St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-08-03
MAIL men AND WOMEN
Poached to st. Paul for An
nual Convention.
SPECIAL DELIVERY OF ORATORS
Which Stamps Them as Emf.
nent People.
NO LOCK BOXES FOR OUR GUESTS.
NO LOCK BOXES FOR OUR GUESTS,
But the Gates Of the Citv
Thrown Wide Open.
BUSINESS CAFES CANCELLED.

BUSINESS CAFES CANCELLED.
The second annual convention of the
National Railway Postal Clerks asso-
clatioh, making its headquarters at the
Windsor hotel, convened yesterday.
Over 200 railway postal clerks, their
wives and friends met in the represent
atives' hall, capitol building. at 1O:30 Il,
m. A II of the eleven divisions in the
service were represented except the
First, Third and Fourth.
The first thing that was done was the
appointing of committee to wait upon
Vice President Stevenson and invite
him to address last evenings meeting.
which he could not do. being called to
Chicago on important business.
DIR. Vail opened the meeting with
prayer, and, after President Fennessy
had informed the audience that he
would reserve what he had to say for
another time, he introduced Acting /
Mayor Hickman, who welcomed the
guests OH behalf of the city. He said.
1T gives me very great pleasure 20
welcome you to our city as the guests OI.
the Tenth division. You represent am
industry in wich we are all Interested
and intimately connected. NV memory,
goes back this morning to my boyhood
days i'll the old Buckeye strife, when our
mail was carried in pair of saddle
bags on the back of some trusty nag.
The men who carried the mail in those
days were as a general thing faithful to
their trust, and we don't know how
much we owe 10 those pioneer clerks.
But as the country has progressed !
the mail service has not only kept pace
with the advance, but has kept we'll 70
the front. You are intrusted with the
most important messages in the busI-
ness world, as well as the loving m!s-
Sives between friends, lovers, and We
may now, as of old, say you have been
faithful to your trust. Occasionally, !
but very seldom, we hear of one of your
number embezZling thousands of dol
lars. and these occasional instances
only show the possibilities within reach
of each of you every day and every
hour you are on duty. and the better
proves your faithfuIness to the trust re-
posed in you. We extend to you cor
dial welcome to cur city,. not merely be-
cause it is customary, but because we
are prout of the fact that such an or
selected our city as the place for your
second annual convention. We are glad
TO welcome you. The city is YOURS. and
while owing to its peculiar construction
you may not be able to carry it away
with you. we do hope you Will carry
away with you the most pleasant mem
Ories and kindly feeling towards our
people"
Postmaster Castles Welcome.
Following Mr.. Hickman's speech
Capt Castle gave very brief ADDRESS,
in which he paid the railway clerks
many compliments. He said:
Whatever l could say in words Of
welcome would only be an echo of what
Mr.. Hickman has already said, for on
no occasion and to no other set of men
has more hearty welcome been ex-
tended or more worthilY bestowed.
You have adopted a very wise plan in
having along with the delegates Tot
only quite number of the constituents,
but also great many of the ladies. Tho
constituents must have come along to
watch the delegates, and it would be u
very good thing if we could extend this
system to our congress and legislatures.
Then the Ladies must come along TO
watch the constituents, which is also e
very wise thing for them to do. You
are ali very welcome indeed, L assure
you" Continuing, he said:
"You represent branch of the pub
lie service which has ever been in the
van of progress. 1t belongs with tho
church and the newspaper. In the old
slavery days the Shareholders who Op-
posed progress would hrve stopped at,
nothing to have prevented the spread OF
the newspaper and other literature Of
the kind that the railway mail service
spread broadcast through the land.
Their constant effort was to control the
papers, but the mail service continued
to grow, surely and rapidly. 1t came
up with Sucn men as ThurlOW Weed
and Wendell Phillips, and such WumenI
as Harriet Beecher Stowe, and has con-
tinued tc grow with the progress of the
country, Just as such evils as slavery
disappeared. There is no branch of the
service which requires so hard study
and so thorough a knowledge Of the hls-
tory and geography of the country.
You belong to branch Of the
service which employs more men
than any other in the public serv-
ice. There are 100000 persons in the,
pOstOffice department; more than tho
combined force in the army, navy and
there are $4,000 postmasters, 112.Q00
clerks in postoffices, 11,O00 letter car
rers and $500 railway postal CLERKS.
While you are smallest in number Of tho.
postal service divisions, you are by no
means the least important. Members
of your department travel on $500 rail-
roads, having an aggregate length ot
100000 miles. They travel 100000, 900
miles every year. They handle 10.000,-
600, ,006 pieces of mail with all average
of but one error in 5000 pieces"
James Elliott, of the association, re-
sponded to Capt. Castles address in a
short and very bright speech. His re-
marks upon the funny experiences ia
the daily life of the railway clerks
brought forth several bursts Of an.
plause.
President Hennessey, after thanking
DR.. Vail, Capt. Castle and Judge HEX
man for their addresses, announced that
they would take recess for a few min
utes before proceeding to business.
The business session was very short3
the only thing of Importance that was
done was the appointing OF committee
OH credentials, consisting OF l.. Il. Ell
tInger, w. II. Hare and ii. o. Smith,
The convention then adjourned until
evening.
The next business session will be held
this morning, when the above-named
COMMITTEES is to report, and new officers
will be elected for the coming year.
Some amendments to the constitution
will also be made at this session.
A Carriage Drive.
III the afternoon a carriage drive
around the city, starting from the