Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-03-03

PUBIC q BODY OF men who play q very
important part In the general distri-
button of the mall, but who are sell
dom seen by the people.
We hear a great deal about the
letter carriers, FOR they are walking
our streets every day. ringing our
door bells and are kept continually
before the public. The p~ostof1ee
clerks, although.a little more seclud.
ed, are more or less In the public
eye, for we come In contact with
them when we visit the ~postofhce
and see something of their work in
the distribution of the mall. But
the vast army OF POSTAL clerks who
ride or the train, of whom only q
glimpse Is caught as they throw q
mall bag from the mall car door at
the station, ere little heard OF ex
cept when there is an accident some
where and We read In the papers that
one or more have been killed, prob
ably burned to death In the wreck.
These men, while being rushed along
at express train speed distribute the
mail for the various towns, between
stations, working often In very
cramped quarters, under Pickering
lamps, jolted about and often Stat
ted from their feet as they haul the
heavy bags to sort their mail
and get another pouch locked up in
time for the next station. With their
a usually placed at IN end or the
other of the train, where they are
exposed to the greatest dangers In
cas of accident, and until recently
these cars were made only of wood,
such employees have literally taken
their lives in their hands in order to
Nserve the government to greatly in
crease the efficiency Of the post Of
fee department.
But because they are SO much out
Of the public gaze and the people
know so little about them the Off
cials have, In many instances taken
advantage OF these men and enforc-
ed all kinds of harsh measures and
strict rules, making 1t almost I'M
bearable to continue in the service.
Only recently Postmaster General
Hitchcock, In his efforts to retrench
without stopping the abusive frank
ing privilege Of congress or putting
an end to the exorbitant prices being
paid by the railroads. issued orders
that men who heretofore have been
given a few hours off to rest after
their strenuous runs, should be put
back again to serve In the place of
those who have been laid OF for one
cause or another, thus saving the ex-
81 pubetlsutaa. Deaiaos this
rrey are given great scenes which
are absolutely useless to them to
study and commit to memory during
their spare hours.
When these railway postal clerks
began to complain and send men to
Washington to lay their cause before
the authorities there, a rule was is
sued forbidding postal clerks to Pc
tition congress In their own behalf.
Thus did the authorities enforce a
gag upon the men whom they were
crushing by ridiculous rules, COM
polling them to submit or get out.
We are Mortified by many of the
things we hear about Russia where
the Car rules supreme, and we re-
joice that we live In a country OF
freedom, yet we cannot imagine more
harsh treatment being given a set OF
government employees than the rail-
way postal clerks have been forced
to endure.
What would we think OF a con.
Germ that hired several thousand
men, grounded them like slaves and
absolutely prohibited them making
a complaint under penalty OF losing
their positions? Such a concern
would not be tolerated for an in
slant, yet the United States govern
ment~sef which we are all a part. II
doing that very thing. And now w
read Of an editor who has taken III
/ the cause of these postal clerks, be