The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1891-04-19

1uO cIuplOyeS Vi Jue census bureau seem
to be having hard time of it. The complaint
is that the women especially are overworked,
ana That rules have been adopted by the
superintendent that are especially hard just
now that the grip is holding a spring carnival.
One lady who ought to know told a HERALD
reporter that on the entrance door of the sixth
floor of the Inter- Ocean Building, where the
principal punching machines are. he could
see for himself this card of instruction: sYou
Will please inform the clerks of your division
who are engaged on the Hallewith Electrical
Machines, or in punching, who are absent two
consecutive days, that their machines will, on
account of pressure of work, be given to
other operators, and clerks who thus absent
themselves will be furloughed without pay
until other machines can be given them"
NOW, don't you see,' said she, show
tough that is, when the grip has got us? We
do not give up when we feel unwell for fear
of losing our places. We are worked to the
top of our speed and all who fall below the
average of six hundred and fifty family his
tories on the automatic machines are liable to
be furloughed indefinitely. And the constant
tinkle of the little bells on the counting ma
chimes makes a nervous woman almost crazy.
Some say that after few days they do not
hear them at all. They get used to the
racket but confess at times it seems as If /
should f1yto pieces. am awful sick, and ought
to have been in bed week ago, but couldn't
afford to give up and lose my machine and
pay"
Another invalid from the Census Office, who
was suffering from exhaustion and grip, said:
''There were three carried out from the sixth
floor room the day | fell in q dead faint. In
deed, almost every day three or four give up
the race to reach high average. Last week
two women / know set out to reach as high an
average as any others in the room, so as to get
their names on the roll of honor. A few women
who are young and expert can punch the rec
ord of twelve to fifteen hundred families day,
and these two women bent their backs and
wills to do as much or die. They did it, but
one was afterward carried out in dead faint,
from which she virtually never recovered, for
a brain fever set in and she constantly raved of
making her record. In four days she died,
while her companions case is almost as hope
less, since she is only just alive.''
''What is all the hurry about ~ asked the re-
porter.
''To get the report revised and corrected by
the reassembling of Congress- The first one
oring for census returns, and the Superintend-
ent feels the pressure and he applies the
screws on the force in the office. But if the
public should be brought to realize how hard
it bears upon the women in the office do not
believe they would want the census hurried up
at the expense of women's lives They would
let up on the Superintendent, and he in turn
could afford to be humane during the prevail
ing epidemic at least. The men, too, growl
and groan over the arbitrary rules, but since
they are men all the worlds occupations are
open to them. If they do not like the rules of
Uncle Sans offices, or if politics wakes too
hot or too cold, they can move on without
risking famine or worse in losing a good po-
sition We are so situated that we dare not
make an open complaint
This and much more the reporter listened
to from those who suffered from the exactions
of their official lives, and as they were all from
respectable, refined, and reliable witnesses the
reporter visited the various divisions of the
Census Office to investigate further Most of
the machines are in the Inter- Ocean Building.
On the sixth floor there are one hundred and
eighty operators, tWo-thirds of whom are
women. To an outsider the room has the as
pect of factory, and the clatter of the punch
ing with the clang of tiny bells adds to the
idea that such place might be too much for
some persons with a nervous organization.
The chief of this room was courteous but
when asked if there was an average required
in this room he would not own directly that
there was, but said, incidentally, that from
five hundred to six hundred and fifty was re-
garded as an average days work, although
some of the best workers conld do from
twelve to fifteen hundred family records day.
Then he introduced the reporter to one of the
best lady operators in the room. She was
young and good looking, but had a fatigued
expression. The first words she said We're: 81
over eleven hundred.n She said they
all tried to make high average for two rea-
sons. One was in the hope of earning promo
ton, and among the temporary force of get
ting thereby onto the permanent rolls. A
night force of men only work in the Inter
ocean Building from to II p. NJ The chief
of this room said there was no law requiring
the work completed at a stated time, but the
desire of the Superintendent to meet the popu-
lar demand for the completed census was the
cause of the rush. Rules had to be made, he
said, for the many and they always bore hard
upon the few, but he recognized that there was
diversity in age and capacity in his room and
a fixed average would not do still, about 650
was considered ordinarily fair to all. On go-
ing out the reporter took time to read the
placard on the door bearing the rules and
regulations. One clerk who came up
While the reporter was reading the rules
said: THAT means until some other
body gives out and yacates machine. In
other offices employees have during the year
sick leave of thirty days and regular vacation
besides of thirty days. But there isn't any
go-as-you-please work or leaves to be had in
the Census Office at present, you bet, except
leave to resign or die"
BALLANTINE'S