Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-20
THE EGHT-HOUR Law!
Railway Postal Clerks Claim
Benefit of 1t.
THE LIFE IS STRENUOUS
Hard Work and Much Study Their
Lot.
THE RAINY DAY COMES SOON
How It Goes Between Washington
and Greensboro, Which is an
Average Run.
HE RAINY DAY COMES SOON

The railway postal clerks, with headquar-
tiers in Washington, along with their breth-
rem throughout the country, are waiting
almost with bated breath for the decision
of the Attorney General as to whether they
are entitled to the benefit of the eight
hour law or not At their recent conven-
ton in Chicago they adopted a resolution
declaring that they believed themselves
entitled to an eight-hour day. and petition
ing the department to allot their work to
them on that basis. The post Office depart
ment referred the matter to the Department
Of Justice, and it is on the decision reached
there that the whole matter depends.
In stating to the postal clerks that he
would refer the matter to the Attorney
General for decision the Postmaster Cen
eral said that it would be impossible to
allow a railway postal clerk to work eight
hours and then rest sixteen, that the eight
hours might be up right in the middle of
a run, and that 1t would entail such a
vastly increased force and afford SO little
actual relief as to- render it entirely mex
pedient.
Answer Of the Clerks.
To this the clerks make answer that they
want no such provision, but that they
Sihpiy vail 10 Ue plaCeO on an equality
with other government employees. They
say that they do not ask to be relieved
at the end of an eight-hour shift, but
that they simply want to get credit for
the work they do over and above that
They point out that every other government
employe gets his Sundays and holidays of,
but that they do not. Now, all they ask
is that they be required to work only an
average of eight hours per day during
10 NOR rircy dow, - f1o
that the government requires every con-
tractor for government work to comply
with that principle, even down to the low
est laborer they have, and that it applies
the principle to every other class Of en-
ployes 1t has. and then they significantly
ask why they alone are debarred from
the benefits of the principle.
The public knows but very little about
the duties Of the men who while trains 20
bounding through the country at some fifty
miles an hour are aboard those trains
working for dear life to get the mails as
sorted and prepared so that every man may
get his letter atthe earliest possible moment
For "strenuosity," as one Of them styled
1t to the writer. 1t has every other voca-
ton left at the post. In the making of q
railway postal clerk he has to pass a phys
lcal examination that is about as rigid
as any physical examination ever required
by the government If he is not q per-
feet specimen of health and DEVELOPMENT
he stands about as much show Of getting
into the service as an icicle stands in
furnace. When he passes this examination
mental examination. This examina ton is
about as rigid any required in the civil
service.
4alror The Making Of Clerk.
If our would-be clerk steers safely
through the tortuous channels of these
two examinations he is then ready to en-
ter the government service as a substitute
railway postal clerk, his pay being at the
rate OF $500 per year for the time actually
served. The embryo clerk Is given what
Is known as scheme" which is a list
OF the post offices Of given state, ar
ranged by counties. He is also furnished
with schedule Of all mail trains for the
division in which he Is employed-the
United States being divided into eleven
divisions. He has to get himself what
is known as case, 1t being square about
one yard square. and having some 300
distributing case the traveller sees in the
mail cars. Then he has to get some 5000
little cards. on the one side Of which he
writes the names of the post offices in his
territory and on the other side he writes
the name of the county in which it Is To-
Gated and the junction points through
which 1t may be reached. He must get all
these things down 50 pat that he can put
every card in its proper pigeon-hole by look
Ing at the post office written on It's face and
without looking at the county or the 1unc-
ton point written on it's back These cards
and the pigeon holes correspond with the
letters and the case on the actual train
runs. The new clerk must get these things
down so pat that he can put the cards In
their proper place at the rate Of about
forty minute. When he is ready to 20
before the chief clerk of his division and
do this he does so. If he succeeds In do
ing 1t to the satisfaction of the chief clerk
he Is said to have passed his first exami-
nation. Then he has to master another
list just as big and then another, and so
on until he has some fifteen or twenty
thousand post offices at his fingers end. 30
as to be able to throw letters into their
proper cases at a rate Of some forty
minute when he goes into the mail car II
he puts letters in the wrong pigeon holes
he gets fined for each error. and the more
misthrows he makes the less likely is he
to get a promotion.
A Sample Run.
One may get a very good idea Of what
the work of railway postal clerk is by
taking for an example the run on Southern
trains No 81 and No. 80. between Wash
ington and Greensboro, N. C. The dis
lance is 2ss miles. No. 81 leaves Wash
ington at 10:45 at night. arriving at
Greensboro at 8:55 next morning. The
clerks this train have to go to work
at about o'clock in the evening in the
Washington yards SO as too prepare the
mail for distribution en- route. They have
to work practically fifteen hours without
intermission, even If the train is on time,
whereas it is more often two hours late
than it is on time The mere matter of
keeping ones feet and accommodating him
self to the Earring and lurching Of the
train during the better part Of the time
makes a pretty hard days work, but when
one remembers that during this time the
clerks have to handle tons Of letters and
other mail, throwing each piece into its
proper place with an accuracy and a speed
that is little short of marvellous, and would
be SO even while train was standing still
he sees what the clerk has TO do, and that
he is not far from the truth when he tells
you that he has to de- two mems work
while he is on duty. When he gets to
Greensboro, ne gets his breakfast and a
bed in which to seep%a few hours. At
about 4 o'clock he must have finished his
nap and his meals and be back in his car
at work on the accumulated mail for the
return trip. His train leaves Greensboro
at 1861, and reaches Washington at 1855
next morning. Again the train Is more
often two hours late than time and
the clerks work is heightened according
ly. When the clerk gets back to Wash
ington he may have two or three reports
to make out and deDartmental letters to