Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-11-24
AN APPEL FOR CLERKS
"a
Report Of the First Assistant Postmaster
General.
1t +" Recos'n1cnsled That Post Office
EmPi"se.nBe Given Privileges Ac-
cortisd IStter Carriers.

& -A-
| First Assistant Postmaster General Perry
s. Heath has completed his annual report,
| except the PORTIONS relating to military post
| offices at the army camps and in the An
titles and Philippines. and the rural free
| delivery service. both of which await fur
| Their adVices. The general business of the
department shows an increase of over six
million dollars during the fiscal year. In
all departments of the service the influence
of prosperous times has made itself appar-
ent. This year there were 27,I9S0IS do
Ihestlc money orders issued, against 70
| 10000 last year; the amount carried was
lol,3'4.12l, against s174, 2,676. There
were zoos new money order offices estdb-
f! lished.
Classification of Clerks.
The recommendations for congressional
action are numerous and interesting. Mr..
Heath recommends that clerks in post Of
| fees be classified and placed upon fixed
scale of salaries similar to that of letter
carriers, so to give fair prospects of
advancement and certainty of compensa-
| ton. AT present there is no rule or sys-
tenn for the grading of clerks at post CT
fices. 1t is commended that an efficient post
office clerk is the peer of a letter carrier,
and that there should be no discrimtna
ton in the pay or privileges accorded to
either class. The hours of labor of
letter carrier are limited by law to eight
hours a day. and he is allowed fifteen days
leave of absence year. Post office clerks
have no limitation on their hours and no
vacation without loss of salary. An APP
preparation of $4,000 is requested for the
employment of substitute clerks to allow
vacations An appropriation of 100000,
an increase of SO0OO0 over this year. is
recommended for the next fiscal year for
clerk hire Congress having appropria ted
$2's0OoO less than the departments esu-
mate for clerk hire during the past fiscal
year considerable embarrassment has en-
sued in meeting emergencies incident to the
great increase of public business
Consolidating Post Offices.
The consolidation of post offices is again
recommended. Congress is asked to repeal
the law forbidding the abolition of a post
office located at any county seat by a con-
solidation of post offices. The abolition of
small post offices contiguous to large Of
flee having free delivery and the establish
ment of stations and substations in lieu
thereof, Mr.. Heath says, has been found
to result not only in vastly improved pub
lie service but in a substantial saving in
expenses, and he desires authority to con-
tinue this plan Authority is asked to make
the clerk hire appropriation apply to all
classes of post offices. At present an al
lOwance for clerk hire can be given only to
first ard second-class postmasters. Many
third-class post offices, which only escape
by few hundred dollars of receipts from
being included in the second-class, have
so much business that it is impossible for
any one person 10 properly attend to it,
and the postmasters are constantly COM
PEELED to pay for such clerical help as they
need out of their own salaries. There are
2,910 third class post offices. 100 second
class and 178 liirst-class. One result claim
ed is that it would remove the temptation
for pCstmaSeers. to pad their receipts or
to fraudulently increase their apparent
| revenues so as to get into the second class.
Free delivery was, extended during the ifs
cal year to fiftynine offices. Additional Of
fees entitledr to free delivery number 10.
During the current fiscal year service has
been established sat thirty-four of these
offices. leaving seventysix to await the
consideration of the department.
The first assistant postmaster general
recommends la modification of the eight
hour law as applied to letter carriers, so
as-to provide forty-eight hours for six days
work and only as many hours on Sunday
within the eight-hour limit as are abso-
lutely necessary for the requirements of
the service. This recommendation is in
accord with the views expressed by the
convention of postmasters recently held at
Detroit, and it is believed its adoption
would meet the approval of the letter car
rierS themselves.
Letter Carrier Sergeants.
Mr.. Heath recommends an additional
grade of carriers to be known as carrier
sergeants in all cities having fifty carriers
or more, and that these positions be
signed by competitive examination among
carriers who have served five years
more. The duties of these sergeants would
be to supervise the work of letter carriers
on their routes and to investigate COM
plants. He asks appropriation for saa-
ries of carriers at established offices for the
next fiscal year of $12 6J7 200; for the sala-
ries of letter carriers at new offices $50 900;
for horse hire allowance, $4,000; car fare
and bicycles, S195 900; all other incidentals,
$780, $50, making grand total for this SER
vice OF S14 512, 200.
He recommends a repeal of the law re-
quiring the of the present form of
money order. In the interest of safety and
simplicity, and also authorization for the
use of postal check payable to bearer
A detailed report of the operations of the
rural free delivery will be presented within
a few days. Congress increased the appro-
priation for this purpose from $50 900 to
$50 600, and Mr.. Heath recommends in
view of the success of the extension of the
service and the satisfaction it has given
that an appropriation of $30O.0OO be made
for rural free delivery during the next fiscal
year.