Little Falls transcript., 1886-07-02
|. The Government s Female Army.
Washing ton Corr Utica Observer. 5s5

II AAAA05ANS1UfG1MItI6Ilt,SE y EGMAl0 army
Washing ton Corr Utica Observer
The government cle erks empl in
i ths depa partments at Washingt on num-
Der s, ,oO0, making an army half
AGAIN as large as thatof Xenophon in
| the retreat which he writes Of 1. III his
Anabasis. ~ A curious army it is--
Old and young men and women, OF all
types, strong and weak, crippled and
1 active it's variety:s as broad as that
! OF human life! Fifty EIGHT hundred oi
/ It's 81 number receive salaries which
range from 5000 to $I,SOO aayear,
and. ell, from chiefs to priVates, are
I Allotted a vacation Of one who olenlonth
at almost any time OF the year they
choose TO take it. s.5 .*t'
This army OF clerks never strikes.
1T is content with it's wages, and It has
no reason to complain 81 it's hours OF
| work. These hours are practically
only six daily. The departments
open at 8 o'clock, and the clerks are
expected to be at their desks at that
hour. They work steadily until noon,
and then usually take an hour for
luncheon. Att o'clock they are back
at their desks, and at their DAYS
work is done. VI. -.
The treasury contains between g.
500 and 1000 clerks. 1t is the largest
department OF the government. At 4
P. NJ. four human streams pour forth
from It's various exits, and the streets
! become crowded in moment. Here
goes q dashing young lady with a lunch
basket in her hand, dressed in the
latest fashion, and with a new spring
bonnet resting jauntily above her
banged curls. Beside her is q gay
young man in Derby, who chats with
her almost lovingly as they pass out
together. In front OF her is o plainly
dressed old woman, who probably
keeps a family out of the $72O a year
which she makes by copying papers all
DAY long, and back, OF her is long
thin dude with q collar as big as a
shirt cuff and enormous ears. Further
back there is a widow in mourning,
and AS you look at her you wonder
whether her husband was a soldier.
There are 1000 women in the gov
ernment department at Washington,
and many OF the best-looking and
mostlntelligent ladies of the capital
are so employed. They come, as a
rule, from good families. Many OF
them are the widows of noted generals,
the daughters Of ex-governors and ex-
congressman, and now and then you
will find the relative OF a president or
a cabinet minister. Many of them
have travelled widely, and the
great majority are educated and re-
fined ladies'. They do all kinds of
work, and receive salaries ranging
from $72O to 81, 800 a year. AS mon
ey counters they are much more ex-
pert than the men, and the rapidity
with which they can count thousands
upon thousands OF dollars without
making q mistake makes your brain
whirl asyouw watch them. These mon
ey counters get about $75 a month,
and they count millions of dollars
every month. At one side of each one
on the table lie great piles of green
backs. done into packages as they
come from the press. [ am speaking
now OF the redemption bureau Of the
treasury. These bills are old and dir
ty. The strip OF paper around each
package of 100 bills states where they
came from and who counted them in
the country. The young lady takes
this Oft, and, moisten:ng her fingers
with q wet sponge in front of her, she
counts the bills like lightning, and, ii
the package is not right, she reports
so to the chief, and the banks from
which the bills come must stand the
loss. The girls seldom make a mis-
r 7 l. hey do so or pass q eoun-
terfeit without noting it; they must
make the mistake good, and the
amount is taken out OF their salary.
They can tell, however, a bad bill SIM
ply by feeling it, and bank cashier
will make a hundred mistakes where
they make one.
Not long ago one of these younglady
counters was engaged upon a lot OF
:S1OO notes. She had been dropping
the scraps on the floor beside her in q
pile, after verifying the count. While
she was counting u package she would
lay this scrap, marked with the name
OF the bank which sent it, on the table
beside her. at last she came to q
package that contained only ninety
nine notes, and on looking for the
scrap was terrified to find that it had
fallen among the others. She was sure
she knew the name of the bank, but
she could not prove it. The bank was
notified and refused to acknowledge
the mistake, and the poor girl was
forced to pay the $1OO.
Both sexes Of clerks at Washington
work in the same department., and it
IS often the case that young men and
young women have desks side by side.
There is no restriction as to their
social intercourse, and it is a matter
OF surprise to outsiders that so few
marriages occur among the clerks. It
is not that the girls arenot good-look-
ing, nor that they are not good, neat
and intelligent. And it is not that the
men are not noble and attractive.
Washington living, however, is expen-
sive, and it is contrary to the rules OF
the department that two members OF
the same family should hold positions
under the government. The ladies in
the department earn enough to keep
them respectfully, and they do not
care to marry a man who has no larg.
er income than themselves, and have
in the end not as much pocket money
as before. Many of the marriages
!. which. do take place are with men out.
Bide the departments, and it is not an
uncommon thing here Tor cookbook
ing clerk to marry a congressman, q
senator or a newspaper correspondent
Mrs. Thea,ker, who is to be Stanley
Matthew's $ wife, was q government
clerk when she met and married Judge
Theaker, a former commissioner o
patents. Stephen a. Douglas mar
ried adepartment Clerk, and Attorney
1 General Brewster's wife, although sh'
. was Robert J. Walkers daughter
was working in the departments wher
H. "a tfolI ~, love ,,,,f1 I, ho,.