Los Angeles herald., 1892-09-12
THE WORK HARD IN GRAY MATTE
A Mail Clerk Talks About the
Services Hardships.
Labor Which is Constant Strain on
the Memory.
An Inmate Of Stockton Who is Con-
stantIy Throwing the Scheme.
The Things Clerks Have
to Remember.

"For double distilled essence of brain.
destroyer, commend me to the railway
postal SERVICE" remarked weary
looking member Of that department ol
the government to HERALD reporter
yesterday.
'It's wonder to me-" he continued,
"that there are not more men in the
railway mail service than there are, who
become bowling. irreclaimable ma.
MACS"
"Perhaps you never considered the
service from matchmaking ma
chine standpoint" said the postal clerk,
nervously, while his hands beat curious
tattoo on the arms of his chair.
The young fellow suddenly began to
make his right hand describe lightning
like movements, which locked as if he
was chucking imaginary letters and par
GELS into innummerable holes.
II wake up in the night doing that, "
he said. My brain keeps at work after
| am asleep, and it is only question of
time, l believe, before will be yanked
up before the commissioners in lunacy
as a candidate for an asylum. just like
that poor fellow who went from Los An
geles to Stockton few months ago. He
has never quit throwing the scheme
since he has been there, and the doctors
say he never will. He has distributed
tons upon tons of letters and cursed at
tons upon tons of newspapers, and ex-
amined thousands of postal clerks. He
is haunted day and night by the dread
that he has missed some insignificant
little hole of place for throwing off
mail"
ibid he lose his mind from the work
he did?"
Exactly. He was the examiner OF
the boys at Los Angeles, and had to re-
member about 10000 postofices. Not
only that, but the different combina-
tions of routes, distributing Offices and
all the intricate thousand and one
changes and details of the most laby-
rinthine system that man ever under
took to retain in one small brain. He
had to know it better than any individ-
ual postal clerk, and keep up the
strain of going over it all with each
man. It is not only the California post
offices, you understand, but this dis
trict includes all the Pacific coast states
and territories. He had to have every
one of the thousands of postofices and
routes, through pouches, local pouches,
and all that, at the tip of his tongue.
The strain was too much, that is all.
His gray matter gave way completely,
and it is my opinion that statistics,
when complexion this subject, will re-
veal the fact that the percentage of men
who go crazy is larger in the railway
postal service than in any other nerve
paralyzing business on the face of the
earth"
'It becomes very much matter of
habit, and mechanical, though, does it
not?"
"With some, yes; but with many
others, whose temperaments are highly
strung and who are bundles of nerves,
they are driving big spikes into their
coffins every time they study out, and
60 over scheme. These are the men
who ought to throw up their places and
go right out into the world. They have
no right to commit slow suicide in that
manner. One OF the commonest COM
plants in the service is insomnia. Yet
there are some fellows who drink con-
siderably and still come right up to the
4 highest percentage, with seemingly very
little strain on their mental forces. You
see the government demands high
percentage in this business, and it is
one OF the most astonishing things in
the world how retentive the memories
of some men become under the con-
tinual training they are bound to
60 through. The training of Poor
John and sPompodour Jim was nothing
in comparison to the mental gymnastics
of postal clerk.
When he works out heavy load of mail
matter in his car he is, nine times out of
ten, in a state of mental collapse, and
probably the next morning is due at the
case to throw FIVE or six hundred cards
into the little compartments of the frame
OF some state or territory. Any per-
centage under ninety ia bad. have
just finished throwing Arizona, and
went through it in little over an hour,
making SO per cent. missed four
offices, and two of these were forgetful-
ness of the railrond combination. The
department recognizes accuracy and
time in throwing the scheme, and estab.
lishes premiums on these qualities.
They want me to try for the first place,
but I'll fool them. My percentage is
above the average, and am haunted by
the prospect of going off my mental bal
ance. The same fear is prevalent in the
service. There are very few of the boys
who like to undertake the position Of
examiner, and there are fewer still since
the collapse of the poor fellow who is
now at Stockton" !"
Is the number of mistakes very
large" asked the reporter.
mo, tits quite small. Mail matter
seldom goes wrong. SO expert have the
men become who have been in the ser
vice quite awhile. The new man,
though, has not q bed OF roses to liz
upon. His first six months are months
which will long be remembered with
anything but roseate colors. Not lon(
ago new man went out north with con
siderable Of q stack Of mail. He was in
atructed to put off mail Ct each station