Evening star., 1924-03-09

l
IL may be restored Is or;d to ., American An asan
Of post Office clerks have ap-
pealed to Congress for living wage
| in the hearing now in progress before
F! the House committee on post offices
and post roads.
| The human interest, heart throb,
| woman's and children's side of the
unnatural life forced on postal en-
ployes by night work, uncertain over
time and nerve-racking strain was
sketched for the committee by Mrs.
Mary v. Halas of Chicago, as presi-
dent of the National Woman's Au-
Hillary of the National Federation of
Post Office Clerks.
! The Woman's Auxiliary is an or
ganization composed of the woman
[ relatives of the post Office clerks. who
are members of the National Fedora
| ton. In the main these women are
the wives of the clerks, because 1t
| is the wife who is most affected by
| the working conditions Of the hus-
band. This is especially true Of the
wife of a postal clerk, because his
tour of duties for many long years
at least seven, often twelve to fifteen
lis during the night time. Mrs. 'Halas
explained.
Unnatural Family Life.
With the husband and father work
ing nights and seeking his rest dur
ing the day time, there exists an un-
natural family life. Children have
no opportunity to associate with their
| fathers as they are at play or at
f, school when the father is sleeping.
The ordinary social life of their rel
atiyes and neighbors is denied them.
To the average woman. being alone
| at night in the home without her
| natural protector is a fearful ex-
! perience, Mrs. Halas emphasized.
shattered nerves and indeed real
tragedy has resulted in many in
stances because of hysteria resulting
| from the strain of her being alone at
| night for long and uncertain hours.
| Overtime is frequent and uncertain.
! The plan advanced by the great
| majority of the posttl clerks through
! organization with the National Fed
J Grafton of Post Office Clerks and
| supported by the woman's auxiliary
1 is for a time differential to do away
| with unnecessary night work. That
| is that six hours night work shall
| be considered equivalent to eight
bours DAY duty. All experience in
| organized trades, the House COM
| mittee was told, has shown that the
renalizing rate for overtime has
much more far-reaching effect than
merely giving remuneration for night
work It effectually lessons it, for
| the supervisory force Immediately
sets its wits to work to find some
other way to handle the pressing
| volume of work.
Study OF Schemes.
+. To this hardship is added the dis
! agreeable feature of the study of
mailing schemes. which must be done
constantly by the post Office clerk
on his own time. The major part of
his little leisure is taken up in this
manner.
There can be little room for the
| amenities of home life, Mrs. Halas
| pointed out, for wholesome recre-
|
an existence.
In many instances the post office
buildings are sadly lacking in modern
sanitary conditions, the post office
committee we'll knows from personal
; observations, by individual members.
This, with poor lighting systems,
means strain upon the health of tt e
/ husband and father, which is a source
Of great distress and worry to the
wife, Mrs. Halas stressed.
Gets inadequate Wage.
ITO these most undesirable work
ing conditions which reflect upon. the
families happiness, for many years
| in fact since 1913. has been added
a veritible struggle for existence, due
to a far from adequate wage" she
said.
1t requires $4,000 employees to
operate the postal service. All these
amount of education and intelligence.
They must undergo a certain amount
of preparation in order to fit them
selves to perform their duties eff
ficiently and intelligently. Out of
this large number of employees. 57,1S2
are postal clerks, and in order to per-
form the various responsible duties
assig igned to them they must possess
a good education and an exceptional
natural ability.
Character and Health.
They must possess a good moral
character and a good physical con-
stitution. Their duties are very
exacting and require a great deal of
concentration and constant applica-
ftion. The rules and regulations gov
erning their efficiency records are
livery rigid and every error or delin-
quency automatically reduces 1t.
About 70 per cent of the postal
clerks are compelled to work at night
because the large business firms and
mail order houses do not deposit their
mail until after the close of the busi-
ness day. For these arduous duties
and sacrificing privations these faith
full employees are paid salaries rang
ing from s1,4o0 to $1,000 a year, with
a reduction Of s35 and $45 a year,
respectively, for pensions, which leaves
an average weekly salary of s26.25 to
s33.75.
The receipts of the postal service
for the fiscal year ended June 80
1923, were $532,S27,925, an increase
of 9.S9 per cent over 1922, as against
an Increase in the clerical force OF
of only 2.06 per cent, with no in
crease in salary. 1t is an astonish-
ling revelation to know that within
al period of forty years there has