The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-11-02
BY GERALDINE SARTAIN
and EVELYN SEELEY
Times SpeciaI Writers

AIEW YORK, Nov. "A tele-
~ phone rings in one of the
glass-lnclosed, cubbyhole Offices
where young women sit at desks,
competently thumbing card index
files.
Outside, in the larger room,
girls, sagging in Wooden-seated
rows, Strengthened up. They look
expectantly, hopefully, at the
woman with the phone at her ear.
A few jerk pocKetbooks open and,
with mirrors held conceaIingly in
the flap, dab at their noses. Each
strains to hear the phone CONVEX
sation.
"A clerk-typist, college gradu-
ate with live years experience.
Must be blond, not over 26, small,
attractive, assured manner, well
groomed. Salary SIT a week
Thank you, Mr. Blank. Well send
a girl right up, or several if you
wish, so you can choose" and the
efficient young woman at the tele-
phone clicks IL into place.
The brunettes snap their pock-
etbooks shut, some violently, some
resignedly as though it is a ges-
ture they have repeated often.
THOSE guys who need a good
Il stenographer and then Or
der what color hair she's to have
nuts, 1 call it,, a pretty girl with
chestnut hair comments in stage
aside to one of the lucky golden
rinse sisterhood.
Yes, and look at what they
want-nice, blond-haired waves
or dark ones-they always specify
trim ankles, classy clothes, a
lotta brains and all the work you
can cram into eight hours for a
measly SIT. It's lotta nerve
the other answers bitterly. Il
wonder what they think we eat on
and dress on. Well groomed!
Well groomed, my eye, on SIT a
week, with my father and two
brothers outta jobs for three
years."
She looks down at her tweed
coat. It's holding out. Good they
gave her the brown one up at the
"Y'' instead of that flasher green
with the fox collar. 1t will wear
longer, is in better taste and may
help her land a job. 1t f1ts-giveS
her "well-groomed' look. And
her old brown shoes shined up are
just the thing with that brown
beret from a Junior Lacquer.
The girl in the deb's former coat
is Mary Smith, 20, blond, three
years out of Erasmus high. That's
not her name, but it will do.
CHE'S one of the procession OF
- 500 young folk (both boys and
girls between the ages of II and
20 who file into one of the large
waiting rooms at the State En-
ployment Bureau, on East Twenty
eighth street here, every morning.
Sometimes on good mornings
seven or eight get jobs. Other
mornings maybe two or three.
Some mornings, none.
Mary Smith is a Junior" in this
employment bureau. Because OF
that, she's hard to place. Employ
ers want experience and a lot else
nowadays. With tens of thou
sands of girls to pick from, they
can be "choosey''-no matter how
small the pay.
Because Mary's Junior, there
are game rooms for her here, a
library, and even a teacher to
keep her brushed up on her dicta-
ton. She can play ping-pong or
bridge, read, lounge or study.
Keeps up their morale" Asso-
ciate Director Clare Lewis re-
marks. IF you left them alone,
they'd sit and swap hard-luck
stories. You can take their minds
off their troubles.
"NLDER people aren't SO easily
" sidetracked. They're faced
every minute by the reality of hun
ger, cold. They can't throw off the
pressing need for job for money
to pay the rent, buy warm
clothes, milk for the children, pay
doctor bills and other obligations
that have been piling up for three
or four years. That's why we
don't even try to have the older
ones play games. They just sit"