Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-08-25
M0NEY-M MAKING WOMEN.
EFFICIENCY OF THE FAIR SEX IN THE
GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT.
Women Make the Best Clerks In t!,e
seryIce-SaIariss Of Clerks - Women
Who Work by the Dsy-Out.ido of Gov
ernment Emp oy.

ernment Emp oy.
Washington is noted for its brainy men.
II ought TO be more noted for its brainy
women. Our national capital has more
sharp, business, money making females in
proportion to its size than perhaps any
city in the world Its women get better
salaries. do higher classes of work, and are
further advanced in all the attributes OF
modern civilization than those of any other
city. In the government departments
alone between 1000 and 5000 women are
employed. and these do the work which
two decades ago was considered only pos
sible for men. Some of these women are
translators in the state departments.
Some are examiners in the patent office.
and large number hold other positions
where the work requires good education,
bright intellect, and e careful Judgment.
Many OF them have to answer letters, in
which they must judge as TO the legality
Of pension cases brought before them, and
others have responsible positions in the
treasury and postoffice departments
Women make the best clerks in many
departments ot the government service.
They are more prompt in their attendance
than men, and are, rs rule, more con
scientious in doing their work. As copy
lists and amanuenses they are usually neat
and exact and as type writers they surpass
the other sex As counters Of money and
counterfeit detectors they are far superior
TO men. They can count faster than men,
and the most expert among them can tell
a bad bill by feeling il with her eyes shut
Quite a number Of women in the tire asury
and there are about 400 employed here
have berry responsible positions. One is
a law clerk in the internal revenue de
partment, and she can prepare BRIEF
equal to that of almost any lawyer Of the
capital In the navy department there
are women who do drafting in the draw
ing of the plants Of ships, and the major
part Of the dead letter office business is
done by women's fingers
SALARIES OF WOMEN CLERKS.
The highest salary received by a women
clerk in Washington is 81, 800 a year, and
one Of these is the law clerk of whom
have just spoken. Less than score re
| ceive 81 900 per annum, but a larger num-
Der get 1920, and hundreds are paid
81 900 year Mere copyists receive often
as low as S720 and there is a large class of
women who work by p:ecework. and who
do the class OF labor that would be re
quired in a factory. The salaried clerks
work from 9 O'Clock until 4, with short
recess at noon for lunch. They have all
Of their evenings to themselves, and never
take any work home with them. They get
their pay regularly at the 18th and 3Oth
of every month. and each OF them
has q months vacation every year
with Iu!i pay during the time They are
treated politely, are free from worry, and
the positions may be considered very
desirable ones.
The women Of the government printing
office are paid as a rule by the piece or
by the day. Those on piece work make
/ 81 S3 dsy, and there are over !. 200 women
so employed They stitch pamphlets, run
numbering machines, fold and paste for
the bindery, and they do in fact nearly
every class Of work done in the govern
| ment printing office. Some of them set
| type, and these receive 35 cents an hour,
and their average salaries are SO month.
A large number Of guides are employed at
the bureau of engraving and printing,
and these are nearly all women An army
/ Of sweepers and scrubbers is employed 10
/ clean out the treasury department every
day, and the woman who presides over
them gets about 500 a year. These sweep
| ers and scrubbers of the various depart
| ments form another class of the working
women of Washington, and connected
with them is 4 class who sew carpets in
! the treasury for the government build
ings all over the country. Then there is
the colony of wGsherwomen, who wash
the thousands Of towels used in each de-
| partment, and the numerous women who
| supply the clerks with food in the restau-
/ rants of these great buildings.
THOUSANDS OF BRIGHT WOMEN.
| Outside of the government employ there
are thousands of bright women who make
good livings at the national capital The
pension and patent lawyers employ hun
dreds as type writers, stenographers, and
clerks, and going into the bureaus OF some
these Offices is like going into one OF the
/ largest rooms Of a great government de
partment The majority Of the clerks OF
the dry goods and notion stores of Wash
ington are women and the cashiers in
many cases are of the same sex. A num-
ber of women own stores in Washington,
and the finest ice creams and CONNECTIONS
for the White House dinners for years
past have been supplied by little old
. French woman, who | am told has made
q fortune at the business.
You can count the women lawyers and
physicians of Washington upon youl
fingers, but there is q number of noted
persons among the few. Belvs lockwood
the well-known presidential candidate
is the most noted of the lawyers and Mrs
DR. Winslow. who attended Chief Justice
White during his late sickness, and who
was called in now and then to see Presi
dent Arthur, is the most noted OF the doc
tors.
Washington is a great educational cen
ter and it abounds in private teachers
female seminaries, and little schools
These are manipulated almost wholly by
women and the teachers Of the charitable
and public schools OF the city, are made
up of some colored girls as well as som'
white ones
There is a class Of women here engaged
In literary work, and this embraces book
writer's, magazine writer's
The women correspondents Of W ashing
ton are as bright, brainy. and busy a set o
money making ladies as you will find oI
this side of the Atlantic. The yearl!
profits OF some of them run into the thou
sands of dollars-Frank G. Carpenter il
Cleveland Leader.
RidIcuIing Americas Social Condition
my last trip across, going TO Europe,
made the acquaintance of O young London