lars per week. Her list includes stenographers, bookkeepers, cashiers, salesgirls, factory workers, telephone operators, and even fairly good helpers in dressmaking shops. The exceptions are girls who have influence or an introduction through an employee standing high with the firm.
"What experience have you had in this city?" is the question hurled at the newcomer, until she begins to dread it, knowing that the preference will be given to applicants having local references.
It is not to be denied that often the girl from a smaller city or even a village develops into the better clerk or office worker for a Chicago or New York employer than dees the city-born girl; but until she has proven her worth, the newcomer must work at the salary of a local apprentice, no matter what her experience in her home town.
The inexperienced city girl must also start at the smallest wages which the superintendent of the establishment dares to offer, simply because, as I have explained in other chapters, the employer feels that her mistakes will be many and costly, and she will not earn the sum he pays her, no matter how small that may be.
Both the city and the country girl are forced to accept three, four or five dollars per week, quieting their fears by repeating the superin-
