Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-04-25
A FLUTTER IN THE TREASURY
FD0VECOHR


Is Hannah Tyler a myth She
processes to be q clerk in the Treas
ury Department at Washington
and few weeks ago wrote letter
to the New York Independent, in
which she boldly asserted that quite
number Of the fifteen hundred wo.
men now employed in the depart
ments at Washington are ''no better
than they ought to be" Indeed she
declares that some of them are far
otherwise, and expresses the au-
dacicus opinion that "the govern
ment is bound TO see to it that vir
tuous women in its employ are not
insulted by having the paramours
and mistresses of members of Con
gress forced into their society"
These grave imputations created
quite fiutter in the treasury doves
cote, and called forth number of
indignant responses, in some of
which it was asserted very pos
itively that no such person
as Hannah Tyler was employed in
the Treasury Department. One in
dignant woman will have it that
Hannah Tyler's" charges are sex
aggerations;" that not more than
one woman in fifty employed in the
bureaus deserves the reproach of
being disreputable. 1t is true, she
adds, that ''there are some skirks,
some Rebels and some objectiona-
able characters in the departments"
but they are very far from consti-
tuting the majority. Another "Wo-
man Clerk denies Hannah's gross
er imputations, but admits that some
of the women are incompetent"
and brings, in turn, charges of loose
morals on the men clerks. On the
other hand, Hannah's testimony is
supported by perhaps an equal ar
ray of other writer's, who affirm
that all she has charged is true
One of the latter sends to North
ern journal for publication "a long
letter filled with statements even
more startling than those of Han
nah Tyler" As the paper to which
the letter was sent, with the name
of the writer appended, is one of the
chief opponents of ultra Radical
ism, no such exposition of official
immortality was allowed to appear
in its columns I'VE certainly"
says the journal in question, "shall
not print these statements I'M
til the writer gives us some
guaranty of his or her re-
sponsibility." But fearing lest
the guaranty should be forthcoming,
the journal cautiously adds-"and
not then, even, unless we are con-
WINGED that such an exposure would
promote the public good" Is it to
be understood, then, that by throw
ing the mantle Of sccresy over the
misdoings in the bureaus, the public
good will be promoted? In what
manner can an honest exposure of
an evil condition of things in any
or all the departments be prejudicial
to the public welfare? If immoral
women are appointed to clerkships
in the treasury, what certainty is
there that they will not add to the
vice of immortality the crime of dis
honesty? Were such TO turn out
TO be the case, the influence that put
them into the treasury would GER
tainly be powerful enough to shield
them from punishment But whilst
the New York Independent, from
whose columns we have been
quoting, refuses to publish the letter
of its correspondent, J. NJ. Morris,
il does not scruple to confess: eff.
one half Of what the writer says OF
members of Congress and their re-
latiOns with some of the women of
the departments is true, Washington
almost deserves the fate of Sodom
and Gomorrah, and every virtuous
citizen of the United States has
cause to blush for his country"
And of such detestable materials is
largely made up-as events are be
ginning to show-"the party OF