The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-06-11
The Railway Mail Clerks.

To the Editor OF the indianapolis Journal:
Does the interest of the public in the manage
ment of tba railway mail service rest merely
within the field of party politics, to be discussed
only as Democrats Republicans are effected
thereby2 Have the actions Of officials in con-
nection Herewith no other meaning than as to
their bearing on party interestsa Or should this
particular service be held subordinate to the de-
sire of those accidents of a day-the district
Congressman, who are keenly alive to the neces-
sity of being ''solid with the boysf If this lat
ter view be that which prevails, then the Demo
cratic ruinpus in the courthouse last week vas
a necessary and legitimate outcome of it's work
ing. and Republicans will continue to stand in
danger of the shadow falling on them of that
deep humiliation which overcame the decent
Democrats Of Indianapolis at their recent con-
gressional convention. A different view from
this has been held, IL not to the public at least
to the employees in the railway mail service.
The public interest, it had been intimated. foi
bids the use Of patronage in this department for
merely personal or party gain. The recognized
efficiency of the postal service has to be main
tanned by the rule of a strict conservatism which
able to importunate DEFENDANTS Character
and ability in the service were encouraged Go be
lieve that these eminent qualities were held In
request, and that whore supplemented by faith
ance of the distinguished consideration of the
powers that be at Washington.
Shortly after his assuming Office. Mr. Post
master-general Villas issued circular to the
railway mail clerks assuring them in substance
that those of them who had become proficient in
the service. and against whom should be pre-
ferred no reliable charge of immortality, or of
gross violation of the rules of the department
should have no fear OF being removed during his
term of Office This was in strict conformity
VIII fho ri viii law pirit of WI
forbids removals for political opinions merely
and had an additional significance in that it was
a carrying out OF the expressed policy OF the
President rs was announced on the subject then
and repeated since by the chief executive.
Human nature manifests itself pretty much the
same in railway mail clerk as in the ordinary
mortal of our every day experience. Encour-
aged thus, proficiency and character felt them
selves as secure In the employment OF the de-
partment as Israel resting under his own vine
and fig tree. and this of security naturally
tended to the cultivation of the highest degree
OF proficiency and character attainable No one
will dare say that this not what the govern
ment freed from the opportunities of Congress
men. needed, and hardly anyone will seriously
assume that it was not the supreme demand of
the public WILL as it was, undoubtedly, the ALSO
lutte requirement OF the public conscience. But
removals from the service began 20 be made
without allegation touching either the eff
ciencv or character OF the parties removed and
the whole force in this branch of the depart
ment became naturally alarmed. Green. I'M
used, inexperienced mon were put into
vacated places which might as well have had
stuffed dummies appointed to fill them as these
men, owing to the peculiar and ~exacting nature
of the duties required in this special branch of
the public service Is the public familiar with
the work of the railway mail clerk2 Has it ever
seen the useful man. in his ward transferred
from the scene OF his usefulness to become one
of crew of clerks in railway mail cart Does
it know the amount OF work that must De done
in that railway in a trip of say 200 miles9
Does 1t know that must. in its m ost imperative
mood. is the spirit which drives those clerks to
the efficient completion of their work; and does
it know that the work which the new
man put there to do, but which
this ''useful hard-w worker" does not know
how to do, must be done by his associates, al
though they may. at the same time, be within
the shadow Of the knife already sharpened for
their official necks! 1t takes long period of
ard1ous service and hard study to enable the
man of average intelligence to properly dis
charge the duties Of a clerk in this capacity. Do
those who administer the government expect
that its new appointees, who forced upon
them by clamorous Congressman are above the
average Of ordinary intelligence: or, in making
room for these, is it contemplated to have the
brains and energies of tho old hands employed
while they are being made useful. and then cast
them adrift to make way for more incompe-
tentsG This would look like trick which
the public conscience should revolt at,
and which the government cannot de-
scend to. And Vet. something like it
seems to have been practiced. Official heads. Ia
the railway mail service began to fall into the
basket without those attending causes which the
circular of Alr. Villas pointed at and until the
threatened removal of Mr.. Burt, superintendent
of the fifth division, the clerks worked on.
smothering aa best they could the terrors Of un-
certainty which hung around their position.
This event, and the appointment OF his success
or DIR. Gwin. brought the men face to face with
the gravity of their situation. and their muir
murs, which were natural, were heard by the
public. This gentleman allayed. for the time
being, that discomfort which became manifest,
not only on the part of the clerks themselves
but on the part of the unbiased portion of
the public as we'll by referring to the policy
laid down in the Postmaster generals circular
on the subject. already adverted TO, and stating
that this policy and s'noue other" would be pur-
sued
It is singular fact, and one for which this
writer who is not an ofice-holder. but is a citi-
zen. and voted for the executive officer who gave
Mr.. Villas seat in his Cabinet Graves an ex-
PLANTATION. that not this policy. but some other of
an entirely opposite nature is being pursued.
Discharges are now frequent and men not only
who have been ia the service for a long time,
but men in whose hands the service has grown
into its present fattering proportions utterly
unable TO count the hours they will be permitted
to remain in an employment to qualify them.
selves for which they have foregone every other
available pursuit in life. Have the public no in
terests which they care to guard against the de-
moralizine tendency of q course OF management
which, accomplishing results like these must
of certainty. lead to confusion worse con-
founded" in the entire postal service Of the coun-
try. 1t is folly to argue, some Democratic
friends of the writer do, that the old clerks
must be- removed by Democratic
administration to make room for those of its own
political crecd, seeing that for the most part,
those old clerks are Republicans. This argu-
mens. if founded in truth. and the practice it
morals An inefficient Democrat in Office is a
fraud upon our theory of government, but when
the way is opened to place the personal following
of aspiring politicians, whether inefficient or
otherwise, in public Office the way is then opened
for the government to assume some other form
than that which the fathers fashioned for it.
Aud that way is already opening. Since
the present national administration assumed
Office four-ffths Of its appointments-those for
Indiana eertainly-have been made in the inter-