The Washington herald., 1914-02-01
POSTAL CLERKS
KEPT ON JUMP
Must Have About 10000
Necessary Facts in Their
Minds.
SALARY DEMAND MADE
Congress Recently Has Been Asked to
Allow Final Maximum of
l.400 a Year.
SALARY DEMAND MADE

Keeping 5000 separate and distinctly
necessary facts in mind at one time and
being happy on a maximum salary n,
sioo month in these days of the pro-
sressiye cost Of living Is a first REQUIRE.
ment Of the postal clerk. There ara
about 1900 OF these clerks now in Uncle
SANS employ. and by July of this
year they will muster about 10000 strong
The postal clerk is conspicuous just now
because Of his effort to get Congress to
allow him a final maximum of s., 100 a
year. provided he speeds up his work and
stays with the service long enough.
Being a postal clerk is not so easy as
IL used TO be. The days OF frock coat
ana high-collar manners are gone Time
cutting methods and labor-saying ma
chinery have been introduced to an extent
mat has turned the big METROPOLITAN
omces INTO establishments closely resem-
bhns machine shops. The clerk no longer
turns the machinery at his own sweet
VIII ne keeps up with a complex mechan-
Ism or he drops out
speed Implies study. Those % 600 facts
ABOUT places and routes and time tabJes
must be learned on the clerks own time
ohiy the railway mail service allows the
S
keep himself in mental training. The man
in the big postoffice must burn midnight
Oil to pass examinations twice a year
Once he fails, down goes his rating and
his pay.
New Confederation Plan.
Just now the game is being given a new
thrill by Postmaster General BurIeson.
who is introducing a consolidation system
ha Ia
have been held responsible for knowledge
Of either the mailing scheme or the dis
tribution scheme at any point now are
compelled to learn both.
A clerk works as a substitute usually
from six months to three years before
nc gets a regular job. He often has to
take as low as so a month for this sub
sttute service. When he becomes a
regular he draws 500 a year, with an
increase OF 800 each year until NIoo is
reached. Then he may be one OF the
80 per cent chosen from his grade an
nually for the 81. DO limit OF pay, or
he may stay at s.. 100 for a long time
Above T,eoo the only promotions OF any
great extent come by selection as special
clerks" who again rise to 81. 40 in two
additional years. The pending postoffice
appropriation bill, in the House. calls for
the advancement to special rank OF
loo out Of the 1900 now in the 800
class
Until the year 1907 there was no cIassi-
fcation at all. Clerks entered the regu-
lar service at $500 a year, and had nc
assurance OF Advancement During 1916
large numbers resigned from the serv-
Ice At the same time a union was
formed. and affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor. The complaint
that wages in the service had not kept
pace with wages outside, led to the rec
by the department to Con-
81 ess that a classification Of advance
rnent be made. The law passed in 1907,
with the rates then fixed, still il in ef-
feet. except for the change Of a year ago
which brought the entrance pay up TO
800 and raised the pay for substitutes.
Better Pay Asked.
Measures offered in recent Congres.e,
a retirement pension TO these
public servants do not seem TO appeal
10 the veteran clerks They are telling
Congressmen just now that not one
clerk in six stays in the service the
twenty to thirty years required to en-
title them TO pension. They want
more wages in hand. and offer to take
care OF their old age themselves on that
basis.
Senator Bristow, of Kansas. and Sena-
Tor Root. of New York. have been the
foremost opponents of the claims of the
1ostal clerks in recent years. while Sena-
or La Toilette and Representative Lewis
If Maryland. have done most of the talk
nC in their behalf. Postmaster General
Hitchcock forbade them TO organize but
lc was beaten on this issue by La Fol-
ette, who now is trying TO get them
letter pay.
Postmaster General Burleson is, just
low. apparently in full sympathy with
Hartman Moon, of the House Postof5cs
Committee. in discouraging the clerki'
demands. He thinks they should remain
'stient for another year. until he has
demonstrated how large a profit the pos
al system can nrnhrcn