The Washington bee., 1893-12-16
LET THE POSTMASTER GEN
ERAL INVESTIGATE.

In the beginning OF the admins
tration of General Harrison, and,
in fact, during his entire term,
there was system in vogue in the
mail bag repair shop. under the
Post Office Department, that was
fair and just to the : many hard
working women and men employed
ia that branch of the Post Office
Departmet. Under the former ad-
ministration the government re-
quired the women employed in the
repair shop to mend on an average
40 mail sacks day, giving them
$50 per month, and allowing 3
cents on all sacRs they mended over
the regular average. Then the wo-
men could make a fair living, and
at least be sure of meeting their
house rent the end of the month.
In the last six monrhs, under the
present republican Second Assist
ant Post Master General. all of this
has been changed, right in the be-
ginning of the reform admiaistra-
ton. Every week or so Major Ty.
ler, chief of the equipment division,
under whose supervision, the mail
bag shop comes, flashes with great
bluster and rage, new rules for the
bag shop. Under the new rule just
posted, whenever lady have re-
turned to her in one month IS sacks
| mended by her and failed to be ac-
cepted by the many inspectors, she
is dismissed, Notwithstanding, the
government does not lose one cent
by the failure of the woman to
properly mend the sacks, as they
are paid 81 cents a piece for all
sacks mended. Yet if few of the
upstart inspectors, who never had
a square meal until they struck
Washington, choose to mark some
poor woman down for sport or 9th
| erwise. it is all right, his report is
final, and from it there ls no appeal.
Again, should one be two minutes
after eight O'Clock reporting, she
must wait two hours before she is
ALLOW ed to go to work, when she
| will get as her first batch of five
| sacks torn in such condition that
they would be refused by any first
class rag shop in this city. A few
favorites of the inspectors are al
lowed to slip all kind of, work by
while others, doing good work, are
often turned down. Captain Casey,
superintendent Of the room where
these 95 work, for this is the nun
Der now employed there, is boss in
deed; for what the Quaker boss
says goes with the Superintendent
of the Building. Mr.. Robert Cullen,
the Superintendent, is a new man,
Las woD praise for the many abuses
he has corrected since he took
charge of the work. As to the many
slavery like rules now in force in
the bag shop, Sup't Cullen is una
BILE to correct, as they came through
the Second Asst Post Master Gen
eral and his lieut., Maj. Tyler. To
spend ten minutes in this great
work shop and see 95 women pull
ing the needle and thread to make
IS and 80 cents a day, and hear
this old cracker SNAPPER, Capt. Ca
sey, giving orders to these women
In the tone of a slave dryer. you
would think you were standing In
the very midst of the old, slave mae
ters upon their plantations in Miss
issippi. Should the new superin
tendent put a close watch over
some of the inspectors and particu
larly the ex-slave driver, 1t is safe
to say that there would be few
more places for some good demo
Gratis who are looking for jobs. A
few days ago, these 95 women were
required to form in line at lunch
time and get their tea and coffee in
ten minutes; this they could not
do, and Second Asst. Post Master
General. j. L. Bell, concluded that
they could not g. issue tea and
coffee to 95 ladies in ten minutes,
so this rule was abandoned. One
by one they flash new rules upon
the black board and the thumbscrew
department continues it's work. The
BEE from time to time will disclose
ublic abuses wherever they are
found, and will hew to the line, let
the chips fly where they may.
Improved Service so Cincinna att and
st. Louis.
The B ltimore & Ohio Southwestern
Limited, leaving Washington, D. c.,
$3.50 p. M, and fast Express. leaving at
l:50 a. m, for CINCINNATI and st.
Louis, are now equipped with COM
plete dining car service, built expressly
for these trains by the Pullman Compa-
ny. Pullman dining cars are also
attached to Royal Blue Line trains