The Washington herald., 1916-11-29


resolutions commencing the ef-
% pass the Nolan $3-a-day bill
mixing the newspapers for their
st in the cause of the poorer
employees.
Arrangements now are being made
1 for a. mass meeting at Convention
Hall for the general public, at which
members of the House and Senate and
Cabinet officers will be invited to
| speak. This plan was advanced by
The Washington Herald and it has
met with wide approval from the
government employees and members of
organized labor. The meeting prob
ably will be held early in January.
Employees Of the Library Of Con-
gress are among the most enthusiastic
supporters of the movement for in
creased wages number of these
employees have fitted themselves for
their work by a course of instruction
| in the library schools of the country.
Admission to these schools requires a
high school education and the course
runs from three to four years. After
gaining this qualifying education they
are put on the payroll of the Library
of Congress at $50 a month.
In no department of the government
service perhaps can a more efficient or
| more highly educated class Of employees
be found than those in the Library Of
Congress. There are many collegs gradu-
ates on the roll-men on whose educa-
| don thousands Of dollars have been
spent-drawing salaries less in some
| cases than that which. is given the
underpaid government laborer. The work
done by these men and women calls for
high educational qualifications.
Work Their Way Up:
On the other hand, there are a num-
! ber on the roll who started in the service
very young, and who have profited by
| the advantages naturally afforded by the
| institution-and by attending night
| schools, to fit themselves for higher
grades of work. There are many in this
class, long in the service. and drawing
very low salaries.
Chief photographer Meyer. of the
Library, personally cited to the Washing
ton Herald representative the case Of one
woman, who had literally grown gray in
the service and whose value to the
Library had increased immeasurably.
but who had worked for many years
without an increase, because Of statutory
| restrictions.
Librarian Herbert Putnam realizes that
| the salaries paid in his department are
! inadequate and in his last report to Con-
| gress said:
When in 1897 the Library was moveo
over from the Capitol it was a mass Of
| nearly one million books and pamphlets
! and nearly a half million of other
articles-undigested and largely unsorted.
1t lacked a modern classification or
| catalogue, a shelf list, and the other,
| even the most elementary apparatus of
| record and use. When in 1899 l as
sumed charge of It most of this was still
| to be provided.
Pressing Needs Outlined.
AT the first opportunity I described
the needs, and outlined the organization
to meet them. In doing SO, recognized
that the staff proposed-and the aggre-
parison with the one then existing. I
wished to keep 1t as low as possible.
| foresaw that a good deal of the prelim-
mary work, on the mass of material
could be taken care of by Junior en-
| ployes, not necessarily permanent; and I
anticipated that even persons with con-
| siderable education and library training
might be attracted to our service by
small salaries, in the hope of advance
ment later. Accordingly I proposed a
number Of positions ranging from $500
down to as low as $3.50 per annum.
| Another situation now presents itself.
With the collection now doubled by ac-
cessions, the mass to be treated requires
still every position now on the rolls; but
the processes require a service substan-
TALLY permanent. For the present po-
sition now paid at from 5000 to $1,000