The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-02-15

division. When Mr. Vale came he was new in
the service His promotion has never stopped.
and he has now chief head clerkship. Mr.
French's favoritism has been so positive that it
has occasioned comment by everybody in the
service. Even since this commission was begun
| understand that Mr. French, on being APP
preached in reference to Mr.. Vale has said EN-
phatically that he would not listen to any com
plants against him now wish to speak of Mr..
Wales character, not of his efficiency a clerk.
The objection interposed, that unless wit
ness could show that MIR. French knew of Nh
Wales bad character as man, when he was APP
pointed and at his promotions, the matter could
not be considered.
Witness, continuing, said that Mr.. French has
the reputation of having a strong indispositioh
to gray hairs, and of always preferring young
to cider men. 1t is true, too, that a man may
pass a good examination and be, in practice, a
very poor railway clerk.
Ernest B. Cole: Live at 1873 East New York
street. have lived in city twenty years. Was IN
the railway mail service from Aug or Sept. 10,
1873, I think until I resigned, July l, 1888. 1
a FIRST clerk. Think the chief injustice has
been done to the older men on the road in the
appointment of chief head clerks at Indianapolis;
first In the appointment of Mr.. Palmer, and sec
ondly, in the making of Mr. Vale chief head
clerk. Mr. Vale was brought here from Massa-
chusetts There were other men who were their
equals or superiors, who had seen longer service.
There were men who had been in the service ten
OF lNtlN0 years DelOre either OF Incln udu en-
tered it. Fines have been uniusty laid; the men
have been overworked, and unjust discrimination
and favoritsm has been shown in promotions.
Fines have been imposed i'll this division oftener
than in amy other. | was fined twice during the
last year of my service, and both times thought,
unjustly. THE witness here explained the cir
cumstances at length. | explained the matter
fully to Mr.. French and held even if had been
blamable, he could not justly place the fines
against me. have always intended to prosecute
the case and have retained all the correspond
ence on the subject. | do not want my
record in the department. to stand with
a petty ten dollars in fines against it.
In regard to overwork, once asked Mr.. French
to divide the p, c. & St L. at Richmond, Ind.
He returned our petition with the word that the
department. would not allow five crews 1.-THE
| number asked for instead of four) between Indi-
annapolis and Richmond. The petition went to
| Washington, and in less than month we had
the fifth crew and given against Mr.. Frenchs
| recommendation. Mr.. French has always acted
| gentlemanly with me- except IN the fines. | am
not preiudiced against Mr.. French. Think he
did wrong in having clerks before the Postmas-
ter-generals order camel do duty grade OF two
above their pay. He thus by arbitrary power
retained money from clerks that they should
! have had. Outside of the things named have
always considered Mr.. French the best superin-
| tendent in any division. The great complaint
made by the men is his overworking them, get
! ting more work ont of them for the amount of
money, and his method of imposing fines.
! John p. Black: Live at No. 81 North Ala
bama street. Have been in the railway mail
| service since Jan. ID, 1880. Commission APP
! pointed me to Indianapolis and St Louis, but
never was put on or worked thatline. Was first
! assigned from Pittsburg 70 Indianapolis. Wit
| nesses grievances were that when probationary
man the road and uninstFucted had thrown
unlocked catcher pouches eff at Taylors Station,
o.. for which he had been uniustly fined: was sus-
| pended ten days for missending two registered
! pouches Oct II, 1881, when, as third clerk, he
| was overburdened with duty, while the second
clerk had comparatively little to do showing the
| inequality of the service: others had been
promoted over him when his examinations were,
| by comparison, much better than those so pre-
| ferred; was compelled to work Arkansas mail in
| preference to Ohio, thus delaying important
mail, the Arkansas mail being mostly
circular stuff; additional work thrown
| upon the men after the New York
| fast-mail was taken off; transferred
to Indianapolis and Peoria and reduced one
grade; fined 81 % for. under very bOthering cir
cumstances misleading registered package
| Pekin instead of Peora--the package not, how
ever, being delayed in reaching the person to
! whom sent, an instant; compelled to pay fare
| which Mr. French, when written to, said he
| could not recover deduction of one days pay
| when actually suffering from sickness and una
| Bile to do duty. This witness has inguinal
hernia brought about by lifting heavy packages
in the mail service but thinks he is getting bet
ter. Mr.. Green, on the 1. & V and witness had
arranged to exchange runs, in order to give wit
ness lighter work. Wrote to Mr.. French, who
| said he was unable to make the change, yet
| he soon after put Mr.. Hill on Mr. Green's
run and put Mr.. Green on witnesses run;
! transferring witness to Indianapolis and Peoria
run, and reducing his pay from 81 900 to 5000.
! Was recommended for promotion by Cole, Wat
son and Holstein, but was passed by. Had
written letters to Mr.. French about the fines
and received no reply. Wrote to Postmaster
| general Gresham about the fines, and never re-
ceived any reply from that quarter.
| Mr.. Alex Black, of Greenfield, attorney-How
| does Mr.. French treat the men under him, like
menials or gentlemeng
Witness-The general feeling among the post
| al clerks of this division is that they have no
rights that he is to respect The feeling is al
most universal among them. It is popularity
| of Mr.. French to treat us ungentlema1ly.
! Mr.. Black-What do you know about weighing
mails7
Witness-They were weighed ON my line about
two years ago. There were two men to watch it,
one employed by the railroad company and the
other by the government 1t was the custom to
weigh the wooden boxes in which the letters are
put in the car; to weigh them with the letters.
There are ten boxes, and they weigh ten pounds
or more each. The weighing went on for about
sixty days. During the weighing toward
the last Mr.. Cole, the first clerk,
protested against it, and said it should stop-the
wooden boxes should not be weighed That l
believe, was the only part of the furniture about
the car that was weighed do not know whether
it was done by other crews or not but this weigh
ing, and weighing of the wooden boxes, was done
with us until Mr.. Cole stopped it.
The investigation will be continued this morn
ing.