The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-07-24

feature about their ambitions, however,
They never aim high. SO Tar as Is gener-
ally known no woman has asked for posi-
ton above clerkshIp: Most OF them APP
nlv for places through the Civil-service
Commission, and their ambition Is about
the size of a tirst-class clerkshlp, which
paws 81 900 year. Most OF them are school
girls and want places below the classlfled
Hst-the position OF copylsJ Delng the
Before the civil-service law was on the
statute books and governed the employ
ment of men and women in the various
branches of the government 1T was not an
unusual thing for a woman of great politi-
cal power to demand a managerial position.
They frequently asked to be appointed
chiefs of division in the departments, and
made long and forceful fights for the posi-
tions of disbursing and pay officers, places
requiring heavy bonds and entailing great
responsibilities. There are none of these
contests now.
The Cleveland administration set the ex-
ample of giving preference In the employ
ment of clerks and copyists to males. Dur
ing the last two years of the Cleveland adj
ministration scarcely q woman was en-
ployed in any of the departments to do
clerical work. Those who get places now
are almost exclusively the widows or
orphans of ex-Union soldiers. The Govern
ment Printing Office and the Bureau or
Engraving and Printing furnish places
ployed. When superintendent Porter
opened the Census Bureau. few months
ago, he was besieged by members OF the
gentler sex who wanted places, and at times
In the day his office looked like reception
for a Womans Christian Temperance
Union, or some organization of that char
acter. Mr.. Porter showed the women all
due consideration, and when he bad places
to give rendered them to women who were
capable and deserving. and who could I'LL
them as well as men.
At the civil-service headquarters it IS
said that in some of the States a majority
of the applicants for Offices who are certi-
fed and are eligible for appointment are
women. In few instances women regis
tered and certified for appointment have
been selected under the belief that they
were men. and the officers in the depart
ment calling for clerks have been surprised
to find a woman walk in and present her
appointment when man was expected to
appear. 1t is safe to predict that the num-
Der of women now employed in the depart
mepts will steadily decrease, as men are
always preferred. The women want more
leaves of absence with pay, and require
more attention than the men, and that is
why the superior officers prefer the male
SCI There Ss e' has been stead diminution of
the number of females employed in the
Pension Office during the past three or four
years, and it is rare that one is now given
position. In this branch of the govern
ment judgment is the primary qualihca-
ton, and few women can be trusted TO look
into case involving judicial knowledge. i.
Every day one sees q goodly number or
women in the crowd which fiOcks about the
room of First Assistant Postmaster-general
Clarkson. Most of these women come from
a distance-in some instances thousand
miles-and they seek appointments as
postmistresses. Mr.. Clarkson has appointed
large number of Them but he always re-
auires the regular political Endorsements as
to qualification and merit, and the widows
OF orphans of ex-Union soldiers are selected
In almost every instance A number of
stories have gone the rounds detailing how
women have presented themselves before
Mr.. Clarkson. and by their winsome ways
and GLIB tongues have secured appoint
like Assistant Postmaster-general says they
are romances founded upon fiction, and
that wherever he has made the appoint
ment of a woman it can be shown that she
was indOrsed as strongly as man would
have been had the appointment gone to the
opposite sex.
The last prominent offce-seel1ing Incl
dent On tie part of awoman was conducted
during the last administration by Mrs. V.
&. Thompson, who wanted to be pOStmis-
tress at Louisville, Ky. She swept every
thing and every body before her, She came
here, stopped at the Ebbitt HOpse, and by
her strikingly handsome appearance and
wiDsome manners made the Senators and
Representatives, not only from her State,
but others, do her bidding and she won a
victory which split the Democratic party
in Kentucky, and threatened to turn the
State over to the Republicans. She is ex-
pected to come here again soon and set an
example for representatives of her sex to
follow. She is the most successful office
seeker that has been in Washington fol
many years
Public Printer Palmer has more calls
from women who want places than all OF
the other officials combined. He says they
cause him more trouble than all the men,
as they are persistent, and in most In
stances deserving.