Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1870-01-21
RELATIVE PAYMENT OF MEN AND
WOMEN.

! -~-~@~%1 ~ A Il "A 4WGlN Il OE LAEA AMI
WOMEN.
In General Spinner's recent report to th.
Secretary Of the Treasury, he makes som,
strong statements in relation to the femal,
clerks employed By the Government, and
incidentally supplies proof Of some of the
assertions made by the advocates of suf
frage for women After stating that al
the coupons and all the mutilated United
States notes and fractional currency are
assorted, counted and prepared for de-
struction by female clerks, he adds that
they not only do their work better, but
also do more in given time than the male
clerks, who receive double the salary,
possibly can. To prove this the female
clerks were required to re count the work
OF the male clerks, and it was found that
they not only corrected errors in the count.
but that they detected counterfeits that had
not before been discovered, or known to any
person connected with the Treasury De-
partment, in this city or elsewhere, and
which had been overlooked BY the male
clerks in the Offices where they were
originally received, and BY those in this
Office, who had counted them. But for the
discovery Of these counterfeit coupons. the
Government would have suffered great loss.
Washington and Philadelphia, he states
are the only Offices where female clerks are
employed, and the best work is done in
these Offices by these clerks. ''It has been
remarked here, all along, that the remit
tanees of mutilated currency to this Office
from the Office in Philadelphia are better
prepared, more neatly done up, with less
mistakes in count, aud containing less
counterfeits than those from any other Office.
The reason Is that thot cfice employs female
clerks.
This emphatic testimony, it will be re-
membered, comes from department filed
BY women, who have had no previous
business training, and who. it is constantly
asserted are kept there, not from any reason
of personal fitness, but purely through the
influence Of friends and relatives; and who
are unrelentingly opposed and sandered /
By large portion of the public One of !
the most frequent reasons given against
the employment Of women in responsible |
positions is that they are less exact, and
are unreliable. This assertion this state |
ment denies, and if these women do so /
well, working better than men who have
every advantage Of training over them, there
can be no question of their fitness for any |
similar position they may desire.
Bat when the matter,of payment comes |
in it is the old story Of equal work and half
pay To this fact General Spinner directs
attention, but in very remarkable man
ler lie asks what be styles sinnrlo y;----ieei
to US 1t seems eufupuuuu injustice. lit is
lot even asked that because they do more
work, and do It better than male clerks,
hey should receive ike pay. The reason
or this is one that ought to strike joy into
The Revolutton camp. For it is believed
hat, should this be done for them, men 1gho
tare coteS would, to degree, qualify them
elves for such work and thrust them out of
heir places and out of employment entire
y" The italics are ours, but the reason
belongs to the Treasurer. DR. John Todd
gives, as reason against allowing women en-
rance into work now monopolized by men,
hat they will drive men away and eventually
lepopulate the East But, according to
ieneral Spinner, this is impossible, for the
men holding the balance of power, the
lnly resource the women have is in under
idding them.
1t is therefore asked by the Treasurer
hat the female clerks shall be classified
ccording to merit, as the male clerks are,
,ut at lower salaries Thus, while the
fifth class male clerk receives two thousand
year, the woman in the same grade, doing
etter aud more work, is to have twelve t
undred This places them on level {
nth the lowest class of male clerks, the :
female clerk getting but seven
undred
If this in any way deserves the name of |
lstice, it is because it is the kind that is i
ispensed by the character that Lucy Snowe, /
4 "Villette, drew for the benefit of Paul {
Emanuel aud his colleagues.
The truth is, let the opponents of Woman's !
uffrage say what they will, that there is no |
on equal terms. Let sex once a
nter, and the woman must work for less |
money If it is question of power only, |
be possessor, whether man or woman, can /
lake their own terms. If the fayorite d
uthor is a woman, the magazines will pay a
er what she asks; when the houses are L
roWded to hear Anna Dickinson and empty :
=. 0ss-,- ss--a-l-y ,,vllIan ealI asA WllstU
lie pleases. If the soprano is paid better t
han the bass, it is not because she deserves
lore because she is better, but because she I
olds the power of drawing the best houses, S
nd these the manager is bound to secure. t
his is because their ability is sexeeptionable; /
ut in all branches of work where ability is q
dual, the man holds the power, in his '
oIitieal position, and the most that Gen c
raj Spinner can do is to ask proportionate, I
ot equal payment Philadelphia Morning 3
POST.
THE HOLY GRAIL.
MANY. doubtless, like ourselves, have