Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1906-03-29
WOMEN MORE TO Be
TRUSTED THAN MEN
First Dedication by Female
Employe Of Postal
Department.
SHE DID " FOR LOVE
oceasionaliy Ono Does Someth,r,
Wrong. but Stealing 10 Left for
the Ma,e Employees
Those at Work.
SHE do IT FOR LOVE

Wiiii''Il IA. us' ittN iNS p"f''~
the Chicago Record Herald, as follows.
The defalcation of Lulu Bowen. ~
clerk in the postal service In California.
suggests an inquiry OF whether women
officials are more honest than men. Ths
late General Spinner. who Is credited
with being the first to appoint wome
to positions In the government service.
used to that they are. He fire.
quently asserted that he had never
known a dishonest woman in govern
ment employment. Other officials of
long experience admit that cases of
dishonesty amonE women are very rare
but attribute 1t less to moral principles
and more to a lack of nerve. tempta-
ton and opportunity.
Lulu Bowen was in charge of a sub
station OF the pOstoffice at Oakland.
Cal. where she sold stamps and mone
orders and received registered letters.
h had Il lover named l.. w. Baker.
a printer by trade and a married man.
He proves to have been a gambler and
all-rOund sport and to have exercised
an almost hypnotic influence over her.
He persuaded her to loan him money
from the government funds In her pos
session. and I'm order to make 1t good
she pocketed the proceeds of money or
ders and destroyed the duplicates.
Grow to $1,000.
This form OF embezzlement continued
until the defalcation to near
ly $1,000. when in January, she was de-
tected, arrested. indicted and is now
awaiting trial. Baker is also under in
dictrnent. but out on bail.
Mr.. Nickery. chief OF inspectors of
the postotfice department. tells me that,
this Is the only case of the kline with
in his recollection. Several women
have been detected and punished for
violations of the postal laws and regu-
iations. but he could not discover in
the records any other case In which
n woman cmp!oye of she department,
had stolen money intrusted to her
charge.
Within recent years there have been
two cases of women clerks violating
the postal laws. Last September Mary
F.. cunniffe. who had been employed
for fourteen years in the postoficc at
Port Jervis. 81 small town in the state
OF New York. was arrested for open
ing a letter which did not belong tn
her. Her crime was not attributed to
dishonesty or avaricc.
Society to Blame.
There are two social factions in that
l1ttIe town. and the rivalry tive
them is very keen. Miss Cunniffe, ac-
tuated by curiosity and jealousy, tam
pered with letters addressed to the
leader of the set to which she did moi.
belong. She was arrested. made a con-
AVo"iV'i' was iiuiCteu, PLEADED guilty
and was sentenced to one year in the
penttentiary at Albany.
Maria Brau. clerk in the p~ostoffice at
AnaSco. Porto Rico. stole a letter con-
tanning money from the mails on the
loth OF 1905. She was ar
when brought to trial pleaded guilty.
She was sentenced to one wears i'm
.prisonment. but the judge suspended
the penalty on he ground that there is
no place on the island OF Porto Rico
where a decent woman can he i'm,
prisoned. ~
These are the only cases Of d;s-
honesty among the women employees
or the postoficc department for MANY
years. '
Not Disseminated Against.
Miss Alice b. Sanger of the office Of
the chief clerk Of the department. who
has been making an investigation. f1nds
postinasters n 2.10S women are EN-
ployed In p~ostOffices as stamp. delivery
or money order clerks. In the ~postofice
department proper. out Of 1859 clerks
314 are women.
The salaries ct the employees OF the
postoftice department I'm Washinrton
from $40 to $1,000 a year. the
former being the compensation OF the
charwoInen. The average annua SAL
airy paid to all the employees Is 81, 3lO. so:
the average salary paid to men clerks
Is $l.242.47: the average salary paid to
women clerks ia s1.136.39: the average
wages of employees under the grade Of
clerk. Including laborers, messengers
Janitors. charwomen. ETC., ia $685. so; the
average paid to- men is $S73.O 70, and to
women. 1851. so.
The following table gives the number
oi women employed In the postoffice de-
partment In the different grades and
the Su Ia rtaS ysaCotvod nv than.