The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-04-03

en- and, while in most cases they are
filling the less important positions
the larger stores annually show an in
| creasing number of salesgirls rising to
the rank of buyers and heads Of de-
partments.
The invention of the typewriter and
the concurrent development of the de-
mand for st~enogradhers, brought into
the business world a great army of
women According to a census report
nearly 1O0,0 600 women are employed in
the United states as stenographers
and typewriters and this is one of the
few important occupations, in point
of numbers, open to woman which re-
quires technical training in addition
to a good general education. OF the
female breadWinners over Is years of
age, Is in every 1000 We're stenog-
raphers in 1900 in comparison with
n in every 1000 men breadWinners.
The largest number of s~tenographers
are to be found in New York and IL
linois because of the great CONNER
cial enter contained in these states.
One of The special peculiarities noted
by the census man, in connection with
olllS NJ ljiiS blbll'h VI 60
tivity is that they are more frequent
ly unmarried thar women in any
other class of wage earners, 10 out
of every 20 being unmarried. The
woman s~tenographer has more oppor-
tunities for advancement than she
has in most other professions because
of the knowledge she frequently ac-
quires in connection with her work.
Not all of them, however, are capable
of utilizing this advantage quite so
well as did Miss Amy Byrum of Ok
lahoma City, who, while s~tenograph-
err in a real estate office. absorbed a
sufficient knowledge of values to en-
able her to invest her own savings
and, subsequently, to open an office
of her own in which her real estate
transactions realized for her $40
600 in less than a year.
While a number of classes Of bus
mess houses are closing their doors to
women, there never was a time of
greater demand and opportunity FOR
the earnest and well-qualified bust
ness m The opportunities for
securing increased business training
are opening up rapidly even to the
girl who already is obliged to earn
her w living. One of the charges
made against Women in the business
world is that they have not been full
ly competent in many cases for the
responsibilities they assumed, but they
are awakening to the fact hat they
must give earnest, careful attention
if they are to win success, and often
tho rooJ re additional qualification
is felt. An organization in Boston
known as the Woman's Social union
has for it's chief object instruction for
girls, especially those who are already
engaged in the business world. A
salesgirl may learn expert salesman
ship by attending night classes which
will fit her for business responsible
ity she never could have assumed
otherwise. The ~stenographer is help
ed to increase her speed and accuracy
as well as to improve the compost
ton of business letters which may be
entrusted to her. Foreign languages
frequently help a in a Sbusi-
ness as well as a social capacity land
these can be acquired while holding
a position. sr
Ic i SuSi SllSStSf 6lNc
to the services of the girl attending
them are SO well recognized that a
number of the leading mercantile
firms of Boston are sending their
clerks who desire such an opportun-
ity, allowing them to attend classes
from one to three times a week dur
ing the morning or afternoon without
loss of salary on account of absence
from the store. A man who has been
giving this business training to his
store girls for several years, claims
that the added efficiency of the girl
more than repays the expenditure af-
ter a few months.
The success of this institution in
Boston has induced other large firms
in other cities to attempt to give ad-
ditional business education to the
girls in their employ. One of the larg-
est stores in Philadelphia conducts a
regular school, the privileges of which
are available to any employee. 1t has
enabled many a salesgirl to qualify
for expert craftsmanship or for a posi-
ton as stenographer when hat calling
seemed preferable to selling. One girl
had a taste for French. Lessons were
provided for her by the firm. Thus
she was enabled to be more useful
in the French underwear department.
She continued her studies, at the same
time giving her attention to that es-
pecial branch of the business. Now
she is a buyer, earning a handsome
salary and spending half the year in
Paris where she selects the finer
grades of women's clothing for the
firm which made her present pleas
ant position possible.
Nearly half a million women in this
country are engaged in business upon
their w responsibility. In Pennsyl-
vania a m has a large general
store which supplies most of the needs
of the community and in addition is
the manager of a coal and lumber
business which was established upon
a rather uncertain footing at the time
of her husbands death. The woman
had no commercial training and, as
the mother of five children, no op-
portunity for acquiring any, but she
set valiantiy to work and, despite the
difficulties encountered in the way of
dishonest foremen and the influence
of friends who wanted her to close
cut the business at a time when it