The record-union., 1899-08-31
Practically Barred Out Of the Gov
ernment Service.
Heads Of Departments al Washington Pre-
fer Men for the Places.
Claimed That the Women Cannot
Adapt Themselves to as Great a
Variety of Work as Can Men,
and Often Expect Special Con-
siderations and Favors Which
Men Do Not.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30.--Women
are practically barred out of the Gov
ernment service in the departments at
Washington.
There is no concerted action among
the heads of departments and chiefs Of
bureaus here to exclude women from
appointment, but whenever there is a
place to be filled the head of the Office
almost invariably asks for a man. This
right to discriminate between the sexes
is recognized by the civil service regu-
lations, and when q requisition is made
for male clerk, stenographer or type
writer the commission certifieS only the
names of men
Civil Service Commissioner Harlow
said that the commission had a long
list of women stenographers and type
writer's eligible for appointment, but
they could not get the appointing off,
GERS to take them. There are many
little reasons" said Mr.. Harlow, (which
seem to influence the heads of Govern
ment offices to prefer men to women.
The principal one, perhaps, is that
While women may do as we'll during
the regular working hours, if there is a
rush and it is necessary to work over
hours, the work can be crowded on the
men better than on the women. The
women are not so willing to work over
hours and the heads of offices feel more
reluctant in asking them to do so than
is the case with men,"
Chief Examiner Servin of the Civil
Service Commission told me there were
many reasons, small in details, but im-
portant in the aggregate, which :nflu-
enced heads of Government Offices to
prefer men to women. "The heads OF
offices" said he, prefer men partly be-
cause in the event of a rush they can
work the men harder than they would
like to work women
In addition to this it is found that
women cannot adapt themselves TO as
great variety of work as can men.
They may be all right in a certain line,
but when they are put on something
else it is very hard for them to get the
hang of it. They are also inclined not
only to insist on having all the privi-
leges in the way of vacations and sick
leave to which they are entitled, but
they often expect special consideration
and special favors. OF course there are
exceptions. and many women are very
efficient but the heads of offices where
both men and women are employed, al
lIIOSI invariably ask Tor a man Wnen
they are filling a vacancy"
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
Vanderlip who has general supervl-
sion of the clerical force in the Treas
ury Department, indorsed practically
all that the officials of the Civil Ser
vice Commission had said. He said it
was undoubtedly true that women
could not be driven as hard as men in
rush of work and the heads of offices
in the Treasury Department almost in
variably asked for men rather than
women to fill vacancies in their offices.
He said this was probably in part due
to the fact that there were IN almost
every office some women employed who
We're far from being efficient. Some
of them had grown old in the service.
They were dependent upon their work
for their support. Heads of Offices were
probably more reluctant to recommend
the dismissal of a woman than a man
for incompetency.
I'm the Auditors Offices" said Secre-
tary Vanderlip, ''men are generally
preferred to women for the reason that
women do not seem to have the faculty
of exercising as we'll as men that
judgment which must be used in deaf
ing with matters in those Offices In
the office where most of the work is
done directly for the Secretary's office
we have two stenographers-a man and
woman-and they are both very eff
cient, but the general tendency seems
to be to prefer men, largely because
they can do more work under pressure
and because of their greater adapta-
bility to varieties of work"