The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-06-27
BLONDE HANDICAPPED
DOES NOT SUCCEED IN BUSINESS
AS WELL AS BRUNETTE.
The Most Dependable the Woman
With Gray Eyes and Dark Hair
Points Considered by the Employ
er in Engaging Employees.

Just why light hair and flighti-
ness of character should be associ-
ated is not clear but that there is a
relation between the two is the be-
If of business men and business
, Men of long experience.
J proof of their theory they say
the great majority of the wo-
l-.4 occupying places Of responsibility
'.' stores, factories, offices and
L 1ols have dark hair. The ex-
.. tions, or most of them, 1t was
i.s2erted by manager Of a large
Establishment are of German or
Swede descent and have hair of
dull straw color, not the tint associ-
ated with the genuine blonde. The
manager added that even a German
woman who has arrived at the top
In business is apt to have dark hair.
Place the blond German in a de-
partment store and she will advance
&C q certain point and stop, it is as
serted. Seldom or never will she
take the command of a department
OF assume high responsibilities. She
may not be frivolous, but she al
most always lacks initiative.
On the whole, however, she wears
better than the employee of Ameri-
can, Irish, English or French birth or
decent with light hair; but that. il
seems, is not saying a great deal in
her favor.
when engaging help references
and experience are the two main
considerations" said the manager.
Next | take in the applicants gen
eral makeup.
"If she has holes in her gloves or
other indications of lack of neatness
! am apt to pigeonhole her applica-
ton on the chance of some one else
turning up for the job. l don't care
what color hair she has.
Another applicant Is dark haired
not trifle untidy and shabby and
not so well set up as the blond girl.
But my twenty-one years of expert
ence tells me to give to her, not to
the blond the place, provided her
references are equally good. This
describes the class of employee who
gets from Sc to $40 a week.
Twenty-Five years ago, when the
department store business was young,
employers laid far more stress on
good looks than they do now. l
don't know but what at that time
r,,den hair might have got a young
V"'ran a Job at any time. l do
" that 1t won't get her a Job
in this store, anyway. The
n is ! fight shy of golden haired
mp!oyees.
No, it's not because they want
10 run and look in a mirror oftener
than dark haired women do, or that
they are more on the lookout for
but only that they are less valuable
ia a business way, less ambitious,
less original. less capable, not such
hard workers.
The most dependable of the high
est paid women in this store, with
one exception, have brown, dark
brown and black hair, gray, brown
and black eyes. The cleverest one
Of all, to my way Of thinking, has
brownish hair and rather small gray
eyes. And, by the way, gray eyed
women, l find are smarter In bust
ness than brown eyed women as a
general thing.
AS regards intelligence and per-
apicacity the light haired girl is not
without champion. A man who
employs quite large force OF steno-
graphers was of the opinion that
young women with blond hair were
In these respects fully the equals Of
the darker haired type. Said this
man:
Il venture to say there is no
shade Of hair that ever grew on a
human head but has been seen in
this office during the last seven
years, and l can't say that am pre-
pared to give the palm to the brun-
cite shades more than to the blonds.
In fact, come to think of 1t, the
fastest dictation a private stenogra-
pher has ever allowed me was given
to a girl with bright yellow hair.
She was a rattler at the type writer,
too.
Keep her? Well, no. The troub-
le with her was she took too many
days off. Just when / was at the
busiest along would come a note
that Miss Smith was not we'll or that
her mother was i'll or that relative
had died. Perhaps It was all true,
but | decided my work needed some
one less unfortunate and who /
could be reasonably sure would turn
UP every morning.
And | succeeded, The one who
replaced her is steady as a clock;
never asks for or takes an hour of.
Her hair? Well, come to think
of 1t, it's quite dark. New York
Sun.