The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-11

girl to do who is entirely dependent upon
, herself. and has to pay for board az. iodg-
ing AZ New fork rates!
The superior woman stenographer hears
that there Is a great call for educated and
conscientious workers in New York. and
she hastens here only to find that her class
is entirely swamped by the overwhelming
numbers Of illiterate and often careless
and empty headed young girls, most OF
them having homes In the city, who are glad
to work for SO, 81 or $S a week.
She finds. moreover, that the averag &c
New York business man is not penetrating
enough to distinguish between her and
the members Of this latter class; and that
even II he did he would not be inclined to
give her any preference, as he himself
is usually most sadly lacking in education;
and since he does not know enough to use
good English himself, or write a properly
constructed letter. he can scarcely be ex-
pected to know whether bis ~stenographer
does so or not.
What he requires is rapidity, the ability
In fact to do two persons work, and II the
applicant is very rapid, both in her stenog-
raphy and her typewriting, she may per-
haps get a business position that is fairly
remunerative. Unfortunately many such
business positions are accompanied by
grave disadvantages.
W PAY; BETTER SURROUNDINGS.
The Office is probably noisy and dirty,
and constantly invaded by men who
smoke vile tobacco, wear their hats, trans
gress every rule Of grammar, and plenti-
fully sprinkle their conversation with slang
and profanity. II they have occasion to
address her they do 30 in an offhand, i'm
personal way as though she were q machine
put there for general use, or in a personal
way that Is infinitely more offensive.
On the other hand, If our stenographer
finds that she cannot stand this atmosphere,
and takes a place in the editorial depart
ment of zone publishing house, or as priv
ate secretary to some maj engaged in
educational or literary Work or something
OF tnat description, while she hndS the sur
rounuings more congenlai and less trying
to her nerves and Sensibillties, she also
finds that the salary diinini9nes in proper
ton as the surroundings improve.
In addition to this, she knows that nc
matter wnat sort OF place she takes or how
long she stays in II she can never rise TO be
anything but a photographer. she may be
a very intelligent and capable woman, but
no matter how much she gets TO know about
the business she will still have to sit and
take letters from the dictation Of some
cigar smoking assistant manager who per-
haps knows a good deal less ABOUT it than
she does.
POORLY TRAINED S~TESoGRAPHERS.
One heaB constant complaints on the
part OF business men OF TIE CareleSsness
and u~nreILab.lly of sterographers; aLu,
although there are III New YORK THOUSANDS
upon tho OF CONSCIENTIOUS, hard
working, capable girls. who earn a great
rtn-lf ~ Ta 4 tho ~ thny rot Naf ~ 10 ITrt h
euly a fact that there are also THOUSANDS
upon thousands OF sLenograpners who ale
not worth their salt. 1ilere l no tell
ing what they might be If tney were prvp-
cry educated II prepared for their work.,
ana Inen sufficiently PAID for their services
and trealed IN a bus inessllke mttnLer.
Inc trouble just at present seems to be
that a glrl ls forced out into the world be-
fore SHE has any wed pons wnerewlth 10
fight II, or even defend herself frCm 1t.
she nc sooner gets through the public school
winch, goodness knows, teaches her little
enough, than she is sent 70 a business
college for three or Blk months, M liz then
considered fully equipped to earn her
living. Thereupon a business man, who
wants to get hls work done for next 10
nothing, Il ges her as a stenographer;
and wnen he Tnds that the work Is zone
badly, he feels himself immensely injured
and bitterly voices his complaint frLin the
housetop.
THIS sort Of thing might be ~pardonable
if it existed only among families that really
could not afford 10 give their daughters
better advantages; but such Is not the
case. | know OF one nan who is a college
professor drawing a good income, whose
daughter, aged II, is d stenographer in a
downtown office gettirg OF 81 a week.
DAUGHTERS OF THE WELL TO DO WHO WORK.
Such cases are not at all rare-the
ranks Of stenogrdphers are not by any
means recruited exclusively from poor
families. 1t see ms to be the accepted
thing Just nov among all classes, except
the very rich, that as sOou as the dat g lters
are equipped, be it ever 80 poorly, To earn
so, and the fathers who brought them
into the world consider themselves thence
forth freed from all responsibility.
Girls, too, are impatient to get out and
earn their own living for OF course the
father and brothers are ear ning much
less than they would be doing if there were
no women in the busines word, and hence
the girl feels that it is as much her duty
as It is her brothers to start out and sup
port herself. A person VINO does not 60
about among business offices can have no
idea OF the immense .nu nbers OF women
that are employed in them:
know OF one publishing house on
Twenty-third street that does Ii fairly large
publishing business. In the combined De-
partments Of this place, with the exception
Oh Ine bllpplUk bCpti lhhCIb' ~ tbICO
males employed, the publisher himself,
the business manager and the office boy,
The rest OF the WORK is done by about forty
women, who work there day after day
for SIS, SO, 81, So, perhaps as high as $l2 a
week, and the two women VINO oversee
them get SIS each.
woMAN's RUSH INTO BUSINESS.
/ do not intend to enlarge here upon
the great social problem that this condition
OF afiairs entails, nor on the sort Of prepara-
ton, physical, mental and moral, that it is
giving to the women who are to be the
wives Of the men Of this generation and
the mothers of the next. What / have
aimed to do in this article is merely to
enumerate the facts and let each person
who reads it draw his own conclusions.
few years g when women fl st started
going into business life in gre1t numbers
there was rlerty Of very fine talk foating
about regarding the Independence, the
self-reliance, the nobility of this 81 tss Of
women, and Of the endless vistas Of rossi-
bilities that were thus orened up TO them.
To-day, too, one hears a great deal Of such
talk uttered by theo-izing men mir listers
in the pull it for instance, and women who
nave never done a stroke OF real work in
Their lives.