Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-01-26
PERIL GUS ADVENTURES MET IN TESTS OF AT
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personal secretary, has been with him
since he was Governor Of New York,
and she, too, won her position by
merit alone.
NEXT door to the White House, IN
the State. War and Navy Build
ing, Is q sweet-faced woman who has
the unique distinction Of having
served in the off1ces of five Secretaries
of War before she became secretary
to the present Secretary Of War,
George H. Dern.
To please one cabinet member Is
something Of an achievement; to have
pleased six Of them is q feat virtually
without parallel, and many are the
secretaries who would like to know
how Mrs. Martha E. Mcpherson mas
done it. Maybe the fact that she
has spent 10 years being efficient with
out acquiring a cold-bloodedly ef-
ficient manner has had something to
do with her secret.
In her hours off duty Mrs. McPher-
son Is an enthusiastic wife and mother.
It was her intention to spend her
full time as homemaker, but when
her husband enlisted during the World
War she began her career, and be-
came too interested to give it up.
Before her marriage she taught for
a short time in a business school,
after attending Virginia Seminary
and Spencerian Business College.
She is still interested in the intent
young girls who 60 to business schools.
and believes that they are acquiring,
in the knowledge Of shorthand, one
Of the best means a woman can have
of succeeding. To the many beginning
secretaries who ask her advice this Is
her pet suggestion:
"A girl who wants to get to the
top as a secretary should read and
read and read. The higher formal
education she can have the better.
but, il going to college isn't feasible,
reading can go far toward taking its
place. General cultural reading is as
necessary as reading in economics
and world affairs. Men often make
literary illusions in debating speeches,
and the girl who knows what they
are talking about is always looked on
with favor"
Mrs. McPherson's views on the
necessity for wide information are
shared by score Of other secre-
taries queried on the subject. A man
may be amused by a fluffy dinner
companion who asks, Whats the diff
ference between stock and bond?"
or WHO was John Stuart Mill?"
But he wants a secretary who knows
all the answers.
MARY HUSS. secretary to the Sec
A'A rotary Of Agriculture, Henry A..
Wallace. believes that she owes her
own JOHN fart. at least-to spe-
cialized knowledge she obtained
through no effort of her own, but
by virtue Of being brought up on a
farm. To help still further, it was
an Iowa farm. When rural-minded
Mr.. Wallace speaks Of surface soil and
hogs and droughts and corn, she is
with him in spirit as well as on paper.
| Miss Huss Is tall and slim-waisted
and refreshingly fortnight in man
ner. If a home-towner shows up
, among Mr.. Wallace's stream Of call
ers she greets him with the Joyous
handshake one Iowan seems always to
have for another. She came with Mr..
Wallace from Des Moines, where she
had been with him two years. Before
that she attended business high school
and Iowa State College, worked for a
year in the agricultural journalism
department of the college. and later
in the State Highway Commission.
The Assistant Secretary of Agricul-
ture has as his secretary dark-haired
Margaret Petten, who left her Mon
| tana home, after four years in the
State college, with the intention of
becoming a department store execu-
tive. Her experience, before she took
up shorthand, included study at the
Prince School of Education for Store
Service, and, later, educational work
in Chicago stores. She came to Wash
ington jobless, in the early days Of
the New Deal, and maintains that she
was catapulted by luck into her pres
ent position.
IN ANOTHER ONCE Of the huge and
sunny new Agricultural Building
sits q girl whom countless women
would doubtless like to replace. She
is Faye Bailey, secretary to Rexford
g. Tugwell, the former professor
whose charm is the talk Of the town.
Miss Grace Fake. formerly Mr.. Tug
wells secretary, has been rewarded
for her efficiency and made his assist
ant. Miss Bailey is fairly new to her
position. but takes it with calnness.
Has she noted that she is working
for an official who is handsomer than
most?
Why, yes, she has.
| And how does it feel to be secre-
tary to q man said to have turned
susceptible society matrons giddy?
Well, it's like anything else; you
get used to it.
| NOQCSty - A4Ov oAWoyo w NC AOSAASA
in connection with poise and self
confidence, but ideal secretaries ap-
pear to combine the three qualities.
Miss Frances Jurkowitz, who started
out as secretary to Miss Frances Per-
kins 10 years or so ago, and Is now
administrative assistant to the only
woman cabinet member, says she just
came down from New York along
with the furniture, and that she
doesn't see why any one should be
interested. She is small and dark,
has short, curly hair and Q forceful
personality, and is said to be indis-
pensable to the Labor Secretary, whom
she admires profoundly.
She doesn't discuss such things as
the future Of women executives or
Miss Perkins methods Of getting along
with men subordinates. A thorough
New Yorker, she went to high school