Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-11-13
Woman Government
Official
By Frederic !. Hnskin.

Washington, ID. ~ noV. lo.-~W hhs
women politicians proclaim the need sf
women IN the Cabinet and ~ Congress,
Mrs. Annette Adams IL showing what
certain type ~ woman may be expected 70
do in high office.
Ag assistant attorney general, appointed
last May, she has TO hard down legal
opinions on various subjects 70 Inc gov
errrnent departments. Questions from me
people on il come tax, Tor example, arc
answered iy the Income Tax Bureau. But
il the tax experts get stuck on point pi
their own law, or II some new argyle or
claim is brought up, the bureau refers the
problem 10 Mrs. Adams, and she ylves hef
opinion, which stands ~ that oi the De
partment Of Justice.
I,ikewisc. she handles disputed points of
the Volstead act, though the Supreme
Court ard Congress have made the HrTns
nf prohibition 20 plain that there are few
doubtful phrases To Mrs. Adams are al9p
entrusted the legal matters relatir ~ ne
Federal priaors, the war rIsk Insurance,
rer sions the Adamson Eight Hour ihW,
ard other lawa such as the Pure FOOD anh
Drugs act ard the Safety Appliarc" art.
pLAcE FoR HRArys
To render II tclligert opinions on these
wrjghtv matters demands definite legal
cxperier ee ard ability. Having 70 deal
with the income tax labyrinth alorc would
sfagger the average human iTi,g. T"t
Mira kdaus manages 70 look cheerful aud
assures you that thr income tay law y ~
itself not ~ reasonably complicated though
she admits that the exemptions ard surfar
provisions are bit c0ufuqiug
9he recalls how. before she came from
California H. he 4 government lawyer, she
hcrgelf had a iittlc difficulty WITH her '"n
tax blank Its mysteries had been caro-
fully urrayeled except The battling pT"po
gitlon ~ 10 which Liberty Bonds |'re
exerfpf from taxation She took N" m
curv ~ IN income tax eZpr;rt ana M ~
rnitted that hc had been stuDped ~ tnc
same thing ard that he haf finally pn'd
fay on al nf them ~ get u OH nis mind
Now Mrs Adams vii not nave - b'ther
over tbe possibility ~ her interpretation
of the tax lar Felng wrong for I dl@-
n, n avisf-7 fhc mcttcr viii be rc'errHf n
her anyway
Nrs Adams docs ro' talk rrich about
herself either her pact or What she IN
tcadq to Do She has introduced ~ inno-
...tiorq nto her branch n nc lbopEr'~
rert II Justice ard she docs not evI'ec' -
A n woman III n hIgh government N =" she
is 4 piorecr. and. n usn her ovn erpre1-
eio.. shc i making haste sloT'y
~he . aleo p pioneer as woman iswyer
Who has achieved . rational repu'stlon
Az a girl abe graduated from the state
Normal school in California ami from 'he
University II California, ard 'enRh'
school while she worked sor her fegrrf,'
" hen ahe uas adr Ittet = prar'lrn n ne
California courts ard in the Federal courts
she rave III teaching and with partner
vent Irto business for herseit She never
sr,eciall1ed IN divorces or women's ca7os
though ,rorrcn who came - her often
str-4d their preference for woman council
IT. business matters.
Her chance came one day whom she wss
pleading a caee against the STATE pro9ec,i-
fion The Il strict attorney had practically
assured tie accused man of long AL
/ zorterco h1if 4rhcn Mrs. Adams arose and
.tated her clients Cefense IN 3 sirnple,
direct plea. the Judge gave the prisoner
only six roortts. The defeated district
attorney sought o,It the council for the
defense and asked her directly i she
would like 70 be one of his assistant
FIRST WOMAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
/ She became the first Woman assistant
/ district attornev-a position requiring .
/ good deal of tact, probably-for the men
xerc not lised 70 woman LAWYER IN their
+ midst Where a man would OCCASIONALLY
/ take a chance Mrs. Adams pored over
4 details and ACQUIRED a reputation Tor
/ making sure The district attorney relied
+ IN her "a extensively 70 draw UP the raPers
for r5leadi~ ve that when he became II, she
he'd - .aze his place, ard eventually me
became the district attorney of northern
California. the frs. woman p hold me
ofnce n alv state.
In her -e& position At Washington she
has more time TO give careful attentinA 20
cases She thinks that this cen ne over
C0~e. however. ana that women are a
fIttle r. etl to work too Eauen with details
SO that BY close attention 20 tine points
-hera i s!ar ger oi overlooking The main
s,i5a~ IN other words, II losing he per
,uert.ye. 4 man has less patience with
details.
Mr.. Adams saws this with RELUCTANCE.
She disllkes 20 make any cata.otle 'i
women versus men 70 show that he
woman Juror or lawyer IS less loslca. OF
NOR, emotion 81 than the masculine protO-
t.-1e. because she regards the lndlvIdua4
element which makes each person ci-
fereat from the rest IS too uncertain B
fartor Tor such crude ciasslhcatIors 20 be
worth muca 4 Jury OF women she thinks, =
rot more likely % be Swayed bv emouOls
than d Jury 0i men OF sim!lar degree 5t
mentality.
Mrs. Adams looks az lie from ~ I'M
martial matter-of-fact argle- the Iud,c4.A
outlook. With a little smile she says that
She hss rot the newspaper sense, tnGt
she never could reel off chstty little .-ct-
dents obout her liie 4 have 10 hob
bies She added though do Ike 70 cook
ard take care cf rny apartment. There
vou have orc OF the first women executives
in the Federal COVER rnent-a widow Of
pleasant middle age the forties> who 5 a
hard worker ard a lawyer os recognized
ability. This frsr feminine Federal AZ
toraev believes in keeping the home fires
burning, but She does i by going out into
the world and huS,li3g for the fuel