My Sisters Telegraphic: Women in the Telegraph Office ... - Monoskop

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WOMEN’S ISSUES IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE
cooping her up in a room by herself or with others of her sex, away
from all chance of gaining knowledge, or emulating those who are
in the front rank. If men and women could change places, how
think you the former would come out? If we were hampered and
excluded as women have been for centuries, where would be our
boasted superiority?
Smith then discussed the issue of business skills, noting that the supposed
tendency of women to “jump at conclusions” was simply a lack of familiarity
with business terminology: “When a ‘lady operator’ translates
‘feels’ for the commercial term ‘fob,’ or ‘seed’ for ‘C. O. D.,’ simply because
she doesn’t understand the meaning of either, we think it time she be permitted
to take instructions from those who are experienced in ‘all the arts
men practice.’”
Drawing a comparison to the working conditions of women in other
occupations, Smith stated that he had recently visited a printing business in
New York City, where he saw “a dozen or more women type-setters penned
up in a room not over ten feet square, steaming hot with feted [sic] air,”
while “in the adjoining room, (100 x 30 feet) were half a dozen men compositors,
enjoying plenty of room and air.” He added, “These women are
probably never allowed to go beyond mere composition, and are then spoken
of as being unequal to their brothers, and denounced as reducing prices
of labor.” Smith concluded his editorial by exhorting his readers to “compare
these instances and draw your conclusions. It is easy to discover the
reason why women are said to be inferior. If you keep a human being a slave
for three score years, he may become a philosopher to a limited extent, but
will never reach perfection in the ‘arts men practice.’” 14
Lewis Smith’s eloquent and impassioned defense of the right of women
to enter the occupation and join the NTU was intended in part to generate
support among the readers of the Telegrapher for a motion to admit women to
the NTU at its upcoming national convention. He and other NTU officials
who were sympathetic to the cause of the women telegraphers determined to
put the issue of membership for women to a vote at the NTU convention,
to be held on September 4, 1865, in Chicago. Their strategy was to push the
issue to the fore while it was still fresh in the minds of the NTU members.