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Show 1800 WOMEN LIVE HERE TOGETHER IN PERFEL1 rMifMUlMY 15 y ADA AUSTIN CART hit M:.:.i Olive Davis, who for s-eventen j'-ar.s wa.s ri'ipnt u-aaa.-r of ha!!s at Yi:(:SVy CV.'.e. Mi-s Mary Linda --y is direr-tor 0f the dinir; roorr.?. hi Liri'iilfy rfji;ontiy rturnd frorj Trance, wliTf- sl:e served with the British expe-diiiuary expe-diiiuary forces. Mi:i Mary K. Riit is uperiutPndPHt of balls and is a graduate grad-uate of the Boston School of Dome.-tic S'-i'nce. M ias Lor is BurcLard is i:i charge of the infirn:ary. Prr-.-id nt 'il.-oa "when he went to bIrr-t the si rps fr the war workers' homes was acompanied. I understand, by Mrs. Wilson and Hear Admiral (irayson. his personal physician. They look'.d all over the available open ppaccs in and about the park system of the capital, and after dup deliberation the Pr-idpiH . relying in this instance probably upon the advice of Mrs. Wilson Wil-son , decided to place the dormitories for the war worked on the plazas which connect the Capitol and the 1 nion Ptation. And thre they stand today, two groups of buildings containing contain-ing twelve dormitories in each group. Id the center of each group is an administration ad-ministration building where the genpral manager has her office. Here ail busi- fAS isnfj u-oniPij live together in bar-J bar-J ninny? This is the intently intr-f'fin intr-f'fin J-or-iohi-al and d'mutn eipri-ijn-nt the L'nit.ed Staffs (', over anient u trvin at Washington with iU aar v orkf-r .i. S-'o far the answer is j rs n:id no. The v.-omen say that it would hav bff-u a compb-tn sufce.-i from the Mart if it were nut for the faH that at liic beginning t!,e general manar of the plan was a more man. The frifnds of that general managpr, however, say hp clfjirly v.a-s rnhlN'd to a distinguished distin-guished o'Tvii'e rnpdal for his courage in cvf-i- having undertaken such a ta-k. Now the poor dtu'r man has bco tl;roVQ out, bag and baggage, and the w hide f-'r-hpfuf has hen ta ken over by the womanfo'.I;, who are sure they will Ir.e happily forever afterward. So far as known this is the firt timq en attempt has ever been made to house many women together in a dormi-t dormi-t r : y system. Mpd havd lived in bar-ra bar-ra ks from time immemorial, but, thru, it has aluays bepn admitted that men nre simple things to handle and that the female of the species is more deadly than the male. Be that as it may, Uncle men applied f-.T rooms in Uncle Yarn's dormitor b-.i f-jr their secret" a ric-s. The war v.ork'-rs aro-e with a how!. They said cor. gre:-..-i io nal retards u ere not war workers in any spu-e of t'ne word in fu''t, that many of them didn't know what r-al work was. Thy a No fcaid that tiie j-errPta ri-s got sur;:i tine fialarips from the government they could provide their own ac-ominodarions in the h :gh - priced homes f Wa -iiington and shou'd not be avowed to crowd out of the dormitories girh who were here vit bout other mean;-) than tli'dr paltry $I;nO or $1100 a year. Of course. $100 and !?ltOO sounded like n lot of money back home, but vhn the girls arrived iD Washington to discover the highest war prices in the country prevailing pre-vailing in the capital. thy found it took eei-y penny they made merely to exist. Workers Increase Though AVar is Over The fight against the rongre.ssioual secretaries, I believe, has ben won, or at any rate is about to b won. The only question is, how much longer can v. e call the war workers war workers, now that the war itself isn't working CViryr-rrrtit. 1019. h-,- P-jN!c Lcigrr Co. . .. j. , --ri " . . , . " " s . i " : l? 5 "- ' : :- - ; f I !''-' " r -i 1 ' ' - ; t I ; J ' : .. ;.: v ' s. -"v; s . , . i - f , . ... .i. i -i : i -f vw - I: . v " x" y If -. ?. -- : " ? ." :- " v v " . I ; f r . - - I it " v V I ' ' x , x ' . x 7 v ' s v - ' 1 lit; ' x - - . i i k 4 i ,i i -H . ...... ..... s 1 w"? $ S t 1 , pi . , R - ; ' i 1 v ' tt"-' H".., IZ-f, ' fc? '-x -A , - W d -1 I?!. 4 , . . K ,rv-L , t i i, l I " , X (- V xi ,' v f ? i' 4 1 ' " ( - I x,x, J f: vV -x ,c . yy 'IS . P ( i ' 1 s X J The dining hall i Interior of one of the single roomi of every month, except in eases whet! the different departments nave different paydays. In such cases credit will bi extended to accommodate the girls. I rue has a guest it Tvill be necessary to purchase an extra meal ticket and tit charge of forty cents is made for breakfast break-fast and sixty cents for dinner. 'When the war worker applies for sc. c,ommodations in these dormitories ahl is required to furnish references acj her record is investigated. She mast also name some one when she register! to be notified in case of accident or sickness. sick-ness. The infirmary was equipped and u maintained in order that proper ati may be taken of the girls when they sri ill. If a girl is not ill enuugu to be sent to the infirmary, but is reeling too bad to leave her room, her meals m sent to her and no additional charge is made. Sunday Morning Cleaning In fact, there is about the place ao atmosphere of motherliuess and complete com-plete femiuiue domesticity. So dorl-nant dorl-nant is the feminine note, passersby on Sunday morning claim they behold 1SO0 heads of hair dangling from the upia story windows. Imagine 1S00 head? ol hair in all the varying tints of ,li modern mode! In addition to the Su-day Su-day morning evidence of shampoohj it is said one may behold 1S00 pain of white shoes reposing immaculate oa the window sills waiting for the sun. In olden days a high wall with spiked top probably would have hidden all these intimacies from the public view, but Uncle Sam is a modern with all the rer-t of us and he believes the less restraint placed upon his young wards the more self-reliant and better citizens they will become in this full day of woman's rise to civic power. n j N s - "A I : " f ' -x . ' ! , , x I 4 L N , ' , t ,i x 1 x ' - 4 i , 1 j i i , ! - , 3 ! V1 .h rJ A ' - 1 . (! ;r' : A !j "..'v' , 1 x ; si it i 1 1 i sj - f ? 1 , x,L ' i i ; i - J t jj t x, Jy ness in conducted, here is the registration regis-tration desk and the general postoffice. It i ust be said in all fairness that the homes of the war workers are not things of beauty' by any means, and the permanent committee for the beautifi-cation beautifi-cation of Washington will not be sorry when these temporary structures are torn down as no longer necessary under a reign of peace on earth and good will toward all men and women. As a matter of fact it has been said of these so called hotel buildings that they seem to be patterned after the best examples of early New England jail architecture Ihey rise up straight from the ground to a height of three stories, with noth rug to break the plainness of the side walls except rows of windows all the same size. The walls are grav nJaJZ over hollow the construction ; the Dl,n slanting roofs are of black slate The administration buildings are a" Ht.le more ornate, suggesting a New England courthouse possibly, thus l,mVZ further effect to the jail style of architecture governing the gen eral aspect of the dormitories. Homelike Furnishings of Rooms the privilege of using the hall for their own dances and entertainments in case thev wish to have them. All of the above accommodations and advantages are tendered the war worker, together with a single room and two meals per day, except on Sundays, when three are served, for 15 a mouth. Bills are payable on the 1st and 15th . A perspective between two wings of residence halls fcam, having conquered other seemingly insurmountable problems during the war, has had the. nerve to set himself up as housekeeper for 1S00 young and unattached women. Even more than housekeeper he has assumed the burden bur-den of chaperon a very lenient one, allowing the young ladies to have "com-pauy "com-pauy in the parlor" until 11 p. m. He even allows his wards to be out until that more or less witching hour without explanation or excuse. But if Mary of the navy, Imogen of the army' or Margaret Mar-garet of the war risk bureau expects to be out later than 11 o'clock, she must give a reason for her absence, and if this reason is accepted her name is put on the night list and given to the watchman on duty, to whom she reports when she returns. The Odor of Cigarette Smoke! The experiment has been in progress several months, and there is no question ques-tion that it has in it the elements of real success. It must not be supposed, sup-posed, however, that the tranquil domestic do-mestic air which hovers over 1 Uncle Sam's gray-walled dormitories has not beeu disturbed from time to time by storms aud tempests, by miniature uprisings up-risings bordering on the Bolshevistic ami by the raising of a series of questions ques-tions which have been very difficult to answer. The first storm came when the pun-giut pun-giut odor of the baleful cigarette was first scented through a keyhole or an open transom in the brand-new spick-and-span buildings Uncle Sam bad constructed con-structed at enormous cost to house a few hundred, at least, of the thousands of girls who left their family firesides aud como to Washington for the patriotic pa-triotic purpose of serving the government govern-ment aud at the same time having a Utile bit of a tiiog nt life away from tl-.c old home town. A committee of nunsmokers was immediately formed to smoke out the smokcrn, and the anfi-tcbacco anfi-tcbacco crus.-.i'.- h'-n bin raging for several weeks, ymckinj has not ceased, iowever, and some o the S"ir';s declare that no rjatter whet rules may be made and posted oa the subject some women will ouitir.ne to smoke e.s long as to-l'.;?co to-l'.;?co i grown. Anyway, most of tho E,irls have rooms to themselves, and if a man's house is his castie, why thouhin't the same rule apply to tiie tiny little boudoirs of our girl war workers? The near Bolshevist uprising came vheu several senators and congress- any longer? However, the demand for war workers, so called, seems to show no diminution. They come and go just as in the days of the war, and each week the statistics show an increase. For every 1000 war workers that leave, 1200 seem to come to take their places and to further augment the government payroll. The great influx of both men and women when the war fairly got under way was such as to tax the normal housing facilities of Washington far beyond their capacity, even with three or four people often occupying one room. Something had to be done. The ever-increasing ever-increasing war worker had to be cared for and the government undertook the job. A housing committee was appointed, ap-pointed, and when Uncle Sam announced an-nounced that he had courage enough to undertake the construction of a vast dormitory system to be inhabited wholly by women it was agreed that the experiment ex-periment was an epoch-making one. President Wilson himself paused in the midst of his war-making to tour Washington and personally select the site upon which this new "manless town" was to rise. At first,, as I have said, it wasn't wholly a manless town, because the initial general manager was a man. Further than this, tnere were two additional men in the office force and quite a battery of men cooks and bakers. The girls did not object to the men in the kitchen and do not now. They rather enjoy this reversal of the usual order of things domestic. They did think, however, that the general manager should be a woman, although it would be difficult to imagine how any woman could have been more tactful, tact-ful, more sympathetic, more accommodating accommo-dating than the brave male soul who at first exercised supervision over the war workers for the modest recompense of SoOOO a year. I wonder how many men in the world would have undertaken such a job at such a price. However, that problem is settled for all time. The war workers insisted their manager must be a woman, and their insistence has prevailed. Miss Ilarlean .Tames is the new man- ager. She has been the executive secretary sec-retary of the housing corporation since its organization. She is a graduate of Ueland Stanford University and was riiosen executive secretary of the Civic league of Baltimore when it was organized or-ganized in 3011 and continued in that . capacity until 301(1. Miss James will have as her assistant respite the uninviting appearance of the buildings on the outside, the in teriors are very comfortable and homelike. home-like. Each hotel has its own reception rooms and writing rooms for the use of the girls. These rooms are spacious and- airy, and on entering one is impressed im-pressed with the general atmosphere of refinement and comfort that prevails. pre-vails. The furniture is wicker and mahogany. A phonograph has been furnished fur-nished each building by the government govern-ment and the girls supply the records for dancing, or for whatsoever they desire. de-sire. Some of the dormitories have pianos. These were purchased by the girls themselves, a collection having been taken up among them to raise the money. There are two dining rooms, one in each group of dormitories. located in the administration buildiugs. These dining halls are large and attractive, having something of the air of a summer resort re-sort with a seating capacity of GOO. There are 100 tables in each room, with six seats at every table. The guests arc served by waitresses, and a sufficient suffi-cient number has been provided in order that every waitress has only two tables to wait upon. The bedrooms are comfortable and sanitary in every respect. Each of the single rooms is furnished with a bed, dresser, writing table, cedar chest, which fits under the bed ; closet with separate compartments above for hats, rug and lavatory with hot and cold running water. A few of the rooms are double, in case two girls wish to live together. These are provided with two dressers, two closets, two rocking chairs, two cedar chests; in fact, two of everything. Uncle Sam in this instance, in-stance, demonstrated that he knew something of the nature of the fair sex and did his best to remove at least a few of the difficulties which usually confront two women trying to live together in peace and harmony. All the bed linen and towels are furnished fur-nished by the government, and a reasonable reason-able amount of maid service. In each corridor a telephone has been placed, and in every room there is a call bell. A signal system has been arranged and posted, and each room can be communicated with in this manner. Some of the signals are: 1 bell rise. 2 bells come to office. 3 bells caller waiting. 4 bells answer phone in hall. A bathroom is located on every corridor cor-ridor containing one large tub and four shower baths. One of the most thoughtful things Uncle Sam did when he erected these dormitories was to provide a washroom in tho basement of each building, where the girls can do their own laundering and pressing when they desire. These rooms are fitted with wash basins having hot and cold running water, the latest patented ironing boards and electric elec-tric irons. One wonders what more the feminine heart can desire. Recreation and Entertainment An up-to-date laundry, however, is maintained aud run by the government where the laundry is done at cost for the girls. Each building has sl trunk room in the basement to avoid the necessity of keeping trunks in bedrooms. In administration building No. 2 there is What is known as a recreation hall. Here Uncle Sam, knowing that all work aud no play is not good for any one, especially young and attractive girls away from home, frequently give3 dances and entertainraenLS for his wfards. Here the war worker is given the chance to meet and mingle with the outside world and perhaps meet a few people other than those she encounters en-counters daily in the department where ehe is employed. The girls also have 'i-rr-v K i;; . i, e.: -i-ci I . !U J S ; Vr -1 - wtM " v - M u' KVV 1 i xj) .--..7Ux.-,. 'i i -a -tr ' A general view of tho dormitories built bv Uncle Sam to house the thousands of women war workers gathered In Washington by the various departments of tho government in th transaction of all phases of federal business ths (. .vtveraphs owrigni by lurtu & wl, ' v ! i |
