The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1886-07-16

| counters AT salary OF $40 per year. The
were not eligible to clcrkships. At this sam
time the men appointed to clerkships receive,
81 200 year, and later, when the salary o
| such women was raised to 5000, men doing th
| same work were paid as high rs 81 200 aut
| 81 600 per annum. In 1870 women wcro mad,
eligible TO clcrkships, and since then they ha v,
been promoted until now two receive 81 800 {
year. But the high-priced women clerks arc
very few, and men who do as good work re
ceivc as rule better pay, and more certain o
holding their positions.
The young men in the departments, as q rule
have no one but themselves to clrc for, aud
if you ask them why they are not married
they will tell you that their salary is not large
enough for them to support wives. Nearly oil
of the single women in the departments have
others depending upon them. Many of them
sond their sisters or brothers to school, and
many Of them widows, who in this way
support and educate their families
Some of the old lady clerks arc very fine
looking, and some Of them had noted careers
i'll society before going into the departments
One ! know who had jefferson for au ancestor
and another, perhaps the most beautiful of the
whitohaircd ladies of the treasury, was the
wife of an Ohio Governor has n daughter in
the departments, and one of the fine old ladies
of the pension Office, now great grandmot her,
is n Kansas woman who was the first woman
clerk ever elected by II legislative body in this
country. These old laly clerks dress we'll,
and among them are some of the most agree
able takers in Washington. Their hearts are
young, though their hair is white. and they are
almost as fascinating now n, when the bloom
was on their checks and they were tho bellies of
their native State.
The women do the bulk of the dead letter
office business. In 1884 there we're twenty
seven male clerks in the dead letter office and
scventyeght female clerks. The annual pay
roll of the male clerks was S37 400, an average
of 81 III per day. The annual payroll of the
seventy eight female clerks was APO, or au
average of $3 81 per day. The men did prac-
tically the same work rs the women, but they
rccci, cd 81 more day for it, and had the
men work been done by women tho Govern
ment would have saved s9,3l1. Had the men
done oil the work at the above rate the ray-
roll would have had to be increased S24,l
1t would seem that an equalization 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 same work.
Is the civil service of the Government q good
place Tor women?
labor are short, the work is not such that il
overtaxes the system, and the labor is honor
able. The salaries are better than women can
make in almost any other occupation, an,l the
associations arc what the women choose to
make them. There used to be au idea that
women in the departments were rs a rule
questionable characters that they were in
dobtcd to politicians for their appointment
and that the appointments were often given in
the way of q bargain for questionable relations
with such Congressman. There may have
been instances of this character, bat they are
by no means common, and ninety nine hun =
dredths of the women in the department to-
day are As pure as any in the country. No
woman who wishes TO be honest need fear
that she will be insultcd while working for
the Government.
The government clerks stand well in Wash
ington City. They are far above the average
of the intelligence Of men doing the same
chsracter Of work which they do throughout
the country. Washington is a pleasant pacc
in which to live. 1t is expensive or cheap as
one wishes to make it, and it is to be in the
future the great educational, social and literary
centre of the country.-Ec.
How GENERAL LEE CoURrEp DEATH. Mr.