The sun., 1905-12-17
NO RELIEF FOR P. 0. CLERKS.
POSTMASTER USING ALL FUNDS
AVAILABLE ~ XMAS RUSH.
No Pay for Extra Time, hut the Men Aren't
Kicking Much Others Doing Il for
Theni-Oyer 80 900 900 Sent Abroad
81 900 900 More Than Last Year.

Kicking Much Others Doing Il for
Them-Oyer 80 900 900 Sent Abroad
81 900 900 More Than Last Year.
Employees in all departments OF the
general pest office have been feeling the
strain Of the holiday season for fort
night, but the worst Ia to come A tremend-
Gus amount Of mail matter is being handled
and yet there are not many extra men
helping to do The work in the general office
or in the various sub-stations.
The men are working overtime, and yet
few Of them have complained. At least
their complaints have taken no definite
shape, though outsiders are beginning to
interest themselves In behalf Of the men.
CLERKS in the post office are now work.
ing fifteen and half hours and have since
Thanksgiving, writes a we'll known citizen
to THE SUN. THE other day o man
lost the sight Of an eye as the result Of
this slave driving labor, and although
similar conditions have existed for years,
there seems to be no hope Of relief. Com
plants to the department are met with
the invariable reply No appropriation.
"The majority of the clerks in the post
Office receive from $500 to $500 per year,
and not only do they receive no pay for
overtime, but are subject to all sorts OF
harassing deductions from their small
! salaries. Absence even for sickness causes
the forfeiture of pay.
"The United States Government Is work.
ing its employees at a rate that II 1t ex-
listed in an East Side sweatshop would be
considered the limit Of human brutality"
Assistant Postmaster Morgan admitted
yesterday that most Of the employees were
working overtime at present But how
can we help it?" he asked. Can you show
me any big concern in New York where at
| this time of the year the clerks are not
| working extra houSI
! True, in the department stores and many
other places employees are paid for their
extra work, but how can this office pay
for routine when there is no money with
/ which to pay? The postmaster does the
best he can with the appropriation that Is
at his disposal
There are many other contributing
causes to tho delays of the holiday rush in
the general office If the mail that came
into the city each day. was not sorted on
the trains and steamships en- route it could
not he properly handled. put even the
railroad and steamship service is clogged,
and Just now, though IS per cent. of the
pouches arrive already made up for the
various sections Of the city, great deal
| of mail has not been sorted and has TO be
sorted in the general office.
| while the employees are working over
time, l am glad to say that with the increase
in the force, despite the big increase in
New York's population in the past year,
/ the employees to date have not had to
work as hard this year as they did last.
/ The rush of business for the past two
weeks has been in the foreign branch.
| Thousands of foreign born citizens have
been sending money to their old homes in
! other lands, but that part of the work is
( about completed, and for the next ten days
| the domestic registry and money order
| business will increase.
| In the last two weeks S4142 800 has been
sent abroad through the post office. Last
! year from New York there went to Europe
in the first fourteen days of December
| S2,917195. The increase this year is
n SnQ