The Chronicles Of Grant County:
Wanted By Your Government

February 10, 2021

This image was utilized to encourage people to apply to become Dictating Machine Transcribers during World War II.
(The image was provided by the Office for Emergency Management of the Office of War Information
of the Domestic Operations Branch of the Bureau of Special Services through The United States
National Archives and Records Administration, January 23, 1945.)

We all know that times are different today than in years past in Grant County, but it’s useful to look back to see just how much things have actually changed.

It is unlikely today that you would see a brochure like the one displayed in this news column.  A brochure aimed primarily (though not exclusively) at employment opportunities for women – without explicitly stating it was aimed primarily at women.  A job where you could work full-time at the age of 16 years.  An employment interview that would require you to bring your own equipment.  And if you got the job, you’d have to move a couple thousand miles away.

All for $1,970 annually – including overtime.  A salary of $1,970 in January of 1945 would be valued at about $28,827.74 in December of 2020, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Residents of Grant County and southern New Mexico were encouraged to become employees of the Federal government in 1945.  Minimum age to apply was 17 ½ years, but if you already lived in the District of Columbia, you could work full-time for the Federal government at the age of 16 years.  Exams were held in communities across the country, including in Silver City.  If you wanted to apply, though, you had to bring your own typewriter to the examination.

If you were hired, you then needed to move.  Not to Lordsburg or Deming, but to Washington, District of Columbia.

People with disabilities were treated differently at that time.  The wording on the brochure indicated that “Applicants must…be free from such defects and diseases as would constitute employment hazards to themselves or endanger their fellow employees or others.  Persons with physical handicaps which they believe will not prevent their satisfactory performance of all duties of the position are invited to apply.”

The job, while full-time, would be temporary:  “Appointments generally will be for the duration of the war [World War II] and in no case will extend more than 6 months beyond the end of the war.”

This brochure included several elements that you would not see today.  Among the regional offices where you could obtain an application form was in “Balboa Heights, C.Z.”  The “C.Z.” was the “Canal Zone” – the Panama Canal Zone, then part of the United States.  Zip codes did not yet exist.  Instead, numbers were attached to the names of cities.  For example, the brochure noted such locales as “Seattle 4,” Denver 2,” and “San Francisco 11.”

Times have changed in Silver City.  Few people use dictating transcribing machines any longer.  A print ad dated May 17, 2009, was the most recent advertisement seeking someone to operate a dictating machine.  Most younger folks are unlikely to have (or may not even know about) typewriters, though almost all use keyboards – modeled on typewriters – on a daily basis.  People with disabilities don’t have to worry if their employment would create “…hazards to themselves or endanger their fellow employees or others.”  Instead, employers are required to make accommodations in many cases so that people with disabilities are not denied employment opportunities.

While raw wages would be higher today, the salary in 1945 (if it did not include overtime) may actually be about the same or higher than what someone in Silver City would earn in 2021.  While not a direct comparison, the State of New Mexico has a current advertisement seeking a secretary at an annual salary ranging from $20,447 to $36,467 in Silver City.  If you’re interested in this job, please click here.

This brochure highlighted details for people to apply to potentially become Dictating Machine Transcribers.
(The image was provided by the Office for Emergency Management of the Office of War Information
of the Domestic Operations Branch of the Bureau of Special Services, January 23, 1945.)

Do you have questions about communities in Grant County?

A street name?  A building?

Your questions may be used in a future news column.

 Contact Richard McDonough at chroniclesofgrantcounty@mail.com.

© 2021 Richard McDonough