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Show Wonzcn and t!:e Civil Strvicc 1 ; Fie.lcric J. Illn. i 4 . V. ui r.vnc 'iw :t oc- . . . - a .v-v. ;,.mv t i.a m n..ii.y An.ci ",' iVih;s"'Tu h.huViry .m'd ! '! I.!-- gvi rn:i.'-ut as re-! ;'.!-; a- ;,rn !'.!'; luu'vs has alnal . ... - ii a : l ; Ii.i.l; :ru t in.!; -v'.u. l-'.u 1: ic- ' l 1 ..: viae .'. !;.!,( i as ta:E.f.ty to .uaa-pt mw ..:'i-l .ai..i-rs i.c.x'e approv cl ol ! v.o.. .ia c-'-.'i-s. a.:.l h.i ad.ua : d lla-in I , a: :.t v e u i-. is, while i a lavs haw1 nut j I (.;! : . ' s : : ; ....vd '.:un v:..y" ia rcnuc-l- i,..-. tic v". .1 .-Li-vice , o::..aNi.a to mr- j 'i he r. s,..t oi tliis i:r -ular sstc:il i" 1 wo:... :i a: c hji'i'i-d :"i o u ll.C ;-'iaa'.'r v. mher o. pes. ii. ..is under eivd seivae, v'Kl.,. ,.. v.av, ti;.re woan-n than men j it;,' e v ;.-ycd ;.y the government at Wash- i , ii.,lu i. o"t ti e t '"(U- anas of women who j .:.al.'d the ev.i'al during l!ie"war were i : ah cicri-s, MeiieHraphers and lyp- 1 Women were excluded fmm CO per cent of ih- iM.siiio.-.s for uliieh fxni.iimilloin were held in the first six months of lilll. 'J his faet v.a.s Ijiuaght out by an in- c.a iuatluii made by I'm labor depart-ineht depart-ineht in Sea'.emlier," and since then the taiiLjc of O iaal riahis lor women in gov-eruuicnt gov-eruuicnt service has been pushed vigor-on; vigor-on; lv by the Woman's Trade. Fuion b-'i-iie, the women of the government se-v ice. and by the Republicans as a pn' i 1 leal issue. The original cause of nil this activity in behalf oi" woman worker's Is a little ;aa'.aaph in tho Revised Statutes to the effect that: "Women may, in the descrction of the herid of anv department, be appointed to ;u;y of tb.e' clerkships therein authorized 'ov law, upon the acinic requisites and mn-diMoas, mn-diMoas, and with the same compensation as are peeribed for men." This statute was enacted ten years be fore the civil service law of ISM), but nothing in the law conflicted with it, and it is still effective. At is has been interpreted, this law has allowed women even less chance of up-pointment up-pointment than it was evidently intended to give them. The secretary of war, perhaps, per-haps, would ask the civil service commission com-mission for ten draftsmen men only. The examination, closed to women, would, he held, a register of all who qualified would be made up, and the ten highest appointed. Then, when the secretary of the navy or some other department head ca lied for dra ftsmen, either sex, a new examination was not given, but eligibles were taken from the list so long as it lasted. !( In this way, women wore barred from mnnv positions for which they were considered con-sidered eligible by the departmental appointing ap-pointing officers. This method of applying the law was done away with in November by a rui-itvr rui-itvr of the civil service commission that women shall bo admitted to all examinations examina-tions whether the position to be filled la open to them or not. While it is a step toward equal rights for men and women in civil service, tliis decision does not in any way affect the power of the department heads. This power, however, would be curtailed by the McLean bill, which states that department depart-ment heads shall not specify sex, unless sex is a physical barrier to the proper performance of the duties of the position posi-tion to be filled. This bill Senator McLean Mc-Lean expects to push strenuously, and he considers that it is fairly certain to pass. The attitude of the different cabinet 1 officers toward the bill Is not yet announced. an-nounced. Most of them are asking for and employing a larger percentage of women clerks than ever before. Tho war made it necessary to place women in ma ny positions previously f ill.ed by men, and "the government has fount) them .sat-isfactoryT .sat-isfactoryT For this reason, and for political politi-cal reasons, it is supposed that the cabinet cabi-net will not put up a stiff fight against . the attack on their appointing powers. j In fields outside of government employ, women are engaged in practically every occupation. Twenty years ago, the census cen-sus showed that one or more women were engaged in every one of the 303 occupations' occupa-tions' listed for the United States except nine. These nine occupations included soldiers, sailors, marines and firemen. Pince women entered industry and business busi-ness in the last half century, they have been accepted far more rapidly by private pri-vate employers than by the government, though the government was among the first" to take in women clerks. The government accepted women employees em-ployees as early as 1.",:!, when Clara Bar- I ton, said to be the first woman govern- I ment ol-vk, entered the patent office.' So unprecedented was the situation that the men employees tried to frighten her away by lining themselves along the corridors and staring as she passed. bllven after the civil war, the scattered appoin tments of women to government clerkships were regarded is rash experiments experi-ments and as temporary expedients. The attitude of the public toward women workers at that time was still influenced by mid-Victorian primness. Some writers writ-ers lauded the ladies in government offices of-fices by solemnly praising their -estimable characters and "the air of court and. salon" which clung to them in spite of contact with dusty files and other office equipment. . "Culture and grace crop out In the pauses of official routine," says one writer less than thirty years ago, in referring re-ferring to older women in the government govern-ment bureau. The gentle dames described de-scribed by tliis writer, with their celebrated cele-brated ancestors and air of aristocratic a loofness, had small chance of ever being be-ing taken very seriously. But even then mo lent business women were taking their places, for the same -journalist adds that the newer clerks were young girls whose brisk, businessbke ways marked them as of the new generation. About that lime, other concerns were trying out women, and soon large numbers num-bers were employed as typists, clerks, and bookkeepers. Since then the government has been one jum-j behind private employer."; em-ployer."; in its attitude toward women workers. Women are now employed In the government gov-ernment as bacteriologists, labor experts, pn tent examiners, laboratory experts on plant disease, and in other technical ; and administrative positions. In these : br.es they are doing successful work. Yet i tkev are barred from similar positions which require no greater mentality, skill i or training. Puch ineor.r!stenc!es are pointed out In j the labor uenart merit's reeent report. Women are permitted to study human d ;s ;-a "os in the government service, says j x'.r. ivport. but the bureau of animal in-d in-d ,:sl r-- excludes them from its l f'ltl ex-I ex-I au'iua'ion for investigating animal para-i para-i site--' rind reforming administrative work J in tl'.-'t eonnr-et'on. Women are aetlng as : nssitant weather observers for "the j v.-f-.-Mher bureau -aTd a -sistr; nt liorticnl-' liorticnl-' tnristH for the department of agriculture but th--y are not perml'ted to lake tests in elimr-rr.V.iry in U re'ation to pgricul-ture pgricul-ture Thee are rsun foods and druL-s to d.- f-erm.1 ne their nutritive and medical o"rvtie. hut they are barred from the tes'amr of dyes. T'ntil reer-ntlv it hs been claimed that w r, vr en were not p r o ; r y t ra i n e f to fill -ie,i rosi; ions anal could not qua lif v rypiepl situation of this sort was found b chemical plants - just W fore the war. The pi'!!)-- would not admit women chem-:s:s chem-:s:s on the ground that thev wre not tr.'-m.'d p: r.-r-i-'v. At the s;.me time, the r.-r-- r-d'r.--d to give courses n i,v-!,f,l tri'i 1 che- i strv to women as the field w-..-- no! r- er. to them. This deriding atui n-'v-rs ri.-e it w.-re broken down by the e-vgp.-uch-s of war. |