The evening times., 1899-11-04
THE OLD POSTAL SERVICE.
The Dean OF the Chicago Clerk,
Grows Reminiscent.

(from the Chicago Post)
One of the most active. skillful and hap
py helpers in the Chicago postofice is sew
enty-two years old. He began his career
as a postal clerk almost half a century
age. Among his comrades at the distri-
button tables he is often referred to as
Uncle Jimmie" Kerr. II 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 in
stitution on the lake front.
An account OF the changes which Mr..
Kerr has witnessed in methods Of hand
ling the mails would fill volumes. Although
he is a quiet man and little given TO talk
ing. he sometimes indulges in reminis
cences which delight his fellow workers
and afford glimpses of the stages through
which the business of handling the United
States mails has passed. In fact this vete-
ran Is able TO tell the whole story OF the
evolution of the postal system of this coun-
try from its humble beginnings in the
earlier half of this century to its present
stage of perfection.
Back in the 'i0's" said Mr.. Kerr my
uncle was a local politician in Painesvilie.
Ohio. and secured the appointment of
postmaster at that place when Millard Fill
more was President of the United States.
was then a lad and naturally took great
interest in the postoffce and was much
about that place When one of his clerks
stepped out / applied for his position and
was delighted when he gave me the place
That was March l. 1880. so you see lack
only few months Of having been in the
postal service fifty years.
AT Painesville l did almost everything
there was to be done in postoffice of that
size. After l felt that | had thoroughly
learned the ropes l naturally was ambitious
to secure 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 un-
til 1860; in fact, l have been continuously
in the service from the day began my
clerkship in the Office at Painesville.
About a year preceding the outbreak of
the war | was sent to Pittsburg; my next
transfer was TO Washington, D. c., whence
was sent to Richmond. Va. Then came
an assignment of new character and one
in which was greatly interested. 1t was
in the earliest days of the railway mail
service, when picked men were selected
from among the clerks in the larger Offices
and put on the road to get the railway mail
service into operation.
THE railway mail cars in which we
worked in those early days would be curl
osities now. Just to indicate how little
the requirements of the service gre un-
derstood and provided for by the men who
built the cars, will say that the side OF
the car in which I first worked was fur
nished with a ponderous rack OF pigeon
holes, tilted at steep angle and about
eighteen inches deep. The result was that
when the mail was thrown into these pig
eonholes the clerk had to reach in up to
his elbows to draw out the letters. The
and inconvenience this caused can
be understood only by the railway mail
clerk Of today, whose cases are Just the
depth Of an ordinary letter and are in
every particular constructed to facilitate
of the mails. In the place of the
present arrangement 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 came to Chicago there were Of
course no carriers, and the entire popu-
lation came to the central and only post
office for it's mail. In fact, the Chicago
office was tnen simply an overgrown coun-
try postoffice. The hour following the ar
rival of the daily mail from the East wit
messed a scene which would astonish and
amuse any Of the young men who have
grown up in this city and whose recollec-
tion does not go back of the carrier sys-
tenn of delivering mail. The old office was
crowded and was as busy place as could
be imagined. Men, women, and children
formed in long lines leading to the deliv-
cry windows and the corridors were buzz
zing with the voices of those who met
there every day and had become acquaint-
ed with hundreds of others who came to
get their mail.
Then the Office force consisted Of thirty
three men. including the postmaster. Now
we have 1866 clerks and 1,226 carriers.
making total of 1852 in these two branch
es of the service alone. II the mails were
today handled on the same plan that was
in those days building three or
four times the size of the present tenn
porary postoffice would be needed, for at
that time all mails passing through this
city on their way East and West were
dumped into the postoffice and redistribut-
ed on its tables. Now, of course, the
pouching done in the, railway mail cars
makes unnecessary all this work. and the
delay caused thereby, the stream of
mail being uninterrupted in its
passage between the East and the West,
the North and the South. u
..The most exciting incident I remem-
ber Of the old days was the postofice strike
Of 1854, when Isaac Cook. was postmaster
We were paid of in envelopes four times
a wear. but meantime were privileged to
draw small sums on salary account. POST
master Cook went to Washington. and