Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 January 1915 — Page 3

WOMAN AUTHORITY IN COTTON WORLD

Katherine Giles Is Leading Forecaster of That Impor- X' tant Crop. BEGAN WORK AT $8 A WEEK Her Reports, Gathered From Num«r> oue Correspondents and Skillfully Prepared, Rank With Those of the Government.

By RICHARD SPILLANE.

(Copyright, McClure Newspaper Syn-emte.) A girl who went to Wall street H years ago to work for $8 a week has become a recognized authority throughout the world on cotton —a crop that now means a thousand million dollars or more a year to the American people. At times, as a result of a report which she Issues, the markets of New Orleans, New York, Liverpool and Havre are violently agitated. Brokers buy and sell tens of thousands of bales, risk hundreds of thousands of dollars and the change in the value of cotton means millions of dollars to the growers and the •pinners. Thousands of men accept her report with as great a faith as they do that of the United States government in the preparation of which a big force is employed in Washington. She works alone. She sits in an office in Broad street that looks out on a well made by skyscrapers. The postman brings more than 30,000 pieces of mail matter a year to her. She has 2,500 correspondents scattered throughout the cotton belt. She is a student of the soil, a student of the weather and a student'of cotton, the plant. She is a statistician par excellence and has made for herself a position in the business world that is unique for one of her sex. The girl whp went to Wall street was Katherine M. Giles. She is a woman now with the gray beginning to show in her hair. She was born in Salisbury, Orange county, N? Y. She was graduated in the public schools. She never has been to college. As a girl she had a bent for mathematics and composition. The Giles family was a large one. There were eight children, six girls and two boys. Every one of the girls has become a successful business woman.

How Bhe Got Her Btart.

The man who gave Kate Giles her first Job had worked in the agricultural department in Washington. He came to New York and opened a statistical bureau to furnish reports on corn, wheat, flax, oats and cotton. The principal work of Miss Giles was to rule paper according to the needs of this man and then copy the reports as he worked them out. She thought he was wonderful. Being deeply interested in his business, she naturally studied his methods of arriving at the condition -of the various crops. His health was poor and she did everything she could to lighten his labors. The first recognition she got that her services were appreciated was when he gave to her the key to his letter box in the post office.' That was strong evidence of confidence, for a crop statistician must be most careful of his correspondence. Little by little her duties were enlarged. In the, first year of her service her employer had a serious illness. The work was more than he could attend to and he gradually gave up reporting on corn, wheat, oats and flax. She took charge of the cotton. She made up the reports on this crop and sent them out in his name until he died.

With the death of her employer she had to look for another position. She got one with a big cotton firm. Her work there was of a character that was delightful to her. Her employers /wanted her to keep in close touch with every development in the South that affected cotton. How she was to do this depended largely on herself. The reputation of the firm was excellent and it had a good many clients in the cotton belt, but the most reliable information about cotton comes from sources that are hot intimately concerned with the size of the crop. It was left to her to open up new fields of correspondence. What her employers wanted was accuracy. They judged her by results. She remained with this firm for two years and then resigned to accept a similar position with Charles D.* Freeman, who was the board man for Price, McCormick & Co. in the days when that concern was perhaps the largest In the cotton trade in the world and who, when the firm failed, went into business forhimself and became one of the most |(romlnent operators on the exchange..

She had been learning more and more about Cotton each season and was broadening mentally. She is a woman of keen perception and calm judgment and as exact and painstaking where figures are concerned as a scientist is in any laboratory Work }ie undertakes. She was perfectly satisfied with Mr. Freeman as the employer and Mr. Freeman was perfectly satisfied with her as an employee, but after she liad been with hiin two seasons she got a notion that she ought to get more money. Everyone else in the office had received an increase in salary. She couldn’t quite ’understand why-she had been left out, iso she made an application for an

“So You Are Dissatisfied,” He Remarked.

Mr. Freeman listened to her and thought for a moment He was paying a fair amount to her and probably was a trifle annoyed because so many of his clerks had asked for more money. "So you are dissatisfied,” he remarked. “I dismissed a man two weeks ago for being dissatisfied.” She assured him she wasn’t dissatisfied. She was anything but dissatisfied. He shook his head. A little later he left a note on her desk saying that he would release her from her engagement over the holiday. In other words, she might go. The holiday was Memorial day. It was a sad one for Kate Giles. Of course she told her mother all about it. Her mother advised her to go right back and work Just as if nothing had happened. Miss Giles returned to the office, but was timid about speaking to Mr. Freeman. She told him if he didn’t mind she would continue as before. He told her no.

“When you want to leave,” he said, “you leave. You’ve done excellent work for me. You can do better for yourself. You have the notion of being independent, of building up a business for yourself. Follow that idea.” Mr. Freeman did more. He had furnished all the correspondents of Miss Giles with an agricultural publication of particular Interest to them. The subscriptions to these papers he had paid for a year ahead. He gave this subscription list and the paid subscriptions to Miss Giles. He was as kind and generous to her as any employer could be, but she faced the future with trepidation. It’s one thing to have a regular .salary coming in each week. It’s another to trust to luck as to what monetary return you are going to get It’s hard for a man to give up the surety of the pay envelope. It’s harder for a woman.

Miss Giles wanted ten subscribers to her service. Subscription to such a service as she planned costs a good bit of money. She got the ten subscribers. She had feared the fact that she was a woman might make some of the persons she applied to hesitate. It didn’t Without her appreciation of the fact, many men had come to know that the reports from Charles D. Freeman’s office were the work of a woman and that the woman was Kate Giles.

When she got her ten subscribers she did a very womanly thing. She went to Mr. Freeman and told him he had been so kind to her that she wanted to furnish the service to him free of charge-. He checked her before she had gone very far in her speech and told her he had given his subscription to her as a start in business and he didn’t want another word from ho* about it. Has Host of Correspondents. As her own boss Miss Giles has done things according to her own ideas. There isn’t a district of any importance In the cotton belt in which she hasn’t a correspondent. She has selected these correspondents with care. Some of them are cottonseed oil men, some are bankers, some are merchants, some are cotton growers, some are cotton ginners. Twelve times a year she sends to each of them for information as to the situation regarding cotton in their particular neighborhood. It costs nothing to them to furnish the information except the time and trouble in the writing. She furnishes printed blanks for them to write on and the postage to cover the cost of the mailing. Each correspondent gets a moderate compensation. In addition to answering each question she asks, the correspondent is invited to add such remarks as he sees At

Reports from 2,500 picked correspondents have decided value. But these only form one source of information to Miss Giles. She watches the weather reports for every part of Rio Grande and from the Ohio liver

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, INP.

to the Gulf with as njuch intensity as a girt does the clouds on the day of a picnic. There isn’t a shower in the South of which she doesn’t keep a record. There .isn’t a place in any one of the southern states of which she cannot tell you the amount of rainfall any day, any week or any month in the whole cotton year. She keeps detailed records in regard to temperature. She keeps track of the acreage to cotton in every county in the Southland. She watches everything in the way of improvement in plantation work Just as she does the ravages ol the boll weevil and the army worm. She knows the amount of fertilizer that is purchased each spring and over what section it is distributed. She is conservative. She knows her correspondents are honest and well intentioned. Probably no one in the cotton world ever had a better lot. But she knows, as everyone knows who has had anything to do with agricultural correspondents, that the vision of the reporter is colored at times -by the sentiment or the belief of the people in his neighborhood. She has to gauge the human element as well as the elements of nature-in her calculations. She takes her 2,500 reports and studies them, putting down figures and comparing them with others that she has already prepared. Then she has to consider these figures in the light of the acreage, the precipitation, the amount of fertilizer and the various other things that enter into the making of the cotton crop. With all her figures and all her information in hand she has to make her own deductions based upon her own special reasoning and her individual judgment. Twelve times a year she has to do this. She sends out one report in May, two in June, two in July, two in August, two in September, one in October, one in November and one in December. She gets out her report from three to five days in advance of that of the United States government Sometimes the government statisticians have blundered epregiously. Miss Giles, working alone, has been right more times than has’the agricultural department with all its facilities. In 1905 her reputation was established throughout the world by reason of the verification of her predictions by the outturn of the crop. She immediately became a market factor. Since then the Giles report is watched for with deep interest She has to go to extremes to safeguard it from, being made public before her subscribers receive it and before they can take advantage of its information. Only Fourteen Subscriber*.

She limits her subscribers to twelve persons in the United States and two in India. One of her foreign subscribers is in Bombay and the other in Viramgum. To the foreign subscribers the report is cabled. To her American subscribers the report is delivered at 9:30 a. m. on the day it is issued. All get the report at the same time, their representatives meeting at Miss Giles’ office at that hour and receiving the sealed paper from her hands. She has a secondary service, which is sent by mail to five subscribers. This is simply her regular report All sorts of subterfuges are resorted to by persons who want to get Miss Giles’ opinion regarding cotton. So far as possible she secludes herself. You won’t find her name in the telephone directory. She had it taken out because so many men called her up and by adroit questioning endeavored to get some idea from her regarding the crop. To her subscribers her reports ipay- be of great value at time* of grave doubt as to the crop, if kept from the knowledge of others. Miss Giles is the only woman who is a cotton crop forecaster or statistician. Another woman entered the field, but didn’t last. She had been in the agricultural department and was fairly capable.but.shftrCouldn’t make headway.

FOR CROCHET WORKERS

KNEE-CAP A USEFUL AND MUCH APPRECIATED ARTICLE. To Those With the Spare Time and Necessary Skill, the Following Directions for Its Making Will Be Found Ample. The directions for this are for a man’s medium size; it is a splendid pattern, as the part covering the kneecap is softly padded with loops of wool Inside. About six ounces of white sports wool will be needed for a pair, if worked with No. 12 hook. The back thread of stitch to be taker throughout. Work 60 chain stitches, turn. Row 1. —A treble in fifth from hook and 1 into each, of the other stitches to end of chain, 57 stitches, the turning chain taking the place of 1 treble; turn.

Rows 2 to 5. —*, 3 chain, 1 treble m back thread of every stitch of previous row; turn and repeat from * three times more; turn. Row 6. —3 chain, 25 consecutive trebles —the chain standing as one treble —2 in the next stitch, 1 in each of the next 5, 2 in the next and 1 in each of the remaining 25; turn. Row 7. —A double crochet in each of the first 25 Btitches, 2 in the next (this will be the nearest of the 2 in the last Increase in the previous row), a double crochet in each of the following stitches as far as the other Increase; into the last of these two work 1 double crochet and 1 treble, then a treble in each of the remaining 25 stitches. (Note —there must always be 25 stitches at each end of the work outside the Increases and decreases.) Turn. Row 8. —25 trebles, 2 trebles in next, • commence the next treble as usual but before passing the hook through the stitch in the previous row, place the forefinger of the left hand upon the wool and-keep it there while com-

pleting the stitch, thus forming a loop; remove the finger and repeat from • to the next increase; into the last of these work 1 treble and 1 double crochet, then 25 double crochets; turn. Row 9. —25 double crochets, 2 in the next, 1 in each of the next to the increase, 1 double crochet and 1 treble in last of the two, 25 trebles; turn. Repeat rows 8 and 9 five times more, but when repeating row 9 for the last time, omit the increase. Work the next 12 rows in the same manner, but decrease each row by taking two stitches together at each side of the middle, taking 4he 25 outside stitches at each end as before. Work 5 rows of plain trebles (more or less, as a larger or smaller knee-

SHORT COATS ARE WELCOME

New Fashion Will Come as an Especial Boon to the Woman of Gmail Proportions. It is with great joy that the little woman will welcome the little short coats that are making themselves felt In some of the new suits. They are becoming to short warn®**, and are distinguished in line and cut. They are especially good in the military suits that are surely the season’s favorites, and are a relief from the low-waisted tunic coats that are an established fact in the story of the styles. These short coats are the old box cut in all its variations. The straight cut, with perhaps a tumed-up hem of the material and smart trimming of buttons and braid, will appeal to the woman who likes straight lines and a severity of decoration. One suit of this type has fitted sleeves that come to the wrists and are trimmed on the outer line with but-, tons. The suit is of velvet, and has a high collar of squirrel fur that contrasts with the Russian green of the velvet. There is a side fastening under the silver ball buttons, and a flat facing of about two inches is the finish for the edge of the coat. Another coat suit that shows the short lines is of taupe broadcloth. The Jacket is hip length and has an extended yoke, that is the line of at? tachment for gathering that is used to give fullness and a box effect. At the lower edge is a wide band of the material that has a border of braid loopß, each headed with a button. The sleeves have fullneas kt the top of the cuffs. The skirt is Abort, flaring and

LATEST DESIGN IN WRAPS

Of crystal beaded White chiffon over flesh-tinted chiffon, this wrap is indescribably lovely in" line and color. The lack of warmth is partly mad* up for by a large velvet collar edged with skunk fur. The ripple skirt of the coat is of jotted black velvet and the joining is outlined by a band of skunk.

cap be required) decreasing each row until there are only 57 stitches as at first. Join the last row to the foundation chain with a single crochet. Fasten off. A row of 3 chain loop may be added at each end of the knee-cap at pleasure. •

Sashes and Belts.

Sashes and belts Vary enormously, and are decidedly quaint. Some of the waistless gowns are rendered all the more waistless by extra drapery, which seems added on purpose to enlarge the figure. One of these shows a pretty draped wide sash, or black faille introduced into the side -seam of a stonecolored velvet suit braided with black, the sash tying in the center of the front. Another shown in the form of a gathered waistcoat between the fronts of a long coat, emerges at the side and immediately hangs down loose, not attempting to tie at aIL

A Cape Model.

An old cape model had great scrolls of velvet that continued In straight bands along the edges. It was of green broadcloth. The bands were of black velvet piped with satin on the edges. A striking fur set was a ripple shoul-, der cape of seal bordered with monkey fur. This changes the silhouette very decidedly, as it widens the shoulders — something that has not been fashionable for some time. With the flaring skirt it did not look* badly; in fact, after the first start the other suits looked less new.

circular, with a border of braid and buttons. The whole Is girlish and easily made. If you like a heavier suit, one of a chiffon weight in fur cloth that is an excellent imitation of caracul will appeal. It has a short box coat that is trimmed with a narrow strip of ermine and white and black buttons. The skirt is plain, as the cloth is sufficiently ornate in itself. The coat is not quite hip length, and should be worn by a Blender woman or by a small one. This is the point that must be considered. Try the new short coat on and look in a mirror that is kind enough to show all aspects of the suit Even though these short jackets are new, they are not generally becoming. They should Jbe worn by those who will be able to carry the line that shortens the appearance.

Black Velvet and Roses.

The use of black velvet ribbon, with tiny pink rosebuds on white party frocks and dancing costumes, is growing. A white chiffon dancing dress has flying bands of black velvet hanging from the waist and held down around the foot by roses. A white taffeta frock had a short tunic, from which hung little knots of black velvet ribbon with ends about four or five inches long. These were attached to the' tunic by means of groups of the rosebuds. 1

Printed Net Ruching.

Net ruching printed with tiny flowers in blue, lavender or pink, is decidedly dainty in a muslin frock for a MiUe girl. -It is finely plaited -and pulled out to flare at the edge.

Poor Yet Making Rich

BY REV. L. W. GOSNELL

Aafataat io Am Dm. Moodr Mbi* ImSm*

TEXT—As poor, yet making many rich. -11 Cor. «:10. _____ On Christmastide a certain Christian worker was troubled because he

life. All his preaching was enforced by his testimony, “I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me." Spurgeon comments on the wondrous power of George Muller’s preaching: it was quite simple, but the hearer felt that here was a man dealing with realities of which he knew. The bishop of Durham tells of a university preacher at Cambridge who generally spoke to empty benches, yet when the students were sick or dying they would send for this man; his life was fragrant. 2. His prayers were another source of Paul’s riches for the world. We may say without straining language that he prayed “without ceasing," and we may follow him here. Says John R. Mott: “It is possible for the most obscure person in a church with a heart right toward God, to exercise as much power for the evangelization of the world as it is for those who stand in the most prominent positions. Therefore no one is excusable if he commits the great sin of omitting to pray.” We can make missionaries and native churches rich, aye, and our own church and community, too, no matter how poor we may be. Dr. G. Campbell Morgan tells of a preaeher who would go from pew to pew in his church on weekdays and pray for those-who sat there on Sunday; Dr. Morgan ventures the opinion that this is perhaps the highest service that even a great preacher could do for his flock.

8. His writings are one of Paul’s gifts to the world. What a heritage are his epistles! We know how “Pilgrim's Progress” was written by a tinker in- Jail. If we object that this tinker had unusual genius, it may be replied that many ordinary persons, with love for Christ in their souls, have done valiant service with the pen. It was a letter from a friend, written with a faltering heart, that led Henry Clay Trumbull to Christ; the world knows of his splendid service as preacher, explorer, expositor, Sunday school worker and editor. We heard of a woman who watched the daily record of deaths in the papers and sent to every bereaved household a letter or booklet containing a word for the Master: Who* does not covet her reward and who could not do likewise? 4. His preaching was another of Paul’s blessings for men. He could say to multitudes of converts, as lie said to the Thessalonians, “What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?” Preachers, it has been said, are often like camels which are laden with spices and jewels, but they themselves feed on thistles. But though poor, how have they made many rich! We knew of one who had not realized all the ambitions of his early ministry; his churches had been obscure and his salary small, and it grieved him that his wife had dressed shabbily. Yet here, he had led a poor country lad to Christ; there, he had helped a boy get off to college; there, he -had loaned his books to a hungry soul. And at his funeral his body was borne of bishops and lawyers and magnates who came to shed sincere tears over the man who had done them the greatest service ever performed for them—who had led them to Christ. -

Spiritual treasure has been so showered upon us that we enrich men when we are unaware. We listened recently to the story of a young man who, after serving Satan well, had come to Christ. He was a sailor on an English ship, which was lying in a harbor off the coast of Cornwall. One quiet afternoon, as he was washing dishes there was borne to him from the shore the sound of Christian song. A casket was being carried through the village streets and the simple Cornish folk who followed were singing that noble hymn: O Ood. our help In ages past Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast. And our eternal home. Little did they think of their audience in the kitchen of the ship yon* der, but the song followed this wayward sailor lad over the high seas until he had found the true “Shelter from stormy blast” A soul in which Christ lives scatters light and Wising , poor, yet making many Jch.

could not make many gifts. His poverty distressed him, until there began thrumming in bis brain the words of the text: “As poor, yet making ma n y rich.” He forgot his poverty and began to understand the Joy of the apostle, who had learned “to suffer need.” 1. Paul enriched the world by his