The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-02-16
A VETERAN RESIGNS.

S1gnallzed the occasion by rendering
his resignation from the service with
which he has been connected practic
ally all his life. The resignation is to
take effect August Goth, next, at which
date Mr. Chenoweth will have COM
pleted forty-one years service for the
4 United States government. Three of
these years he was clerk in the Keo-
/ kuk postoffice; three more he was
gallant soldier in the civil war; the
remaining thirty-five he has been
railway postal clerk on the Rock
Island between Keokuk and
Des Moines. Few men have served
the COVE 1ment as long as has Mr..
Chenoweth None has ever served
it with greater zeal, industry and
fidelity. Through sunshine and storm.
by day and by night, in season and out
of season, in almost constant peril of
his life, he has been at his post faith
fully performing his allotted tasks
oblivious to everything except the de-
mands of duty. Now that he has near
ly reached the three score and ten
\ years accorded to man by the Psalm
list he finds that physical in1rmities
due to army service, aggravated by the
| jostling motion of the mall car and
the lifting of heavy mail sacks, are
more than he can bear. He has there
fore asked to be relieved from duty
later in the year that he may conserve
his health and strength and If pos
sible live out the remainder of his
days with some degree of comfort in
the society of lifelong friends.
And here comes in the pity OF it
ALL Mr. Chenoweth has given all the
years of his adult life to the public
service with an eye single to the pub
Ii good, and now at an advanced age
he finds himself possessed of only
meager reward through no fault of
his own. His expenses on the ROAD
added to the expense of maintaining
home, rearing a family, educating
his children and contributing to
worthy causes whose appeals could
not be denied, have conspired to ex-
|, haust his modest salary almost as
fast as earned. Only by dint Of self
denial and constant saving of small
sums was it possible for him to ac-
, cumulate the little he has laid by to
! maintain him in his last years. Nor
, can he turn his energies to productive
. results in other lines. The singleness
!, of purpose and concentration of
thought which were necessary to the
!, proper discharge of his official duties
and which made him so efficient as a
railway postal clerk have untitled him
. for gaining livelihood at anything
else. He finds himself utterly help
less and the future holds for him nc
CLEAN of hope. In submitting his
!, resignation Mr.. Chenoweth points ou
:, these things with clearness and eff
;. fectiveness that would do credit to {
!. professional advocate pleading JUS
cause, The full text of his letter
which will be read with general in
terest, is as follows:
e Keokuk, Iowa, February Is, 1909.
j. C. Murphy, Chief Clerk Railwa
S Mail Service, Des Moines, Iowa. Sir
1t is with feeling of profound sol
s row and regret that | am now CON
= PEELED to place this instrument Q
o writing In your hands, it being m
Il resignation severing me from the pc
81 sition of railway postal clerk, now as
?. signed to the Des Moines and keoku
railway postoffice, to become effectiv
IS August &c. 1909 That date will roun
2, out for me forty-one years service 10
e Uncle Sam thirty-f consecutiV
j. wears in a railway postal car, tire
wears in the clerical force of the ket
lslk. Iowa, postoffice, and three year
e a Union soldier during the civil wa
IS am beginning to hear, as it wer'
n under my footballs in lifes pathwa
: the rustic of the "sere and yello
- leaf" | find, too, that my physical
81 fictions due to army service are grow
a. ing more pronounced year by year
t such an extent that the lifting
Ie heavy sacks of mail and the roc
d ing iostling motion of the mail CO
- orc hecoming a burden more than
9. can longer bear.
To YOU individually and to the Ell
n n1oyes of your office collectively | e
t. tend nv heartfelt thanks for mar
o. aots of Kindness and assistance sho"
& nc IN an official capacity, thereby e
le abiDp me 10 SUI
10 render efficient service in the arauo'
- dnties that fall to the lot OF all ia
re- To the officials high In authorl
NJ both in Chicago and washington ~
Mt trolling our service, ! hold We,
I'd grateful feeling for official nelp a.
ce counsel whereby have been greas
benefited in the performance Oh - - =
duties and labors in the railway m'
postal clerk on a railway ~ ~
w srst realizes in the fullest sense IN
ed HE life is a stranded one Mneh ne ,
"a f f,,S by long years OF service 70 ~
to fire He then finds to ms sorlo~ ~ y
-, al aiie the mental requirements ne n
~ had to gain in order to be a con art1,l q
en- noa Clerk are futile and Wor ,,ha
~. ~ him in trying to earn lasei,no
Ill 70 os+e nv and he stands amazeh
ey heho,ding his utter helpless si. s,en,
en- esaoovers that the use Of MS .s raeh'
nd f a,e has been wasted, . ina. \
vi 1 1ss in the past and the future EN-
VI me - - lano for him. Blu SUI