The Girl Who Earns Her Own Living/Chapter 10
Never before in the history of our Federal Government has the obscure American woman, without the influence of any politician, had so fair a chance to secure a departmental position. Each year the power of the Civil Service Commission, which makes the majority of appointments in which women are interested, is strengthened. Hach year the power of the individual politician in the matter of appointments is weakened. The time when appointment to positions in any of the Federal departments at Washington was in the gift of Congressmen and Senators is practically past.
With this fair outlook, let the woman seeking employment ask what positions the Government offers women and which one she is best able to fill.
The average woman has rather hazy ideas as to Government work. She has simply a vision of handling some sort of papers in some sort of a department office.
The vast majority enter the service as clerks or copyists at a salary of $720 or $900 a year, and rise gradually to a salary of $1,500 or more, doing purely mechanical or clerical work.
This branch of the Federal service is known as "Clerks' Departmental Service." Examinations are held twice a year—spring and fall—at various points all over the country, selected by the Civil Service Commission. A girl does not have to go to Washington to take this examination. It is given in several cities of her own State. For instance, in Ohio examinations are generally held at Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Ironton, Toledo and Zanesville.
As this is the service in which the majority of women find positions, and as its examinations are the simplest, I am giving exact instructions for the girl who thinks she would like to seek an appointment as a clerk. The Civil Service Commission issues twice a year—in January and July—a manual giving all the information needed at first by would-be appointees. In addition to securing a copy of this manual, which is sent on request, the applicant should write to the Civil Service Commission, Washington, D. C., several weeks before the examination is scheduled, stating simply that she wants to take the Clerk-Copyist examination, and asking at what point nearest her home and on what date said examination will be held, and closing with the request that application blanks, printed instructions and sample copies of examinations should be sent to her. If she writes this neatly and concisely on a postal-card, her consideration will be appreciated by the busy clerks.
In return for this postal request she will receive an application blank, which she must fill out carefully, and a card of admission to the examination, which she must not fail to take to the city where the examination is to be held. Without it she will be refused admittance.
For this examination you will need a thorough knowledge of arithmetic (geometry and algebra not necessary), English grammar, spelling, copying from rough draft, and the general information furnished by a graded public-school course or its equivalent in private tuition. You will be expected to know something of the Government under which you are to serve, and of the current events in which the Government is vitally interested; and above all things, accuracy and neatness will help you wonderfully in this examination.
For instance, you will be given a certain selection from some book or paper to copy. Do not improve on that copy. If "dog" is spelled "dawg," write it in that way. If the punctuation is wrong, do not correct it. If your examination instructions advise you to leave a two-inch margin, do not change it to a one-inch margin just because you think the latter improves the appearance of your paper or you have always allowed the one-inch margin in school. The Government is looking for fine, accurate human machines to do routine work. Your fitness for the position will be measured largely by your ability to do things just as you are told to do them.
And, lastly, you will be expected to write an intelligent, if brief, essay on some topic of national interest, such as "The Prospect of War With Japan," or "What Has the Pure-Food Law Done for National Health?" So if you are not in touch with current events, acquire some of this most desirable knowledge.
Now we will say that you have taken the examination and are waiting to learn of your fate. Three months will elapse before you hear from the commission. If you rate seventy per cent. or higher you will be placed on the eligible list. How long a time will elapse before your appointment is determined by various factors: Firstly, your rating. The higher the rating, the more prompt the appointment. The girl who scores 96.7 will be given the preference over the girl who scored 78.6, though the latter may have passed the examination at an earlier date than the former. Second, by the number of appointments already made from your State. Appointments are apportioned to the various States by the Civil Service Commission. For instance, from July 16, 1883, to December 31, 1907, the State of Pennsylvania was allowed six hundred and thirty appointments, while Oregon was entitled to only forty-one.
Again, we will suppose that you have passed with a high rating and your appointment comes promptly. You may or may not be offered a position in Washington. You may find yourself scheduled for New York City, Philadelphia, Boston or San Francisco; wherever there is a Custom House in which a clerk is needed; or in Omaha, Butte or Fort Worth, wherever a Pension Office or Land Office may be in need of a Federal employee. The Government official who needs a clerk or assistant of any sort notifies the Civil Service Commission in Washington, which looks over the list of eligibles, and selects the name carrying the highest average, whose owner lives within the district entitled to the next appointment.
Now, if you do not wish to accept that position because of some vital reason to yourself, personal health or family responsibility, you can take chances on refusing it. But I am told that it is much safer to take the first appointment offered, show your ability, and later ask for a transfer.
Another supposition: Your appointment orders you to Washington as a clerk in the Treasury Department at $900 a year—a very fair salary for a beginner. An inexperienced girl would not get as much in a business house of any sort.
If you have a family dependent upon you, mother or younger sister, you must figure on their support; and when the family is small, experienced Government workers all advise that the appointee remove those dependent upon her to Washington, even though living in Washington is high. Many maintain that it is higher than anywhere else in America. Girls old in the service furnish these figures: Very ordinary board, with a small room, $30 a month; washing, $4; carfare, from $2 to $5. Bare living expenses absorb forty of the seventy-five dollars received each month. Out of the remainder a girl clerk must dress herself well, support those dependent upon her, and pay for such pleasures as sightseeing or threater-going, and entertain relatives, of whom the average clerk sees many during her Washington experience.
If several girls wish to club together, they can secure a desirable flat for $45 a month, a servant for $14, and a decent table can be set for $50 more, making a total of expenses for the month, including gas and incidentals, $115, or a trifle less than thirty dollars apiece for a club of four girls. The advantage of this arrangement lies in the home life and the social pleasures possible only in one's own apartment, and the better grade of food furnished.
The new Federal clerk in Washington finds that her hours are easy. As a rule, seven hours constitute a day's work. She reports at nine and works until four-thirty, with half an hour for lunch. When, in the opinion of her chief, an emergency requires overtime, no extra compensation is allowed. Thirty days' annual leave on salary, and in meritorious cases, thirty days' sick leave with pay, are allowed at the discretion of a head of a department.
The conscientious clerk is practically assured of a life position once she is installed by the Government. Office politics, such as one finds in the average business house, cannot affect her tenure of office, though they may prevent her promotion. The Government does not "fail," nor does it install a new chief of a department who ousts old employees in favor of personal friends. The existence of the Civil Service Commission prevents the latter catastrophe.
The advantages of a clerkship in the departmental service may be summarized as follows: A regular income larger than the average salary paid in offices. No work to take home at night. A clerk cannot be dismissed without just cause, and complaints against her must undergo rigid investigation at the hands of the Civil Service Commission.
The disadvantages are: A sedentary life, mostly copying, which is bad for the general health. As in teaching or the business field, the woman must do more work than a man to attract the attention of her chief, and men are advanced for less ability and on smaller pretexts than women. The routine deadens ambition in the average woman, who degenerates into a mere machine.
If a girl wants a fair income to spend on herself, it offers a fair prospect. If she is domestic in her tastes and wants a home, a husband and children, she is practically renouncing all those when she enters the Government office.
So much for the average clerkship. Now to girls who have specialized or who wish to do so. Some excellent positions are open to such girls. Examinations, salaries, age limitations and other details vary according to the work. The average limitation as to youth is eighteen years. The average age of appointees is twenty-eight years.
In Washington and other cities there are Federal positions open to expert stenographers and expert typewritists. The commonplace worker in either line should not waste time applying. Preference is given to the male stenographer or typist, and the ambitious girl must make a fine rating to secure the appointment. A few women bookkeepers are employed, but preference is given to the men in this work. Girls who have been well trained in drawing sometimes secure excellent positions in the Bureau of Forestry and the Department of Agriculture, where the ability to draw and tint well counts. Also the well-trained girl can secure architectural drafting or drawing in various departments. This work, of course, appeals particularly to the girl who has spent years perfecting herself as an architect, but who lacks the business ability to hold her own against an army of competitors. In the department of Government printing, skilled workers who have had experience in the regulation printing and binding establishments can secure postions as compositors, proof-readers, binders, etc. And the girl who has specialized on botany can sometimes pass a special examination and secure a desirable position in the Department of Agriculture.
Federal positions outside of Washington include kindergarten, teaching and industrial teaching in the Indian schools, matrons in Indian schools, teaching in Hawaiian, Porto Rican and Philippine service, trained nursing in Isthmian or Philippine service, inspection in immigration and custom service.
Positions in the Congressional Library are not secured through the Civil Service Commission. The power of appointment is vested in Herbert Putnam, librarian.
The girl who wants a position of any sort under Uncle Sam should write to the Civil Service Commission for a manual, and study it thoroughly. She may find inspiration in its pages and a definite object toward which she can work.