Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-27


including food, clothes and house rent
are higher by far than they are In Balti-
more and Philadelphia, and as high as they
are in New York. with the possible excep-
ton of rent. Restaurant prices In New
York are higher than they are in WASH
fngton, and that Is what the general out
slider judges by when he visits the town.
but actual food prices are not higher.
Rents are about the same when you get
into the outskirts where the clerk class is
forced to live, but transportation charges
probably make them little higher.
But get down to the necessary living
expenses here. Prices have gone up, l
should say, 40 per cent in the past decade.
But that is not the whole of the story.
When the average rural congressman comes
here and finds clerk working at a good
desk. wearing good clothes and clean
collar and COMFORTING himself generally
like man in comfortable circumstances,
he compares the clerk with the average of
his rural constituents and decides that he Is
overpaid. But he does not take into con-
sideration that this clerk has to live in at
least a decent neighborhood for the sake
of his children; he has to wear decent
clothes to appear well before his fellows
and his superiors in the Office, and when
one has taken out of the $1,000 salary the
cost of house rent, fuel. food and the
clothes the clerk is obliged to wear, you
will see there is mighty little left for doc
tors bills and the necessary incidentals,
and absolutely nothing either for a summer
vacation or to put away for bank ac-
count or insurance. The truth is that
man living on Sl,UUU salary IN washington
has to live rule at the rate of $500,
and the result is that many of the men
are in the hands of 10 per centers and a lot
of their bills don't get paid.
Ragged Clothes Barred.
Now there is no objection to farmer
wearing rough clothes and clothes with
patches them. Personally, don't mind
wearing patched clothes myself. But you
can't go to work patched and ragged in a
government office in Washington without
making yourself offensive and conspicuous,
and If you did you would soon find that
your chief would easily figure out some
reason for getting rid of you.
There is another thing that the average
man does not stop to think of about the
government salary in Washington. There
are few men who have the whole of their
salaries to themselves or even entirely for
their own families. There are few of them
who have not dependent parents or rela-
tives outside of Washington, and If you
could get the record of the money order
branch of the post office about the LIST and
10Th of the month you would find that
surprisingly large amount of the clerk s
salary regularly goes outside of Wash
ington.
II tell you that it is impossible for the
lower ranks of the government employees
in Washington to make two ends meet
even by the practice of the strictest econ
omy. The necessary expenses are against
them, and the wage scale was figured out
for generation that did not have to live
has to do here. You can settle the case in
your own mind however you please, but the
fact remains that the average government
salary in the city does not pay the recip-
tents expenses"
Railway Mail Clerks.
Each branch of the public service has its
own particular claim for consideration.
Thus, for example, the clerks of the rail-
way mail service are convinced that they
are entitled to higher scale OF pay. One
of them, in speaking to a Star reporter,
said:
I'm reading the various articles on the
subject since the present agitation for sal
airy increase among government clerks be-
gan I have looked in vain for some ex-
preston of appreciation of the needs and
just deserts of our branch of the govern
ment, which, in its vital Importance to the
business interests of the country, stands
second only to the railroad itself.
1.-The average salary is only about 81 600.
Out of this the clerk must provide food,
fuel, clothing and shelter for himself and
family at home and allow himself something
for food and shelter while he is away on
his tour of duty. These things are abso-
lutely necessary and he must live or exist
only in the humblest manner in order to
keep out of debt. Employees of other de-
partments when assigned to duty away
from home are allowed something for ex-
penses. read an item only this week stat
ing that census Office employees when as
signed to field duty were allowed s. per
day extra. There is no such allowance made
to railway mail clerk, although the great
majority of them are away from home one
half of the year. Then, too, it hardly
seems reasonable to expect a man who
thinks anything of his family to be salts
fed without any provision for the future in
case of his accidental death or permanent
injury. The item of insurance alone costs
me nearly $50 per year, and cannot at
ford either to spend more for this purpose,
or, in view of the frequency of railroad &C
cidents and in justice to my family, to
larry less insurance. CAnd l may add in
this connection that not one penny of my
salary goes for tobacco or liquors in any
form) At the present time l know five
different clerks running into Washington
who are laid off from duty because of more
or less serious injuries received in railroad
accidents. Four of the five l know to be
married men, but am not certain of the
fifth One of these injured on the Sea-
board Air Line railroad, the other four on
the Atlantic Coast Line There is a pre-
vailing idea that clerks on long runs
have a siX-day lay-off after each tour of
duty of the same length of time they have
six days of idleness and rest. That is
wholly incorrect. First, We have our regis |
try records to check off from our receipts
as they come in, which, when we consider
that the number runs into the hundreds
during a single set of runs, is no brief
task. In fact during the holiday season
the number frequently exceeds a thousand
on a single trip. We cannot check these |
off during our set of runs. Too much time
is taken from our much-needed rest for
making out trip reports, pouch records, ETC.
Then, too, We have to prepare facing Slips |
or labels, for letter packages, pouches and
sacks for the next set of runs. In addi- |
ton to this we are required to learn four |
or five examinations of nearly a thousand |
post offices each, so that We can throw at |
least 50 per cent of our mail to the cor
rect route without the least hesitation. If |
any one imagines this is a slight task let !
him memorize list of 200 names of post |
offices. Our examinations consist of nearly |
1000 names each. And We get on an aver |
age just 81 600 year. l think We are en- |
titled to a little consideration as well as |
the government clerks who reside and work |
in Washington"
FOR HIGHER IDE LIS |