The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1911-04-07
" c. w. JENNINGS.

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~ T is not unlikely that one
,ThA. or several young men from
X@X your town or city have en-
&NK tered the railway mail
49, service and are now regu-
larly employed in that
work or have risen to higher positions
in the same line. Now your promis-
ing boy can take up the work and sue
coed in it, if he happens to like this
sort of employment. 1t is agreeable
work, and fairly remunerative and
there is high Success possible as a re-
ward for industry if your boy will stay
with it, besides the advantages OF be-
ing employed b. the government un-
der civil service regulations. That
makes employment certain as long as
the worker attends to business. Thus
he is free from al the uncertainty
that now and then disturbs the indus
trial world and may look upon his
career as fixed-an advantage that is
more attractive than high salary
with a possibility that business re-
verses of ones employer or other
causes may compel him to look for an
other job without warning.
This is how to go about it getting
into the railway mail service: Write
a letter to the United States Civil
Service Commission at Washington,
stating that you wish to enter the rail-
way mail service, and you will receive
full information as to the genera!
preparation required, physical ard
mental qualifications, as well as the
time and place OF the next examina-
ton to be held in your vicinity. Your
boy must pass the civil service tests
before he is eligible to appointment;
but examinations are held at frequent
intervals in various parts of the coun-
try. often enough and sufficiently near
range to attend them without diff
Guilty. At some time in the year every
State has it's examination for the rail-!
way mail service.
Your boy must be between IS and
IS years of age to take the examina-
inches in height and weigh 1870 pounds.
The subjects of examination are as
follows: Spelling, arithmetic, letter
writing, penmanship, copying from
plain copy, political geography of the
United States, reading addresses, and
systems Of railway transportation.
The test in reading addresses consists
of comparing number of written adj
dresses with printed copy on which
various errors are purposely made.
The questions on systems of railway
transportation will be confined to rail-
roads entering and running through
the railway division in which the ap-
| plicant lives and connecting the prin-
cipal cities or important railway cen
tiers within or near its borders; also
junction points on these railway
routes. The country is at present d.
vided into 10 divisions, according to
the distribution Of volume of mail
traffic. For example, the first division
includes the New England states; the
second, New York, New Jersey, Penn.
sylvania, Delaware, the eastern shore
Of Maryland, and Accomac and North
ampton counties, Virginia; the 18th
division, Arkansas, Oklahoma. Texas
and New Mexico. and so on.
Having passed this examination,
your boys name Is added to the list OF
eligibles, and he awaits the summons
from Uncle Sam that informs him that
there is substitute job awaiting him.
This means that somebody is i'll or has
been transferred, or that there is a
sudden increase of work and he is
wanted to take some place Temporal
lily. He will remain on the substitute
list for a year or year and half
according to the needs of the service;
but during that time he will be paid at
the rate of $500 year for the time he
works. After that he will be given a
regular appointment at which he must
work on probation for six months be.
fore being a full f1edged postal clerk
However, the time he served as substi
tute is deducted from this probation
period, and, if he has served for at
least six months, which is likely, rs
he will have worked as substitute al
least half the time-he will get his full
appointment at once, at salary OF
5000 year, or SIS month.
Now be will be at his regular work
with no doubts of future employment
and steady promotion on ahead OF
him. His duties will be on mail cars
where he will work for eight hours OF
more day, according to the require
ments of his particular route.
His work will be the distribution
and routing of mail. This sounds sim.
pie enough; but it means that he
should know the proper and spcectest
route to send letter that comes from
anywhere and goes anywhere In OF
out of his district For instance, STD
pose your boy lives in Wisconsin
which is In the 10th division, and &
working on a railroad In northern
Michigan. Along comes a letter ad
dressed to Rudolph, South Dakota
which is in the same division. He
should know instantly, without stop
ping to think or to look it up, how tt
send that letter across Michigan, Wis
consin and Minnesota, and finally tt
the little hamlet in the northern par
l.