The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-09-11

were back in the days which stocked
the government departments full OF
fair wielders of the pen and hammer
ers of the lettered key. Male steno.
graphers and typewriters" is the way
the civil service commission describes
the demand and it adds that there Is
/ practically no demand for female
bookkeepers." And Its latest table
shows that OF 600 mon who pass d the
stenoEraphy and typewriting exam
nation in year as many as Asa re-
ceived appointments. whereas of 101
received positions. The bookkeeping
examination teels a worse tale Thirty
per cent of the Roman eligibles final
lily got positions. And while nearly
! half the men who posed the clerks
examination received their appoint
4 ments less than a seventh of the wo-
men who passed were employer. The
trouble is that when department sends
| to the civil service commission re-
QUESTION for an eligible to any Of these
positions. 1t may no wdesignate the sex
wanted. and in the great ma jority of
cases women are called for. The lag
| est class of women now eceiVinE gov
| eminent positions are designated as
i"skilled laborers, female" and several
hundred year are appointed in the
government printing ofticefand bureau
of engraving and printing. Outside
Istenographer, typewriter. booklseeper
and clerk SIS women took the last civil
sevice examination reported and of
these 337 passed. while 131 were ap-
Ipointed-45 as teachers, 4S as motrons
and 9 as trained nerses upon India
reservations two dozen as nurses in
Panama and seven as scientific assis-
tants" in the Department of Agricul-
ture. And yet members of their sex
passed examinations for craftsmen, fish
Iculturists and pressfeeders while others
tried those for assistant patent exam
iner and computer, but failed.
: Secret service males only sounds
Hike an official rap at widely pro-
claimed feminine weakness Chief Will
kie of the Treasures detective agancy
prefers men for his force of sleuths
land even these must send in theirsap-
iplications in an envelope farked "Per-
sonal.'
bachelors Only.
\ Unmarried men only" will be en-
ployed as railway mail clerks and bach
elors are preferred for tho public health
and marine hospital service, as we'll
as In Panama and the Philippines.
And Uncle Sam is growing fuss!er
| all the time tbout the physical quail
| fications of his civil service employees.
! Physical defects debarring you from
this falls examination are: Badly
crippled or deformed hands, arms, feet
or egs;tuberculosis, paralysis, epilep-
sy, heart desease, locOmotor ataXia,
cancer, Brghts disease and diabetes.
II you have one leg of or are minus
- ar Nyntt No 4
positions, but if two limbs are lack
Ing you will be tabooed from the test.
Small men cannot get certain covet-
| ed positions. Thus railway mail clerks
| must be five feet five inches In height,
exclusive Of boots and shoes and weigh
not less than 100 pounds in ordinary
clothtng, without hat or overcoat"
And penitentiary guards must be mot
less than five feet four inches in height
land weighing not less than / 80 pounds"
Elig'ibles selected for the Panama SER
vice will be subjected to rigid ply
steal examination" at the port OF de-
parture and those rejected will have to
| pay their way back home And those
who pass for the Philippine service
will have to, be looked over by the
local pension eNtmining surgeon. or
some other government physician be-
fore being appointed,
While the blind are shut out of all
| civil service positions, President Taft
has recently ordered that deaf mutes
| be admitted to examinations for all
civil service places whose duties they
are capable of performing. He furthur
ordered that each department furnish
| the civil service commissioner with a
list of such positions,
l(copyright 1910. by John Elfreth Wat
kins).