St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-10-18
WOMEN WHO HOLD OFFICES.
Generally Acquit Themselves with
Credit and Are Held in High
Esteem, as q Rule.

Generally AcquBt InemSelve0 Will
Credit and Are Held in High
Esteem, ~ . Rule.
The offices of the city of New York
give employment to a considerable
number of women. With the advent
of the merit system the number Of
women giving their services to the
city has increased at rate that
threatens to make it uncomfortable
for those place holders who still ad.
here to the Jacksonian maxim of '"To
the victcrs belong the spoils," says q
report from that city.
Every. kind of place is filled by
women except those of physicians
and legal advisers to. the city. 1t il
said that Corporation Counsel Rives
is opposed to the idea of appointing
women to any position in his depart
ment that can be filed by men.
The law department is equipped
with one of the most competent
stats of stenographers and type
writer's to be found in the city, and,
prior to the appointment of Mr..
Rives, it was almost entirely com
posed Of women. The places filled
by him since January have been
taken by men. The Office of junior
assistant to the corporation counsel
is now in the competitive class and
Mr.. Rives may be compelled to fill
one of these places by woman from
the head of the eligible list.
Secretary Briscoe, of the civil serv-
ice board, was asked to specify what
places in the city's gift were most
sought by women.
"Women, as rule" he said, "apply
for those positions they are most
competent to fill. They are stenog-
raphers and typewriters, clerks, at
tendant officers, matrons, police ma
irons, bath and laboratory attend
ants, civil service examiners and 9th
ers. One is Typographical draughts-
man, another tenement house in
spector and q third assistant regis
trar of records in the tenement house
department.. .
1.-TWO of these appointments were
earned SO strictly on their merits
that there was no excuse for passing
them over. The examination for as
sistant registrar of records was prob
ably the most severe ever arranged
by the civil service commission. A
specimen question was: How is the
coefficient of a correlation derived
from the mode of deviation?'
"The majority of candidates threw
down the examination papers on
reading them and quit the room.
Most of those who stuck were college
professors, and only college profess
sors headed the list, with one excep-
ton. The third place on the list was
taken by a Brooklyn woman, the
only woman candidate, and she got
one of the places.
'There is one young woman filling
the position of laboratory attendant.
To fill that position requires merely
q slight knowledge of laboratory
work, without any idea of the chem
ical composition of the materials
handled. We asked her what q va
CUM was. She answered that 1t was
a smear. Another young woman re-
piled that it was some kind of pow
er that was stored up and used when
wanted.
''It was a case Of nervous fuster
with a young woman who, on being
asked as to her parentage. replied:
My parents are all dead, with the
exception of few aunts.'"
"How do the men in your office
treat you?" one Of the women civil
servants was asked.
81 have no fault to find" was the
answer. "Before I took my present
position I was stenographer for .
large concern. The men there
smoked In the Office and behaved in
all respects, I think, as they would
if I were not present. In the place
I am now smoking is prohibited, and
I think the men are more considerate
of my feelings, for they often stifle
a swear word on realizing that am
about"
"How do the women in your de-
partment work?" was the question
put to several heads of departments
And they answered without exception
that the women employees wer'
among the most diligent, attentive
and competent in the Office.