Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-03-29

upset and she was swept down stream for
nearly half a mile, and was rescued by a
cowboy just as she was being whiried into
some deep and dangerous rapids. No one
will say that this woman does not earn her
5000 year, with the additional 81, 500 for
travelling expenses and subsistence. If Miss
Reel could eat Uncle Sans greenbacks and
gold pieces everything would be comfort
able, but there are Indian villages where all
the necessary expense appropriations for
the White House state dinners would not
buy a square meal. Recently Miss Reel
wrote a text book for Indian schools. which
embraces every topic of educational train
ing for the Indian student.
1t Is mistaken idea also that good looks
influence promotions. A case in mind is
that of a young lady in one of the depart
ments who entered the government service
as a copyist, was advanced to a stenogra-
piers position, and while holding that po-
sftfon studied that branch of law applica-
Bile TO the work of the department in which
she was employed. Called. upon by acct
dent to examine a complicated case, she
rendered so comprehensive and able a legal
opinion that she was promoted to the po-
sttion of law clerk which she now holds.
All this was without political influence or
the supposed influence of good looks.
Prefer to Remain Single.
Outside of the salaries paid skilled labor
ers, printers assistants and press feeders,
which rarely if ever exceed $40 a month,
ments runs from $500 to 81 400 a year; that
is for the average clerk. 1t has been urged
that the women drawing these compare
lively good salaries are being spoiled for
wives. Perhaps they are. No can
blame girl for being reluctant to give up
live as she pleases for the cares and wor-
rfes of married life. When department
girls do marry they usually make a sue
cess of it. They do not have to look out
for home and the business girl of today
has fireproof heart. No dashing ne er-do-
well can hope to catch her fancy and her
neat nest egg. She meets and knows too
many men not to be able to catalogue
them The male department clerk is not
an eligible by any means. He frequent
ly gets no more per month than his female
co-labOrer, and sometimes less.
a large proportion of them live from
hand to mouth and are flush only on
salary days and broke" on all others
Much has been said and written about
the old ladies of the treasury 1t is
true, there are great many elderly women
III that dePartment-but surely their age is
no cause for complaint. Some are in the
seventies, one or two have drifted along
10 eighty odd. Their salaries all touch or
overlap the hundred dollar per month mark
Among them are the widows and daughters
OF famous men. For years they have work
ed IN this biggest bank of the world and
millions upon millions of dollars have they
helped to pour out through the enormous
check books over which their white heads
are constantly bent. The treasury contains
the most interesting workers in WASH
1rgton-these are the women whose skill
fu! eyes and delicate fingers can detect
counterfeit in second. So expert are they
that a glance Suffices. Occasionally how
ever counterfeit is so near the original
that it takes considerable time and labor to
prove the forgery. In the case Of bogus
olll the paper is soaked and then separated
by means of slender knife The govern
ment greenback is made I'D of three thin
sheets pressed together with hair-Iike
threads of silk between. One can imagine
the steadiness of hand required to separate
these sheets one from another witbont
tearing or mutilating them in any way.
lhese women are not paid extremely large
salaries for their work, not over 81 500
per annum yet it is doubtful of anv men
salary. Va
Where Women Excel.
Some pension officials declare that If male
instead of female clerks were employed or
the pension cases of our old soldiers their
widows and orphans, the poor prospective
pensioners would die of starvation before
action was reached on their claims. In
cases where exactitude to the verge of
hhlck1ness is required, women are better
clerks than men,
Ihls has been borne out in the work of
me census bureau, where the tabulating
machines, requiring unending patience and
the most skillful eXactness of touch are
all run by women. The census bureau has
proven a source of much contention Conn
ing, as its organization did at the close
vi the Spanlsh-American war, it was a god
send 10 many families that had suffered
loss OF husband, son or brother in that
conillct There should be some consideration
of this fact shown in the disnissals which
are now taking place However a great
many clerks We're employed who realized
mat lnelr work would be of a temporary
character. Some few are prepared for dis
missal, but the great ma jority have snent
thelr money carelessly and without thought
1or the morrow, and these find themselves
In an unpleasant position. They have ac-
CURED a taste for Washington life. and go
back to the farm, or the store or to the
little country home discontinued and wit
longlngs which cannot be satisfied for work
IN the government service. Without doubt
these 700 or more young men and wo-
men who have been employed in the CEN
sus bureau have added much to the rove
nue. or the street car companies and the
confectioners Of Washington for the past
year or SO; and the prettily gowned figures
ana gay young voices of the girls will he
missed from the streets of the canitaI
1t Is a well-dressed crowd Of women and
girls who troop down to the departments
IN the mornings, the women-many of
them from once wealthy famflies-drassed
in sober black, the girls in short skirts
and tailored waists. Indeed this sensible
costume of short skirt and shirt waist
mas become almost a uniform so general
has been its adoption. 1t signallizes
the passing of the old idea that woman
In business is playing at work She has
tried 1t and found it good; now she is 90
Ing to dress for 1t, and those of her sex
who are energetic and ambitious enough
10 secure the sheckels from Uncle Sans
money bag should not be objects OF envy
but rather of emulation. The way of oh,
tanning these places is tedious and long
but under the methods employed by the
civil service commission it is open to ali.
ana no matter how remote the place may
be, opportunities are given those who live
there to take the civil service examina.
ton which is the prerequisite for EN-
ployment in the government service.