Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-10-10
What Government Girls Think
OF Protection Depends on Age
Teen-Agers Want to Be Left Alone;
They Need Core, Soy the Older Ones
Nv SARAH Finn

IVY s>SS0 S0sSs ~
BY SARAH Finn
The teen-age Government girls
who live at Arlington Farms think
they are perfectly able" to take
care of themselves. and that the
dormitory regulations are plenty
strict enough"
The older girls. however. say most
Of the girls under 20 should not be
working in Washington-but If they
do, they need more regulation. Some
Of them amended this statement by
saying, But Of course. it's all up to
the girl-some girls at is can take
better care Of themselves than
others at IS
Four thousand civilian workers
live in the state-named dormitories
at the Farms-about 900 to a hall.
Their ages range from is to u. For
most Government jobs, girl must
be IT. However, messengers are hired
for Government agencies, through
civil service, from is up. They come
to Washington from all over, the
United States. Puerto Rico and
Hawaii, to take jobs as typists,
clerks, messengers. stenographers ut
Salaries averaging $l35 to $3.50 q
month: Before they come they must
pass a civil service examination for
their type job. which civil service Of
ficials say .'the average high school
graduate can pass with ease
Protected BY Guards.
If they live at the farms, they are
protected by guards. on duty outside
each hall, all night, night matrons
on duty all night inside each hall
and three personnel directors for
each hall. They are under no obli-
cation to go to bed at any time, or
to come in at any time. When they
leave the building to go out for one
hour or two weeks, they can tell
friend, or they can leave an address
at the post ofiice-but they need not
do either. When they come in after
2 am, they are asked to sign their
names in a book-but they can stay
out until every night. and there is
no way for the personnel director to
know.
Since the murder of Dorothy Ber-
rum, 18-year-old War Department
worker who lived at Maine Hall, the
Arlington Farms girls have been
talking about rules, regulations, and
age limits.
The UNDERGO group had this to
say:
I'm II, and most Of my friends
here are about that age. We take
care Of ourselves OK. Before / left
home, my mama and daddy both sat
me down and told me all about what
to do, and what not to do. And I
haven't had any trouble yet" high
school graduate from Virginia said.
An 18-year -old from small town
in Missouri declared, We'll, would
agree that girls II are really too
young for Washington, but girl 10
can get along all right"
"One or two years doesn't make
any difference. If girl doesn' t
know the facts of life at 10 she won't
know any more at 49," q 19.year-
old from Montana said.
Says Some Seem Careless.
Only one girl under 20 thought
her age group could use more super
vision. She was II, had been work
ling in Washington only several
weeks and said, 81 don't know, but
some of these girls my age seem
mighty careless to me-"
All of the girls over 20 thought
something should be done. I'm Is
from New York-and personally
even the rules they do have are too
strict for me. When come home at
night I don't want a policeman
standing around the door telling my
date to go on. But these kids the
Government has got UP here-they
ought to be home with mother"
Several of the older girls had sug-
gestions. One thought all the UNI
der 20 group should be put in sepa-
rate dormitories, with more super
vision and stricter rules. Asked
about this. the younger girls put up
a fight.
"I'll just leave today, il they are
going to treat me like a baby" one
said.
Some of the older girls disagree,
too. The only way for these kids
to learn anything is for them to be
around older girls some-there isn't
much you don't know after = few
good bull session." 24-year-old
from Dayton, Ohio. said.
Frown on mig Sister" Idea.
Another suggestion was that every
younger girl be given 4 big sister
ito show her the ropes" the girl
with the suggestion said. This
didn't meet much approval, either.
| II don't want to herd . hid
around said q 30-year-old.