The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-03
RAILWAY MAIL CLERKS
FIGHT BEING MADE FOR BETTER SALARIES.
In District of Columbia the Hearst Barrel is Wide Open and the Friends of German Are
 Alarmed.

Washington, Feb. "A great many in- teresting facts are expected to be devel- oped in the hearing this week to be given members of the Letter Carriers Assocla- tlon and the Association of Railway MaIl Clerks before the House Committee on Post Oflces and Post Roads. These men who consider themselves the poorest paid and hardest worked employees in the gov. ernment service will make the strongest kind of an effort co influence the members of tine Committee for an increase of sdl- any,
 The Railway Mail Service is in partic- ularly bad way just at present because Of its lack of adequate force which makes 1t rather hard on the present force and this is in a measure the fault of the Post Office Department in failing to make both reasonable and seasonable estimates to the Appropriations Committee of the House. This is evinced by the report of the Second Assistant Postmaster General who deals with this subject as follows.
 "The estimates submitted to Congress in my last annual report for increase in force of railway postal clerks have proven inadeuuate to handle the unprecedented increase in postal business. The recent weighing in the middle west demonstrated the fact that the increase during the past four years in volume of mail handled was 1905 per cent as against our previous estimate of 15 per cent This explains the fact that our clerical force has proven in- adequate to properly handle business thrown upon it. and it becomes necessary to ask Congress to provide in the urgent deficiency bill for 300 additional clerks of the various grades"
 The Appropriations Committee complied with this request in a most remarkable way. After the language of the app-o- priation for the railway mail service fer the current fiscal year was so modified as to allow this increase asked for by the Second Assistant Postmaster General this clause follows; Provided that this change shall be made without increasing the aggregate sum of money appropriated for clerks of the several classes of the railway mail service in the Post Offlce appropriation act of March 5, 19OS."
 After reading this clause and ther studying the other pages of the urgent deficiency bill the situation would strike anyone as being very unusual. An allow ance of 800 additional men for the railway mail service, 24 in each of the first three grades and 22S in the last, and without q: addition of one cent to the expense oi the government while every other itc,r in the deficiency bil is an appropriation | to SuDply a shortage or IuHuS III SOH4c OO' partment or bureau. The question nat urally arises how can 300 clerks be pa!t l for five months work at salaries ranging from Sl, GOO to S1. .4OO without any addittona appropriation.
 In other words the Post Office Depart ment which last November did not dsl | for this increase has in some way at lt' command from the appropriation Of tE' current year. a sufficient amount to tak' care or 300 men whose aggregate salarie for five months would be more than $lJO' 0o0. It is promised from some quarter that on investigation it will be show that the men now in the service are di rectly taxed to support the government
 that while salaries on the face are 8
 much vet in various ways dollars by tn
 thousands are kept from the men ever
 year
 It Is alleged that part of this mone'
 is collected in :hls fashion. railwa'
 clerk gets q promotion. He continues o
 his old run and after he has been thcr
 for a month or six weeks without any ad
 vance in c1larv hc receives notice tha
 he has been selected for the new plac
 and anywhere from three to six month
 after he receives his promotion paper
 he receives the additional compensatt" tho promotion calls for which should nav
 been his long time previous.
 The Department in the interim havlh