The Savannah morning news., 1904-04-07

o+ors and Near Relatives of Gov
eminent officials Cut n Figure
Among Women EmpIOyes-"Vanity
Fair" Set in the War Department..
Clerks Fix the Fashionable Hour
for Afternoon Entertainments.
HOW Many Women Clerks Spend
Their Vacations.
By r. NJ. Larner.
Washington. April 6.-There is Just
one city in the United States where
the self-supporting woman is not
dubbed a working woman" and. that
city is Washington.
To be on Uncle Sans pay roll as a
department clerk is not social taboo,
and the women who are fortunate
enough to achieve independence upon
a salary of $1,4OO or $1,SO0 a year are
in a position to make a good showing
in fashionable society.
To say of a woman that she is in of
fee" means that she occupies a snug
berth in the government ship, has am
pie time to enjoy the pleasure of life
after seven working hours day and
has. as likely as not, assumed her po-
sition as a convenient way of contin-
ung Gin the swim"
widows PredOminate.
Among the thousand women in Of
fee 20 per cent. are the widows of
United States senators and the near
relatives Of past or present govern
Inent officials. AS Washington is not
g. city of mills, factories or general
trading industry, there is no other
class of feminine wage earners with
which to confuse the women in Office
1t is an absolutely unique way to earn
a living and still maintain a social
gentility that banishes such terms as
labor and toll from it's polite vo-
cabulary.
At the beginning of every adminis-
tration hundreds of attractive women
are installed in Office either through
the civil service or as temporary APP
pointees, which is an easy way Of get
ting on Uncle Sans pay roll and per-
fectly satisfactory, so long as one has
pull enough to stay. These women
come from all parts of the United
States and represent the culture and
refinement of a countrywide feminine
constituency.
Vanity Fair Room.
In the War Department, where a
great many women in the army and
navy set occupy positions, there is one
room that is called facetiously VANITY
Fair" Nearly all the clerks are of the
really smart set that plays bridge"
goes in for horseback and fencing and
furnishes Datronesses for all the fash
ionable charities. Their blood is of the
biuesti their husbands, fathers or
brothers have bled or died in their
country's service and they themselves
are in such demand socially that some
body-or-others victoria or brougham
is always in waiting at the conclusion
of office hours to whisk them off to re-
ceptions and afternoon teas.
One stunning looking woman. who is
regarded as the most smartly gowned
person in office, spends all her vaca-
tons with the Vanderbilts and the
Goelets and maintains an enviable DO
sition in social Washington
They Fix Social Hours.
Out of respect to government hours.
all the fashionable recitals and lee
only thing the society woman in Of
nee has to forego is the high noon
luncheon, but as Sunday entertaining
Is more and more the fad in Wash
lhgton, even this pleasure may be
had one day in the week.
women II Office are entitled 10 one
months sick leave and one months
vacation in the course of a year. This,
IN addition to the numerous national
mondays and the shortening of hours
IN very warm weather, affords a fair
amount of leisure to the women in
Uncle Sans employ. One very beau
t!ful and popular young woman, who
y extraordinarily fond of society, takes
her annual leave in January in order
TO have one months genuine social
Illng. If she goes at such a pace
mat her, months sick leave follows
close upon the months frivolty it
is no ones affair but her own.
In the Bureau of Republics.
The Bureau of American Republics
Is another department noted for the
beautiful and fashionable women in
It's employ The bureau faces the
White House on Pennsylvania avenue
and at inauguration time, or any other
occasion of festivity that includes a
military pageant and review by the
PRESIDENT, "a charming IuGcheon is
served to the bureau force.
The Department of Justice, the State
and Agricultural Departments, the De-
partment of Commerce and Labor, the
Postoffice Department, the Census Blu
reau and the patent office are only a
rev of the great institutions under
the government where women are con-
genially employed and where their
compensation enables them to maintain
social position that puts them on a
social footing with the wife of the
PRESIDENT of the United States.