The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-08-29
Finance, ,RealEState and Insurance

pay a decent salary to those who per
 form a service on which all business
 depends. We can raise money for
 anything and everything else, why not
 be interested in the affairs of our
 own Government and pay at least q
 living wage. The railway mail clerks
 should be the highest paid men in a
 train and among the highest paid men
 in the United States. As it is we re-
 ceive about one-half the amount re-
 ceived by some of the trainmen. What
 a shame this is to have Government
 men who have studied sufficiently to have received several degrees. drawins,
 less salary than ordinary unskilled la
 bor. We should take more pride in our
 Government than this and we are con-
 fident had you known of these condi-
 tions you would not have tolerated
 the same. The tenure in office of the present Postmaster General and Second As sistant Postmaster General has been autocratic to say the least. The clerks are disgusted with such work and ask that an immediate change be made. Just lately the Second Assistant Post master General issued an oroer for bidding clerks warming their food over kerosene or alcohol stoves. As far as it is known no fire has ever resulted in such a case The baggage man cooks his meals in these cars the lamps burn close to the ceiling in | these cars and the stove at times is fired to a tremendous heat anG yet we | must not light anything therein that would make it possible for us to have ! @ warm meal.
 The writer has pursued sufficient | stories during the nine years in the | Railway Mail Service to have studied i four courses in medicine and five | courses in law, yet our study is with | out end and we are almost without pay in comparison with a doctor or | lawyer. Our salary has always been l held down by a few aspiring politi- | clans and always will be unless we | can induce our Congress to put stop | to it and pass such laws as will hold | these fellows in check.
 l We request an ilAnediate salary | increase as follows: Sr,0OO as a mini mum flat increase effective July 1, 1919; $500 for a bonus for each of the | dears 1916, 1917 and 1918. This bonus i is only part of our living expenses | over and above our salary for these | years and does not include the meri- | torious promotion money the Post | master General withheld.
 | It has been difficult to keep new men in the service and the regular men have had to bear the brunt of it. We have had a string of new men | coming into the service but leaving | on account of hard work, severe study ! and low wages.
 | Every newspaper and every publi- | sher and all business is vitally inter- ! in, fnr is nn | of our services that the prompt dis | patch of mail matter to destinat tiOn ! is made possible. Almost every letter ! you write is routed by the railway l mail clerk. Every newspaper and par i eel post package is route1 by these | same clerks. Mail is not routed in ! pOstoffice as is the general supposi- l ton but is routed by the railway mail | clerks in the car. Mailing clerks in | the first and second class postoffices | are required to study more territory | but the study scope is not great. Clerks have had to deny themselves 1 of food and clothing and the last few : years the situation has grown continu-
 ally worse They have had to take on l any additional work they could. all ! though this is forbidden. in order to | subsist. In many cases the little chli- i dren have been sent to find work or 1 the wife of the family has had to take i up other work. In fact tEc Railway | Mail Service is and always has been l inst an existence where it should have
 been a paying occupation. A man must | have sufficient food and clothing and i his mind free from worry over finan- 1 cial matters to perform such gigantic | tasks.
 The Postmaster General says there
 
 | the service but a large surplus fund
 has accumulated. How was this large
 surplus accumulated? You will know
 after reading this letter. The public 1 would rather pay more postage and l have decent salaries and conditions | provided for their employees.
 | The clerks after following a watch ! full waiting policy for several years, | expecting that Congress would grant ] us a substatial increase in salary and 1 would pass remedial legislation curb l ing the authority and abuses of the | POstoffice Department, are reacnfng
 a state of desperati tion. Never have we l seen so much unrest in any organiza- l tion. Their living expenses have so far | exceeded their salaries and back debts | have mounted up with no money to | pay. These debts must be met and
 
 l reached the last lap of endurance. If | we do not receive an immediate in | crease in salary and better treatment | we will be forced to seek other occu- ! pations. We believe that ir brin ging ! this appeal to you that you will hurry l to aid us in getting immediate action l in Congress, The Railway Mail Clerks | of the United States. 1S0,OOO strong,
 call on you for immediate action. The | backbone of the postal service and the | backbone of every business that uses l the mails is calling on you for irnme- 1 diate action. We are depending on your aid. We have told you of the
 conditions in the service that require
 immediate action. We have done our duty Will you aid us? Hoping 70 hear from you soon and thanking you in advance for your efforts on our be- | half, we are,
 Very Respectfully,
 AMALGAMATED FEDERATION OF RAILWAY MAIL CLERKS.