The National tribune., 1903-08-06

pie in the country. the postal service Is
peculiarly popular among governmental
operations. And it renders, as other De
partments do not, a return for payments
made 70 it. The uniformed lettercarrier is
the living. tangible. visible representative
of that service, almost the only repre-
sentative the people ever see or ever thlnk
of. Hence, when the carrier dons his
uniform and reports for duty he ceases TO
be the individual John Smith, and becomes
the trusted agent of the Government. the
servant of the people. and should use his
every energy to promote the best interests
of those whose affairs are entrusted to his
keeping. He must for the time forget that
he is John Smith. the good fellow. or Tom
Brown. the dySpeptic. who in one case
thinks he must allow his good-fellowship
TO assume 4 material form, whether in do
ing so he, Injuries himself or not or who
in the other case makes life miserable for
others by trying to impart to them Il por-
ton of his own misery.
INTRODUCTION AND RAPID GROWTH.
The free delivery service, even in cities,
is an innovation which originated within
the memory of our middle-aged citizens
in the rural districts it is only five or six
years old. Congressman Sperry, of Con-
necticut, was Postmaster at New Haven
for many years. He relates the following
bit of his experience in the early GUS,
while inaugurating the carrier system,
with boxes. ETC.: ''0ne day a gentleman
of intell.-. acn and standing came into my
office and asked ii Ii were true that L in
tended to saddle this great expense upon
the Government right in the midst of a
war. l told him yes. Mr.. Sperry,' he
replied, you ought to be hung"
Once introduced, however, the system
speedily became popular, and has steadily
advanced in efficiency and Importance. AT
the present time. over S20,000.000 are an
nualy paid out in cities for free delivery,
nearly S19,000,000 going to the salary ac-
count alone. the remainder being consum-
ed by vacation service, horse hire allow
ance promotions, and incidentals, of which
the item of street car fare reaches the
snug little sum of 100000 per annum. The
Free Delivery Division has direct charge
of 10000 letter-carriers and substitute car
rierS. An accurate record is kept of every
appointment. promotion, resignation, death
and removal, and recently an efficiency rec
ord has been added, which shows the indi-
vidual record of every letter-carrier, the
good as well as the Indifferent.
A town is not per Sc entitled to free de-
livery simply because it has 10000 popu-
lation. or because it has $4,000 in postal
receipts. Unless the streets and the side
walks are there, unless the houses are
numbered, and unless the regulations that
have been made by the Department-reg
ulations which attempt to put all the serv-
ice upon the same footing as far as the
conditions under which the work is per-
formed are concerned-are computed with,
the service is refused.
A LABoRIoUS AND RESPONSIBLE TASK.
1t may be a startling assertion, but it
is really a moderate and conservative one,
to say that the United States postal sys-
tenn is the most Stupendous piece of busi-
ness machinery which human ingenuity
has devised. To retain this proud suprem-
acy il is requisite that the personnel of
the postal service be maintained at the
highest possible standard In these times
of keen commercial rivalry, prompt and
reliable mail service is an Indispensable
adjunct to the successful conduct OF all
business enterprises. An apparently triy-
.al irregularity on the part of clerk, route
agent or carrier may involve serious CON-
sequences. Nor is it sufficient that they
be infallible in this respect-they are re-
Quired to correct the N stakes and supply
the deficiencies of careless and illiterate
correspondents. They must carry in their
minds thousands of localities and address
es, and are held to strict account for the
correct disposition of all mail passing
through their hands.
Hence the idea that a letter-carrier's
work is merely messenger service" re-
quiring no exercise of judgment. is mis-
taken one. The best of regulations can
not provide for all emergencies. There is
the rule that information is not to be given
out by letter-carriers. On the one hand, a
carrier may be so utterly regardless of his
duty as to give the wherea bouts of young
lady to a rejected suitor who continues to
annoy her and TO escape from whom she
had pUrpnsely moved, instructing the car
rier TO inform no one, and especially that
particular individual. On the other ex-
IRENE. imagine a carrier adhering TO the
rule so rigidIy that, meeting an honest
woman with half 4 dozen. youngsters and
numerous parcels, trying vainly to hold an
umbrella TO protect the crowd from a very
wet rain, answers, I'VE are not allowed
10 give out information" when she asks
him where the Union Depot is. Between
these two extremes is q sliding scale, and
il is for the ietter-carrier TO have sufficient
common sense to know when to speak and
when not. The same principle applies in
reference to most of the rules governing
the free delivery service. And yet the
carrier must always remember that the
best judgment displayed by him will prob
ably never be heard Of while case of
bad judgment may get him into difficult
ties that he will remember for lifetime.
THE SCOTCH PosTMAN's DILEMMA.
Ian MacLaren tells of a letter-ca rrier
in Scotland who was called "Posty.'
"Posty" was addicted to having a nip
now and then, and his IS miles of daily
service was punctuated at least five times
by glass OF ''speerirs," as this confes.
sion of his will show:
"A'u no DENY that a tax ma mornin'
and maybe n forenoon, wi a drap doom at
PitscoOi;e aidter ma dinner, and just 4
mouthfu' at Lucky Macpherson's comm
thro' Nitheraird, and body needs some.
ordinar' ieemit; but gin am juist wee
overcom-a've never been intoXicat like
the puir regardless toon waufies-a sit
doom for half on oor and reflect on the dis
pensations o. Providence"
Imagine, if you can, letter-carrier OF
this age and country being ''juist wee
overcom'" sitting down and rejecting or
the dispensations of Providence, Our let
fer-carriers are not OF that build. They
go swinging along about their business
cheerful, alert, tircless and prompt. They
have no time to sit down and reflect, fol
it is "up and at it, with them from morn
ing TO night during the eight full hour.
they are required to record in actual effect
i've work, every day.
THE CARRIERS TRIguLArIovs.
Speaking of sGbjection to "bosses" .
letter-carrier cites, in addition to the Bun
dy clock and Superintendent, some of tn,
other sources Of his tribulation: You see