The result is that office administration now is a very different
matter. It has become a question of holding the reins of twenty-four
young people, all of whom have special work to do, but all of
whom need almost constant direction. And while there are heads of
departments who oversee the work of clerks and stenographers up to
a point, almost daily conferences and supervisions are necessary in
order to have the work go on satisfactorily. This takes an immense
amount of time and energy and initiative and planning. It is a case
of driving twenty-four in hand. Some days it sends the driver home
thoroughly wearied.

Besides the absorbing task of keeping the whole staff busy, there is
always the exhausting and important matter of mapping out the work,
laying plans for advance work, originating and initiating, and making
decisions that involve more or less risk.

Then there is the actual personal labor of helping to get the paper
to press each week, choosing from a limited supply suitable
illustrations, writing some "copy," writing heads, making up,
dictating and signing hundreds of letters each week, seeing all
callers who need to be seen, and constantly directing and overseeing
to keep matters of a thousand and one details ship-shape and accurate.



There is the question of office space, rent, subletting office room,
buying typewriters, stationery and other supplies to advantage. The
question of ventilation, health and sick leave of staff, obtaining
efficient and conscientious work and maintaining a wholesome esprit de