Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-07-14

STATE SCHEME.
The aspirant for the honor OF being member of
postal-car crew having successfully eluded the
various pitfalls which have been placed in his
mental pathway is fairly on the road to success
He next undertakes "a state scheme" This new
instrument OF torture, when shown up In print,
covers sheet about or feet square, and In the
case OF q state like Ohio the sneet assumes larger
proportions. 1t contains list Of the counties
be sent to the different towns within that county
An Interesting feature OF this scheme at least TO
those who don't have to learn it. is the noting OF
Is TO be sent by some other railroad. For Instance
in the county OF Pittsyivanfa, Va. all the mail is 10
lows along the line between WSshin~t o9'i ann
Charlotte, some twenty -four In number. There
are also i've such towns between Elba and Rocky
between Danville and stuart, and seven In other
locations 80 that out OF total OF seventy-One
Sces IN The county the postal CLERK Is
cause Of the number Of the possible railroad co Do
nectlOns.
WHAT soNE CLERKS HAVE TO KNOW.
When postal clerk finishes with Virginia, he
knows the names Of 2,47S post-ofices besides the
railroad lines and star-routes and just how and
where they cut into each other. All clerks do not
reach high proficiency. In cases where they are
OF the ofi1ces In the state may not be very
thorough This stands In the way OF their pro.
be is apt to do pretty ofIen. they are expecte to
stand an examination on the entire state and the
result Is set down in his Official report to the
division superintendent. But for the men on the
main lines there Is hardly q limit As fast as they
learn "the scheme" OF one state they begin on an.
other. Take, for instance, the clerks running on
the line between Washington and Charlotte II. @.
They are obliged to know the schemes OF the fol.
lowing states, the number Of post-onices in each
being given: New York, 3273; New jersey 7D4:
Pennsylvania, 4,216; Maryland, 9S5; Virginia.
2,478; West Virginia, 1,4O2; North Carolina S25S:
South Carolina, eS3; Georgia, Ices. This makes
q total Of 1906 names or p0sl-ornceA which a
postal clerk must pack away In his head ali neatly
and securely labelled with the names OF
the counties and the railroads by which
they are reached. But this is not
all There are constant changes being made In
the names OF post-otices Old ones are abolished.
the state OF Virginia alone since the LIST OF January
last, there were between seventy and eighty new
post-onices established and thirty chanQe1
either In name or In site Clerks travelling on ths
great trunk lines a. between this city and the South
and the North, or between New York and Chicago
have an immense labor 70 acquire the needed
information In the rst place, and then constant
round OF study 70 keep themselves up with the
changea
ORANGES N TIE sKRvIcR
There are now over {, 600 employees In the Ran,
way Man Service. Something over one-nrrh q
these are obliged to have at their nngers ends the
names OF poss-on1ces In number OF states Tne
great bulk Of the clerk1 ara Of course not a ven
posted. but perform In very competent and faith
ful manner al the work that 10 required OF than.
Naturally W. majority q the CLERKS are young