The times., 1899-10-29

In such divisions Mr.. vanderlip said. the
belief Of the chiefs is that men make more
efficient employees than women. The AS
sistant Secretary denied that the depart
ment had any desire to substitute men for
women when the one was as efficient as
the other.
Men in the Pension Office.
H. Clay Evans, Commissioner Of Pen
sions, said in relation to this question that
he has now $50 women in his department,
and that the number viii not be increased.
The duties Of the employees in the Pen
sion Once, he said relate purely to legal
and medical questions. and it is difficult
TO teach women, especially the older ones,
the technical knowledge required. There
fore, for the work here / want men when
] can obtain them. When l was First AS
sistant Postmaster General ! had many
women under my direction who were very
efficient in performing their duties, but
the class Of work in the PosIofiice Depart
ment is different from that done IN the
Pension ONCE.
Whenever a vacancy has been made by
a female employe of late it has been the
practice 20 fill it by the reinstatement OF a
veteran"
Clarence G. Allen. acting chief OF the
appointment division of the Interior De-
partment. said that he knew that the Geo
logical Survey and Patent Office preferred
women TO men for employees when practi-
cable He knew that no determinations
were made against women, and that as
typewTiters and stenographeTs they were
given the preference He said that the
Pension Office and Land Office had been
filing vacancies made by women by the
reinstatement of old soldiers; that in the
Indian Office there had been no discrimina-
ton.
Views of Mr.. Heath.
Perry Heath, First Assistant Postmaster
General. said that during the last six weeks
more women than men had been appointed,
but he attributed this TO an unusual de-
mand for stenographers. In the Postofice
Department, he said, there were some
women more efficient than men, but he ad-
ded that in the filling of vacancy the re-
quest Of the chief of the division is usually
considered If he asks for a man to fill
a vacancy he generally gets one.
The First Assistant Postmaster General
part of anyone 10 discriminate against the
appointment of women. Some reasons, al
legged by division chiefs, for not wanting
women TO fill executive positions, are that
many men having business with the de-
partment do not like to transact il with
a woman. Some men feel a restraint placed
on them when this is necessary, and others
may be uncouth and in an undesirable con-
dition for women 10 meet 'All kinds of
people come here" he said, "and they must
be attended TO. He frankly said that he
believed that in filling any vacancy, prefer
ence should be given a veteran over a
woman, but as an evidence that there Is
no discrimination against women he said
that the temporary roll, which does not re
quire the approval OF the Civil Service
Commission, at present contains thirty six
names twenty-four of which are those OF
women
Reinstatement" said the Secretary of
the Civil Service Commission, is the lea-
son so many men Of late have been ap-
pointed TO vacancies created by women. "
The secretary said that the number of
original appointments was small, except
for stenogTaphers, but admitted that the
number of Teinstatements Of men had been
large. OF the stenographeTs that had been
appointed after civil service examination
there were II women in 1897. and II in
1898, as against 81 men in 1897, and 81 in
1898 AS to the appointment of clerks,
p women were appointed in 1897 and 6
in 1898 as against 81 men in 1897 and so
in 1898 All OF the females were appointed
to clerkships out of Washington. Seventy
three men were also appointed to posi-
tions out of this city, but eleven obtained
good places in the departments here, and
the women obtained none