The Washington times., 1917-01-27
WOMEN URGED TO
BROADEN ABILITIES
Working for One Employer and
at One Task for Too Long
Space Discouraged.

! II so. what do you suppose you would
do II you should lose your position? II
the firm should fail? How many hooks
have you out for fish," or other posi-
tons in commercial waters?
Are you standing still or advancing?
II you find yourself at the gaping
brink OF failure. on the abyss OF pow
erty after asking yourself these in
quiries. working women, do not quite
despair.
! There is still time to write to the
League for Business Opportunities for
Women. 242 Lexington avenue, New
York.
Question VIII BE Taken Up.
There your exact question will be
taken up and worked out for you. The
point in your case. which is the vital
spot Of trouble. will be pointed out and
methods for its cure. suggested.
How this league began has been
told of before, but that monthly
bulletin has been published by them
is comparatively little known.
In December the first number of the
first volume OF the Bulletin was
printed. And what was said in one
editorial in that number about wo-
men who work too long in one posi-
tion without getting anything but
mere living or salary out of it is too
good to lose.
How Letters Are Handled.
Co In ordar 70 dap,on.troto 40 othor
women how the Bulletin handles let
tiers asking questions and to give the
benefit or the canny advice at the
same time herewith follows the edi-
| torial:
The letter. together with a con-
take toward obtaining another posi-
ton suitable to the abilities of the
writer, was printed in the depart
ment known as the Vocational Coun
sell In the front OF the little pam
ment on the whole matter was as
follows. 1t was called, very appro-
priately:
Adrift.
"In another place in the bulletin
We published a letter from a bust
ness woman asking our advice, her
problem being that, after nearly ten
years OF service as secretary to one
man she suddenly finds herself with
out a job, not because of any short
coming in her work, but because the !
financial props have fallen from un-
der her employer. Having concen-
tod L.,
office and for one employer she finds |
herself now almost in the position
of beginner, with a limited circle |
OF business acquaintances, timid in 1
making new connections, with little |
knowledge Of how to capitalize her |
past experience and her difficulties |
increased through the competition OF |
younger women who are willing to |
take smaller salaries than that to /
which she has been accustomed.
Typical Experiences.
1.-THE letter is one every fedgling in |
the business world should embIazon
before her, so typical is it of the ex-
perience of innumerable women work
ers. II the position in which our cor
respondent finds herself were the re-
suit of careless, inconsequential work |
the case would hardly be worth a Sec
ond thought, but one can read be-
tween the lines a hint OF the con-
scientious service she has given, of
the faithfulness which has made her
invaluable to her employer during
ten years, and has held her to the
ship through two perilous years when
it threatened to founder.
Her experience, she writes, demon
strates to her that IL is not wise to
stick to one line of business too long
unless you have an interest in it
The wonder is that one can stick 10
one line of business through ten years
without having an interest in it so
vital that she gamers every scrap of
knowledge there is to learn from II.
without applying herself to a variety
of new needs, widening her horizon
so that At the end of that time she is
armed with experience and confidence
to tackle fearlessly new work along
the same line?
Eye to Outward Limits.
as there a man of any glimmer OF
initiative who would work steadily
through years without some plan for
the future. who would be willing TO
narrow the horizon of his business
life to dependence upon one indiyid- |
ual? II women are to escape the per
lis OF laundering in business they
must work with a plan from the very
day they enter an office, must look
upon their service to their employer
as a means Of individual growth and
development, with an eye always to
outgrowing the limits OF their i'm
mediate job, to charging their scope
and usefulness.
1.-THE writer OF the letter referred
to was in a financial office where the
contacts are varied and the oppor-
tunities innumerable. She became so
valuable as a secretary that she was
earning $35 week, but in the most
uncertain of all branches of business
she worked with a blind faith that
the morrow would be as safe as to-
day, she concentrated on her service
to one individual, made no effort an
parently to broaden her circle IT
acquaintance, to keep alert to the
opportunities that other women were
developing in the financial world.
Prom secretaries to fnanciers,
women are graduating every day