, 1888-03-08
CRISIS REACHED.
The Clerks at the POstOffice
Quit Work,
Disguised With the Policy Of
the Department..

from Washington to the effect that
needed aid would be allowed him, peo
pie drew n sigh OF relief and congratu.
lated themselves that all the evils now
existing would be remedicd. The post
master himself, however, was not MS
sansuine as the public, having some
doebt as to the adequacy of the relief
granted, and il has since developed
that this doubt was well grounded.
Yesterday an official communication
was received by him, which has
brought matters to crisis. In his
appeal for aid he stated fully and care
fully the condition of affairs in the
Office, giving exact statistics to show
the amount of work to be done and the
expense incident to carrying on the
service, one item of which was So 900
for clerk hire. In the letter already
referred to, which arrived" to-day, he
was informed that the government
considered 81 600 amply sufficient for
clerks salaries, and that that sum had
been allowed.
The amount granted for lights and
fuel was also considerably less than
what he had named as absolutely nee
oss~ry for those ltems. The communi-
cation Also stated that il he would for
ward vouchers for the expenses which
he had paid with his own money, de-
pending for reimbursement upon the
fact that the ONCE had been made
second class. they would be considered
BY the department.
On hearing the contents of
this rather surprising doc
ument, all the clerks in the Office de-
cided to quit work, feeling that it was
not right for them to remain, as they
could not accept the terms offered by
the government, and would not allow
Mr.. Peel to use his own funds to in.
crease their salaries. In consequence,
they left the Office last night and will
not return until the department offers
easonable inducements.
Mr.. Peel will do the best he can
under the circumstances, but that is
very little, and for the next few days
people will probably have to do with
out their mail. Ofs course it
will be great inconvenience
but the clerks cannot be blamed for
their action. No one endowed with
ordinary ability can be expected to
work in this part of the country on Il
salary of four hundred dollars q year,
and that is what the offer Of the gov
ernment means. The work too is of
arduous character, requiring long hours
and confining toll. They
have to report at seven in the morn
ing and do not get through till late in
the evening. The delivery clerk, for
instance, has to rise at six in the
stands on his feet all day
with but short intermissiops, passing
out mail and listening to the fault
finding and abuse of the crowd, gets to
bed perhaps by eleven o'clock, and be-
tween that hour and the time of rising
in the morning has to get up twice at the
arrival of the through mails. No man
can stand such n strain long, and yet
for this kind of work the government
allows the very muniticent sum of
$400 per year. 1t is an imposition
aud insult to make such an offer, and
there is no danger that the positions
of the striking clerks will be sought
after.
But people may say that it is the
intention to cut down the number of
clerks employed and then those re-
will receive fair wages. The |
trouble is that instead OF being cut
down the force needs to be increased. |
Besides the vast amount OF local mail |
to be handled, this city is distribut-
ing point for large area of the sur
rounding country, the population Of
which is incre asing with wonderful |,
work involved in this distributing
process can be gained from the fact
that mails for tifty-seven towns con-
nected by stage alone have to be made
up in the Spokane office, besides
The large number for places along
the Occur d'Alene and Palouse rail
roads. In view of these facts can any
'air minded person say that it would
be possible to decrease the force OF |
employees?
just what action will be taken by |
Mr.. Peel under these trying circum-
stances cannot be predicted, but he is
ully decided that ii the government
persists in its niggardly and unjust
policy he will resign the thankless
oosition, which he has SO faithfully |
illed in spite of overwhelming Difficult.
les.
One thing is certain, unless prompt
md decided action is taken by the de-
partment the Office will be flooded in
/ few days with mass of mail which
t will be almost impossible to
handle. There is no doubt that
here will be great deal of
,rumbling and fault finding to-day,
when people learn that they cannot
yet their letters. b,lt let every man be |