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About The Evening herald. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1906-1942 | View Entire Issue (June 28, 1929)
f nillllllSI It etting a 3 G fob' in Washington: E? Because S a Many People TjxCnk. They Gan;Get:Snaps Vfprking Hor Uncle. Sampan Armyio Unemployed, IstAlways Storming the Capital Gates And the Only Situations. Tjficrt GojBeggihgtAr:Hhc JHouse-to-House Salesmen, and Generaixhlousekeepers "i AM a school tracher," trad ill letter. "At the cIom of tliit semester I am coming to WiiIh ington. Please be on the lookout for a nosition for me. I will do anything, although 1 prrfer teach & ing or tutoring. But I want to be in Washington for the in auguration, ana can afford to only if 1 set work there." The superintendent of the Washington bureau of the United States employment ser- vic put tlie letter down with the comment: "That's the nut one here so far." t It was the Cut in her office, but there Ml a senator, representative of Capitol doorkeeper who is not beginning to receive his quadteiuaal quota ol gentle requests for a chanca to do anything' in Washington in order to witnei the inauguration of Herbert Hoover. Well-nigh forgotten acquaintances suddenly surprise resident Waihingtooians with effusions of friendliocta and frank requests for aid in get ting a portion it's always poMlioo, never job in Washington, so they can be near each other and take in the) inauguration. Senators and others who have lived in Washington through several uuuurural seasons, and who re call Cleveland and Mckinley, say it is not a bad lately as it used to be before the present day scop and power of the classified civil t vie. But err ploy ment agencies and suddenly remembered 'i leads seo the straws bending to the gale, and prcUict that it will be bad enough this time. A population of UuU mora than half a Bullion, besieged by that applications of job hunters. not only treat an over the U. 9.. but from all over the rvorld, is the perhapr unusual experience cf Wash, uigtoa m tna District or Columbia. Though the nation' capital is the test of Itovernment a-tivitiea, eis than 1 1 rr cent of tli 570.0U") gov ernmental workers are etujiloyed in We Sing-ton. The civil service commission has about 3 5 Oft secretaries in as many cities throughout tht -ja tion. extending it service to all who ask tor Information about government employment: jrot. tliough they deal personally or by letter with their thousands. Washington never fails Its t:3 thousands at the steady click ol 2000 such Ut ters a day. ..... In addition to which, the bureau reports, a an ordinary day' work and daily about 500 men and women present themselves at tna commission's headquarter for information about government employment The five daily newspapers of the city ares besieged by a steady stream of applicants for jobs? most of them young men who want work as reporters where they can be next to the politi cal big show. T"NOUGH Job hunters flock to Washington W, to keep ) duly licensed employment, agencies thriving, as well as to justify the maintenance of such bureau as stores, construction works, and similar Industrie find necessary to keep their enterprise adequately manned. Anrl from and in addition to these, practically every mamher of Congress it an employment bureau all by himself. Not long ago kind-hearted clerk of the Hous was threatened ' with nervous prostration by the demands mad upon bin by such as seek work about the capitoL He bad helped a few to temporary employment with members of Con gress, merely by having their name and qualifications hand upoa inquiry, and vary soon both tides were referring to him one side swamping him so overwhelm ingly that h was obliged to shake free from the deluge and ask to be released. It is needless to explain that the outpouring of requests did not come from the prospective em in amazing number ot stituents who feel that their tors or representative need hut wave a wand to establish them in profitable posts about lha capital ---or in the capital seems to in- crease yearly. And it must be admitted that So a really sur prising degree member of Congress do try to gratify the need os daaire of those whom they represent. liter are school in Washington fog lb training of secre taries, soma of whom do maka the capital in torn congress man's office for a week or two, folding circular and sealing ear yelopes work which is nearly always available when a member is running for re-election. And it give a debutants in affair of state a breath of capital atmosphere. The majority of job hunter who com to Washington are, fortunately,, young people who want to take advantage of the varum schools and universities here. .They approach their senator and representative with cWidence, and in a sur- will undertake general housework. Not cooks per se, nor yet maid with debcalely defined duties, but women with back and crinds to take hold of the work of a bouse generally. The other is for "sales people" of the home-to-house canvasstnt; variety. While dozens and even hundreds of cards bearing applicant' name am at the finger bp of the employ ment registrar to each call for a stenographer, the exact reverse is true in the matter of general housework. Also of door-to-door selling, I Fortunate is the person who does his job bunting in Wasb- ingtoo by maiL He may not get the job, but at least be saves ..aiealRGs coo, . y- i qpr sen- , y . prising number of instances really land something which affords them a living while they study. Whether this fact leads to make it so much the harder for the older and more responsibihty htdea person to earn a living waga in Washington Buy not be clesi. But that of the latter then is no lack among the job hunrirur throng cannot be denied, . Especially pathetic is the sight of a man out of work perhaps for the first time in his life -about tba sge of 40 or, 50. Pe culiarly enough that age which the nation has determined as the rip and right one for the most important office in its service the presidency of the United State is accounted by the civil service commission as a token for the discasd when adorning an application blank. At least, so comments the head of the Wash ington bureau of the United State employment service. INTO this last mentioned office coma various folk of varied qualifications and lack of them. To some the fact that they need a lob issmt, sufficient eauiDment, And sad la relate. under this elassikatioa comes the erstwhile government employ who must "look about" for something else to do, Hi years of training, his education, his experience, seem to stand him in poor stead against perhaps the very thing which wrought his undoing in the office he occupied young blood. Thankfully he accepts a position as watchman, guard or elevator "boy," while he waits for possible reinstatement, since all employe! laid off for no fault of their awn are eligible for se-erapiuytneut according to the policy of the civil service. Twe vacancies exist in Washington which have never heen amply filled, and which will perhaps always remain available to such a would take advantage ot them. Une ss tor women who (Copyright. ISIS, tlaU Maiin Printed a U. S, a.) train far and board bill. But having come, ha is lucky aad wis if he leaves before he ha spent his last dollar. To be sanguine may be well, but to play safe is better. One woman came to Washington so sura of her own appointment here that sh actually slid spend her last dollar to teach her. She had been graduated from a few "lvn-to-be-a-delective-by-mail'' schools, and with her badges and diplomat invaded the civil service recruiting office. But inasmuch as the, bureau has yearly more than 3000 inquiries for work in the secret service, the majority iron graduates like unto herself, she was compelled to turn, her attention to employment agra ciea as she- found iheas in tba capital. Sh was a splendid looking woman, too, and inasmuch a she was six feet tall and seemed, proportionately strong, her fitness to. make. caplara" for which, sh recommended herself could not be easily flouted. ORSE things could bappees to a mortal than to be- "stranded" in Washington. But it it nowhere a pleasant thing. Charity is tremendously ' organized in this city. It is hardly possibl to seek financial help from any source with out becoming answerable to the central or ganization of the whole. Tiie first effort made is to learn all that can be learned of the seeker of substantial sympathy. His home town folks are inquired of. If it is. proved and the proving is frequently a long-drawn-out process that the potential . Washingtoniaa baa. a family to whom he owes first allegiance, be is not so much, encouraged to prolong his sojourn in the capital as to return. and make good where be be longs. If ha listens to such ad vice, h is aided in getting back; but if ha prefer th free dom of. the streets where they are at least wide, ha it left to bis own devices, Strangely enough, and yet en couraging to contemplate, polio records tell nothing of the earnest job hunter. "The maa, who it look ins; for work doca not rani afoul of us," declares,, the uniformed statistician at lha municipal build ing. For this be offers no explana tion; it remain only a fact. ( The discouraged job hunter may- cod up at one of the city's missions, it is true, but here he meets with a helping hand and sympathetic en couragement. The other day a prominent, banker rose to his feet in one of the nightly prayer meetings of such a mission and gave brief but compelling testimony.. Few know that just a few years ago he was given a bowl of stew and. a bed at this raiasioo when he- wandered, in there broken., dlienuTiaeA and even bitter. He swore at the Undent who offered him kindness. But Use superintendent applied only a little more kind nets. A few days later the down-and-outer told, the superin tendent, a story just a pen scratch acrost a crjejck so easy to tare all that was left to him in ihia worldr , hi dying child. "I've served the law," be added. . , , Tbe superintendent took down the telephone, receiver. He called the president of a bank who wanted to be put in touch with "hard cases.' Hera was one. Tbe erst while forger was given a small place in, the bank-, filing. . doing odd bits about tbe office, and tba "hajd cat made, good. All he needed was a friend.. "We never try to find a job for a maa primarily,"' saidt the head of a mission. "We are not ia that liusiisss. W try to get a maa saved that's our work. And if maa , will seek first Cod and His kingdom, he never fail to get a job. It just automatically follows, and never fan.1 TAEY com every year, every month of every year. ' these job hunter. Newspaper men and women, polit ically inclined favor-seekers, studious youth. Artists also hope for recognition in the country's center of gov ernment. Yet most art students who graduate in Wash ington find employment elsewhere. The same is true of graduate in other branches of study. " ' '.' The man or woman who is willing; to do anything, and thinks thereby to fell the "out-of-work" ogre, it up against the same sad proposition here as elsewhere. Take a woman who, though qualified to fill a respon sible position with the government, fails to get it and, turns to other fields Library work or research for eat) of the two or three information bureaus call fog a, trains ing severe and attenuated, and then "you may leavo vour name for our files." - If she be really capable as stenographer, she must be! content to enter competition with hundreds of other equally capable. Should she be willing to content herself with a job as waitress, other handicaps may be here. , Employers in Washington, as elsewhere,, select their crews, with regard to height, weight, color of hair, and general adapta bihty to chosen uniform, as well as experience. Experience counts also in store work that is. if the applicant is to get wages which will make at least shelter and substantial food possible. If a woman seeks work as charwoman in one of the office buildings, she finds a line of applicants in front of her. If she turns to car cleaning for the railroad, she must qualify as the widow of an engineer or something of the sort before she, cam even file application. She would find it difficult to get a job as dishwasher in a small restaurant, for these calls are confined to experienced help usually colored applicant being prer ferred. But a feminine job seeker in Washington can always Set general housework if she can measure up to all that tat means. , TTi lE, young man who makes tbe round of tbe basks, tht I automobile concerns, th falling stations ; who tries tbe navy yard, and qualifies to be entrusted with the driving of a taxi; who will run an elevator, or clerk at a haberdasheryj who is. in short, willing to do anything, meets much the same ' problem at each turn as his sister. But he can always join the army, however, and the navy waits to welcome him. To the older or middle-aged plodders there is always Is ft the role cf door-to-door salesman, if they care to engage in this business. Washington stresses, as perhaps bo other city does, the vital necessity for specialized training, coupled with resource fuloeet and adaptability. Here the job hunter, if he be open-minded, soon concludes that it is better to know how to do on thing which may call him to Alaska or Washington, California or Kentucky, than to select his place of abode first and limit . himself to its opportunities for the untrained or unwisely trained. One man passed the civil service examination for plumber, . but waa found to be so stout that he could not perform the simplest task without the assistance of a helper, and therefore failed to get his coveted job with the government. Perbapt at a teacher or real estate dealer, that man would hav been, a bappy success and independent of Washington. There is only one way to be happy in Washington to be ' independent of it Even tbe trained worker who come un bidden to the capital it taking a long shot. And th "mki'M worker it shooting at th moon. 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