The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 11, 1906, Page 15

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL.. BUJOMEN . m . . . . * . T ot - B A agen . il wh sh er words, m, have sur- 1a it he Dbeen watch- clock, mean to make sure not too much be giyen to a preoccupa Krebs bbie red the red . n redwe e reelf to ask of forgetting enthusiasm California’s nerease ment.” is m estions swiftly adminis! the tration es for red- perty we DR M whenever we so that $30.000 acres in Mendocino ¥ t 4 aged affairs so as to snities would have others would have so you accept the success won,” is my sug- e maintains that the com hes been due to natural rowet marketing red wh am of & does 24,000, ad fifteen mil thou and th rafiroad cam sch very -three companies &n- wood,” impor- ng whieh ours t year 000,000 fine es long completed, e little tres ooners, trans- ted with this f the Redwood and of ‘the Me Acme Lumber conflict of dutles. It's all umber, lumber. I am interested In women's every sort, though I have very me to give to any of the clubs of I am a member. I've been trying iccrease - for outside claime ttle headway tha The truth t I work to let go. the most pleasing of 1v business cares so I might but 1 seem to of the am too much wrapped the ex- ences that have come to me was my rk at the World's Falr in St. Louts. esented the redwood lumbermen, i of the fact that dqur building 1se of Hoo-Hoo—burned j tait opened, and had to be re- At in twenty-one days, we had a fine t and won a gold medal there isn't anything more to tell ef, T am sure one plan, aside from business, ests me very much—the plan of of the A. R. to provide old soldiers who do not want national institutions: the Government cannot pro- e for whole families, and when an oid es to the home he must leave m ere fs G g6t toward pro- from the made a start of the families dship of such a separation. The de- nt of which I.am president has property meéar Santa Monica, and two double cottages are completed upied, four 'old couples finding shelter and eomfort for their de- days. quickly as posgible es will be te a ‘colony, in time There i just one little sermon that entitle me have some the fumber of increased so we shall my years in: business may ) preach and that is that a woman may do anything she wills to do if she is not afraid to work. It is a sermon much needed by the women jist starting in business life far re than by the men with whom they will be associated. For a man will always give a woman the oppoftunity to prove her ability— times with an amused tolerance of efforts, it is true, but the oppor- tunity the thing—and if she in earnest she will have nothing to com- PUIt fs work that counts.. A single- ness of purpose that will not iet her waste her strength in divers directions goes a long way to make up for cer- obvious advantages the business has over the business woman. some is is tain mustn't expect that business etition . will Qe tempered to our \ity—that would” be absurd-but say that my competitors have taken an unfair advantage of me. 1 have had a fair chance and no one could ask for more than that.” Certainly no one should ask any that, and as 1 take my de- am grateful to Mrs. Krebs /ing us what a splendid thing n ) can do with “a falr chance.” position in the Lumbermen’s As- = as not been won through fa- vor Her opinlone are estéemed and her suggestions “oonsidered because they represent intelligent thought and good judgment : A generation ago the woman in business was @ rarity, paying the pen- alties always exacted from the pioneer. Without tralning or experience, her ability ®n unknown .quantity to her- self as well as to her employer, there was no place, for her to pegin except | with the small tasks, in the discharge of which fidelity and genuine interest might offeet her uncertainty of method. Thropgh experience is be.ng devel- oped a more, to direct othefs, and it may well be doubted whether be who maryels at the thousands of women workers, who, orning and evening, throng San ¥Fr. sco’'s streets, can fully realize how ny of them hold. positions demand- the hourly exeréise of calm judg- ing ment and of ‘the faculty we have come all business sense. For the West has accepted the new industrial factor cordially, and the fa vorable condjtions in .California have led to the establishment of new stand- sards by whi¢h women-and thelr work shall be judged. An experience that to would be impos- sible In any State but our own is that of Mrs. M. B. Sherman, whose ragch near Fresno has brought her health and wealth and happiness. “When I remember the Fresno plains of thirty years ago,” says Mrs. Sher- man, “the yellow stubblé under a scorching sun, the dancing spirits of fine dust the only moving thing in the tensc stiliness, I can scarcely believe this is the same place. We had just arrived from .Phila- delphia, and compared with the life and yety we had left the new hoimme looked almost forbidding. but now my vines and irees spread a living green over these plains, and there are broad fields of alfalfa over which the wind always blows cool and sweet. “How was_ it all done? Very ‘slowly conselousness of power to do * and almost of itself. I mean that one thing led to another. .I didn’t set’ out to'do all this from the beginning. “In the first place I had only 160 acres, thinking. I.would.. sell. {f . 2gak. . when values increased. There was a queer house on the place and. the land was raw and unimproved, except for ten acres of wine grapes, four acres of mixed varteties and about thirty acres set inalmond trees. Brysed ) “I tried a year of wheat planting, but decided to follow the example of. my neighbors in the valley and planted ‘a 40-acre vineyard of’ Muscat grapes -for raisin making. This was steadily added to until there were 200 ‘acres of Muscats. “‘Bartlett pear, olive and peach orchards followed and then a table grape vineyard, the profits from the ratsin grape vineyard sufficing to carry the expenses of the young orchards until they began to.pro- duce their own revenue, “From the first 'we Had trouble’ in finding butter for table use—often what, was offered was really not.fit'for cooking purposes—so I'sent’ East :for books: and began the study of butfer-making. I &2 2 ERROR NORMOUS sums of money are fre- queritly’ éxpénded by’ various gov- ernments to rectify errors, often apparently trivial, in government printing. The . United , States, . some years ago, destroyed 4,000,000 telegraph forms owing to the misspelling of a single werd. In 1883 several hundred thousand greenbacks ~ were * cancdled before. issue: owing to the same, caugey: An employe was convicted, for attgmpting to stea: some of these worthless notes, with the intention of selling them to collectors. ‘The Ausfrian Government is so intoler- ant of mistakes that it cancels documents, not only on the ground of serlous mis- takes or misspelling, but even as the re- sult of a misshapen letter. The use of a small, instead of a capital, “B” in the word “‘Briefe”” led a short time ago to the destruction of 2,000 forms issued to the various . postoffices. In 1850 an Austrian. designer of baAk notes signed his name in tiny letters at the foot of a drawing. ‘The engraver copied the name, and before the mistake was discovered, 10,000 notes . werg printed, all of which had to he burned. A symbolical figure on another Austrian note was maliclously given a beard which could be seen if the note were held at a G INDUSTRY AT S ahaner e 5 A e R o s Crh e MR, . DD, XREDS AT TR DEE. found that meant the study of cows and stables and care of the dairy, but the subject was interesting, so I plunged in. #'The’ alfalfa taste had to be kept out of the milk and when that was accom- plished there;was the subject of bacte- ‘riplogy tobe taken;up as far as making cultures to produce a high flaver. certain angle in the light. Before thé unfon of Italy more than one attempt was secretly made to turn official péapérs and notes fo propagandist uses. A customi-hotise regulation form was so spced by the, compositor that the initial words in every line, if read corisecutively, Wefe a declardtion against ' the Papal glaim to.govern: Rome. In another case the spacing of words in certhin bahk riofes Was 80 arranged that by drawing a pencil line in a particular way a rude outline of the arms of Savoy resulted. These notes, of course; never +saw the light, the device being too. obvi- ous to escape detection. In 1901 a Spanish engraver was heard boasting that he had “signed his name” on every one of 10,000 bank notes just about to be fssued. When called up and asked for an explanation he declared that he had been joking. But an examination of the notes showed that certaln letters in one line were raised in a microscopleal distance above thosg next to them. These ralsed letters spelled the employe's name. Seven hundred and fifty doliars was the price paid by the authorities for their engraver's, joke. , X The Kaiser's persistent interference in all matters of art has cost the Fatherland heavy losses in canceled printed matter. ‘One of his first acts. a8 sovereign was to ®how his subordinates how the imperial . “Our triends sooh wanted a roll or two a week and T found I ‘'was carrying on quite a dairy business with a smiall farm outfit. This proved to be “the source of ‘income on ‘my ranch, so. when I needed money to carry, out seme larger plans § decided to enlarge-my dalry: “Two carloads of Arizona cows were S THAT ARE COS &8 LY « POOSO000009 arms should be printed. After many thou- eand forms and documents had been im= pressed with these arms an. antigquary of high authority proved to his Majesty that the new design was not only wrong, but also humlliating to himself. Seven thou- sand five hundred dollars’ worth of papers ‘were promptly reduced to ashes. In another case the Kalser ‘“‘sub-edited"” the German money order form'in such a . way that the people could not make head or tall of it. Finally the new form had , to be called in and tbohsdnds of unissued coples destroyed. . Fifteen thousand pounds’ worth of the 11-shilling postal orders had to be de- stroyed by the British General Postoffice some time ago owing to the poundage stamped on the face having been 1d, in- stead of 1%d, as It should have been. The estimated loss to the country was £100. England seldom has to put up with such losses, but foreign governments are less lucky. Both on the Continent and in America carelessness or wantonness in misprinting money orders, telegraph forms and bank note¢s has led to serious loss and curious complications. France.has been a bad sufferer. In 1368 more than 20,000 100-franc credit notes were printed with a word badly mis- spelled, the error not being noticed until some of the notes had been Issued to surest “and Installed a steam plant the best T cofild .get and for the firat month or two after their arrival milking. time mednt a pérformance spmething ltke ‘Buffalo Bli’s show. Then I brought on fifty . Holstein. yéarlings from the East with large separator mnd power chusm. ' 3 -.“For quality, well, I won the first gold medal ever given for hlfalfa butter and as to quantify, 200 cows pald an average of $51.65. periyear each. “It was, the most natural thing in the world thatithe study of proper dairy con- ditions should lead to study of breeding to "build constitution and increase excel-’ lerice, and in carryigg out that work I haye bred several prize winners and have altogether more than twenty cows with records. of twenty pounds of butter per week. _““A similar care in selection has brought high ‘success” with my table grapes, and so ‘well known'are the shipments that we néveér.fail to make from ' this vineyard from $10,000 to $15,000° a year, clear of all. expense of freight, -refrigeration n*q ‘packing. “My olive orchard has a_pedigree, too:~ for I've learned the importance of b i ing in'plants as well animals. ~ And . that brings ‘me to oné of my fallures. “Oh, no: It hasn't 'been all a success. T've had just enough misfortune to. make me appreciate my blessings. “The peach orchard not properly selected, and so, tho the crop is abundant enough, the quality is only a the Bartlett pear orchard—just as it ‘“was beginning to bear nicely the blight came, and in spite of our efforts to check its havoc the trees were cut each year, more than the summer's growth renewed, till we finally had the pitiful stumps cut up for firewood. “Of co , I love my ranch and the life it makes possible. It should appeal 10 everv woman who is fond of the out- o'-doors. The profits are large, and, though the work is hard, the responsibil- ities_many, every day is worth while: “Think how much better It is to spend your life close to kindly nature rather than with restless humanity.” Mrs. Sherman's eves shine with en- thusiasm as she relives the twenty years and more since “her arrival In Califor- nia, and he who Tuns.may read the se- crt of her siiccess. She has loved her work, has studied it with/®agerness, has given it her very best endeavor. That would seem to be the royal road to all success,'for its mfle posts are those past wiich Mrs. Krebs bas pushed to her prominence. Mrs, Sherman knows no other, and\later In this'same day the same phrases awe '‘again offered in reply to my inquiries. In a charming florist's shop, this showing In every detail of its fitting less fhan in the plan of its countl blossoms an individyality, a dis touch of arrangement and combinati that gives .proof of original {deas. I know before Miss Worn tells last, a0 me that the store, with the outside work of decoration, engrosses all the thought of the thrée young women who have won distinction in its upbuilding., for eve thing well done bears witness to closest attention. “But,”: says Miss’ Worn, “there is no ‘story” in it., It is just work, such har work and.€o much of ft that if we didn like -1t” thoroughly we should be q worn out. .~ , “Getting an order completed may mean working all night. work_ all Hilght. “We. can't say were tired or were mnterrupted finish it tomorrow or next week be done at once. “As nearly all our orders are rush or- ders, the Irregular hours that result from taking care of them promptly very often leave little time for sleep or rest.” “Yet you don't séem tired or nerve worn.” I venture. “I showd say that the work and the worry of it with you.” “W¢ are Californians,” her plains with a smile, “and count That means we are. blessed with str constitutions.” “And that is fortunate.” Worn. “We need all the on time Then we that we and will It must strength have. And as for the difficulties we have overcome, why just to enumerate them would prostrate us all. “If ‘they hadn't come one at a time-— usually one at a time,” and she frowns as if remembering a few occasions on which the advance was {n battalions—"'w must have been quite crushed “And now?’ I ask “Oh, we'll never be through with them. of course. And, naturally, our trust none of it to others. We have as- sistants, but they are just that. We do the work, we don't direct them to do it.” Here quantities of exquisite golden daf- fodlls are brought in and Miss Worn goes to examine them, to make sure they are freshly gathered, every bloom a perfect one, while her sister, in indfcation of the completeness of their occupation. says: “We have given up théaters and con- certs and everything except our work. I think if we went to the theater we would g0 to sleep. Now, you can't make much of a story out of that, can you?" It isn’t a startling statement at all. The breaking with all outside interes’s is a part of the price women must pay for business success, but by the operation of a kindly law, if the work is the right work, there is no consciousness of lack. 1 bave thought many times this day of a certain wige man of Gotham who, when- ever he hears comiplaints df a “feminine peril” in’ the business world, comes for- ward with the assurance that though there be more women wage-earners than i ever before were known,.the number of wealth-producers among women continues so very small as to give no warrant for concern that man's ow fleld is being en- croached upon. “Women perform small tasks faitbfully and with- intelligence, .but they lack the mental grasp, the faitiative, to undertake business moves of importance.” That is his summary of the situation. and perhaps It Is as just'as a generality may be. But the training in small-affairs cannot but fit women for thé more important and it fs only reaspmable to expect that ameng the mote striking developments of this twentieth gentury will be the femi- nine captain of Industry. Sometimes large’ responsibilities must be met * without “ any preliminary training. This Is the-experterice of Mrs. John Kid- der,. distinguisbed as prepident of the only . absolutely independent railroad in the gountry, Her life had been filled with the duties of housewife. She had given little thought to matters not cofinected with her home and family. when the death of -her husband five years ago placed- In her‘hands. the actlve man agement of twenty-three miles of railway between Colfax and Nevada Clty—the Ne- vada County narrow gauge. In a day of consolidation and concentra- tion the Mttle road had pussued its inde- pendent way, and- the président desired his successor ‘to follow ‘a like pollcy in her administration. i 8o the Nevada County narrow gauge is pot for sale. Nefther i8 it a candidate for membership In any entangling alllance ‘with'a dig trangcontitlental brother. . Kidder bas administered its af- fajrs - with such good judgment that the road’s: net earnings Nave Wicreased from $2L187 . in <190}>-the year: before she as- sumed control—to 337905 last year, evi- dénce enough that she has proved entirely competent to the discharge of her unusual dutfes. Just as there was never a man who did a work worth while but was modest withal, 80 have these women of industry shown themselves unconscious of the uncommon in their achievements. ¢ Their love of home, their devotion to thelr families, are as important a part of It is the amusements and to business, and those who see In the em- ‘ployment of women a memace to . the American home. must admit a “lack of evidence” when specific cases are gomsid- ered.