Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-01-10
The Occupation of Railway Mail
Clerks.
BILL FOR THEIR RETIREMENT
Representative BromweI Talks of
Their Faithful Service.
A CCID ENT TIC

The railway mail clerks hope for favor
able action at this session of Congress upon
their bill to enable them to secure retire
ment upon disability and other measures of
relief, and in discussing the bill this morn
ing with a Star representative J. H. Brom-
we'll of Ohio, an active member of the COM
mittee post Offices and post roads, who
has ably championed the cause of the
clerks, said:
II sincerely hope that Congress will give
heed to the request of these faithful men,
who are of invaluable service to the public,
yet who. shut up in their postal cars, are
seldom seen. The letter carrier is Of IA
miliar sight, but the railway mail clerk
works at his hazardous occupation with a
zeal and industry which only those who
have been brought into close contact with
him appreciate.
II am satisfied that the public and many
of my colleagues in the House are not fully
conscious of the situation the railway mail
clerks are in. They do not ask an annuity
or pension from the government, but simply
authority to withhold from their salaries a
percentage which will go toward a fund for
their retirement when permanently disabled
or injured while in the line of their hazard
Gus and well-performed duty.
Hundreds Killed and Manned.
The record of casualties among the rail-
way mail clerks during the past year has
been the most disastrous in the history of
the service.
THE total force consists of 8, 1S2 men. There
were Z killed, GO seriously and 90 slightly
injured, or a total of 800 killed and injured,
in single year. or 3 1-3 per cent of the
whole force and this notwithstanding the
fact that great Improvements have been
effected in railroad operations.
Comment upon these distressing figures
is almost unnecessary. These men were
killed and manned while performing duty
in the service of the United States, and 1t
is very little for them to ask that they be
allowed to create a fund out of their own
salaries to provide for death and retire
ment benefits
Since 1877 no less than 124 railway mail
clerks have been killed 1,l16 seriously and
l,9l6 slightly injured, or two full regiments
on duty within twenty-five years
This is an age of rapid movement, and
none is more active than the railway
mail clerk. The frequency of train service
has been greatly augmented and the speed
of trains radically FASTENED. The COM
panies are endeavorng to offset the liabil-
ity Of accident by installing better systems
of running trains, improving cars to resist
collision, using the block system of signals
but in spite Of all these precautions and
improvements the ratio of casualties in
railroad operations has been largely in
creased.
Working Under Dfsadvantages
During the past year railway mail clerks
were in s25 accidents, the highest number
in the history of the service, and an in
crease of 12S over the preceding year. De-
spite the danger confronting him on every
trip, the railway mail clerk sticks to his
post heroically, the mail car usually being
in the van of the train, next to the tender,
and it is generally smashed to splinters in
a serious head-on collision.
THE only provision of relief that the de-
partment Is enabled to offer those of the
clerks who are injured is to continue their
pay for one year after the injuries are re-
celt ed, unless sooner able to resume duty.
But if clerk is killed outright his pay
stops, and his family is often left in serious
straits.
While this action of the department is
ccmmendable. it does not go far enough
and the purpose of the bill is to do Justice
to these men. The work is not only hazard
Gus, but 1t is performed under a high ten
sion and mental and physical strain The
record Of the efficiency of the clerks is a
splendid exhibition of the skill of marvel
ously well-trained men, who reflect the
greatest credit not only upon the depart
ment, but upon their government. They
are on their feet hours at stretch. in
swaying, rapidly moving trains, working
under artificial light largely, in cramped
and closely confined quarters, and per
forming work under score of other serious
however. that the ratio Of errors in dis
tributing the mail is only one error to
1856 pieces correctly handled.
Seventy per cent Of those now on the
rolls obtained their appointment through
the civil service. The general condition of
the men has been vastly improved since the
civil service commission has acted upon
the suggestion of the department and re-
jected the applications of those whose phys
ical defects would impair their present and
future usefulness.
Compared With Life-SayinK Service.
These clerks handle annually billions of
pieces Of mail matter, distributing last
year in round numbers, IA 100 900 900 pieces
as well as 21,sOO,0OO pieces of registered
matter. Yet they found time to separately
examine 17.19O.O00 pieces of imperfectly or
illegibly addressed matter which required
special attention. and Of these pieces, they
corrected over 100000, so that the mail
went forward to destination or was re-
turned to the writer's. They are certainly
entitled to generous praise at the hands
of the public.
of the clerks, 1 am informed at the de-
partment that at the examinations which
they undergo from time to time to test
their skill the average percentage of pro-
stationary and regular clerks is 9S.77 cor
rect. Many Of the men maintain a per-
manent record of 100 per cent correct
THE government looks after its life
saving service men. This service Is prop
erly considered very hazardous. yet it is
a fact that the railway mail service is
within SO per cent as hazardous as the life
saving service.
IF keeper or a member of the crew
of the life-saving service is disabled in the
performance of his active duty, provision
is made by law for the continuance Of his
name on the rolls with pay for one year.
and in exceptional cases two years. There
is a further provision that the widow of a
member Of the service killed in the line Of
his duty shall receive his salary for two
years, or, IL he leaves children under six
teen years of age, the money goes to them
Now, these endowment funds are pro-
vided for by the government. But in the
case of the railway mail clerks the bill
does not contemplate that the money nee
essary to carry out its objects shall be
paid by the government, it being in the
nature of cooperative relief, the men In
the service meeting all demands.
Il adhere to the belief that Congress and
the public do not realize the hazard
of the occupation of the railway mail
clerks. 1t is almost reflection upon the
generosity of our people that these men
should be required to petition for the privi-
lege of protecting themselves in the event
Of being stricken With death standing