Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-06-27
CLERKS.
PRETTY GIRLS IN THE DEPARTMENTS AT
WASHINGTON.
The Poor Woman who had TO Replace a One
Hundred Dollar NOte-.-TLs Question
Equal Salaries for Women and
for Men.
Lhcd OlISCrrer.

] lOL
| Utica Observer.
The Government clerks employed in the
departments at Washington number 15,-
600, making an army half again as large
as that of Xenophon in the retreat which
he writes of in his "AnabaSis" 4 curious
army it is-and young men and women, of
all types, strong and weak, crippled and
active-itS variety is as broad as that of
human life! Fifty-eight hundred of its
number receive salaries which range from
$500 to $500 year, and all, from, chiefs
| to priyates are allotted vacation of one
whole month at almost any time OF the
year they choose to take it.
This army of clerks never strikes. 1t is
content with its wages, and ii has no reason
| to complain of its hours of work. These
hours are practically only six daily. The
The departments open at o'clock, and
the clerks are expected to be at their desks
at that hour. They work steadily until
noon, and then take usually an hour for
! luncheon. At o'clock they are back ut
| their desks, and at four their days work
! is done.
| The treasury contains between $500 and
1000 clerks. 1t is the largest department
of the government. At p. IN. four
human streams pour forth from its various
exits, and the streets became crowded in
a moment. Here goes 4 daShing young
lady, with a lunch basket i'll her hand
dressed in the latest fashion, and with q
new spring bOOnnet resting iauntily above
her banged ,curlS. Beside her is gay
young man in derby, who chats with
her almost lovingly rs they pass out to-
gether. In front of her is Il plainly dressed
old woman, who probably keeps family
out of the S12O year which she makes by
copying papers all day long, and back OF
her is a long thin dude with collar rs big
rs Il shirt cuff and enormous ears. Farther
back there is widow in mourning, and rs
you look at her you wonder whether
HER HUSBAND WAS SOLDIER.
There are 4, 900 women in the government
departments ut Washington, and among
them are some Ofthe bcst-looking and and
most intelligent ladies Ofthe capital. They
come, rs il rule, from good families. Many
of them are the widows of noted generals,
the daughters of eX-gOvernOrS and cX-cOn-
greSSmcn, and now and then yOu will find
the relative of Il president or cabinet
minister Many of them have travelled
widely, and the great majority are educated
and refined ladies. They do all kinds of
work, and receive salaries ranging from
S720 to 800 Il year. As money counters
they are much more expert than the men,
and the rapidity with which they can count
thousands upon thousands Of dollars with
out making mistake makes your brain
whirl us YOU watch them. These money
counters get about so month, and they
count millions Of dollars every month.
At one side Of each one on the table lie
great piles of grccnbaCks, done i'll To pack
ages us they come from the press | am
speaking now of the redemption bureau OF
the trcasury. These billsare old and dirty.
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 off, and lmoiStcning
her fingers with wet sponge in front OF
her. she sounts the bills like lightning, and,
the package is not right, she reports 50 To
the chief, and the banks from which the
bills come must stand the loss. The girls
seldom make mistake, and if they do so or
pass counterfeit, 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 simply by feel
ing it, and bank cashier will make Il hun
dred mistakes where they make one.
Not long ago, one of these young lady
counters was engaged upon
ALOT oF$ 500 NOTES.
She had been dropping the scraps on the
floor beside her i'll pile, after verifying the
count While she WAS cOuntinga package,
she would lay this scrap marked with the
maine of the bank which sent 1t, on the
table beside her. At last she came To
package that contained only nincty-nine
notes, and on looking for the scrap was ter
riicd To find that il had fallen among the
Others. She was sure she knew the name
of the bank, but she could not prove 1t.
The bank was notified and refused 10 ac-
knowledge the mistake, and the poor girl
was forced TO pay tho 500,
Both sexes Of clerks ut Washington work
in the same department, and 1t Is often the
case that young men and young women
have desks side by side There Is no re-
Stricti0n rs to their social intercourse, and
it is matter of surprise TO outsiders that
SD few marriages occur among the clerks.
1t is not that the girls are not good looking,
nor that they are not good, neat and intclli-
gent. And il is not that the men are not
noble and attractive. Washington living,
however, is expensive, and it is contrary to
the rules ofthe department that two mem-
bcrs of the same family should hold
position under the government The
ladies in the department earn enough To
keep them respectable, am. they do not care
to marry man who has no larger income
than themselves, and have In the end not
rs much pocket money ~ before. Many OF
the marriages which do take place are with
men outside of the departments, and it Is
not an uncommon thing here for good
looking clerk to marry congressman,
senator or 4 newspaper correspondent
Mrs. Thcakcr, who is to be Stanley
Matthews wife, was government clerk
when she met and married Judge Theakcr,
a former commissioner of patents. stephen
A. Douglas married 4 demrtMct clerk, and
Attorney General RrcwSter's vile although
she was Robert J. Walkers daughter, was
working in the departments when he fell in
love with her
Idon't think women are justly treated
in the departments. Men who do the same
class of work often receive
HIGHER SALARIES THAN THE WOMEN.
and q 81, 400 clerk and a sloan clerk are
employed on the same work at times ana
the 81 900 woman, perhaps, does the most.
1t was i'll 1862 that women entered the
service as copyists and counters at salary
of STa0 per wear. They were not eligible TO
clerkships. At this same time the men
appointed to clerkships received 81, 300
year. and later, when the salary of such
women was raised to 5000, men doing the
same work were paid rs high as s., 300 and
81 600 per annum. In $50 women We're
made eligible I0GlGrkships, and since then