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.
