OCR Text |
Show BUSINESS WOMEN MUST DBES3 PLAIN ((Chicago Tribune.) There is a whisper going the round.5 of business offices in' which woman ar;-employed ar;-employed that employers are getting more fussy every day. Some of the older women point out complainingly that there was a time when practically all a man did or said when engaging a woman clerk was to look at her credentials cre-dentials and ask how much salary sue wanted. That was in the dnys when women stenographers were almost scarce, when women typewriters were les? Plentiful than they have since become, and when a burning desire for an independent in-dependent supply of pocket money dil not so often impel girls as soon as they put on long dresses to apply for office employment. At any rate, whatever the reason, it seems to be true that since the supply of women stenographers and typewriters typewrit-ers has grown to exceed the demand employers are becoming more and more exacting in regard to the appearance of the young women they engage to work for them. This Is just as true or the large up-town dry goods stores ; which employ thousands of jvomen as j It is in down-town offices and whole- j sale business concerns. ! Demands High Linen Collars. A young girl came out from an office building the other day, her nose in thi air, her face flushed with indignations "The idea!'-' she exclaimed to a wait ing friend. "That horrid man told me that he expected his clerks to wear high linen collars and not a low neck waist. Just as if my waist could be called low neck!" The girl was wearing a white cotton waist cut round at the throat and finished fin-ished with a narrow edging instead of a high neckband. In place of the neckband neck-band was a string of blue beads. Afterward in speaking of the occurrence occur-rence the unappreciative employer, who seemed to be anything but hard-hearted, said: "I am awfully tired of seeing dressed up clerks in this office. I don't mean to have any more of them. Thesa are not show parlors. . "The women clerks don't have to receive re-ceive visitors nor to entertain customers. custom-ers. Stenographers and tyaewritera are here to do that work and nothing else. Hit Clerks to Work. "I believe there are still offices in Uiis city who like to make a showpiece of the stenographer, just as there are restaurants res-taurants which employ none but exceedingly ex-ceedingly pretty cashiers; but they are comparatively few and far between. The great majority of business house? hire stenographers to work, and they make no distinction between men and women. -. "In fact, in the husicess world todai the question of sex is not considered In laying down rules. - If woman wants to compete with man and do it success" fully she must not look for. special privileges. . ' "Now, in the case of dress, -for instance, in-stance, I think: a woman's . business dress ought to be neat, inconspicuous, serviceable. Gauzy fabrics which reveal re-veal the neck and arms, chains, floating float-ing ribbons, and flashy jewelry are cer tainly not appropriate accessories to a I business uniform. "I made the discovery long ago that the girl who is much fixed up in busi-nessTiours busi-nessTiours generally works with he.-eye he.-eye on the clock and puts her hat on at least five minutes before it is time to go, and that sort never becomes valu-eble valu-eble to the employer, no matter how smart she may be at her work." "I think it is only a question of time when the rule now in vogue in the best dry goods stores in regard to. saleswomen sales-women will apply to stenographers, typewriters, all women employes. In those stores black dresses are demanded. demand-ed. None may wear a colored gown, not even the heads of departments. In one store the manager goes so far as to ; Prohibit even a turnover collar oi blue, pink, red, or any other bright tint. : Turnovers must be white or else none ; can be worn. Neither are fancy chains nor showy jewelry tolerated. "Yet I think some businesss men are ; going too far. I do not always find that the plainest appearing girls are the besi workers, or that the girl who touched 1 up her hair and wears bows in it Id ( bound to take little or no interest in ( her work. Far from it. . Concentrate Mind on Work. ' "An almost infallible test I find is , this: When talking with an applicant, if she gves me her . whole attention, keeps her eyes in front of her no mat- : ter who passes behind her or at her side, or in and out of the office, until 4 our interview is over, I am satisfied that that girl will be able to concen- trate her mind on her work. 4 "What business men are looking for i is women who in business hours can 1 put their attention on their work and kept it there. No other sort is of any 4 value, no matter what sort of regalia 4 ?he wears or what color hair she has. j "I have noticed, though, that dark j laired girls are less giving to primping 4 n office hours and less flirtations and 4 ippear to be less taken up with outsida nterests of their own than the Jlondes." 4 Why Women Are Lopsided. Ninety-nine out of every 100 women in Chicago are lopsided. . But cheer up, girls, the same or worse is true all over the world, says the Tribune Tri-bune of that city. There are only three sources from which you can get an honest statement of fact on this important, point: these origins of frank, and maybe helpful, utterance ut-terance are the doctor, the dressmaker and the newspaper. What made you lop'sided? A New; York doctor says that hanging t street car straps day after day." If for but twenty minutes, will produce curvature of the spine, hump shoulders and "static distortion." Do you average 12.ri minutes a week of strap hanging? If so, you may be sure you arc in "bad slHipe" or you will become permanently deformed. Dr. Nina E. Gould of Chicago says that many school children develop spinal curvature by the habit of sitting on one foot. Low desks often prompt children to raise themselves by slipping slip-ping one foot under, them. A twisted spine results and a majority of Chicago school children, especially girls, have crooked columns of vertebrae. ." "Swinging to a street car strap," iiaid Dr. Gould, "may easily be the origin and cause of a curvature, especially with women of short. stature. .As for me, for instance, I am so small that I have to tiptoe before I can catch hold' of ' avs(reet 'car -strap.V'SniaM women may, and I dare say do remain almost suspended by one hand, and if the practice prac-tice should be continued regularly I believe be-lieve they might become deformed." Frank Hayden, conductor of the Harlem Har-lem street surface cars, says most women wo-men are one-handed. "I have noticed that women all grab the strap with their left hands and seldom change, no matter how far they have to ride standing," stand-ing," said Hayden. "My wrife says a woman likes to have her right hand free because her pocket is generally on that side and because she usually has a pocketbook or a parcel to take' care of. If women get crippled from hanging hang-ing on to street car straps I'll bet they're crippled in the left shoulder. Just watch them for yourself. Nine women out of ten will swing to the roof by the left hand." Ernestine Morse, who has been selling ready-made suits in a State street store for ten years, says that nearly ' every woman in Chicago is lopsided. ' There is a physical culturist in Chi-I Chi-I cago who contends that clinging to ' street car straps has a tendency to increase in-crease the stature of its victims. He says that the proper attitude in strap hanging is to get a strap in each hand, and if possible try the giant awing for athletic exercise. This will elongate the body and may add an inch or two to the stature if persisted in. But all authorities agree that one-handed strap swinging is deformatory and may produce structural difficulties. It is estimated that 5,000 women hang to street car straps by one hand for two hours apiece every week. |