Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-07-11

the erection Of imposing stone struc.
lures at cross roads villages, you have
refused to grant a pittance to super
animated federal employees.
He may quote Mrs. Ruth De
Havens, Of the Treasury Department,
whose appeal for a retirement bill
rang with such eloquence as to sweep
q Senate committee off its fee.-which
Is some admission for a Senate com.
miteee.
"The history Of the retirement
movement. If it may be called a move.
ment. reminds me OF Banvard's
Panorama of the Creation which was
seven miles long" said Mrs. De Haven.
But the first three miles represented
the earth before the Creator said, Let
there be light So far it was an un.
illuminated movie just as the retire.
ment movement has been. In our
case. we thought the sun had been set
IN motion just before the last cleo.
tons, when both political parties
promised retirement legislation. It
proved to have been only q JACKIE.
lantern.
we need q retirement bill more
urgently than language can express.
1t Is not flight Of imagination to say
we die at our desks. and, few have
the audacity to do that until half past
four, when the departments close for
the day.
Department women are not strans.
ers to the Hoover economies; and to
many OF us n meatless and one
wheatless day would even mean a
fevel Of luxury. I have known ad.
mirable and efficient women to re-
ceive their first advance in salary at
eighty a old. 1t looked to me like
what my Catholic friends call AN
ointtng for DEATH AnG one Of these
women lost her three sons on the
battlefield of this nation. My country
tits of thee, Of thee I sing
1T must be admitted that a woman
sometimes obtains an advantage over
g. man In the government service
through the mere instincts of civiliza-
ton. For instance. when an old lady Is
sick In our Office she is laid tenderly
on a sheet Of perfectly good brown
wrapping paper on the floor and min.
tstered to by a gentle and skillful lady
physician. For men we omit the
paper since the cost has doubled and
their lingerie will not be SO hopelessly
mussed by a bare floor, and we send
them Just an ordinary doctor. This
is the only occasion I recall of special
consideration for women in the
government service.
1.-THE only logical argument I ever
heard against civil service retirement
is that we do not deserve q defended
old age more than any other class Of
workers. To this there is no answer.
Wherever respectable age and actual
want. that ill-matched pair are found
hand-in.hand the fact spells disgrace
for employers, community. state or
nation.
The vision Of nations is becoming
vocal and contagious. Humanity
looms large in the picture. The gold.
en- calf is reported to have been dis
placed in the temple. We are dream.
ing of a world democracy. Let US
dream on. In a world democracy the
aged toilers will not be cast out to
perish, nor underpaid, to suffer prt-
walton. The mothers of men will not
be esteemed as less valuable than the
mar they bore and nourished. nor
will they die with the tools Of labor
In their hands"
Once Young and Fair
Your reporter friend will point again
to the old, broken spirit OF . woman
ct the station. before she boards q
train for q refuge somewhere, and he
will tell you that when she anne to
Washington, fifty or sixty years ago.
she was just az fair to look upon -
the pretty girl who has gone out to
catch . street for . downtown
government department. The elder
woman has been discharged for nd
other reason than that Of age. She ID
cut on without q penny's reward for
years Of faithful service.
Il you + obstinate and refuse to.
believe that such thinGSSN ii exist in
the real life Of your capital, tho ro-
porter can ma his answer TO your
doubts IN the testimony bsfors Z com
fnittee q Congress- by Thomas Ewing,
United STATS Commiss5onsr Of Pit.
euts.
hAA a my mics ! very tragic
etpsrtence." satd NJ; Ewins. There
were four peopIs of ths sxaaninfrs
cerps wAoap Isfsd1cs1 ono srads. !
Aif1srvnse 6f ~. becauss fhsy wer%
20 ~ Y dischAsgs nc dadss 6 thsr