The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1891-10-08
In WOMAN'S BEHALF.
WOMEN THE EXPERTS.

The value or Their Services In the
Treasury Department.
At q meeting held here in honor Of
the late Gen. Francis f. Spinner. for
merly treasurer of the United States,
says . Washington correspondent Of the
Boston Journal, Secretary Foster paid
tribute to him that was well deserved
Attention was especially called to the
fact that Gen. Spinner was one Of the
first to recognize the merits Of women
as department clerks and to give them
positions in the service. From Gen.
Spinner's day the employment Of won-
en- in the departments has become gen.
eraL
In many branches of the treasury
service women have arisen to the pro-
ficiency of experts. This is especially
true as to the Office of the treasurer Of
the United States, where he most ex-
pert, rapid and accurate counters Of
multilated currency and detectors Of
counterfeit money are women A wom-
an detected the first counterfeit 500
bill Of very dangerous issue. When
called upon to explain why she thought
1t was counterfeit her answer was: Il
knew it was" 1t took day or two for
the engravers and cashiers to make
detailed explanation SO that
bank officials could understand the
reason. However it was discovered
that these same cashiers and bank
officials had received good many of
the bills, while the woman had detect
ed that they were counterfeit Gen.
Spinner, when treasurer of the United
States, once said: "A man will examine
q note systematically and adduce log
ically from the imperfect engraving.
blurred vignette, or indistinct sigma
ture that it is counterfeit, and he will
be wrong four cases out of ten. A
woman picks up q note, looks at it in
an apparently careless manner, after
her own fashion. and says: That is
counterfeit 'Why?' the division chief
will ask, and she will be sure to an
swer, Because it is and she is right
eleven cases out of twelve" It would
be wrong to say that these discoveries
are the. result Of chance. They come
from q keen perception, fine eyesight,
delicate touch and long acquaintance
with the work. There is in one of the
bureaus to-day woman whose divis-
ion chief says that her daily average Of
work is nearly three times that of .
man who has been assigned to the same
duty, and who sits in the same room,
yet the man gets twice the pay.
The most skillful person to identify
the notes and bonds which were dc.
faced and charred in the great Chicago
fire were women. There was one mass
of charred paper from the Chicago fire
amounting to Sl65, OOO consisting OF
legal tenders, national bank and frac-
tional notes, bonds and coupons. They
were SO charred that they would crum-
BILE at the touch. This black mass was
given to six ladies for Identification,
and in the course of time they accom-
| plished their task. Other like amounts
from that city were in like manner sue
cessfully identified A year later
eighty-three cases of money, similarly
charred, came from the great Boston
FIRE. One case was found by these
same six ladies to contain SIS, 900. Six
months were required to identify the
money saved from these two fires
| Some Of the women are employed on
what are known as affidavit cases
cases where money is too badly injured
| to be redeemed in the usual manner
One of these expert women clerks saved
the government $3.50, 600 once This
money WIS lost in paymaster's trunk,
which was sunk at the bottom OF thu
Mississippi river, lay there for many
months, and was almost mass of pulp
when it arrived at the treasury. The
express company. which was RESPONSE
BILE for this money, presented the clerk
with $500