Omaha daily bee., 1909-09-26
WORK OF POLICE MATRON
Not a Job for a Woman Troubled
with Nerves.
FEATURES OF NEW YORK LIFE
Higher Pay and New Rules Have
Brought Women of Ability into
the Servioe-standard
Greatly Raised.

NEW YORK. Sept. s.-Perhaps no
women on the city payroll have fewer
bouquets thrown at them than the ma
irons Of the police department When
the department turns out for its
annual parade there are no martens in
the procession. When periodical shake
ups take place there is never a men
ton Of the mAtrons. This. it is said.
is a point In their favor, showing as It
does that the unsatisfactory or misbehaving
matron is rare.
Unobtrusively, patiently It seems, with
out applause or thanks from any save
perhaps the u~nfortunatss who pass through
their hands, the police matrons work week
in and week out eight fourteen, some
times t~wenty-four hours at a stretch. with
merely brief vacations. Sundays and legal
holidays even requiring their services.
Therefore IT is natural that comparatively
few persons should be aware how much
Of late years the personnel Of the police
matrons has changed for the better, both
physically and mentally.
This change was first remarked when
the matrons became recognized members
of the police force, eligible to the pension
list. This occurred, an official at police
headquarters said, ten or twelve years
ago. Previous to that candidates who
looked fairly healthy and seemed to have
a good working knowledge OF q matron's
duties and we're well recommended stood
a good chance Of eating the job which
then carried with a third less pay than
then carried with it a third less pay than
it does now. At that time the age limit
was elastic and examiners refrained from
putting possibly embarrassing questions
as 10 a candidates schooling. The ques-
ton of athletics wal not raised at all.
AS it became more and more evident
that a competent matron was a valuable,
indeed a very necessary, adjunct of the
station houses of the more populous pre-
cincts of New York the commissioner dis
covered too that only women with certain
qualifications gave all around satisfaction
in the role. That ended the old order of
things and the days Of pull where the
matron was concerned. The new rules
made it clear that women applying for the
place Of police matron must pass a civil
examination similar to that required of
policemen. that only women between the
ages of 30 and so should be eligible for that
examination, the mental part of which
must be preceded by a thorough medical
examination. Then pay of matrons was
raised to $1,000 a year.
In March, 1904, to show how desirable
the post of police matron was considered,
when the last but one civil service exam
ination for police matrons was held, 9O5
applications were filed and 375 women
passed the examinations. Included in this
number were school teachers, trained
nurses and women OF mental attachments
who had never worked for a living. OF
the S5 perhaps thirty-five nave since been
engaged to fill vacancies in the police de-
partment.
The names remaining on the 1904 list
were cancelled In June of this year, when
a civil service examination was adver-
tised, or at least they will be cancelled
SO soon as the result of that examination
is ascertained. Some of the women on the
old list decided to take the examination
again and sent in applications to that eff
feet. For the June examination only 46
applications were filed, the falling off in
numbers being explained by the difference
in the new rules.
The new conditions are far more exact
Ing than the old. For instance, the age
limit was cut to between 30 and 40. and