Grand Rapids morning telegram., 1885-03-14


increased compensation demanded b3 she
gompau2 AZ consideration ~ aaoea space
i.su f.csaties. tne Cars were never n-s.4.
tn lhe laAu tae N.f thlcaAo A. NlNeu. q
so8a fre-a tiaca@o O. DiAan, ia. ~ inlies.
which ia- sinoe beoaue 8 g,art 81 the great
NMraEo NortaNeSiefn iine, hUih ano
tlllutucft running distribution fllSf ai
ear. uhieii uas tec iir-l regular u. f d sef-
slcs oa wheels ln iae mIea States. fae
prtclst date of its commencement aiid tht
nelass si lhe clerks Who performed tht eork,
tht writer has besu unable Co ascertain. bat
ID was some iifIe iiune after tile building ~
tls anuss.a isSt Shore A Michigan south
eru cars. shortly after tsis, u. 4. q. service
Wa- placed GA thc line between NrN ofk
and s. ..shiugton. lml as adoption generally
Ma, somewhat laruy The nr-i II. T. a..
service auto olesio. vas over the LakS Shore
road from Cleveland. and from foiedo
westward. over the Toledo, Lafayette a
Qmucs, 20 Quincy. lil., tbe date 81 the latter
being about The fret OF August lot.s
During isl,4 arrangements were concluded
a.ih tbs LAKE Shore a Michigan Southern
company Tor II. 4. %. service over lts iIne
between Toledo and Chicago. aud fUo post al
cars we're provided. winch. az shat TINE
were regarded a. regular daisles- They
are still running between the two elues
named aud. though somewhat lake the bar
rel that had beeu repaired and rebuilt until
nothing but the original bung-hule vas left
thes are the same cars The first run fronl
Toledo 10 Chicago ~as made July j., ioia
hy John Caldwell, head clerk, and William
Gross. second clerk With plenty of room
aud ample facilities. Sir. Caldwell was able
20 Go mach better work than NAs possible ia
ihe Old-fasbi0ned car. where he had iabofeu
for yeaTs. l.. ii. johnson, head clerk, with
Robert II. hsndershotis ihe famous drum
mer hoy, a. hls assistant, followed DeN
that time were Capt. Mcerrgth and N. J..
Van NiBkie. head clerks. and MIR. Durbin
and William Is. Thompson, second clerks,
the letter beng none other than thr gentle
man who has for years past been General
Superintendent of the Railway Mail Service.
and more recently Second Assistant Post
master General. Al that time Dr.. George
b. Armstrong was General Superintendent.
and Hon. Geo. y Bangs was Superintendent
of the division embracing OHIO, Michigan.
Indiana. Illinois and other western states.
Mr. Caldwell j. still q head clerk between
oledO and Chicago, and having been iu the
Railway Nail Service almost twenty
years continuously. may be justly regarded
as one of the POSt0tilce Department yeter-
an servants.
The advantages of the new system over
the oil were 20 apparent that u speedily
commanded public favor and was soon
adopted generally throughout the country
But II was sadly lacking In many things ln-
dlsIensably necessary 10 it, more thorough
efficiency and reasonable degree Of per
fcctlOn. Route agents and clerks made up
and dispatched their mails a. - them
seemed best. Except the official directory
which named each post office and gave the
county and state wherein Il wa- located.
published only once year. nothing wac
furnished by the i. @. Department 10 I'm
part information relative 30 proper lisiu-
button of the mails. Here and there some
enterpriSing individual prepared and pub
llshed in sheet or pamphlet FORM schemes
or lists o the post Offices ia their respective
states, together with the name of the rail
road line or lines supplying each Office with
mail. These lists. though often Inaccurate
IN important particulars, were eagerly sought
hy postal clerks and route agents. who
cheerfully paid the publishers price for
them. That many mistakes were made in
distribution. r. not surprising. While most
of the employees made an earnest effort to do
accurate work. few were Indifferent. and
seemed content to work of their mail IN The
easiest way possible regardless Of the de
lays resulting from their biundeTs. aud there
was AT that time no way TO determine whose
work was accurate nor whose WIZ faulty.
But about the time of The general adoption
Of the new system upon all the railway lines
Of the country. Mr. Bangs was promoted g.
the office Of General Superintendent. and
under his efficient and very able admins
trb tion. tho Railway Mail Service was vastly
improved. lie was q man Of untIriug energy
and possessed great executive ability, and
speedily brought order ont Of chaos. Among
the numerous improvements inaugurated by
him was the preparation and publication of
official schemes for each state and terri
tory which were gratuitOusly fur
nishcd 10 postal clerks and
route agents as their work required. and
schemes were not only thus furnished. but
employees were required 30 learn them. and
80 thoroughly falniharize themselves with
their various duties and the work expected ~
them. \ s. stem of examinations was de
yised. whereby lncompeiente were dis
covered. aud after the lapse of a reasonable
period they were required boy further eT-
animation 10 demonstrate whether they had
"menoed their ways' or not. II had been
the practice, iu making NJ letter package
for connecting lines and dis" Offices. to
invert the tor letter and write upon it the
name of the route of railroad % which IL
was gong. No matter how many crrUrs
there might be IN the package, there was
10 way 81 definitely placing the fault
where II belonged. To remedy
tins. Mr Bang required en-
ployee 70 use facing slip. cut
about postal card SIZE from
strong manila paper furnished by the T. -.
the package 30 be covered % it. the date
upou which it var made up. the name and
pO-imark ~ the clerk or agent making a.
and tie direction his train wae moving ~
the time: and u vas made the duty of the
emYiOye distributing the package - note or
TIE back ~ the clip any errors n might cor
tain. and ~ the end 81 be round tr1y - for
ward al slips uith errors 80 noted upon
them. - the superintendent If his division.
where filel were entered a. a. received IN
record b8oke provided for that purpose.
These records. together with the results Of
The Examinations heretofore mentioned. en-
abled fhe deHar.m meuf - ascertain 70 3
certainty who tile iucpmrefe1ftr were. aud
20 weed from the Service sucb er c0uid not
or woulo nor post themselves sufficiently fo-
Pc IuteiHCrui ard proper discharge of thn
0nf1es required 1f them Anuihaf thing 1irch
Air Banr- introduced vas q tfip rf.8rt 81
1e INSIDE hF fert ~iefk ~ agent iu charge -
p rru. showing exact time ~ departure from
ero ARRIVAL 81 terminal points the rur0isff
~ rarkeges ~ ietfeTs snd sscEs ~ farers
received and distributed sud me nnm hef "A
registered letters banded. faiiurf- 81 afiivef
~ receive lnaiis- inc g1iuo failures - CON
feef Hifh interesting Zines. f rlt. and ~
e-rec.eiiT report aut taing uu1ena' oecur
fa~ asfinE tn- fr.f. sgeH 81 srri0us HeiaTs
@ tf.e trffr and Gee rssrsee thereof. tic ~