The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1906-10-27
,ven in little OF NJ York"

ion. They are the steneographers,
typewr1ters, ~saleswomen,~ shop girls
that go to make up the! great mass OF |
New York women workers.
The last census says that there are
about $4,000 saleswomen, but the man |
ager of every big department store
and most of them have made the
subject study-says that this estimr |
ate Is too low for the present time.
In one store, the manager said, 5000
women were employed, from the cash
girl who got So week to the expert or
specialist who got as high as 500 a
week. Other firms he knew employed
as many, and the figures could be in
creased by half and the estimate
would still be conservative. One en-
ployer said that there were more shop
girls in New York than there were
places for.
The most notable advance in wom-
ems work all over the country has
been made in stenography and type
writing. In the decade before the last
census was taken the increase was 800
per cent. The Government estimates
that the great burden Of New York
business correspondence is born by
1000 girls and women. This number
is far below the estimate that is made
today. The increase is not SO great
as In the preceding decade, but the
manager of the New York office of one
Of the big typewriting firms said
| number Of typewriters at $4,000.
In the development Of the business
hn ut, IN
| essary to maintain training schools
and also employment agencies where
girls who can write correctly and ex-
actly are to be secured. This same
manager said that the calls made up
! on the employment bureau in the busy
season run as high as 200 a day. The
average pay for experienced operators
has been SIS and for graduates $3.50,
| while many places are filled at salaries
| Of from $18 to $35, where the en-
ployee acts as private secretary also.
More than $500 girls answer to New
York's hello" at the different tele-
phone exchanges. In the work the
last few years have seen many chang
es, most Of which have been toward
! uniformity and efficiency Of the sys-
the girl with a rising infection to her
voice, for they have found that it Is
| the best long distance indication to a
good humored response to the sub
scriber's call for a number. To let
her voice slide down to the lower reg
listers would be a serious defect 'just
like a chug in the jaw to the sensitive
man who calls up," said an expert OPP
! orator.
TO secure uniformity the telephone
| company has established a school that
has a course Of study extending over
four weeks. The girl Of from II to 20
years, with a grammar school educa-
ton, whose references are good and
| whose health is considered equal to
the rather arduous duties, Is received
as student. She gets IS a, week and
when she has completed the course
| she Is sent to one of the exchanges
and starts at double that salary. If
she keeps on and does her work well
her salary increases with her years.
and finally she may become a chief
| operator at $25 week.
The great trouble, the manager saws
attendance at the school Of 100. and
| they all leave to become operators.
They remain, most Of them, until they
get married. Matrimony is the en-
ployer's enemy; it steals away more
girls from the telephone than from al
| most any other work in which woman
is engaged.
The hotel is another great employ
er of woman labor. In fact, the man.
| ayers Of the big houses look upon this
kind Of labor as one Of their most SER
| ious problems. "A good chambermaid
is jewel worth striving for" said a.
| man who does the employing for one
| of the largest hotels. "They are hard
| to get and there is no telling how
| long they are going to remain after
you have got them. Then there are
| the laundry help, the women that look
after the linen of the house, the scrub
! women and the cashiers. The last
named is the easiest to get. The pay
| of the chambermaid is $14 week and
she generally has from sixteen to
| twenty rooms to look after. Her
| hours of work are long-those Of all
4lOtC4 plOyCCS OIL C"AOA "0 al ~
| much dependent upon the whims and
| wishes Of the patrons. The scrub
| women gets SIG week, and she earns
! it. The wages of other help vary
| much with the character of the work
and the efficiency Of the employee.
| but the trouble is not the pay-it's
getting the helD.''
The problem Of domestic servants
| Is one, any housewife will tell you,
| that rests not upon the employees but
| upon the employer. It has been a long
wall that has gone up from many a
| New York home, and as yet there
seems to have been no response. There
| are said to be thousands of women
| for Homework, from the cook to the
maid, but exactly where to find the
efficient ones is the problem that has
| not been solved satisfactorily.
| Most of the money received each
day in the great retail business of
New York passes first through the
hands Of the girl cashier. She is