The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-25
WOMEN GOVERNMENT CLERKS.
MANY IN THE GREAT ARMY ARE
COLLEGE GRADUATES.
They Form an Important Factor I'm Civic
Life in Washington-Hleher Education
In Demand-ENpert Counterfeit De-
teetOrs I'm the Treasury Department.

In D~emand-ENpert Counterfeit De-
tectOrs I'm the Treasury Department.
Washington; The woman's Workshop"
The old toast has improved with age,
and the statesman who made 1t, in ceie-
bration Of Lincoln's appointment OF women
to Government clerkships, has earned q
place among the prophets.
The difference between feminine clerks OF
civil wal times and their successors Of to-
day, says the Washington Star, Is the di1er-
ence between ahandful and an army. There
is also a contrast greater and more honor
able than that Of number. The pioneers
were timidladies who sat behind the screens
and, as one expressedit. copied stupidthings
In big books. The timid ladies nave de-
veloped into trained business women, and
any Cabinet member will admit that he X
a pride in the excellent and often remark
able records made by the feminine workers
In the technical or scientific branches OF
the department under his control. Post"
MASTER General Cortelyou in a recent article
concerning "The Postmistress, says among
other things: "Woman's share in the postal
work is varied and intimate. If you visited
Washington you would find hundreds in
the various divisions. Go to your own
posi- OUIC6 anu tllucT yOul hihii iHoy ~
handled by women or a woman may be the
dependable one in the background who
keeps order and maintains the efficiency
Of the office. In every direction we have
as a trusted and we'll paid em-
ployee.'
Mrs. p. L. Collins and her thirty-two as
~sistants in the Dead Letter Division Of the
Washington post office long ago made fame
For thap,sa1vaa haoanaa of their ability to
decipher i'll written or insufhciently adj
dressed letters and packages that came
within their jurisdiction at the rate OF
nearly a million a month. AS 80 per cent.
of this freak mail reaches its destination
some idea may be gained of the excellence
of the work done.
When Mr.. Whitney was Secretary of the
Navy a very young woman aspired to a
position in his department that entailed a
knowledge Of higher mathematics. He was
so sure Of her inability to pass the severe
examination that he even pitied her for
her temerity in undertaking it. When he
learned that she had come out of the ordeal
with flying colors he explained:
Il don't believe there's a job in this city
from the Presidents down that some
woman cannot fll-and doubtless will some
day"
Whether Mr.. Whitney was also a prophet
remains for the future to tell.
Some Of the brightest women in the Gov
eminent service are employed in the Navy
Department, notably at the Naval Observa-
tory, where they assist in astronomical cal
culations for the Nautical Almanao-the sea
Bible on which mariners ~depend-and other
s~cientifc work in connection with that
bureau.
The 1882 women clerks in the Govern
ment departments at Washington form an
important factor in its civic life. Many Of
them are taxpayers, and the majority have
others depending upon them for support.
Those who waste their salaries in foolish
WAYS are merely the exceptions necessary
TO the making of a rule. As in the old
DAYS, there are many clerks who continue
to CODY stupid things in big books, but
even in this work there is always some
ambitious woman to rise above her occupa-
ton and make such a notable record for
rapid, legible and intelligent penmanship
as to win for herself an increase in salary
and perhaps a promotion to some more i'm
portant desk. The rank and file Of copyists,
however, are typewriters, and the speed
attained by individual workers is frequently
a matter of comment in the press. Take,
for instance, the small army of typewriters
in the Patent Office, where nearly every
clerk takes pride in exceeding the daily
average expected. The typewriter who
copies a patent specification must be as
faithful to the text as the actor who makes
a study of S~hakespeare's lines-and yet
there are clerks engaged in this work who
are constantly striving for supremacy, each
overwhelming the record of the other. until
the result in some divisions Is phenomena
work from all.
Accuracy first and speed afterward is the
business ~watchword in all Government de-
partments, consequently when a young
woman gets her name, and often her photo
graph, in the papers because of her ability
to do several days work in one it is safe
to infer that she has followed copy as
faithfully as the fellow clerks she left SO
far behind. These less notable typewriters
sometimes intimate that "spurt." records
are always succeeded by days OF reaction,
and that, therefore, the much exploited
mistress Of the keyboard does no more
work than Others in the long run.
In the days Of political influence any
clerk with a lucky share of it had no need
to worry whether she did intelligent work
or not, but the Civil Service law requires
q fair days labor for a fair days pay, and
II she can attract notice for marvellous
speed ana accuracy IN neT WOTh 30 much
the better are her chances for promotion.
Higher education is always in demand.
and the college bred woman who has
acquired practical knowledge along special
lines Of study, and who wishes to secure
an appointment under the Government, can
nearly always connect herself with its pay
roll.
There are women in the Treasury who are
80 expert in counting greenbacks and in
detecting counterfeits that there are few
hours in any day that they are not subject
to inspection from tourists on the corridor
side Of the wire-net doors. Other women
help to print currency, bonds and postage
stamps, over at the Bureau Of Engraving
and Printing. In the various libraries there
are women attendants who have attained
university degrees, Many bright women
The scientific library at the Agricultural
Department, which is said to be the largest
OF its kind in the world, is in charge Of a
woman, and another woman, Mrs Fuller,
has presided over the library Of the Interior
Department for a number Of years. The
library at the Navy Department is con-
trolled almost entirely by women. Part Of
their routine work is to prepare collected
data for the Navy War Record, which has