The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1867-03-27
Women in Office.


Women in Office.
A Washington correspondent of the
Springfield Republican furnishes the fol-
lowing interesting account of the expert
ment of employing women in the public
Offices of the government
The Treasury employs seven hundred
women, large portion Of whom are un-
der tho jurisdiction of the much discussed
Mr.. S. NJ. Clarke The money is manu-
facturcd under his supervision, and those
employed to work the machinery and
count and arrange the money, arc under
his control alone. His laws are very
stringent. 1t seems that he prints the
notes by contract, and pays his employees
from his own funds They receive SO
much per day, and deduction is made for
any want of punctuality. They are ex-
pcctcd to be in their places at fifteen
minutes before 8 a. m., and work until 4
D. m. If compelled TO be absent, an cx-
cuse must arrive before 10 a. m, otherwise
the offender is liable to dismissal. These
regulations do not apply to women clerks
in other parts of the Treasury. Those
receive their pay by the month, and no
| deduction is made for absence, on leave,
ORION account of sickness. Nearly every
bureau has it's quota of women, whose
duty tits usually to record letters, and do
similar work, though in one Office they
calculate the interest on the coupons. In
the internal revenue all letters received
are sent into the women's rooms, and by
them folded, ruled on the backs, and in
dorsed
By far the largest number of the wo-
men arc employed about the money.
There arc upward of q hundred connect
ed with the Treasurer's office. Part OF
these count the notes and arrange them
in packages to be sent out Of the Trcasu-
ry. Great accuracy is required, and if a
mistake is made, the counter must make
it good out of her own salary. There
arc straps of paper, on which is printed
the denomination Of the note, around
each bundle, and if q clerk puts one
marked for ten cent notes around bum
die of fives, she is the loser.
The system of redeeming the soiled
and mutilatcd currency is one of great
Interest. The old money is sent first to
the redemption division of the Treasu-
rcr's office, where it is counted by the
women. who report any counterfcits they
nav find, and the amount contained in
the package.
A mistake in this has the same penalty
as in the new money. Those who hate
to touch these notes while in circulation:
even with gloves, and are disguised with
their odor, can readily imagine what must
be the atmosphere Of q room in which
they arc counted by millions. There is
certainly no more disagrccable duty.
After the counting, holes are punched in
the notes to prevent their being issued
again. and they are cut in half from top
to bottom. These halves are put in
packages, each package containing eight
thousand notes, and are sent to the re
demption divisions Of the secretary's and
registers offices, where they are agnin
punched and again counted.
The accounts Of the heads of each OF
these bureaus must agree exactly with
each other and with those of the Treas
urcr. Should half Of three cent note
be missing, a thorough search is made, SO
necessary is accuracy.
The interest-bearing notes go through
longer process. After being cut into
upper and lower halves they are sent in
lots to the offices last named, and these
arranged by the women according to the
letter. Then the numbers are made TO
run as consccutivcly as possible, no at
tcnLion having been paid to this when
redecming them, and the notes are count
cd off into hundreds. This done, the
numbers arc registered on sheets Of pa
per- and the results from both Offices
compared, to see if they correspond cx-
actly. This work is called checking. In
both bureas there are books containing
the numbers of all the notes of each letter
and denomination, with the date of issue.
That of redemption is to be found ON the
registered sheets This date shows at
what time the notes therein represented
bv their numbers were destroyed, and it
is transferred to the books, opposite the
same numbers.
V,bo fol1ou-i,o ,,oin+