The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1906-06-28

| poorly compensated officials of tn
| fourth class, says:
Il run a store and have two star mai
carriers daily, one at 1890 a. m. an,
one at IL a. m. Both leave daily a
! 1880 a. m. l have the mail to transfe
from one pouch to another: that Is, al
the mail for five Offices, besides my owl
Office, and often 1t is the case that l an
waiting on customer, maybe a lady
and the mail carrier comes In, and
have to stop right then and attend I,
the mail, neglecting my own interest
for Uncle Sans, and probably to ge
nothing. It takes from one-half Il
three-quarfers of an hour to attend II
it, and then get thunder IL a newspaper
or package from some mail-order house
has not come on time. Then / mus
waste another half hour making out {
money order. receipt. advice. etc, anl
make change for some grumbling, i'm
patient caller, for which l get the mu
nifcent fee Of three cents! And all tn,
| time my customer in the store is wait
ing for me-if he has not got tired ani
gone elsewhere. II anything goes wrong
| the Postmaster Is the one on whom the
blame is laid. and therefore some ge
| offended and take their spite out by no
coming back for some time. While my
| Office only pays from $40 to $12 pei
quarter and / may lose a good customer
at the store. 1 favor a salary for the
| fourth class Postmaster even IL Ii Il
| only small one, say, SIS per month
We don't want big salary like some
are getting, but only want enough tt
help us to attend better to our office
and hope the time Is not far off wher
we can get salary
IlIiterate Postmnsters.
To the public and the Government the
sol
masters under the Civil Service Law
would be to keep out the illiterate and
inefficient persons who. under the poll
tical patronage policy, have always
crept in. They are not proportionally
numerous, but they are unduiy promi-
nent and unquenchably exasperating.
Aside from the muddle which the il
literate Postmaster makes in filling eui
his report blanks and botching his re-
mittances, he loads the files Of the De.
partment with all manner OF freak let
| ters. relating to everything under the
/ sun, but mostly far outside the juris-
diction he inyokes.
One Of them, evidently determined te
win q bet, wrote to the Postmaster
General: If you happen to have any
cool rigen books from every State IL yot
I have please send me Pa. Sckuylkil
| County book what tells all bout the
cool vains I'm wishing to get 1t soones
possible 1 have $4,000 bet bout it I'm
| trying to tel the poepel that there Is
cool vains in Sckuylkill county Pa. 80
| feet tick and they don't bleave me and
so l maid the 500 bet that ther is and nc
| wishing to get the proov from you sir
IL you have them kind books please
send me one book C. o. d. ore any hotter
way and price Of it and then Ill send
you the money SOOnes / resolved
reman very truly yours SIR
Another writes to headquarters de-
| failing his unsuccessful experiments at
curing sick baby, and asking for spe-
| cific directions as to the treatment OF
certain classes of juvenile ailment.
A Grievance.
The occupant OF the White House is
or would be IL he personally read his
letters; deluged with epistolary mon
strosities OF every grade of literary de-
| merit, from slush and gush prose to
kiss and bliss poetry. But there seldom
| has come to the Executive Office a more
strenuous demand for active interfer-
ence than one addressed to the Presi-
dent, and written by a former POstmaS-
| ter in a far Western State. 1t stated in
quantity uncouth language and with
painfully inaccurate orthography that
the writer had been unjustly treated by
the Cleveland Administration. After
| working up a large business under Post
master-General Wanamaker's instruc-
tions he had been removed by Cleve-
land. and his successor failing to do so
much business, had accused him OF
fraudulent acts to increase the compen-
sation by false claims of cancellations.
The grievance and the concluding plea
for assistance are as follows:
II was forst to Pay in the Department
over 5000, which l Payd in under Pro-
test. and commenst suit to Recover it
L. 4
Get him to see the judge of the Court
Of Claims, and Get him to Decide the
case in My favior according to the Evil
dence prOdust by me- Which will show
that the Increase in cancellations was
coused by my owne hard labiour in
Obaying orders of P. M. General Wana-
maker. which he will recolect. And it
is worse than higeway ROBBERY to ceap
Me out Of the youse of the Money Rong-
ly. when I did not ow 1t. Your most
Respectfully"
An Episode.
A visitor in a small village down in
Maine relates an episode which is al
legged to have occurred, while he and
many residents were waiting for the
mail. "Snipe," the household and post
office dog, ran across the floor with
high-careering head. holding huge en-
velOpe in his teeth.
Slop SlOp cries IL -
Elvine's registered letter; It's goin to
Boston for a tea-set."
A rush followed Snipe into the bed
room, the door of which stood open: the
evil dog ran under the bed and into the
farthest corner. where. with his jaws
formed into the semblance of a menace
and a mocking laugh, he assumed an at
tack upon that potential tea-set.
Lunette. the Postmistress. rushed In
after him. Now the bed. in default, for
some unknown though doubtless wise
reasons. OF other stanchions, was set up
On four chairs, one at each corner. and
IS Lunette rushed under 1t, she dis
placed the outermost chair; whereat the
bed at that source collapsed with a
crash. imprisoning both her and the
log.
I've been a-threatenin' to have that
bed fixed" said Tyson with polite zeal.
as his Wife and dog were delivered.
Lunette with voiceless Indignation
seized one of buttress of birch-switch-
es behind the door, and began applying
1t to the consciously ruined Snipe, at
the arising OF whose howls the post
carrier drove up, and. entering. threw
the bag, in loud token OF his arrival.
upon the floor.
Lunette turned unwillingly to the