The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-31
PAY IS TOO SMALL
HITCHCOCK MAKES REPORT ON
 DEPARTMENT RESERVATIONS.
Advances In Wages In Other Lines Caused Good Postal Clerks and
 Carriers To Seek Other

Washington, Dec. 30--Fa.lure at this
 time to increase materially the com | pensation of postofflce employees, thus
 Keeping pace with the advancing wages
 in other lines of employment. will se-
 riously jeopardise the efficiency of the service. The statement is taken from the an- nual report of First Assistant Post
 master General Hitchcock, made pub '!c today. The need of new legislation
 to make the postal service more at-
 tracttve in order to retain present em- ployes, and as an inducement for gooa | men to enter the service. is treated
 extensively by MT. Hitchcock. who pre-
 sents a plan for the consideration of | changes.
 Higher wages in other classes of employment. taken with the increas-
 ed cost of living. have rendered pro-
 nounced the inadequacy of postoflce | salaries As a result of the resignations from the service have Increased at an alarming rate. and the standard of men going into the service has greatly de- i tiorated in the last fiscal year. Mir. l Hitchcock's report shows that in first i and second class offices there were Sr- I proximately 10000 clerks in the grades ! ranging from $500 to $1.000, and Of these clerks, 2.340. or about 12.3 per | CGHt, FeSlBneu Ln6 y6dT. SAlt <o,- ! 900 letter carriers attached to these offices sol or about 26 per cent. volun- tarily left the service.
 Statistics for the quarter ending Sep- tember 30 last aAd for the month of October. are even more striking. Dur ing the quarter, 929 clerks and 205 carriers resigned. while incomplete re- turns for October showed the resigna7 tion of 356 clerks and .eigthy-one car of hA year. the annual rate of resignation of
 report clerks advanced to 1S.5 per cent for the quarter ending September 30, and to 20.S per cent for the month of October. In the case of carriers. the
 annual rate of resignation, which was
 2.6 for the fiscal year, rose to 3.60 for
 the quarter and to 41 per cent for Oc-
 tober
 The figures for October last show
 that clerks were leaving the service at annual rate of one in every five.
 After a careful study of the problem
 of dividing satisfactory scale of sal
 aries applicable to clerks and carriers alike, this plan had been suggested by
 MT Hitchcock:
 Establishment for both of these classes of employees six grades of com pensation, the annual salary to be $500
 for the initial grade; $500 for the sec-
 ond grade, and for the four succeed ing grades, $900, $1,000, $1,100 and $1,- 200 respectively and providing for the advancement of clerks and carriers in first class offices from the $500 init ial grade to $500 after one years ser vice to $900 after two years service. to S1, 900 after three years service, and for the advancement of clerks and carriers in second class offices to $500 after one years service to $500 aftef two year service.
 The proposed plan leaves to the de- partment the distribution, of promotion based on efficiency above the $1,OO0 grade in the first class offices and above the $900 grade in second class offices, the extent of such promotions being limited of course, by the appropria- tions provided. The several grades ranging from $900 and $1,000 to $1,20o, will not only make 1t possible to re- ward exceptionally faithful and effi- cient men throughout the clerical and carrier service, but they will enable tn department to raise the standard of remuneration when demanded by local conditions.
 The suggestion Is made that a fixed rate of forty cents an hour be paid for all sub work whether for employees absent with or without temporary ser vice.
 It is proposed ta grant thirty days annual leave to post office clerks ana carriers, instead of fifteen as at pres
 ent {, thus placing the employees of the
 post office department on an equality
 with other government employees. Suspensions of employees are not fa- tvored by MT. Hitchcock and he urges
 that this system of punishment for
 infractions of regulations be abol- ished. There will be submitted with the re- mort of MT. Hitchcock. a draft of bill embodying the various features of the plan for the regulation of salaries, the annual leave and the hours of service of post office employees.