The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-28
MEN WHO HANDLE THE MAIL BANQUET Local Branch of Post Office
 Clerks Entertain. MOST HAPPY OCCASION Congressman Underwood, Postmaster Carter, w. p. G. Harding and Other
 Prominent Persons Present.
 A Spread at Hotel.

Postmasters and postoffice clerks of this section held banquet at the Hotel Bir- mlngham last night, and all the speecns ss at the social board were, in the main' Tn advocacy of better pay for the rank aad file of the men who dispatch the mails.
 The entertainment was under the aus pfces of Branch No. 529, National Asso- ciation of Postal Clerks. J. T. Blake more assistant postmaster at Birming- ham. presided and it is said that no more felicitous toastmaster ever appeared in evidence here. MT. Blakemore prova1 himself, indeed, a past master, if not postmaster, in the management of a ban quoting company.
 i G. M. Howle of the Birmingham post office acted as master of ceremonies, and performed his duties without hitch. On the right of Postmaster Blakemore sat Congressman Oscar W. Underwood, and on the left President ". P. G. Harding cf the First National bank of Birminshar:. Other especially invited guests, who were present and ready to give testimony Q the efficiency of the postal service, were Postmaster J. Rivers Carter, Judge T. k. Roulhac, United States district attorney; stephen Ryan of New York, chairman of the board of organization; J. |. Wood, postmaster at Columbus, Miss; w. H. Northup, postmaster at Pensacola, Fla; J. M. Ragan, postmaster at Anniston; A. c. Negley, postmaster at Florence, Ala. John X. Thomas, postmaster at Pratt City; G. R. Lewis, postmaster at Besse- mer and W. Ryan of the Birmingham Press club.
 Mir. Harding spoke in high terms of the postal service, and among otler things he said that nowadays between the 26th of December and the 10th of January, more than st,500,O0O was sent in registered mail from Birmingham to New York. and as yet not one dollar had failed to reach it's destination. This statement naturally brought forth applause
 The visiting postmaster who spoke &C., eentuated the valuable and long-hour service performed by the clerks in the city postofnces, and the relatively small pay they received for their work. Every speaker, talking as he did, from an ex- pert point of view, told plainly how poor ly paid the clerks were, and how im- portant it was for the government 10 10  better in this respect.
 Congressman Underwood, in his speech. said he recognized fully the valuable services rendered by the postoffice clerks, and expressed his sympathy for the post office force, but pointed out how difficult it vas to get raises for any particular office, when the postoffice department was far from being self-supporting. The appropriation for the department was now about $2,oOO,O00, and until the reve- nues of the government materially in- creased it was not easy to see where additional pay for the postal clerks, so justly earned, was coming from. He dis cussed the matter in detail and from a statesman's viewpoint and gave a bright glimpse of what might be accomplished for the oyerworlxed clerks if the tons upon tons of worthless second class mail mat ter were thrown out This clogging of the mail cars meant a heavy expense to the government, said MT. Underwood Every encoura cement should be given to the legitimate newspaper" said the congressman. ''These newspapers are edu- cators in the best sense of the term. But the mails are weighed down with printed matter that should never come under the newspaper rate"
 The banquet was ended about midnight and every one present said it was sngu- larly enjoyable.