The Washington times., 1922-04-25
STRANDED.
CLERKS IN.
HARD LUCK
woman Police Chief Tells Cor
nelius Vanderbilt, Jr., OF
Serious Problems.
BY CORNELIUS VANDERBILT.

BY CORNELIUS VANDERBILT.
JR.
copyright, by Universal Service. Inc.)
Washington's grea t est
problem is not political mis-
understandings. 1t is the
eternal social problem that
grew out of the war emerg-
ency, that forced itself
upon the National Capital
five short years ago.
Flocked To City.
While the bugles were blowing,
and our boys marched off to the
battlefields of France. more than
10000 young women and girls as
sembled in Washington from
every section of the nation to
take the places vacated by those
who Joined the colors.
The need for supervising and con-
trolling this great influx was vital.
Therefore the Commissioners who
rule the District of Columbia, and
the chief of police voluntarily estat-
lished a Woman's Bureau, because
they felt that women would pette, be
tble to understand and care for the
different problems of the sexes.
Needed Supervision.
They placed at the head of this
bureau with the rank of lieutenant,
Mrs. Nina c. Van Wrinkle, the widow
of a prominent Newark, N. j., busi-
ness man, and then a member of MIR.
Hoover's Food Control Bureau. Since
that time Mrs. Van Wrinkle has built
up and established an organization
which has handled the most difficult
social problem of the United States
In a remarkable manner. And this
IS probably due to the fact that Mrs.
Van Wrinkle is a most remarka BILE
woman with a magnetic personality,
q keenness for justice, and a love of
fair play.
Today with the ak Of economy
knocking at the doors of all unskilled
labor, the girls that came to Wash
ington during the period Of emerg-
ency. are finding themselves in dire
straits, and this is just where Mrs.
Van Wrinkles great under taking
commences. fbf
Most of the women who came
20 Washington in 1917, drifted into
mushroomed. overnight depart
ments," Mrs. Van Wrinkle told me
today in describing this problem
that has become of national i'm
portance.
Many of them were unskilled
But their Senators and Representa-
ti~es soon found new jobs for them
in the departments that came with
the war. Some were mailing clerks,
some handled the files, others ran
errands; they filled every nook and
crannie where able-bodied men
could be spared. A few were typ
lists. and a very few knew ste
nography.
AT the same time there came to
Washington another type OF hu-
manity. These were the dollar-a-
year men. Most of them were past
the draft-age limit. A great many
were prominent executives in their
. own sections Of the country, and
were brought to Washington to
fill positions of trust, executive d.
reCtiOn and ability.
"The men had left their families
for the most part at home, for in
those days accommodations were
scarce, and even food was at pre-
MUM. Their families would have
suffered greatly had they been
Obliged to put up with the tncon-
veniences that came with temper
ary shelter.
'"These men were from the So
phisticated cities. The majority Of
the girls came directly from the un-
sophisticated villages.
"And both the men and girls, at
times. grew desperately lonely
True, they heard from home. They
read about our doings overseas.
But the touch of home friends, low
ing families and the guidance they
had been accustomed to were re-
linquished much too quickly.
''And girls are girls. the world
over.
"It is no wonder that these
young women from the sparcely
populated regions grew to love the
big, important, dollar-a-year men,
for whom they worked. And love.
they say. affects us women In a
deeper, more profound way, than
III does you men. That's how 1t
Iaffected many young women in
Washington.
'In some cases too, the men
found in these young women who
had to work for a living, certain
something they could never find in
the women they had made their
wives. There was companionship
that goes with work, that one can
not find in most women who are
brought up and live In a limited
circle of people. And 80 the men,
too, were affected.
And then came the aftermath,
Just as the cool. gray, somber dawn