The Wrangell sentinel., 1919-04-03
POSTMASTER QUITS
 AND GIVES REASONS
Maine Official Says Job Has Be come a Bank, Express Office,
 Post Office and a Freight Shed With No Improvement in Pay.

I w lSlASSS |. MAIN r. ]. b- l Clark, the postmaster. has resigned. This Is not material. bHt the public ! pr ionunctamento regarding the res ignation Is unique.
 At the time l took the office. says Postmaster Clark, II was con sidered political plum and il Was a good job. but today it Is Ioh that the moye a man knows about the less he would want. for t has been kedeviled tor the past two years. until today if is bank. an express office. post ohice and freight shed. all com bined. with tho same number ct clerks and the same compensation ot old. when 1 the office haa 90 per cent less e. sponsibliity 50 per cent less work and the cost of living was So per cent less
 ''I hare often though> that ii was la great pity that Uan with brains ienough to conceive the central ac- counting system didn t have enough left ovee to regulate the compensa- 1 ton of ike postmastcr and clevks in cenSral accountine oft l have written letters enough 10 Washington in the past six i1ic0ths l 10 paper the N hite House, but they made no impression ON the great theads of the Post Office Depart, lmeut. So have come to the con- ciusion that tue only reliet is in death or resignation. and pret-r 10 sesiga. as nay disposition at tpresent is not good enough to take tinto the great heyond-
 | "AVe poor devils in the postal lservice haze one consolation: We have been saving Uncle Sam a bunch of money by heinz patriotic, land working for starvation wages so that he might pay the baggage masters on the railroads, and the common Jumpers in the shipvards. many of whom are not worth S2 per day in any spos CT place, aad are aader Ro ponsIbifTfv wdaf- ever. wages ranging from S25 to SEQ Der week.
 N hen post offices were distrib- uted in Lincoin countV thev were sogn broadcast. and a,l teot: root and Rourisfled, so that thes office.
 under the central accounting sys- tem fell heir to 5s offices. many
 more than mare of the hrs,- class
 offices haze in ether counties with
 large force of clerical assistance. My first assistant has been in
 the service at this office tor I5 years. and is drawing just living wages
 My second assistant, in connec.
 ton with her other duties in the office. has handled the war and
 thrift stamp business foc the past year. Including the district office l sales. this has amounted to o&er sI0o, ,ooo, and ste Is allowed by the l department tke enormous sUm ot s23.:3 Der p,onta, and beard is
 ranging at present from SS per week
 up. I am making her salary at
 tractiSe enough from my own peck
 ct to keep her, because sheis very
 competent and conscientious clerk. Do yoG wonder that l have turned
 gray and lost nay dispositiono Girls who have been working 1 for 8ir. McAdoo at the railroad office. wito are no more competent
 or smarter than my clerks, are pullsng down from SEQ to SI7o per
 month, and that is the rerv tAing i that is making clerks iH the postal department dissatisfied with their jobs. Who wonders that l long i for the tall timber and the voice of the chipmunk again,
 Just last word relative to the
 parcel post system. which has been
 monkeyed with until the limit at preseat ranges from an eye stone ] to d so-dozen case of eggs, and at
 present the so-dozen cases are
 moving forward briskly- As this
 office does net ahord a man clerk,
 l should be tempted, if l uere to
 suffer out my tQll term to adver-
 tise for a lady clerk and hare the
 notice read like this:
 Wanted:-A girl Must be
 an expert auditor, also must be an
 expert on snewshoes and skis in
 order that the special delivery ser
 vice may be handled pramptly.
 Her muscle must equal, if aot er- eel, that of an Irish washerwonian,
 as the limit of weight on parcel ipost is 70 pounds One month in each quarter, when we are obliged
 to fill the credits of 5S district offices and hash out about SIP, 900 in requi- sitions. she must do the work with