The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-01-04
POSTAL CLERKS.
REIMBURSEMENT of Their
Salaries.
YOUTH VERSUS MATURITY.
Juveniles Increased, but the
Veterans Reduced.
SUBSTITUTES AND ELIGIBLES.
A New Order From Washington Re-
garding Them-CiviI Service
Examiners Happy.
SUBSTITUTES AND ELIGIBLES.

more OF the old cleTks-tne majority of
whom are veteran soldiers-who think
Uncle Sam should not have reduced their
salaries after they had spent the best part
Of their lives in his service. But to offset the
i'll humOr Of these old timers nearly thirty
Of the younger clerks are correspOndingly
happy Oh their modest stipends having
been raised to the extent Of the reductions
referred TO.
The PostOftice Department allows the
Postmaster here a certain amount of money
to pay for clerk service, but places no
limit upon the number of clerks employed
in the office. That is. additional clerks
may be put in if the Postmaster sees fit,
but IN case he does so without authority
ne has to find some way of paying the new
men. OF course. the civil service law pre-
vents reduction of the force. New
clerks 60 on as a rule at a salary of
$500 year. or $50 month. not
very satisfactory compensation, but
there Is always a certainty of promo
ton With service. Upon rare occasions the
department grants an extra clerk allow
ance which permits OF salaries being
raised, but this event is brought about
more. frequently by some higher priced
clerk Tesgning or dying. thus leaving $500
for new man appointed to fill the vacancy
several of the low Salaried clerks who
have been anxiously awaiting the raise for
no telling how long. AS by law the
clerks salaries must be in even hundreds
the increase of the lucky one is each time
500 per anuum. But if the pos master
prefers he can, instead of raising salaries,
add to his force TWO new clerks al $500 a
year each to take the place of the 1920
man gone out. In that case a howl goes
up along he line because of disappointed
authorizations.
During the last few years quite num-
Der Of new clerks have been added to the
force here, but none Of the older clerks
nave seen mt TO die or resign. This was
unfortunate Tor the new men as their
salaries remained in the lower levels,
many OF them working two or three years
foT 5000 or 500 a year, but they were
constantly buoyed up by hope of an in
crease. AS time passed on and no raise
came they began TO gTowl. Their COM
plant finally reached the ears of the
officials al Washington, but they could not
be induced to allow more money to run
the San Francisco office. What was to be
done? These importunate clerks must be
appeased in some way. But how? that
was the question. Alb, yes, the inspectors.
Whenever anything particularly embar-
ras Ing has TO be done the Postoffice H.
spector is delegated to bear the brunt of it.
81 the matter was referred to the in
spectOr in charge at This point. He with
his force went at il with fun knowledge
OF what he was expected to do. An in
vestigation of the clerical force in the old
and decrepit building on Battery street
showed that number of the men in IL
had served long and faithfully. so long in
deed that they must Of pure necessity have
outiasted their usefulness. But the good
fellows had In many cases served their
country upon the battefeId-it would not
do to dismiss them from the service as
nFnTa I'D M hi va0r ole d. t1f-
advanced years. Their needs though were
not so many as were those of their younger
felloW-clerks, so a reduction of their
salaries would not prove so much of an in
jury. Accordingly dozen of the old fe-
lows were reported at Washington as being
snDerannuated. and comparatively useless.
BY reducing their annual salaries from
$500 TO $500 each there would be a saving
of about 5000 which would enable some
twenty odd of the 5000 and 500 clerks to
have their annual stipendS increased by
500 each. Though the Postmaster here
ground that 1t was unjust TO deserving
men WHO had earned their cOuntry's good
viii by long and faithful service the recon-
mendation of the inspectors was adopted
and went into effect the first Of this
month.
Those who had their salaries cut down
have TO submit as they have nc recourse
against the powers that be-. They realized
that so long as the department refused to
Increase the clerks allowance, the only
way the younger clerks could receive JUS
tice was in the way ia KEN hut they incline
to the opinion that Uncle Sam is wealthy
enough 10 treat his employees in a little
more generous manner, particularly con-
sidering the circumstances. One and all
insist that their powers are as great as
ever and that they can hold their own with
their younger brethren. If their long prac-
a fnr
nothing there must be something radically
wrong with the times Neverthe less age
must give way 10 youth and pride must
suffer fall. If one will grow old he must
bear the penalty.
The substitute carrier force also is sub
@Ject for complaint. In times gone by these
hard worked and poorly paid men now and
then had chance to increase their earn
>:lngs by serving in the place OF sick or
= absent clerks. In this way the substitute
carriers were enabled to increase their
earnings, but IN no case could they earn a
decent months wages without the absent
or SICK clerk was considerable enough TO
stay away for several weeks at a time
But the POstOffice Department under the
new. administration sent instructions to
The Postmaster here TO permit nc substi-
tute carrier to take the place OF an absent
clerk. If the clerks must have substitutes
they must De taken from the clerks list Of
"eligibIes." The eligible list is composed
Of men who have passed the civil service
examination and who are awaiting to tie
appointed to a position in the service
Long and dreary are the delays in the case
Of most of them, but some manage to get
% there while the rest live on IN nope. In
accordance with the new programme City
Division Superintendent a. M. Cox has
organized clerks substitute list consist
ing Of twelve men who have to report on
every morning for duty. Their assign
ments are few and far between, and were
IT not for the anticipated appointment to
regular position sometimes this list would
Include but few names.
But every cloud has silver lining, and
WhIs the substitutes 10 oan the Civil Serv-
ice Examiners smile. Heretofore the ar
duous duty Of the examiners was TO
marx up the examination papers-tO ascer-
tain the percentage gained by those taking
the civil service examination. This work,
= slow, tedious and uDinteresting it was
necessary TO do at odd times and out of
hours and required several weeks to COM
plete. The Civil Service Commissioners
at Washington recently ordered the exam
"inatiOn papers to be sent on there to be
marked up-an order that was obeyed