The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1901-04-25
THE ar. M. S." BOYS.
interesting Facts Concerning some
of Uncle Sans Railway
Employees.

"
1T is singular fact in the make-ur
OF the human mind that a man wher
dead counts for so little, while an in.
Jured man comes high in law suits
and even has a value in government
employ" said a bright young mem.
Der of n of Uncle Sans branch
armies of civil employees, known as
the railway mail service force, as he
swung out of his car at one of the
railroad stations this morning. saws
the Detroit Free Press.
III a railway mail service clerk Is
Killed in the line Of his duty his fam
lily mourn, his friends are sympa-
thetic and the department regretful
Tor two reasons, first, to lose an ex-
perienced man, for in our business
experience and merit alone count.
and, second, because it cannot aid the
faithful fellows family or widow.
Under the law and the rule of the
department if a railway mail service
employe is seriously injured. if the
disability continues even up to a full
year, leave of absence, with paw. is
considerably allowed him. If he is
Killed his pay stops from the day of
his death, and the government clne
not MAKE ~pollR@hirre 1synothing for
the department to do butNto express
regret, though the dead man may
have given the best years of his lie
to the service of the government,
"shut up day and night in thSir
mail cars, which are often their cot
fins, the general public has little OPP
portunity Of seeing a class of men
who are indispensable and of the
greatest public service. Last year
four of our force were killed, 81 Sc
riously injured and 1877 slightly in
jured in the performance of their
duty. In collisions, especially head
on collisions, the mail car is generally
wrecked or badly splintered. Their
skill and accuracy in handling n
separating mail matter and in mem
orizing post office names and loca-
tons is marvellous.
''There are 1874 of these men, and
last year they handled the bewilder-
ing number of 1868, 191 800 letters and
6,42o, 415,s 500 pieces of other classes OF
mail matter, making a total OF 49,
100. GOT. 100 pieces. This amount in
figures makes the public debt look
like 30 cents. In addition they han
died 1o,s5O,000 other pieces. consist
ing of registered matter. In spite OF
the total running high into the bill
lions, there were but 1,355,000 errors
reported as made by the clerks in
handling this stupendous aggregate,
or a ratio Of one error to 1915.
"All Of this is done in rapidly NOV
ing, swaying express trains, going at
a speed of from 40 to rs miles an
hour, and all under ~unfavorable con-
ditions as compared with work upon
a large floor as the Washington city
post Office. for instance, and mostly
under artificial light. In fact, no less
than Sc per cent. of all the mail mat
ter originating in the United States
is sent direct to the railway mail
service cars to be handled by these
clerks, In addition to all this 14,50O,-
600 pieces were thrown out because
they were addressed so illegiDly that
they could not be delivered, though
over s,300,0 900 of these pieces were re-
turned to the Writer'S or forwarded
to destination on corrected addresses
No less than $685. O0. 900 miles are COW
cred annually by these men in crews
in 1888 postal cars.
NATURALLY after reading these as
tonishing facts and figures it IS not
TO be wondered at that skill and ex-
p~erience and not political influence is
desired by these clerks. The civil
service rules are strictly enforced in
this branch of the service which
largely accounts for its splendid rec
ord of efficiency. New and inexperi-
enced men are without practical
value. and but for The maintenance
of the civil service IL would go to pie
very quickly. There are over 10000
post Offices and thousands Of routes
on the different railroads and steam
boats. and nearly every experienced
postal clerk has this enormous mass
of names and locations well in hand
Their capacity TO master and remem'
Der names is truly remarkable"