Arizona republican., 1903-04-06
A FERROUS OCCUPATION
The Railway Mail Clerk and the Con
 stant Dangers of His Employment.


 way mail clerk killed in the line of outy. The law will extend it's first benefits to those who lose their lives during the present year. and from this time on will bestow an equivalent of pension, small though it be. upon the widows and chi.- dren of a class of Uncle Sans en- ployes which is exposed to extraordin ary perils. Indeed, there are no other government servants-barring soldiers and sailors in war times perhaps whose occupation is nearly so danger ous.
 There is no other occupation in the world that is so perilous as that of our railway mail clerks. They number about 5000. and ordinarily they get something like $1.200 a year. though their pay varies somewhat with length of service. It is not much. considering the fact that they are constantly ex- posed to chances of death.
 During the last year. which broke the record for casualties. they were mixed up in 900 accidents on the rails. Nine of them were killed, SS of them were seriously injured and 3O2 of them were slightly injured. The record was noth- ing very extraordinary, however. In 1901 mail clerks were caught in S25 ac- cidents in which : were killed. 63 ser iously and 229 slightly wounded.
 The variety of perils to which these brave men are exposed is astonishing. A short time ago, in northern Ohio, l train of postal cars was derailed and two of them were thrown into San- dusky Bay, with 10 clerks shut up in them. Their escape from drowning was almost mira aculous. On another recent occasion, near OswegO Kan. train was blown from the track by a torpedo. and the post office employees were ser- iously injured. Another train on the Denver and Fort Worth line ran into washout. the mail car was telescoped by the baggage car, the wreck caught fire and the imprisoned clerk was burn ed to death. In several recent cases postal cars have been held up by rob bers and riddled with bullets.
 Fire, water. wind and the robbers pistol. are all dangers to be encounter ed by the railway mail clerk. Inasmucn as they spend their lives in travelinS, they are bound to be mixed up in acci- dents occasionally, and whether they suffer or not is mere matter of chance. Quite commonly they do suffer, partly because the mail car is placed usually behind the tender, where it is reason- ably sure in case of collision to be smashed to kindling wood between the tender and the baggage car. Recently, however, an effort has been made to alter this arrangement, placing the baggage car between the tender and the mail car and thus it is hoped that the number of casualties will be lessened. It is very strange and interesting that liability to accidents has greatly in creased on the railroads of the United States, and is today greater than ever | before. notwithstanding the marked improvement in methods of opera ting railway lines. The reason is simply that lines have multiplied, gridironinS the country in every direction. while the trains run faster and more frequently. So. in spite of superior construction of roadbed. improved collisiOn-proof cars and the protection afforded by the a3- mirable block system, the number of accidents per mile of railroad has ac- tually increased.
 Of this striking fact the record of casualties in the railway mail service offords proof. the percentage of killed and injured among the travelling pos tai clerks having speedily risen. Last year, as already stated, it broke the record. with total of 399 killed and wounded. or just about four Der cent of the entire personnel. At that rate, it would appear that q railway postal clerk in p years of service is practice ally certain to be injured at least once in an accident on the rail, while his chance of being killed during that per iod is about one in forty.
 ! Hence, the importance of providing some equivalent of pension for the fam l flies of clerks who lost their lives. The ! law now provides that 5000 shall be l paid to the widow or children of any such employe killed in the line of duty, or who dies within one year. after an accident in which he has suffered dis abling injury. Supposing that he is dis abled but is lucky enough not to die, he receives full pay for F months after the date of the injury.
 Few railway mail clerks last more than 20 years in the service. their work being done under such high tension that even if they escape death or disabling i injury, they are soon worn out. At all l mails with their lives. attacks upon postal cars by robbers being not infre- quent.
 1 If the clerk refuses to open the door | of his car in response to a demand by ! highwaymen. he must be prepared for an immediate fusilade of bullets. fol- lowed perhaps by an explosion of dyna- mite. Of course, it is always the reg istered mail that the robbers want par | ticularly.
 Mail cars today are very different ve-
 hicles from what they were 15 years 1 ago-much more commodious, and built
 to resist collisions as far as possible.
 They are not proof against dynamite,
 but in many instances they have been 1 able to withstand determined attacks 1 by highwaymen. For the transporta-
 tion of mail the government pays so much per hundred pounds, plus from
 $25 to $50 a day per car, according to
 the length of the vehicle. The appro-
 priation for this purpose for the cur ! rent year is S5,104 960.
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