Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-05-09
TREASURY GIRLS.
FEMALE EMPLOYEES OF THE
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
rhcy Number Five Thousand and
Como From All Parts OF tho
Country - Their Positions
Are Not Sinccurcs.

There are 1000 Of the brightest women
i'll the United States employed in the
! great Government departments ut Wash.
mgton. They come from all parts of the
country, and they are of all ages from
sweet sixteen to gray-haircd scvcnty-t five.
They do all sorts of work and get I'LL sorts
oil salaries. They form an army in them
selves, and they arc among the most curl
; Gus OF Uncle Sans daughters.
Lots OF thom are widows. Hundreds
OF them are old maids and several thou.
sand are sweet, manageable girls with
I pretty faces, good hearts and u high grade
of culture and education Many of them
have had Governors and Generals for
fathers, not II fcw are the widows of notcd
soldiers and statesmen, and all are far above
the average of their scX the United States
| over.
! Fully onc-thirl Of this army are under
the command of the Secretary of the
| Treasury. One thousand of them march
every day up the great stone steps of the
| United States Treasury, and rcninn upon
duty until i. They do all sorts of work
anu they receive all kinds of salaries.
| The highest priced of them get $500 a
year and there arc three Indies who re-
ccivc this salary. One is Miss j. NJ.
Scavcy, of Tennessee, and another is Miss
Van Vnnkcn, Of New York.
I The third $500 clerk is Miss Ada
Z Tanner, the daughter of the Corporal,
who acts us confidential clerk of the
/ Treasury. She came into Office when her
fnthcr went out Only five women in
hthc Treasury get $1,000 u ycnr, thirty ono
y i,,;Fisalsye $1,000, and 1913 get 800 month.
8 aoRS receive Sf000n year, nnti 500
$500. Among the thousand odd
give less than this nro those who
s'}opay of laborcrs and messengers,
isiss,l dthcrs running down To tho char.
@bfhcn, who receive $50 month for
sweeping and scrubbing. Ono of the
most interesting sights OF tho Treasury
Department. is tho paying out of these
! moneys, which always occurs ut the last
of the month.
From all pnrts of the building tho men
/ and women troop to the disbursing Of
| fees, and they receive their cash in crisp.
new bills which rustic like IL four-dollar
blnck silk when they pnss through the
/ counters hands. stood the other day
anu watched them get their money.
Through grated window in line stood
Hub Smith, the noted author of the song
known ny "I.isicn to My Tale of Woe, :"
and II was he who, ncting ut this time for
Secretary Window, WINS paying out the
cash TO the girls.
These girls NIL earn their salaries.
The money counters of the Treasury nro
numbered by the hundreds, and these
girls 90 through thousands upon thou.
sands every day, and count millions II
month while working for salaries of S75.
asked one OF them yesterday IL she did
/ not cOvct tho money sho counted. She
replied she did, and that her feelings
+ while she worked were much like those
of the ragged boy who presses his nose
against the candy window and glonts
/ upon the sweets within and thinks what
he would do if he had them.
These girls are adopts M counterfeit
ictcdors. Their fingers get no sensitive
That they can tell counterfeit il il
touches them, and il they pass n counter
iclt the amount of the bill il takcn out of
Their salaries. IL is the same thing if
they make mistake, and their position
~ II very critical one. Tho bills from tho
National hunks from all over tho coun.
try nrc sent here for redemption. These
bills come i'll packages of 100 and they
arc counted by the banks which send
them. If there is any mistake in the
package the girl who counts it reports il
to the chief, and the bunk from which
tho bills come must stand the loss. There
is paper strap around each set of bills,
and upon this is the amount of the pack-
age and the mime of the bank from
which il comes.
a lew weeks ago one of these young
Indy counters was engaged upon lot of
800 notes. She had laid the straps on
the dcsl3 beside her rs she counted each
package, and after verifying tho account
Ind swept them NIL into waste baslsct.
As she was rapidly counting one package
she found That it contained but ninety.
nine notes. She looked for tho strap
containing the memorandum giving tho
name OF the bank from which il came md
was Mortified to find that it had lroppcd
from the table and into the basket She
remembered the name of the bank, but
there was no way in which sho could
i'" e'.""'iS ""o iit3ht. HC DUNK WIS
notified, but the cashier refused to ac-
knowledge the mistake and the girl had
TO pay 800.
| notice that these girls never wet their
fingers in their mouths rs they count the
bills. Each has a sponge beside her and
she gets her moisture from this. There is
great danger Of disease in hnndling bank
notes and no one can tell us to whether
the Inst holder has had the smallpox or
thc measles. The notes themselves arc
green and the green comes from arsenic
used IN coloring. A sponge after day's
use turns black with the arsenic which
comes from the bills, and some girls con-
tract sores on the arms and wrists from
this counting. The sponges are changed
every day, but if the skin is the least
scratched and the arsenic of the note
happens to get under tho flesh sore is
very likely to appear day or two after
wards. The position is by no means
sinecurc, and these Government clerks
have to work mighty hard for every cent