Omaha daily bee., 1917-03-14
The Railway Mail Service.


Omaha, March 1910 the Editor
Of The Bee: Having spent some six
years in the railway mail service l
speak with some knowledge, and I
can candidly say that conditions are
getting worse as the days go by. judg-
ing from the reports that come to me
about the service.
1t is simply case of misleading,
false economy. The men in charge
are taking advantage of the stress of
important international affairs to slip
one over on the public" and to create
fake" surplus by driving the clerks.
The methods are relics of monarchial
oppression and tyranny. If everything
is square and business like about the
conduct Of this branch of the Postof-
flee department why is 1t necessary
to have gag rule prohibiting
clerks, at the peril Of losing their jobs,
from talking to the public or giving
any information concerning this serv-
ice? Why is it necessary to make
these changes the minute congress ad-
journs, when the clerks have no other
body to protest to? Why is it neces-
sary to issue orders that reports of
mails delayed and carried by its des-
tination shall be made orally and not
reduced to writing? Why is it neces-
sary to create the impression among
the clerks that to affiliate with union
and the American Federation Of Labor
might mean the loss Of their Jobs for
'insubordination" or "for the good of
the service?" Why are the clerks told
that to strike is to conspire to delay
the mails and a violation of the fed
eral statutes? There can be but one
answer. The public must be kept in
ignorance.
The contemplated changes will af-
feet nearly every clerk running out of
Omaha, as well as hundreds of others
in this division. Many men will be
taken off the road and forced to move
away from the city or take a reduc-
ton in salary or quit their jobs Mail
that has heretofore been worked on
the trains will be worked in terminals
as it was when the railway mail serv-
ice was first organized years ago. 1t
means that clerks who have given the
best years Of their lives to the service
will be forced to submit, because there
is no other railway mail service to
which they can apply for a job and
use the knowledge they have acquired
and by which they have become ex-
perts along this line of work.
The clerks, the men who know, are
unanimous in the opinion that the
changes will greatly decrease the eff
f1ciency of the service and effect but
little saving, but even that saving
must come from the pockets Of the
clerks themselves.
L know of no occuption which en-
acts from its men a greater physical
and mental strain, or subjects them to
such nervous strain, as does the rail-
way mail service. Every hour of a
clerks time is at the disposal of the
department, day or night. Clerks are
subject to call for extra duty at any
time without extra compensation The
eight-hour law does not apply to these
government employees. Laws are made
by the government to protect other
workers from their employers, but the
government neglects its own employees
in this respect. Beside road work, these
clerks are required to memories thou
sands and thousands of postoftices, to
keep at their finger tips every change
in train schedules and to learn the
shortest and quickest dispatch for any
piece of mail matter which might
come into their hands. After several
years in the service a clerk will have
memorized the postoffices in from ten
to fifteen states. There is no other
line of business where this informa-
ton would be of value to them, or aid
them to make living, consequently
clerks who have given the best years