The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1891-02-24
MEN WHO MEMoRIzE.
The Big Burden Carried by Railway
Mail Clerks Mind.

The Big Burden Carried by Railway
Mail Clerks Mind.
II suppose that the clerks in the rail
way mail service have to exercise their
memories more than any other class of
persoI,s,' said Victor J. Bradley, assis-
tant superintendent of the second divi-
sion of the railway mail service, recently,
to New York Tribune reporter. "For
instance, some of the men of experience
are expected to have the situation of 49,
900 or l9 900 postof6ces in this country
fixed in their minds. When man
enters the employ of this branch of the
postal department of the government, he
Is put on probation for time. He Is as
signed to fix in his mind a certain number
of postoffices within given time, and if
in other respects, he receives perma-
ne mt appointment.
In the first six months of his service
he is bound to learn where about 1900
places are situated. OF course, we be-
gin him on that section of the country
in which he is at work, so that he is
aided in his memorizing by his exper-
ience. The next six months he is ex-
pected to learn even greater number
of offices, and in four, years in certain
cases must have at his tongues end
where between Is, 600, and $4,000 post
offices are, and be able to tell how to
mail matter to them. OF course, the
men will forget some out of this enorm-
GUS number, but the percentage is small,
otherwise the clerks could not keep
their places.
The trouble about the whole thing is
that the employees must be examined
periodically, no matter how long they
have been in the service, so that we can
make sure they have not ceased review
ing their lessons. A man might have
ali his offices committed to memory and
vet forget many of them in year or two
if he did not keep up his studying. By
the time men learn the last of their 49,
600 names, they have forgotten some OF
the first ones, SO that their task is an
endless one.
The mere committing to memory OF
the best way to send a letter to it's ad-
dress is not all that is expected of our
men. They must also know something
of the less advantageous routes and the
times at which trains which carry the
mails reach intermediate points. 1t
sometimes happens that the train on
which the clerk is at work meets with a
delay, and he cannot make the connec-
tions he ordinarily could. In such cases
he must have clear idea of how he can
send the pouches over some other route,
so that they will reach their destination
| with as little loss of time as possible.
Oftentimes this will compel him to re-
assert his mail, SO that he can send part
of it one way and part another. Again
| he may have an unusually large amount
of mail matter to handle, SO that in spite
of the utmost diligence, he cannot have
the letters, packages, newspapers, ETC.,
properly assorted when the train reaches
station where some of the pouches are
| to be thrown off. In such cases he must
change the scheme of assortment, get
ting ready as much mail as he can, and
sending the rest back as soon as possible.
A man must have clear, cool head on
his shoulders, and be able to plan out, q
long campaign of railroad connections
and routes in his mind.
In spite of the qualifications and study
needed to make satisfactory railway
mail service clerk, the pay of the men is
poor, promotions are slow and the tenure
of Office by no means so dependent on
good behavior as it might be. The high
est annual salary for clerk is $1,000 a
year, and it generally takes eight or nine
years to reach that grade. No, place
in the service is not the most desirable
one in the world, as most of the 600C
men who are in it will tell YOU