St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-03-25
RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE.


tributes to the current number of Serb
ner's an exceedingly entertaining arti-
Gle descriptive of the railway mail SER
vice, in which he makes some valuable
suggestions relative to the further i'm
provement of the system. The general
public know very little of the details of
the railway postal service; hence Mr..
JAMES article is all the more interest
ing. We know that there is such a
thing as railway mail service, and, in
general way, have some knowledge of
FAST mail trains; but not one in ten thou
sand persons who have seen postal cars
from depot platforms ever saw inside
of one or had any definite idea of how
the mails were handled and assorted.
Mr.. JAMES describes all the minuti9
of the work from the time that letters
are dropped into the New York post
office until they reach their remotest
destination. The interior of the postal
car presents busy scene, and the work
is often of the most perilous character.
Whenever accidents occur on railroads
the postal car is sure to bear the brunt
of them, because of its proximity to the
engine, and the mortality among rail-
way postal clerks is almost as great, in
proportion to the number employed, as
it is in an army engaged in an active
campaign during time of war.
Mr.. JAMES exposes the regardless
course congress has always pursued
with reference to the railway postal
service, and at the same time points out
the absolute necessity for having none
but competent and experienced men
employed in this service. Hence his
two principal recommendations are that
the appropriations for the service be in
creased until it can be elevated to the
standard of efficiency that the public
Interests require, and that the employees
of the service be given a permanent
tenure in their positions, IN order that
the alternating success of parties may
not disturb or impair the efficiency of
the service. The wisdom of these sug-
geStiOnS becomes at once apparent to
those who are made familiar with the
operations of the service. The character
of the work is such as to require the
services of persons of real ability and
integrity, and such services can not be
commanded unless the compensation
is made an inducement and at the same
time certainty that the job will be
permanent one. If there is one place
in all the governmental departments
meriting an application of civil service
rules that are as infleXible as Persian
laws, it is the railway postal service.
There is another point in connection
with this service that ought to arrest
the attention of congress. 1t is as to
the duty of providing pension for the
disabled railway postal clerks and for
the families of those who are killed in
the service. These men are performing
service to the country as perilous and
as valuable as that rendered by soldiers
on the field of battle. The country
should make provision for their sup
port, and for the support of those who
are dependent on them. in case they are
manned or killed in the service. We
believe that the postoffice department
has adopted an insurance fund for their
benefit. but the fund is created by with
holding certain per cent of the wages
of its employees, which is deposited in
the United States treasury, and GER
tain amount, not exceeding $1,000, paid
to the family of a postal clerk who may
be killed in railway accident. But
the government deserves no credit for
this, inasmuch as the employees support
the fund from their own savings. They
are entitled to all of their wages, and
the government should take care of
them, in case of accident, from a pen
sion fund set apart for that purpose.