Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1911-05-27
BEST PAID WOMAN IN
GOVERNMENT EMPLOY
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Mrs. Leona NJ, Wells, Of Wyoming F.
the reorganization of the Senate has
brought out as the highest paid wo-
man on Uncle Sans payroll. From
the assistant Clcrkship of the power |
ful senate committee on military
affairs she has been promoted to "a
similar position with the more pow
crful senate committee on appro-
priauons.
Fer some years Miss Margaret vi
the director Of the mint with power
to act in his place in his absence or
in the absence Of the immediate as
sistant has been hailed as Uncle
Sans best-pald woman employ I'M
the departments. But Mrs. Wells has
the laurel over Miss Kelly, consider
ing all the branches of the service.
1t is political appointment which
Mrs. Wells has received, as was her
first appointment as an employe of
the Senate eleven years ago. But she
has been in politics in Wyoming
where the dreams Of the suffra-
gettes have been realities for several
decades She has special pride in
the fact that she has had an equal
voice with each man in the Rocky
Mountain state in the elections held
there since she came of the voting
age about eleven years ago
Yes, this highest-paid woman on
the governments pay roll is a suffra-
gette, not the rampant, militant kind
that casts stones when they cannot
cast ballots, but nevertheless a be-
lever in the equal right Of women
and men to declare their choices for
officers. And when asked why she
is a suffragette, she will point to re
forms in Wyoming and claim they
have been brought about by wo-
mans suffrage
Mrs, Wells has been doing mans
work, not only in voting. and in fill
ing the Office of election clerk in her
voting precinct but as an employe of
the Senate, for over a decade. And
she has found her sex, she says, a
handicap in only one way-she has
the privilege of the Senate floor dur
ing the sessions of the Senate, as the
men occupying similar positions
around the upper House Of Congress.
This has been particularly notice
able each year since she has been as
sistant clerk Of the Senate Commit
tee on military affairs when the an
al
der consideration. Ordinarily, the
clerk or assistant clerk who has
been in charge Of an appropriation
bill while II was being made up In
committee sits at the side of the
committee chairman on the floor Of
the Senate when it is under consid-
Grafton by the Senate, Mrs. Wells
has done the clerical work on the
annual army appropriation bin for
several years during its consider
|ation by the committee, and when
the bills came before the Senate
male employe of the committee has
had the seat alongside Senator War
Iren, chairman of the military affairs
committee.
Mrs. Wells, however, has followed
every minutes development and her
suggestions have promptly reached
chairman Warren. She did that by
taking station just outside the
/ swinging doors at the main entrance
Of the chamber and keeping the
doors ajar a few inches to enable
/ her to hear what was going on in
the Eveless chamber,
by right Mrs Wells has the priv
ileges of the Senate floor. But Gus
tom has decreed differently, and she
/ has not been the one to violate that
precedent set by custom
Mrs. Wells is young for her re-
spOnsibilities, being only 32 years of
age Born in Illinois and reared and
educated In Iowa, She felt the call
Of the mountains and went to the
Rocky Mountain region In 1899. The
next year she became secretary to
the chairman OF Wyoming's state
| Republican central committee. After
| the election OF President Mckinley in
| November, 1900, she came to Wash
/ iuEton to become a clerk to the SEN
ate Committe on Claims Five years
later when Senator Warren left the
claims chairmanship to take that Of
/ military affairs, she went to the lat
ter committee, however that she is
Isull sought by attorneys and claim
ANTS when tangles over claims, par
ticularly over older ones arise and
claims precedents are sought.
At the close OF the Ffty-eighth
! Congress, Mrs. Wells was designated
to prepare the alphabetical index Of
/ private claims pending before the
Senate In that Congress-an index of
| 10000 namea each followed by a
history Of the case to the close of
that Congress. And the index she
prepared was printed as public
document for the use OF Congress
When she took up the work with
the military affairs committee. she
was the first woman employe OF the
Senate placed I'm charge OF the affairs
/ of big committee. The military
affairs committee manages the an
nual supply bill for the support OF
the army aggregating approximately
a hundred million dollars, and the
smaller, but important military acad-
lemy appropriation bill, besides many