The daily Alaskan., 1918-05-17
WORK OF CENSORS
 FULL OF THRILLS
Women of England Find in It a Most Attractive and LuCra-
 tive Professor
HELP DRAW NET ON SPIES
System IS Perfect; One MarVsls How German Secret Agent Can Slip Through, but Slip Through
 He Does.

l
 London.-The latest and, to wom- an, the most attractive profession Is that of postal censor. To the we'll educated woman in her service, the postal censorship offers opportunities for advancement not to be found else where. The pay ranges from SIPS week while learning, rising by incre- ments of S1 to $16 week, the maxl- mum for an examiner, with additional war bonus. There are at least fifty women earning more than S1000 a year, supervising thirty or forty exam iners each. They have all risen from | the ranks.
 Now they hold the proud title of D. A. c. Deputy Assistant Censor), to which they have been elevated not so much for their languages as for their general capacity. One girl of nine teen. engaged two years ago as a typiSt at S5 q week, rose to S15 with in six months. Another, beginning at $1O, drew $2o within eight weeks.
 Yet the plaint of the deputy chief censor Is that i've cannot get enough of the right kind of women to be cen sOrs." The latter Is the executive | head of that vast machine, created mainly for restrictive measures, which 1 yet feeds with valuable information not merely the war office, of which 1t now forms an integral part, but the ad- miralty, the foreign office with its off shoots, the propaganda department, contraband committee, and on which | the whole of our blockade activities | are based.
 Is there enough of the right kind of women anywhere? The right kind of l woman has many avenues open to her. | Some offer service In France--adven- ture, romance the making of history ] the glamor of the uniform and chance of honor and glory. But the woman censor, catch spies though she may, gets but little llmellght.
 Heroines in Bureau.
 There are women in the censorship 1 today with three or more years service who are not least among the herOines | of war. They work in secret and in 1 silence, behind closed doors, and their 1 successes are hidden. They will not even tell their friends where they work, let alone what they do. AL though the women examiners of mails number some 1000, against some 500 | haE mention of the women. The recent | decision of the authorities to remove some of the secrecy which shrouds the woman censor will lead the right wom- en to apply for the work, though nat | urally there will be no disclosure which | caf possibly be of use to the enemy, | and the discipline habit of calling ey- | erything confidential will continue Experience is not demanded of recruits | since the work of censorship was only called into being by the harsh needs of war, and the censor's office itself ] Is the only place where training and i experience can be obtained.
 | The necessary qualifications are not merely languages, and what they do is not just to read other peoples dull let ters, as seems the general impression; 1t is much more interesting than that. There are women there who know no tongue but their own; they have been chosen for their judgment. and their unuuestlonable discretion besides their education and general knowledge. One would emphasize the value Of Judg- ment and the opportunities for exer- cIslnE It; It Is a question of weighing up facts and coming to wise and req sonable decisions the whole time. To women with 6 happy blend of imagi- nation and common sense the work is absorbing, at times thrilling.
 It is an experience and an educa- ton, a privilege to be part of this won derful mechanism, even sS the hum blest coz in It's wheel of progress; to observe the details of It's construction and to watch It expand week by week. Censor Tlshtens Net.
 For as the war wldens the censor throws his net stlll further overseas,
 
 tightening 1t until one marvels how the German secret service agent can slip through It's manifold meshes. Slip through them he does, and that Is why the country needs her daughters to help to outwit him.
 h the women's army or navy the average pay of officers Is $625 to $ST5, with free quarters. They must leave their homes, and to the woman who is settled In London this Is a difficulty. But If the London dweller has not the robust health that enables her all day to stand on. her feet, though she can do a good days work Ion her head" If her family falters at the thought of France, let her come forward to the censorship