London and Southwestern Bank: “Women employés are even more faithful and steady than men. But when there is a sudden rush of work, as say at the end of the year, they go into hysterics. We find that we cannot let them see the work piled up. It must be given out to them gradually. This, I think, is due to inexperience. When women have had the same length of experience and the same training as men, we see no reason why they should not be equally as capable.” Now that’s about the way the evidence runs. You would probably get it about like that anywhere in Europe. There is some criticism. Isn’t it surprising that there is not more when you remember that it is mostly raw recruits chosen by chance whose services are being compared with the picked men whom they have replaced? In England in 1915 the Home Office moved to provide educational facilities for women for their new commercial responsibilities. There was appointed its Clerical and Business Occupations Committee which opened in London, and requested the mayors of all other cities similarly to open, emergency training classes for giving a ground work in commercial knowledge and office routine. These government training courses cover a period of from three to ten weeks. It is rather sudden, isn’t it, three weeks’ preparation for a job in preparation for which the previous incumbent had years? And there are thousands of the women who have gone into the offices without even that three weeks’ training. The cousin of the wife of the head of the firm knew of some woman of “very good family” whose supporting man was now enlisted and who must therefore earn her own living. Or some other woman was specially recommended as needing work. And there was another method of selection: “She had such nice manners and she was such a pretty little thing I liked her at once, don’t you know.” WHAT EVERY WOMAN KNOWS ’Um, yes, I do know. Somewhere in America once there was an editorial chief who said to me, his assistant, “Now I need a secretary. There’ll be some here to-day to answer my advertisement. Won’t you see them and let me know about their qualifications.” There were, as I remember, some fourteen of them, grey haired and experienced ones, technically expert and highly recommended ones, college trained ones, and one was a dimpled little thing with pink cheeks and eyes of baby blue. My detailed report was quite superfluous. Through the open door, as I entered his office, the chief had one glance: “That one,” he said eagerly, “that little peach at the end of the row. She’s the one I want.”