Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-01-26
SECRETARIAL STARS
They Help Run the Government in Their Quiet
Corners in All Its Major
Departments.
Departments,

Some of the callers are to get
what they came for; others are TO
be refused in such way that they
will bear no resentment.
Facility in easing out unwanted
callers Is usually referred to as
smoothness, and the majority Of these
secretaries are undoubtedly smooth.
Yet there is seemingly more to it
than that. A large number Of Sec
retaries were asked the question,
What phase of your work do you
most enjoy?" and three-fourths Of
them promptly answered, 1.-THE con-
facts it gives me with all types Of
people"
WHEN one likes people sufficiently.
and finds them OF interest,
diplomacy Is not the only reason for
being pleasant. 1t would be hard to
find any one more genuine in her
courtesy than Augusta Lands. secre-
| tary to the administrator Of veterans
affairs, Gen. frank T. Hines. Miss
Lands has a heart-warmlng smile
and habit of listening to COM
| plants and case histories with an
absorbed attention that makes call
ers' egos expand and purr. She was
born in oxford, N. c.; was graduated
from the Woman's College of the
University of North Carolina and is
loyal to her home State with the
loyalty of one whose ancestors have
| long called the same spot home.
Brought to Washington by the war;
time call for new clerks, she has
held her present position since 1919.
Col. Cholmeley-Jo popular early
head of the Veterans Bureau, wanted
to transplant her to his New York
Office when he retired to private life.
She agreed and was ready to cave
when the colonel's sudden death sent
her back to the bureau to cancel her
resignation.
Many other officials have had the
idea of taking their secretaries with
them on leaving the Governments
service. When Ambassador at-Large
Norman H. Davis was Undersecretary
of State he had as his secretary
Kathleen Bitter, just out of school,
but uncannily proficient. On his re-
turn to New York he installed her
in his home Office. Now Miss Bitter
is back in Washington as secretary
to Emil Hurja, Chairman James A.
Farley's head man at the Democratic
National Committee, where she spends
breathless days interviewing job-seek.
ers and debating huge stacks of mail.
Recently she was spoken of as po-
litically astute idealist-which may or
may not be something no woman has
been called before.
IN VIEW Of the rushed lives they
lead, 1t is surprising to find many
of the Capitals foremost secretaries
younger in appearance than their ex-
perience indicates they can be in
years. Some of them are in their
early 20's, few definitely middle.
seed, the malority-on guess
around % TO IS. In common with all
other women workers of Washington,
they are referred to Unfortunately
as girls"
One secretary who doesn't mind adj
hitting she was past 80 years old in
the postwar days is Miss Anna v.
Moynihan of the Office of the AS
sistant Secretary of Labor She is
stately. gray-haired and pleasing to
look at. and she tells story that
should be Of interest to any woman
no longer in her first youth.
When Government Offices were being
reorganized and reduced after the
war, Miss Moynihan was one of thou
sands to find herself out of a job.
On applying for reappointment in
still active department she was as.
tonished to be told by rude-man.
nered personnel chief that he wanted
no women past 80 years old.
Then what were such women to do?
The personnel man didn't know
and didn't care, and If she would
please go now, he was busy.
That night she came across maya
zine article telling why one executive
not only employ / women over &c.
but used them exclusively, because
he thought them preferable to their
younger sisters. Soon afterward she
obtained an appointment in the Labor
Department, won several promotions
and eventually came into her present
position of secretary to the Assistant
Secretary of Labor, a post which she
has held through several changes of
administration. She would rather be
where she Is than in any other de.
partment, because of the human
interest and the opportunities to be
of service to people in small ways"
Recently she obtained an IL B. de-
gree from Columbus University School
of Law.
THE work of the New Deal has borne
nowhere more heavily than on the
secretaries of Capitol Hill. Everybody
is writing to his Senator and Repre-
sentative these days; everybody who
can is visiting Washington in person.
Each Office is a combination employ
ment agency. information service. po-
litical substation and legal-aid bureau.
Without expert handling, it would be
a mad house as we'll
Twenty-odd Senators and more than
$50 Representatives have intrusted
women with these difficult Jobs.
Among the better known congressional
secretaries are Catherine Blanton Of
Pat Harrison's Office. Mary Connor
of Hiram Johnson's and Cora Rubin,
who handles such extra office duties
as visiting Russia for Senator Borah.
A recent addition to the group is
Buena Berry. who was aid to young
Rush D. Holt before the baby Sem
ator" became nationally known.
Back in the Hoover administration
a picture often seen in the no0spa-
pers was that of Lola Williams, sec.
rotary to the Vice President, and the
first woman to hold that exalted po-
sition. She had come into Senator
Curtis Office number of years be-
fore, young, inexperienced girl from
Kansas; had advanced from minor
position to that Of secretary, and had
been retained by the Senator on his