| Show POSTAL EMPLOYEES DEBTS Question Discussed at R bent Convention Con-vention of Postmasters TRIBUNE SPECIAL1 Washington Sept 7The various postal experts who attended the recent convention of postmasters at Milwaukee Milwau-kee have returned They report the work of the convention ns being highly useful PerhapM the most important matter not directly connected with time receipt and dispatch of mails said George W Beavers chief of the salaries sal-aries division I who wns In Salt Lake a few days ago on a tour of Inspection was the dlruxlon of how to get post office clerks and letter carriers out of debt and keep l them so I is a matter mat-ter which has given me with thousands of employees In my department no end of trouble and hardly a day passes that you do not see in the papers some mention of difficulty in 1 one department depart-ment or another over the debts of clerks The procedure when an appeal is taken from the postmaster to tic department in the case of an employee wlio does not pay what he owes IN l to give him len days In which to explain and then dismiss him if he falls to dora do-ra This course sometimes puts out some of tho best men we have Postmasters Post-masters can suspend clerIcs and carriers car-riers and can line the former But carriers must be paid under the present pres-ent law and they cannot he fined The only way to discipline them is to suspend sus-pend them which obviously breaks In seriously on the working efficiency of the office This course deprives the carriers of the means of paying and it hurts he office lr think the department will take up as a method to be recommended the example of one of the large Western offices The postmaster when he entered en-tered on hiM duties called the men all upend up-end told them he had heard of the trouble about debts of clerks and carrels car-rels and he wanted to remedy the matter If he could He proposed that each employee make out on t printed blank a statement of every debt he owed the person to whom it was due how long It had to run and what he was willing to do about It This was done and the bookkeeper Instructed to fisurue out a percentage that each employee em-ployee should pay on each regular payday pay-day The postmaster thne told his employees that he wanted them to consent con-sent to pay the amount required by this calculation They all agreed gladly and in a few months the whole Indebtedness Indebt-edness of the office which hud run far I up in the thousands was paid off |
