The National tribune., 1903-08-06
THE CITY LETTERCARRIER
Magnitude the Free Delivery Service and Characteristics Its
Employees.
By CAPT. HENRY A. CASTLE Post Office Department
Employees.

all sorts OF people.
Appertaining to the plague Of dogs and
the theory that intelligent CANNES soon
come to know and respect the uniformed
visitor, one experienced carrier explains:
ANY man before he could become a reg
ular carrier would have to serve any
where from 4 year and z half to four or
five years as a substitute. He would be
liable to serve 10 or 60 different districts
and meet 6,413 different dogs. A dog hates
a peddier: a lrtter-carrier with his load
looks like the worst kind of pcddler
hence, Mr. Dog goes for the letter-caI-
rier | WIS only bitten twice myself
when | was substitute, the third bite be-
ing bestowed after | was a regular. By
dog who had no business in my district
Nv pantaioons were bitten few more
times Is my-case a solitary instance! by
no means You would be surprised to lind
how many letter-carriers and letter-car-
riers' pantaloons have been bitten by dogs.
And for aught know, letter-carr- -ers have
the same trouble in the West with srlz-
zlies, in the South with aligators, and IN
New Jersey with musketoeS."
AN INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC EMPLOY
MENT.
The Civil Service pathway leading to
postal employment is a tedious and diff
cult one but there is no way of avoiding
it. under the law. All city letter-carriers
begin as substitutes and serve an average
of 20 months before their regular appoint
ment. During this probationary period
their salary is 81 per annum. and their
income consists of earnings during such
times as they may chance to be employed
in place of regular carriers. absent, SICK
or on vacation. A typical statement of the
method of entering the service has been
J,- ta" IN off n
order to get an appointment he has filled
out blanks and taken oaths enough to
run supreme court. He has been punch
ed ard sounded by physician: he has
been examined by a Civil Service Board,
and after waiting four months is delight
ed to know he is fourth on the list out
of $50 applicants. which indicates that he
is better able to fill the position than 146
others who tried with him. After three
months waiting he receives an official let
ter notifying him that he has been ap-
pointed as substitute carrier at salary
of 81 per year. He must appear before
the local Postmaster, where he receives
some good advice and many interrogations.
He must now give bond to the tune of
81 600. An introduction to the Superin-
tendent of Carriers is now in order. This
gentleman informs the bewildered sub that
he must buy himself a uniform, after do
ing which he is handed over to q regular
carrier to learn his route. In a week or
more he is supposed to have learned that
route, and he must learn another and an
other and still more. After wearing out
the product of shoe factory he has
learned 10 or - routes. During the whole
of this time the embryo carrier gets
salary of 81 per year. 1t is no joke to
say that the man who started in with
some respect for official position thinks
thoughts which had better remain
thoughts. If he is caught entering a sa-
loon to get cigar, or something equally
as good. he is promptly dismissed from
the service. If he avoids all the shoals
and Guicksands for nearly two years, he
may hope for permanent appointment on
the carrier force at the minimum first
year salary of $50 month.
ONE CoNGREssMAN's VIEW.
Congressman Sulzer, of New York. thus
emphatically expresses his view of the
relative claims of the letter-carrier and
the railway magnate to- our considerations:
Il ask, Mr. Chairman, whether the letter
carriers are being used as a shield behind
which we find hidden the railroads of the
country which are getting the lions share
of the appropriation annually made TO
carry on the work of the Post Office De
partment? l ask, why it is that this
House continually accepts the report of
the Committee on Post Offices, made by its
Chairman, by which we are paying the
railroads fully as much and more in
rentals per year than it costs to build the
cars which we are renting? May | fur
ther ask, if in order to keep this from the
members of the House, and in order to
throw sand in our eyes, the statement is
being made that we must keep down eX
penses by restricting or resisting these as
saults on the Treasury that are being
made by the employees of the postal ser
vice, especially the letter-carriers? May
l ask whether this is subterfuge merely,
in order to keep from us the real issue,
which is the payment of 10 times as much
for handling or carrying the mails as is
paid for carrying express matter in the
same cars, behind the same engines. on the
same train, and over the same roadbed?"
EXCEPTIONAL EXPERIENCE IN THE NORTH.
Among the thousands of gold seekers
who rushed to Nome, Alaska, in June,
1900. were two U. S. letter-carriers on six
months leave without pay. They soon
found that mining was out Of their line,
and induced the postal authorities there
to give the new settlers city free delivery,
very much to the astonishment of said set
tiers. One of the carriers gives some in
teresting notes OF his experience. He
says:
You often read of the postman being an
ever-welcome visitor. l never knew what
that meant before. Welcome is q very
mild term for our enthusiastic reception
One man was so worried by not hearing
from home that he was almost ready to
leave. He had not heard from his wife
since his arrival, and he fancied some one
with similar name was receiving his
mail. l took his name, and next day
handed him FIVE letters from his wife,
Welcome! Well, rather
What added to our work was the fact
that not only individuals and firms were
in constant motion, but the places of bust
ness themselves were changed. Tents
gave place to frame dwellings over night.
When we presented ourselves with mail
previous day had been a tent, we found
he had folded his tent and stampeded to
some newly-discovcred district or likely
creek.
"One such instance comes to my mind.
| My comrade received orders to deliver
mail for the Red Cross Pharmacy. 1t
was n canvas affair located on the north
side of Front street. He booked the or
/ der, delivered the mail few days, when
the whole thing disappeared. Next day l
found it on my route near the Gold Dig
/ ger" Office. We made the necessary cor
rections. and / carried his mail, but he
again disappeared, moving to a new loca-
tion on my comrades route, and taking
his house with him like a snail. My part