The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-21
An Authority IN the Cotton World

Copyright 1918 by the Mcclure News
paper Syndicate).
A Girl. who went to Wall street
fourteen years ago. to work for IS
4 = week has become a recognized
authority throughout the world on cotton
Ia crop that now means thousand mill
lion dollars or more year to the Ameri-
can people. At times. as a result of a re-
port which she issues. the markets of
New Orleans. New York, Liverpool and
Iavre are violently agitated. Brokers buy
and sell tens of thousands of bales, risk
hundreds of thousands of dollars and the
change in value of cotton means millions
of dollars to the growers and the spinners.
Thousands of people accept her report
with as great faith as they do that of
the United States government in the pre-
paration of which big force is employed
at Washington. She works alone She sits
in an office in Broad Street that looks out
on a Well made by skyscrapers. The post
man brings more than 10000 pieces of mail
matter year to her She has $500 cores
pondents throughout the cotton belt. She is
a student of the soil, a student of the
weather and a student of cotton and the
plant. She is a statistician par excellence
and has made for herself a position in the
business world that is unique for one of
her sex. q
Ine girl VINO went TO wall street was
Katherine Nj. Giles. She is woman now
with the gray beginning to show in her
hair. She was born in Salisbury, Orange
county, New York. She was educated in
the public schools. Most of the tuition she
got was in a school in Nyack. She never
has been to college. AS a girl she had
bent for mathematics and composition.
The Giles family was large one. There
was eight children, six girls and two
boys. Every one of the girls has become
a successful business woman.
The man who gave Kate Giles her first
job had worked in the agricultural de-
partment at Washington. He came to
New York and operated a statistical
bureau to furnish reports On corn, wheat,
flax, oats and cotton.
The principal work of Miss Giles was to
rule paper according to the needs of this
man and then copy the reports as he
worked them out. She thought he was
wonderful. Being deeply impressed in his
business, she naturally studied his
methods of arriving at the condition of
the various crops. His health was poor
and she did everything she could to ligh-
ten his labors. The first recognition she
got that her services were appreciated
was when he gave to her the key to his
letter box in the postoffice That was
strong evidence of confidence. for crop
statistician must be most careful of his
We're enlarged In the first year of her
service her employer had serious illness.
The work was more than he could attend
to and he gradually gave up reporting on
corn, wheat. oats and flax. She took
charge of the cotton. She made up the
reports ON this crop and sent them out in
his name until he died.
With the death of her employer she had
to look for another position. She got one
with big cotton firm. Her work there
was of character that was delightful to
her. Her employers wanted her to keep in
close touch with every development in the
south that affected cotton. How she was
to do this depended largely on herself.
The reputation of the firm was excellent
and 1t had good many clients in the cot
ton belt but the most reliable information
about cotton comes from sources that are
not Intimately concerned with the size of
the crop. 1t was left to her to open up
new files of correspondence. What her
employers wanted was accuracy. They
Judged her by results. She remained with
the firm for two years and then resigned
to accept a similar position with Charles
D. Freeman, who was the board man for
Price, Mccormack and company in the
days when that concern was perhaps the
largest in the cotton trade in the world
and who, when that firm failed went into
business for himself, and became one of
the most prominent operators on the ex-
change.
She had been learning more and more
about cotton each season and was broad
ening mentally. She is a woman of keen
perception, calm judgment and an exact
and painstaking where figures are con-
ernced as a scientist is in any laboratory
work he undertakes She was perfectly
satisfied with Mr.. Freeman as the employ
er and Mr.. Freeman was perfectly satis-
fled with her as an employe, but after she
had been with her two seasons she got a
notion that she ought to get more money.
Every one else in the office had received
an increase in salary. She couldn't quite
understand why she had been left out, so
she made an application for an increase.
Mr.. Freeman listened to her and thought
for a. moment. He was paying a fair
amount to her and probably was a trifle
annoyed because SO many of hts clerks
had asked for more money.
$50 you are dissatisfed?" he remarked
II dismissed a man two weeks ago for be-
ing dissatisfied"
She assured him she wasn't dissatisfied.
She was anything but dissatisfied.
He shook his head
4 A little later re left note on her desk
: saying that he would release her from her