The Washington times., 1911-02-02

Mr.. Canfield's Letter.
President Canfield's letter, in part, is
There is no doubt that some duplicate
and unnecessary work has gradually
crept into the service which can be
eliminated without injury to anyone
also that other conditions have ariser
at some points which might be remediet
without detriment to the service.
In the instructions given to division
superintendents in the order to take VI
the slack we understand that clerks
on road duty are required TO work near.
ly' If not quite, six and one-half hours
each working day in the year, or the
equivalent thereof. This asks for 2,O24
hours per year road duty, and does not
Include emergency work nor delayed
trains; and II the actual time consumed
In our many other necessary duties is
added. such as study, correcting schemes
of distribution. preparing slips or labels
which are used to indicate the destina-
tion of the mail, checking up and keep
ing proper records of registered mail
and pouches, and other duties, the num-
Der Of hours annually will be over $500.
This, in comparison with the yearly
number of hours put in by railroad en-
oVertime-and also required of clerks in
Government departments, is greatly in
excess of either of them, which is about
1900 hours.
ut is a fact that a large majority of
the men on road duty have not been
making these hours, and various expe-
dlents have been employed to make the
order effective, such as disseminating
the use Of acting or substitute clerks
onl tn N1n
because of injuries received, vacancies
caused by dismissals, deaths, and
designations, absent on vacation or for
= some other cause: and using clerks for
these duties during their lay-off periods.
On some lines part of the clerks have
been taken off to be used elsewhere and
the remainder ordered to run two weeks
on duty and one week off duty, instead
or the week on and week off, as for
merry.
Impossible to Fix Hours.
This service is peculiar in that It is
practically impossible to lay down a
hard and fast rule as to hours Of work,
because of difference in volume of mail
on different lines, of difference in dis
tance between what are considered ad-
Vantageous terminals. difference in
speed Of trains, sometimes on the same
railroad, frequently of connections, and
for numerous other reasons. 1t is es-
sential therefore that there must be
some fiexibility in the matter of hours,
and with fair minimum and maximum
once established there would as near a
condition of equality as 1t Is possible
70 attain.
Now, what IL a fair minimum and
maximum? Taking. into consideration
the abnormal mental and physical strain
of working on trains running at high
speed, of the striving to complete dis
tribution before arriving at terminals or
functions, the irregularity of working
hours, rest periods, and meals, tho
hazard, the volume Of mail. the density
of population, the never-ending study,
the examination record on location of
postoffices of 99.01 per cent correct, the
low-error record of one piece of mail
general high efficiency necessary to per-
form good service. What is fair?
In our Judgment a minimum of five
hours and a maximum of seven hours
days in the year is. as near a standard
as conditions will allow. With this
minimum and maximum the equalfza-
fion of hours will be nearly reached in
the end, as clerk who is on a long
hour train or line will be likley to reach
the shorter one eventually, because on
entering the service he is usually as
signed to the trains with the maximum
hours, and is reassigned more or less
frequently, finally reaching the trains
with or near the minimum number OF
hours.
Effect on Service.
LAS to the practical effect on the SER
vice at present of this order to take
up the slack it is lowering the effci-
ency of the clerks every day; they do
not work so hard because of this
iengthening of hours, nor do they ac-
complish more than under the former
reasonable organization; they are los
ing their keen interest in helping make
and maintain a good service; they do
not have the time or inclination to
study which they formerly had. and
their frame of mind is deplorable; they
are discouraged and are fast becoming
demoralized.
1T is an indisputable fact that under
the former arrangement the best ser
vice of its kind in the world has been
built up, and 1t is a reasonable PROPOSE
tion. If this character of service is to
be maintained, that no considerable de-
parture can be had from the circum-
stances and conditions which are di-
rectly responsible for the attainment OF
the efficiency referred to.
MANY instances can be given where
division officials have made clerks work
20 the limit of human endurance dur
Ing the past month, presumably uHueT
the cloak of this order, and this state
Inent is made advisedly.
"Of course, the slack should be taker
out where there is any to take out
without detriment to the service or in
fury to the men, but the present rule
OF a minimum of six and one-half hours
daily is injuring the service and the
men, because 1t is lessening the effci-
ency of the men who are the bone ana
einew of this splendid service"
Stewards Reply.
Referring to Mr.. Canfield's letter, As
sistant Postmaster General Stewart
made this explanation to the Postmas-
ter General, and 1t was read in the
House Of Representatives.:
This letter has reference to action
that has been taken by the department
during the last few months to secure
greater uniformity in the average hours
of work a day by such clerks.
THE matter presented by Mr.. Garfield
involves the. question as to what con-
stitutes a fair average days work.
Owing to the peculiar character OF
the railway mail service, it is impos-
sible to fix a certain number Of hours
that every railway postal clerk shall
work every working day. There must
be sufficient elasticity in the service to
adapt II to the varying conditions OF
operating trains. On some trains clerk
must remain on duty such a number OF
consecutive hours as would amount 10
more than a fair days work, and ne
must he aIlouvad aIterna ting periodS OF