The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-01-05
WOMAN COMMISSIONER WON POSTAL SERVICE
 RIGHTS FOR SEX

| Washington, Jan. Elimination o1 discrimination against married wom- | en in the Post Office Department | which has just been announced by | Postmaster General VII H. Hays, is | the direct result of efforts made by | Mrs. Helen Hamilton Gardener, the | only woman who has ever held office | as Civil Service Commissioner. Mrs | Gardener asked Hays for a square 1 deal for her sex-and she got it. The | Postmaster General decided that 2 l woman employe of the department | does not change her status or lose any rights in the postal service because l of marriage.
 Before Hays handed down this de cision. when an unmarried woman holding the position of postmaster narr. ed she had to obtain a new ap- | pointment, execute a new bond, ol animation in competition with other candidates seeking the office. Under the new ruling the woman postmas- ter who marries will continue to hold
 the office without a reappointment or another examination.
 Sets Precedent
 Similar controver- es have arisen all over the country where women are employed in the public sAvfce particularly as school teachers. Tn the latter cases it frequently has been held that women who marry forfeit their positions as teachers. The O1 fOSL1DdSLGr dGn6ra1 Hays will set a precedent in the Federal service and will no doubt have an inn portant effect in establishing for women the full rights of citizenship intended to be conferred by the Nineteenth Amendment to the Con stitution
 In a letter to the Post Office De- partment referring to the old order marry as an archaic situation Mrs. Gardener continued: "I deem it ex- ceedlngly important, both in the in terest of the service and :n the in not to mention the interest of the Post Office Department, to work out some ruling which will correct the obviously unjust condition"
 Mrs. Gardeners statement of the case won instant approval of the solicitor of the Post Office Depart ment and the old order was speedily revoked by MT Hays upon the who declared that he saw "no ade- quate legal reason why marriage of postmasters or of other women e1n- ployes should of itself affect the tenure of office."
 Discussing this incident the other day. Mrs. Gardener said:
 ''Such an unjust discrimination as previously existed not only was ar marriage. The entire problem of married women in the public service should be settled on the basis of eff fciency If the martial duties of a
 postm e7tress, for instance, occupied so much of her time as to render her inefficient as q public official she should be removed; or if,. on the other hand, the presence of hus- band about the post office should be deterrent to the best interest of the patrons that would be groun1 for her removal. But to remove a post mistress solely upon the ground that she was married constituted an anachronisn, now that women have begun to come into their rights under the N'nteenth Amendment-
 A virginian by birth and the widow
 of an army officer. Mrs Gardener has been worker in the cause or women for the past 55 years She emphasizes, however that she is not an adherent of the doctrine that wom- en should divide in politics along lines of sex Recognizing that the sexes have varying interests and apt1tuues
 n political. social and economic ire.
 Mrs Gardener believes now that women have the vote. they will nat urally work for the interests nearest them. while at the same time aifgn1rg themselves with one or the other CT the existing political parties.