Gust man rs me
leader Of the business world Is all idle ruaor.
Woman Is not threatening to do SO; nor VII! !
she ever. The reason for this is simple.
She does not mako as good business man as
does a man."
Other business men expressed themselves
similarity and mere man, who had stood
breathlessly By to await the answer
breathed freely again and wenton his way,
serone In the assurances that woman did not
threaten his mastery.
This was four or FIVE years ago. Whether
the change has come In these few years or
whether the men who talked upon that &C.
casion merely had failed to observe the trend
OF the times Is matter that IS Impossible
to decide, but It Is certain that should the
same words be uttered today there would
be no end OF clamor from hundreds OF women
who make their livIngs in the marts OF trade,
and from business men who employ women
BY the hundreds in direct preference TO men.
For the business woman has arrived IN the
fullest sense OF the word: Sho is here oy the
hundreds and she makes as good' II not
better, business man than the trousered
element OF the race.
Woman Now Cuisines Man.
This is a broad statement. In view OF the
fact that man has been the business man OF
the world for centuries and that woman has
been an active and prominent factor OF u
for only a few decades at the longest. 1t
seems hardly credible that woman should
have developed to point where she could
hone 10 compete with man In the strenuous
industrialIsm of the day. But she has, ana
she does; and It behooves mere man to take
notice Of the fact and acknowledge IT as one
OF the things that he new times have brought
with them.
One need not go far In any large mercantile
house TO find eloquent substantlat!on OF this.
Every large house now has Its women de-
partment managers. assistants, buyers, and
In other high positions previously entirely
given over to the rule Of man II Is not star
Ting to find a woman at the head OF urm.
and occasionally the firm Is ono that she has
built up alone, unaided, by the strength OF her
own efforts and her business ability. Be-.
cause Of her intuItive powers, which are
much greater than mans, because OF her
knowledge Of things that concern the woman
chopper and because OF lack Of the bad
habits that spoil or render useless the serv-
Ices OF many men. she has steadily won favor
in many lines of business and gradually and
insistcntly has ousted man from scores OF
positions which hitherto were strictly re-
garded as the property OF man. The business
woman makes the best business man! This
is not theory 1t is proven fact.
Not Confined to Minor Positions,
It has been customary, when woman has
been spoken of as a business woman, TO re-
gard her as clerk. a stenographer, sales
lady, or as employed In some other minor
capacity. This was we'll and good few years
ago. II Is not now A business woman now
may be general manager, q superint endent.
department head, a buyer. chief account
ant or a proprietor OF a business. There Is
practically no position of Importance In the
business world that she has not invaded and
counted for her own, there Is practically no
line In business In which she has not denon-
stratcd, as an Individual. that woman is the
compeer Of man. Looking hack over the In
lus,rlal history OF civilized countries for
the last forty years. and there Is no
phenomenon of such import as the wonderful
!nlluX or women IS partner of man In trade,
While she has made herself more or less
prominent In all lines Of business, II IL In the
department stores. the millinery houses, the
clothing firms, the jcwelry and drug lines that
she has made her most sensa tonal triumphs.
1t Is here that she has met man on an equal
footing. worked side by side With him at the
same kind of work, and gone UP the ladder Of
promotion and success Just as swiftly, if not
more so. than hcr stronger brother,
Department Store Her Opportunity.
The department store is possibly the pes'
place to see this. In actual demonstration,
day after day and year after year. y was
III the large department stores that women
first began to be employed in numbers large
enough to outnumber men. In the average
department store of today the percentage
OF women In 1.-The total number of employees
is something like SO per cent. Thus, where
there are twenty men there are eighty Wom-
en-, This percentage obtains throughout the
average store, with the exception Of the gem
eyal managers office, Here man still Is su-
perior, but even here he is threatened
Mos; Of the women employed IN the large