The Washington herald., 1920-02-15

great risk OF loss, that private
scribing how she entered the bu-
, reau. Miss Marshall said:
Before I start. however. | want
to say a word about why the bu-
reau was established. The first
war risk insurance act provided
merely for the insurance of our
vessels arid cargoes on the high
seas. The subject of insuring these
vessels in private companies was
thoroughly discussed. but on ac-
I count of the submarine warfare
waged by Germany it was found
| that the insurance for such risks
companies could not undertake
them. Then. too. the high premiums
charged were such that our trade
with other countries was greatly
handicapped.
/ Insurance Companies Refused.
When the United States entered the
war officials of the government be-
. gan to consider how it could protect
| those who were to be engaged in the
active military and naval service The
whole subject was talked over in
! conferences with officials of private
; insurance companies.
The companies, in view of the great
risks involved and the hazard of losses
through battle and disease. were either
unwilling to undertake the work or
, else declared that they would be forced
! to charge prohibitive rates.
Pensions were also discussed, but
the granting of pensions he'd proved
i very unsatisfactory in the past So,
on October G. 1917. the war risk insur-
I ance act was passed, authorizing the
establishment of a bureau of the
Treasury Department for the grant
! ing of insurance and other benefits to
soldiers. sailors and Marines. At this
time there were already In the navy
J and army 1.jOO,oC0 persons eligible for
insurance by the government
Only Third In Bureau.
AT the beginning there were just
three people in the bureau. The bu-
/ reau started out with three clerks.
who We're quartered in a little dark
room in the basement of the Treas
! ury Department. When the orders
came for the removal of this force to
the old National Museum. as some OF
! you who have worked in the Treas
ury Building at the time may recall,
an auto was drawn up at the side door
: anu lilt cllllt OliiSC SOt dDOdI q.
"A few moments later three big
auto trucks drew up which were
loaded high with bags of letters from
servicemen and others asking how to
apply for insurance. That Is the way
it has been pretty much ever since
and at times the bureau was abso-
Iutely swamped with correspondence.
Just about this time / was living
I out in a little town in Iowa, We
would go to the movie theater at
night. and there would be flashed on
the screen the statement, The gov
ernment wants thousands of stenog-
raphers to work in Washington Just
then they were asking for stenog-
raphers. later on they called for
clerks and anybody at all who could
help out by doing war work. Nat
urally we got excited over II. We
wanted to help. Not all Of us could
get into the Red Cross or the Y. w.
c. A.
Advertised for Clerks.
so in casting about for a way to
do something we naturally did q lot
of thinking. One day an advertise
ment appeared in the local paper an
nouncing a civil service examination
for clerks. forgot about the ex-
animation for a while and when /
decided to take it. as I had filed no
application. it was only because of
an applicant not showing up that l
was allowed to take it.
"All who took the examination
made poor marks in penmanship be-
cause the government examiner fur
nished bum pens. After lot OF
correspondence with the Civil Service
Commission. priucipaliy becausA ]