The Cordova daily times., 1922-01-18
WOMEN TO GET SQUARE DEAL
 IN SERVICE


 tion of discrimination against mar ried women in the Post Office De- pertinent, which has just been an- nounced by Postmaster General Will H. Hays, Is the direct result of ef- forts 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 deal for her sex and she got it. The Postmaster General decided that a woman em- ploye of the department does not change her status or lose any rights in the postal service because of mar riage.
 Before Hays handed down this de- cision, when an unmarried woman holding the position of postmaster married she had to obtain a new ap- pointment, execute new bond, or pass the required Civil Service ex- 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 disappointment or another examination.
 Similar controversies have arisen all over the country where women are employed in the public service, particularly as school teachers. In the latter cases it frequently has been held that women who marry forfeit their positions as teachers. The ruling of Postmaster General, Hays will set a precedent in the Federal service and will no doubt have an important effect in establish ing for women the full rights of citizenship intended to be conferred by the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
 In a letter to the Post Office De- partment referring to the old order discriminating against women who marry as an archaic situation" Mrs. Gardener continued "I deem it ex- ceedingly important. both in the in terest of the service and in the in- terest of the development of women, 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 Mir. Hays upon the rec ommendation of his legal adviser, who declared that he saw mo ade- quate legal reason why marriage of postmasters or of other women em- 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 chaic but it served as a deterrent to marriage. The entire problem of married women in the public service should be settled on the basis of ef- ficiency If the marital duties of a postmistress. for instance, occupied so much of her time as to render her as public official she should be removed; or if, on the other hand, the presence of a hus- band about the post office should be deterrent to the best interest of the patrons that would be ground for her removal. But to remove a post mistress solely upon the ground that she was married constituted an ana chronism, now that women have be- gun to come into their rights under the Nineteenth Amendment"
 A Virginian by birth and the widow of an army officer, Mrs. Gardener has been worker in the cause of women for the past thirty five years. She emphasizes, however, that she is not an adherent of the doctrine that women should divide in politics along lines of sex. Rec osnizing that the sexes have varying interests and aptitude in political, social and econimic life, Mrs. Garden or hoI;ovoe pou that women have