The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-04-07

OF course, the Chicago papers DO not have
10 be worked except On insignificant por-
ton Of them done up in single wrappers. To
work the Chicago papers as other mail IS
worked would require about fourteen mail
cars and q force Of 200 men These papers
aro handled by sacks and packages, and Ia
loading them into tho car the chief clerk has
taken care 70 keep those first wanted at tho
top Of the pile. Ia the oti:er car, where the
bulk OF the Chicago papers and the Pacific
coast mails arc carried, porter is doing the
same thing. Thus sack after sack and ton
after ton OF letters and papers arc thrown
or. The first stop is made ut Aurora, forty
miles from Chicago, which IS reached in fifty
minutes. Where there is a good deal Of mail
to be thrown off the train stops, but at other
points it goes right along, and the sacks are
tumbled ont, whilo the catcher takes on q
new, but, happily, a smaller supply. In this
way town after town is passed and connecting
road after road supplied with It's quota Of the
flying mail All through the west the cur
rents OF nj lhgeuco are accelerated by this
white faced hustler of the Burlington and is
twin Of the Milwaukee and s. Paul, which
left Chicago at the same minute Tho early
rising country folk read their Chicago morn
ing papers before city people are ont Of bed
and even at Burlington, Ia 20G miles out
the news Of the day which Chicago presses
have printed is eagerly perused long before
a ma jority Of Chicagoans have washed their
faces for breakfast At o'clock in the
afternoon, thirteen hours from Chicago, the
Missouri river is reached and there con
nection is made with express trains for the
Pacific coast aud tho great west.
If you spend five minutes with railway
mail clerk YOU viii hear him mention his
scheme a railway mail clerks scheme is
not one Of money making, but the plan by
which he learns and remembers how to throw
your letters and papers 50 they viii most
quickly arrive at their destination. The
scheme is made out by states and some clerks
have to learn three or four states or parts OF
states and learn them thoroughly Neces-
sary changes In the scheme are made by
general order every Saturday, and tho poor
clerk who has been studying so hard 70 per
feet himself finds that he must at once start
ia and learn his lesson over again. The
scheme is a railway clerks nightmare He
sits up with it, sleeps with it and dreams Of
them pretty hard for week-sa two OF
these fast mail runs to Burlington and back,
or fifty hours Of inceSsaut tOll-and then
they are given week off to rest and catch
up on sleep and study their schemes. If it
wasn't 10y these weeks oil, tho business would
have to stop Tho men would die Of eX-
haus,ion, and besides, the schemes would 60
70 wreck
IN working his scheme the clerk must bear
in mind not only the original lay out aud
the latest changes, but the time OF day and
his geographical position He must know,
also, il his trainis on time, for a few missed
connections will change a scheme all around
For example. take the town of Woodstock,
o. Ii IS a small place, but it gives much
trouble. I'm east bound clerk arriving in
Chicago before $50 p IN. must throw Wood
stock letters tor Baltimore and OHIO railway
postotice between 4:30 and s, Kankakec
line, and at other times Panhandle trains.
Again, between Chicago and Burlington
mai for Bloomington. HIS, j., thrown in
three ways The railway mail service is
made up OF just such beautiful complexities
rs these In times of Billiards such as the
east has recently experienced, ami when all
train schedules are smashed, the postal car
clerk is put 10 his trumps He is at such
times given discretionary power, and is ex-
pccted 10 90 the best he can 10 serve the
public, irrespective Of schemes
The railway mali service is about