The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1910-05-20

Labor Commissioner Neill Of the De-
partment of Commerce and Labor, and
probably you wont be far out OF the
way. Every hello girl in the country
Will be busy trying to find out just what
the Commissioner has said about her.
Only few of them are aware that he
had dlssected and analysed them in q
report 200 or 300 pages long for the
instruction Of the United States Senate,
but these few have served notice that
they will insist on seeing in cold type
just what he has found out about them.
The commissioner has left little for
the hello girl to find out about her
self.
Look here, Cora" exclaimed one
OF the Washington telephone girls who
had got hold OF an abstract of the re.
port He says we gotta have a calm.
clear eye and steady gaze | know
l gotta clear eye, dear, but am | calm?
Go on, am /, really? (Hello, Hello.
Been waiting five minutes? Well, I
can't help that wires busy. And a
good appetite and healthy, rosy COM
pleXion. What you think of that.
Cora? Say, honest, | always wondere
how | got the job SO easy. But look
at this passage about the companies
handin' US men escorts to take us home
nights. That must be a government
joke; honest, it must be, doncha think
so?"
Complaints from hello girls that they
had to walk up too many flights Of
stairs to their work was chiefly respon-
slble for starting the Commissioner on
his investigation. He finds that the
telephone girls as q whole have no
ground for complaint on this score He
nails them right down on this PROPOSE
ton, giving the exact number that
have to climb stairs and the actual eff
fort that is expended Says the Com
missioner:
of the seventy-three exchanges re-
ported upon by the agents of the bu-
reau it was found that thirty-three
which were located above the first
floor, were not provided with elevators
VI these exchanges fifteen were located
on the second floor, requiring the
climbing of one flight of stairs; ten
On the third floor, requiring the climb
ing of three flights of stairs. The max
imum number Of operators affected by
such lack of elevators, therefore, being
required to climb one fight of stairs
was 60; those required to climb two
flights of stairs 1OS, while Is found It
necessary to climb three flights OF
stairs
The Commissioner finds that there is
no use of short girls trying to become
telephone operators.
None of the companies employ
short girls; they want girls that can
reach" he said. THE girl who is I'M
der five feet hasn't any show"
The Commissioner finds that very
few Of the companies take girls with
out first subjecting them to a physi-
cal examination. In some cities the
girls object to this, but these will be
surprised to learn that they were ex-
amined without knowing it.
''In one city where the girls inter-
viewed said that no physical examina-
ton or test had been made" says the
Commissioner, ut was ascertained that
tie applicants are interviewed by a wo-
man whose exact height is known, and
in talking to the applicants can BY
comparing the level of the eyes with
her own tell within a fraction of an
inch the height of the girl with
whom she is talking. Experts in C--rr
lines interviewed the c-,,;ifcants ana
ascertained their exact physical conu.-
ton"
Some of the companies, besides TO-
quiring of their candidates a calm. clear
eye, a good appetite and q rosy COM
plexiOn, demand that they Shall have
a steady hand and firm set jaw; also
that they shall not be easily eXcitable
OF G152 applicants the Commissioner
found that 1929 were unable to qualify.
544 being too small, SO too old, 436 TOO
young, II refusing to work on Jewish
holidays; 6 declining to be vaccinated
and 100 being lacking in personal an
pearance.
The Commissioner figures that the
average working life at the switch
board is only three years. He finds
that in no other industry in the United
States are 50 great precautions taken
to insure the health of the employees.
He has discovered that in the good oh
summer time the hello girls that is
the few of them that are sick, suffer
from digestive complaints probably
too much ice cream and candy.
The girls of many exchanges get
their luncheons right in the company
office "Hygienic luncheons," the COM
panies call them, and they say that