New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-12-03

OF all the public services rendered by the
federal government, none perhaps come nome
more closely to the individual citizen than tnaI
of the railway mail, and Of none is he so greatly
In ignorance Nothing short OF strike OF the tiiA'
teen thousand railway mail clerks in the Cli
States would bring this closeness home 10 N,I,i'
and as such strike IS an almost unspeahAOio
tuprobability, it is doubtful II he VIII ever h'
how much of happiness. of peace OF Ilinu' -
business proInptitude he owes to the ial"
worked. danger daring. faithful men who man
the postal cars.
Tf7e average citizen knows that the fast lFSiiiS
,o~rx, these postal cars, and that there are men
sr Them TO look after the mail lie hho"S ~
an nfnetv-nfne cases out of one hundred HieSo
cars are directly back OF the locomotive 'eHuu
and that in case of wreck they are seIiei any
the first TO go TO pieces. He may HhneeN' .
f-rovrIed at the number Of these wrecked pos'ai
-. ~, - was because of the amount of mail
a.stroxed. and with little thought of the clerks
who give up their limbs and their hVes IA liiiS
line Of duty and public service.
This man who IS being served so well knows
nothing of the pains that are taken 70 hasteh
his letters. his papers. his miscellaneous pack
ssses 10 their indicated destination; haslehlns
.,t7a* means the counting of every minute and
.Fracnent overtime work without extra pay. He
has no idea of the careful checking OF every
error in handling and sorting and the punish
-oan+ rneted out when clerk gets too many
,+Iaclz marks. He does not realize that the mail
clerks must stand from ten to fourteen hours
sn svaying tumbling cars, handle weights 1hat
@rould tire a ditch digger, shuttle letters by the
,xhousand as though their fingers were OF steeI
.n5 exercise continually memory that has az
SITS command thousands Of postoffices and scores
of train schedules.
SAFER CARS COMING.
That the government is beginning to insist
that the railroads supply steel frame cars 1or
the travelling postofices IS Of interest e lLe
-,ub1fc chiefly because it will afford greater pro-
+ection to the mail. IN this move the postal
clerks see a glimmering of official humanity
which Will eventually remove them from me
extra extraordinary risk lists of the accident
insurance companies Ten new mail cars whlch
are ribbed with steel and foored with mineral
matter, have been recently put on by the Penn
zylvania Railroad. The Erie IS experimenting
with a car built entirely Of steel which is riv-
.eted 1Ip like a locomotive. The Southern TOO
has a number of new cars which are stouter
.han Pumans, and from other sources come
evidences Of improved postal rolling stock.
OF the long distance mail runs out OF New
York there is none more interesting perhaps
than that which carries the bulk OF IraiI 70 lLle
South over the Pennsylvania anu Soo I.lt
railroads. The train IS NO % as ldI az " 60
sngton the most particular train on the fehh-
tsv-lvania on which even railway olliSlSi49 q
not allowed 10 ride and passengers other inan
S1ostaI clerks actually on duty are not carried.
From Washington. south as lar as AtlediI ,
Sbe train which carries nothing but mail, IS the
Southern's pride. No. 81 and so great IS rs
.-eputation that the number has become
synony1ne for speed in the Caronas ana 1IeoI BIC
While not as fast as some of the Chicago nm
tted trains its run becomes a mighty achleNe-
1nent Of modern railroading when one reIleills s
J,ars that IT is made over a single track road
crowded with growing traffic, and on q me
which curves along mountain Tldge LOT a
.Ireat 1art of the distance. This is the most ex-
oensiye mail train which the federal govern
ment supports. Something like $lt5,OeO year
1T costs and every Senator and Representative
from the South stands up and fights Tor me
appropriation each time the bill comes up.
With the necessary. permission from Captain
James G White, general superintendent Of the
railway mail service, and after unwindfng much
railway red tape Tribune correspondent
boarded this mail train at Jersey City the other
night to make the run to Atlanta with mail for
tho