The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1915-01-15
Katherine Giles Is Leading Fore
caster of That impOr-
tant Crop.
BEGAN WORK AT So A WEEK
Her Reports, Gathered From Nuner-
Gus Correspondents and SkiIIfuiIy
Prepared, Rank With Those
Of the Government.
BY RICHARD SPllLANE.
Copyright, Mcclure Newspaper Syn ..cat

'tii'uSHout tHc WOTlu on cotton
crop mat now means a thousand I
hon dollars or more a year to
american people. At times, as a
suit OF a report which she issues.
markets Of New Orleans, New 70
Liverpool and IIavre are violently q
tated. Brokers buy and sell tens
thousands Of bales, risk hundreds
thousands Of dollars and the chan
IN the value of cotton means milljo
OF dollars to the growers and fl
splnneTs. Thousands of men acce
her report with as great a faith
they do that Of the United States 90
eminent in the preparation of which
dig force is employed in Washineto,
She works alone. She sits in an offic
IN Broad street that looks out on
we'll made by skyscrapers. The DOS
man brings more than 10000 piece
or mall matter a year to her. Sh
mas $500 correspondents scattere
throughout the cotton belt. She i
a student Of the soil, a student of tn,
weather and student of cotton. tn,
plant. She is a statistician par ex
ceiience and has made for herself 8
position in the business world that is
unique for one of her sex.
The girl who went to Wall street
was Katherine NJ. Giles. She ia q
woman now with the gray beginning
10 show in her hair. She was born
IN Salisbury, Orange county, N. Y. She
was graduated in the public schools.
She never has been to college. As a
girl she had a bent for mathematics
and composition. The Giles family
was a large one. There were eight
children, six girls and two boys. Ev-
cry one of the girls has become a suc.
cessful business woman.
How She Got Her Start.
The man who gave Kate Giles her
first job had worked in the agricul.
turai department in Washington. He
came to New York and opened a sta.
tisticai 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 interested in his business, she
naturally studied his methods of arriv.
Ing at the condition of the various
crops. His health was poor and she
old everything she could to tighten
his labors. The first recognition she
got that her services were appreciated
was when he gave to her the KEY to
MS letter box in the post Office. That
was strong evidence Of confidence, for
a crop statistician must be most care
ful OF his correspondence. Little by
little her duties were enlarged. In the
nrst year of her service her employer
had q serious illness. The work was
more than he could attend to and he
gradually gave up reporting on corn,
wheat, oats and fax. She took charge
or the cotton. She made I'D the re-
ports 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 a 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 it had Il good many clients in the
cotton belt, but the most reliable in.
formation about cotton comes from
sources that are not Intimately con.
cerned with the size of the crop. II
was left 10 her to open up new fields
ol correspondence. What her emp}ov.
ers wanted was accuracy. They Judged
her oy results. She remained with
-his 'irm tcr two years and then re-.
signed TO accept a similar posjtion
win Charles D. Freeman, who was ,
ne beard man for Price, Mccormick !
20. in the days when that concern
vas perhaps the largest in the cotton :
race IN the world and who. when the ,
|rnl tailed, went into business for him. .
ell ana became one of the most prom ,
nent operators on the exchange. !
She had been learning more and i
lore ahout cotton each season and h
'as broadening mentally. She is a +
oman CT keen perception and calm +
ldsmeat and as exact and painstak- f
lg where figures are concerned as q "
'ientlst Is in any laboratory work G.
undertakes. She was perfectly sat. @
lied with Mr.. Freeman as the EN-. 7,
oyer and Mr.. Freeman was per. ii
GUY satisfied with her as an EN-. "
nyee, but after she had been with fl
m two seasons she got q notion that
&c ought to get more money. Every. g,
Re else II the Office had received an n
crease In salary. She couldn't quite N
'derstald why she had been left out III
she made m application for an th
crease D,