The national Republican., 1866-12-17

Office. of the REPUBLICAN, No. bl1 Ninth street,
near PsAnsyivsnia svsnuS.
The EMPLOYMENT OF FEMALES
nv THE GOVERNMENT.
We think II will prove highly beneficial TO
the Government that the subject Of employ
ing female clerks, or rather Of diminishing
those that are employed, has been agitatsd.
The more ii Is discussed the better it will be-.
At the present time Congress has under
consideration the subject Of increasing the
pay ofclerks Of the several Departments. It
is every day being shown in the same bureau,
and on the same kind Of work, that woman
is as competent clerk as man, yet it is Q
fact that the Government pays the man
several hundred dollars q year more than II
pays the woman for the same workl Now,
while Congress is on the subject Of the equal.
ization of the races, politically, as is very
happily suggested by correspondent below,
why not equalize the subject Of labor and
pay an honest, intelligent, poor woman as
much as they do man for the same work.
We respectfully submit that this ia but fair
play. 'rr l-7|T ..1a' .
1t was our purpose to enter somewhat
more largely into the subject Of the employ
ment Of female clerks in this article, but q
correspondent has stated the case 30 clearly,
and in such practical way, that we prefer,
with the above suggestion, to give way to
her that she may plead her own case, which
5he does earnestly and forcibly. Here is her
communication -.. ... ....
WAsHISaroN, Dscembsr Is, 1865.
To the Editor of the National Rspnbi.ean: .
In behalf Of many ladies employed in the
different Departments of the Government,
hasten to thank you for the prompt and
able manner in which you have come to
their rescue. Your editorial in this morn.
ing's REPUBLICAN, entitled Employment OF
Ladies IN the Treasury" was joy-inspiring
to your female readers In more than one De-
partment, and made many heavy heart,
saddened by recent reports, lighter and hap
pier. There is much cruelty in these fire.
quent reports about female employees, il
they are not true, and the cruelty il the
greater If they are true, especially the last,
because Of the reasons given. '
Those who know best about the matter of
employing female clerks are the best Judges
on the subject, and such persons will assert
that there are women in the Departments
who render as much service to the Govern.
ment with their pen for 5000 year as male
clerks do for 81 200 and 81 800. Where is
the failure" in this? Does this not argue
rather, in these times of economy, that men
should be discharged and more women
should be employed? ...-|
Make test: Take twenty female clerks,
as they average, in the different Depart
ments, and twenty male clerks, as they
average, from the same Departments, and,
without letting them know that the test is
being made, sum up the labor performed by
each party at the end Of one week or one
month, and the result will show that the
Government is paying man twelve hum
dred dollars to perform what an intelligent
woman can do for nine hundred. As Com
gress is for equal rights for the black men
why will it not extend equality of labor to
white women, and declare by legislation
that female clerk who can do as much
work with her pen as male clerk shall hare
as much?
There are plenty Of nine hundred dollar
female clerks in the Treasury Department
who are as regular about their hours, write
as rapidly, possess and exercise as much
brain in administering the intricate duties of
their ONCE, and as a whole render in every
sense OF the word as much service to the
Government every twenty-four hours as male
clerks who receive twelve, fourteen, sixteen
and eighteen hundred dollars year. Why
this difference Will those who delight
to torment us with their paragraphs to the
effect that the Government only employed
us as an experiment, and that we have
proved failure" answer the question 2
l will venture the prediction that you may
take the seven or eight hundred females en-
ployed in the Treasury Department and,
with all their faults, they possess more real
virtue, more practical honesty, more sincere
loyalty to the Government, more modesty,
more industry and selfrespect, and more
practical ability, than will be found in an
equal number OF male clerks in the same De-
partments
As you remarked in your editorial to-day
there are women employed in the Depart
ments who ought not to be. But is that
any reason why good women should be dis
missed? Because there are men employed
by the Government Of bad reputation, who
make night hideous with their drunken reyel,
ries, who visit the vilest haunts OF dssip alton
and degradation in this city, does II follow
that all the good men should be dismissed
Mr.. McCulloch will say amen" to common
sense.
Before treason showed its wicked head
and rebels combined to destroy this Govern.
ment was the happy wife of q noble man,
who provided me with pleasant home and
every comfort that woman could ask for,
Ills country needed his services, and il was
my duty to join in the sacrifice he was ready
to make, and encourage rather than discour.
age him. He entered the army, endured its
priyations, experienced its terrible marches
in heat, in wet, in cold, suffered its biyouacs,
and fought in its most terrible battles, onlv
to be shattered with rebel bullets, dragged
into hospital, and die away from home with.
out friend or watcher. This was hard
much harder than pen or words can express.
In time, from necessity, / sought and found
employment Of the Government. What was
my surprise to find in the same service those
who not only sympathized with the creatures
who sent death into my family circle "a Az
prived Inc OF q husband and anu anu S'
father, but also those whc .ny emu ..
cipants in the worb were active par'f
came in Cover OF treason. How they
Others me- ..iment employ ] know not,
males i be able TO tell. There are fe
employed in the Departments who, d,