supply of first-class office workers is never sufficient to meet the
demand. A common wage for younger competent stenographers who have had
some experience is twelve dollars. Experienced stenographers may get
fifteen, eighteen, twenty, or twenty-five dollars, according to the
positions they occupy, the character of the work, and the responsibility
involved. Girls with managing ability may be promoted to hold important
positions. They may become assistant managers of offices or confidential
clerks or secretaries. Women in these positions receive salaries of from
two to three thousand dollars a year. In an exceptional case a woman who
is a manager may receive four or five thousand. But such positions and
such women workers are rare indeed. Eighteen dollars a week is regarded
as a good salary for a capable stenographer of some years' experience.
The average stenographer receives as a rule two weeks' holidays with
wages. This is an important consideration for it helps to secure her
health and general well-being.

It is often said that a small office offers the best opportunity for a
clever girl to win promotion. She is given work of all kinds to do and can
make herself indispensable to her employer. On the other hand, the work
may be easier in a large office since it is organized on well-established
lines. Salaries, generally speaking, are higher in large offices, but
there are fewer opportunities for promotion.

An unusually competent office girl with some capital may become a public
stenographer. But, in order to succeed, she must have business ability and
should understand clearly what she can afford and what she cannot afford
in office equipment, rent, and so on. The work of a public stenographer is
very exacting. Many stenographers are employed in the service of the
Government. In general, an examination is required for a position in the
civil service. The work and hours are regular and not exacting, and the
pay is good. Many girls, however, find work in a business office more
interesting, and opportunities for promotion are also better.

Some girls who have not the ability to become expert stenographers, may
be exceptionally good typists. Such girls may find employment in typing
letters from phonographs or dictaphones. Work with multigraphs,
adding-machines, or comptometers is required in larger offices. Special
positions may be obtained by girls who are of a mechanical turn or who
have considerable manual dexterity.