Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-11
The MODERN WOMAN.
XV-Women in Government Employ.
By Frederic ]. Haskin.

the clerical forces which women were
capable Of filling; the other was that the
loss of the support of the men who were
killed or wounded in battle rendered it
necessary for hundreds of women prompt
ly to seek some means of providing for
themselves and the families dependent
upon them. The government. for which
these men had sacrificed. their lives, nat
urally felt responsible for the care OF
their families. and was anxious to give
employment to the women. These wom-
en-. who in most cases had had little or no
business training. were placed in positions
calling for both. They met their new OBJ
legations so well that they opened a new
avenue of occupation which thousands Of
women have entered upon since then. and
at the same time have added materially
to the clerical resources o. the govern
ment.
The first woman to be employed by the
government was Miss Jennie Douglas,
who was appointed by the Secretary of
the treasury to cut and trim the Treasury
notes to uniform size. That was before
a machine had been invented for that
purpose. Next to Miss Douglas in date
of appointment was Mrs HeIen Mclean
Kimball. who for a number OF years be-
fore her death was looked up to as the
dean of women in government employ
During the latter years of her life, which
ended recently. Mrs. kimball was chief
file clerk of the Office of the controller Of
the currency. Her successor in point Of
seniority at present is Mrs. S. V. F1tz-
gerald. who is now In the money re-
demption division of the controllers Of
flee. Mrs. Fitzgerald received her ap-
pointment in 1864. and Is still in active
service.
The cleverest woman in her especial
line of work in this country. and prob
ably in the
Clever Woman world, was
Detected Bad Money. 1.as,s nho
retired last year. after forty years OF
service. She was chief counterfeit de-
tector in the treasurer.s office. Mrs.
Leonard often was referred to as the
female Sherlock Holmes 1t is said that
in her whole career she never made a
mistake in detecting a counterfeit pre-
sented to her. There always have been
positions for women in connection with
the Treasury since the department was
first opened to them. which call for espe-
cal responsibility and accuracy. One OF
the latest appointments is that of Miss
Mary Leslie of Maryland, who was APP
pointed last year by President Taft to
witness the destruction of Old paper
money. She is the first woman to be
given such responsibility and millions of
dollars worth of paper bills are destroyed
under her supervision each year.
The Department of Agriculture has a
number of woman scientists who. have
performed especially important service.
In the bureau of plant industry are two
young biologists whose discoveries re-
garding cancerous growths upon plants
will have, it IS believed by a number of
scientists, some material bearing upon
the means of treating human cancers for
which physicians as yet have failed to
discover cure.
Another woman employed under the
Department OF Agricu ture is DR.. Mary
Pennington, who has been in charge of
the pure food laboratory in Philadelphia
DIR. Penn nston made a study of the cold
storage fowls and conducted series of
experiments which have demonstrated
the possibility of such food being kept in
good condition for whole year if prop
erly prepared, while fowls not properly
prepared may be unfit for food after a
few days.