Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-26
EARLY POSTAL DAYS.
"Reminiscences of Man Who Worked
on the First Mail Cars.

One Of the most active, skillful and happy
helpers in the Chicago post office Is seventy
two years old. He began his career as
postal clerk almost half Gentry ago.
Among his comrades at the distribution ia
bles he is often referred TO as Uncle jim
mie'' Kerr. 1t Is doubtful If any person
has been longer connected with the postal
service in this city than has James G. Kerr,
who is recognized as the dean of the clerks
in Uncle Sans big institution on the lake
front.
An account Of the changes which Mr..
Kerr has Witnessed in methods of handling
the mails would fill volumes. Although he
is quiet man and little given to talking,
he sometimes INDUCES in "reminiscences
which delight his fellow workers and afford
giimpses of the stage through which the
business of handling the United States
mails has passed. In fact, this veteran is
able to tell the whole story of the revolu-
ton of the postal system of this country
from its humble beginnings in the earlier
half of this century to It's present stage Of
perfection.
Back in the '4Os," said Mr.. Kerr my
uncle was a local politician in gainesville,
Ohio, and secured the appointment Of post
master a that place when Willard Fillmore
was President of the United States. 1 was
then lad and naturally took great interest
in the post office and was much about that
place. When one of his clerks stepped out
l applied for his position and was delighted
when he gave me the place. That was
March l, 1850. so you see 1 lack only few
months of having been in the postal service
fifty years.
AT gainesville I did almost everything
there was to be done in post office of that
size. After 1 felt that l had thoroughly
learned the ropes l naturally was ambitious
to secure a more profitable position and an
opportunity of that kind offered itself in
the way of an appointment as clerk in the
Chicago office. / came to this city and
went to work Immediately, remaining until
1860; in fact, l have been continuously in
the service from the day I began my clerk
ship in the office at Painesville
About q year preceding the outbreak of
the war was sent to Pittsburg; my next
transfer was to Washington, d. c.. whence
L was sent to Richmond Va. Then came an
assignment of a new character and one in
which L was greatly interested. 1t was in
the earliest days of the railway mail SER
vice, when picked men We're selected from
among the clerks in the larger offices and
put on the road to get the railway mail SER
vice into operation
The railway mail cars in which we work.
ed in those early days would be curiosities
now. Just to indicate how little the re-
quirements of the service were understood
and provided for by the men who built the
cars, l will say that the side of the car
in which | first worked was furnished with
ponderous rack of pigeonholes, tilted at
steep angle and about eighteen inches
deep. The result was that when the mail
was thrown into these pigeOnholes tha
draw out the letters. The trouble and in
convenience this caused can be understood
only by the railway mail clerk of today,
whose cases are just the depth of an or
binary letter and are in every particular
constructed TO facilitate handling Of the
mails. In the place of the present arrange
ment of open pouches into which papers
and parcels are rapidly thrown the old car
had few shallow bins. When one Of
these was filled we had to stop and tie
the papers to a sack.
when I came to Chicago there were, of
&C urSe, no carriers, and the entire pOpula-
ton came to the central and only post office
for its mail. In fact, the Chicago office
WIS then simply an Overgrown country
post Office The hour following the arrival
OF the daily mail from the east witnessed
scene which would astOnish and amuse
any of the young men who have grown up
in this city and whose recollection does not
go back of the carrier system of delivering
mail The old office was crowded and was
as busy a place as could be imagined. Men,
women and children formed i'll long lines
leading to the delivery windows, and the
Corridors were buzzing with the voices of
those who met there every day and had
become acquainted with hundreds of 9TH
ers who came TO get their mail.
Ihen the office force consisted Of thtr-
ty-three men. including the postmaster
Now We have 1856 clerks and / 228 car
riers, making total of 1892 in these two
branches Of the service alone. If the mails
were today handled on the same plan that
was followed in those days a building three
or four times the size of the present tenn
pprary post office would be needed, for at
that time all malls passed through this
city on their way east and west were DUMP
ed into the post office and redistributed
on its tables Now, of course, the pouch
ing done in the railway mail cars makes
Unnecessary all this work and the delay
caused thereby, the stream of through
mail being uninterrupted In its passage
between the east and the west, the north
and the south
The most exciting incident I remember
OF the old days was the post office strike of
1904, when Isaac Cook was postmaster We
We're paid off in envelopes four times a
year, but meantime were privileged to draw
small sums on salary account. Postmaster
COOK went to Washington, and when he
returned 1t was announced that our sal
aries had been cut, not only for the future,
but for the quarter just passed This nat
urally caused trouble, and there was dis
satisfaction among the entire force
The shift with which 1 worked went on
DUTY at 4 o'clock. and continued until in
the afternoon. Then it was free until II at
night, and worked until the malls were dis
posed OF. Sometimes this compelled US to
stay until the early morning. This partic-
u!ar night when We came back at IL we
found a stack of California mail awaiting
US II had been brought around the 18TH
nus by snip, and there las small noun
tain of 1t. One OF the men, whose name
VIII rot mention, picked up a handful of
letters from this pile and began throwing
them. Suddenly he dashed the letters to
the floor and exclaimed. I'll be dashed If
III throw another letter until this salary
business Is fixed up all right In less than
I'VE minutes he was surrounded by all the
men on duty, and a strike was in force As
a result, 1t was fully two weeks before that
stack of California mail was disposed Of
Many of the men brought suit against the
postmaster for the recovery of back salary
Cue them, and they were successful
In those days it took time to handle
mail, and / we'll remember tying into one
bundle Chicago letters bearing fourteen diff
fefent dates. One Of the principal causes of
delay was the rule which required every
package of mail destined to a certain city
or town to be accompanied by a bill to the
postmaster enumerating each letter the
amount of postage thereon, and whether
the latter was paid in stamps or in money
II such a system We're in vogue today the
whole community would be up in arms over
the delay II would cause
while l like this business and take as
much pleasure in it now as l ever did. /
certainly would not advise q son Of mine
TO go INTO it The same ability and effort
put into other lines of work would. 1 be-
Heve. bring a far better return On the
other hand. the operation Of the civil SER
vice law Is, In my opinion, the greatest
blessing that has come To the seryfca and