The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1886-07-02

ried a department Clerk, and Attorney
General Rrewster's wife, although she
was Robert J. Walkers daughter,
was working in the departments when
hs fell III love with her.
| do not think women are Justly
treated in the departments. Men Who
do the same class ofwork often receive
higher salaries than woman, and
81, 400 clerk and 81 900 clerk are
employed on the same work at times,
and the 81, 900 woman perhaps does
the most. 1t was in 1862 that women
entered the service as copyists and
counters at a salary of $720 year.
They were not eligible to clerkships.
At this time the men appointed to
cle-kships received 81, 200 a year, and
later, when the salary Of such women
was raised to 5000, men doing the
same work were paid as high as 81 200
and 81 600 per annum. In 1870
women were made eligibleto clerkships
and since then they have been promot-
ed until now two receive SIS, 900
year But the high-priced women
clerks are very few, and men who do
as good work receive as rule better
pay, and are more certain of holding
their positions.
The young men in the departments,
as rule, have no one but themselves
to care for, and if you ask them why.
they are not married, they will tell
you that their salary is not large
enough to support wives. Nearly all
oi the single women in hedepartments
have others depending upon them.
Many of them send their sisters or
brothers to school. and many Of them
are widows, who in this way support
and educate their families.
Some OF the old lady clerks are
iine-looking, and some ofthem had not
ed careers in society before going into
the departments. One / know who
had Jefferson for an ancestor, and
another, perhaps the most beautiful
of the white-h haired ladies of the treas
ury, was the wife OF an Ohio governor
who was great friend OF President
Lincoln. Another Ohio governor has
daughter in the departments, and
one of the fine old ladies OF the pension
Office, now great grandmother, is
Kansas woman, who was the first
woman clerk ever elected by legisla-
tive body in this country. These old
lady clerks dress well, and among
them are some of the most agreeable
takers in Washington Their hearts
are young, though their hair is white,
and they are almost as fascinating
now as when the bloom was on their
cheeks and they were the bellies of
their native states.
The women dc the bulk of the dead
letter Office business. Ia 1884 there
were twenty-seven male clerks in the
dead-letter office and seventy fe-
male clerks. The annual payroll OF
the male clerks was $37 400, an aver
age OF SAL per day. The annual pay-
roll of the seventy-eight female clerks
was $73,420, or an average OF 1881
per day. The men did practically the
same work as the women, but they re-
ceived 81 more a day for it, and had
the mems work been done by women
the government would have saved
$9.311. Had the men done all the
work at the obove rate the payroll
would have had to be increased $24,-
155. 1t would seem that an equal
ization board ought to be appointed,
and that Uncle Sam at least should
give his nieces the same pay as his
nephews when they do the samowork.
Is the civil service Of the govern
ment g. good place for women?
1T seems to me that is The hours
of labor are short, the work is not
such that it overtaxes the system and
the labor is honorable. The salaries
are better than women can make in
almost any other occupation, and the
associations are what the women
choose TO make them. There used to
be an idea. that women In the depart
ments were as rule questionable
characters; that they were indebted
to politicians for their appointments,
and that the appointments were often
given in the way of a bargain forques-
tionable relations with such congress
men. There may have been instances
of this character, but they are by no
means common, and ninety hum
dredths of the women III the depart
nnents to-day are as pure as any in the
country. No woman who wishes to
be honest need fear that she will be In
suited while working for the govern
ment.
The government clerks stand we'll in
Washington city. They are far above
the average of the intelligence of men
doing the same character of work
which they do throughout the country.
Washington is q pleasant place in
which to live. Itisexpensive or cheap,
as one wishes 30 make it, and it is to
be in the future the great educational,
social and literary center Of the coun-
try.