OCR Text |
Show Ttte UalliTav ro-lal rtlre. There is no other branrli of the government Mrrviw so ckuely r. Utett to the couvt nlencv of the 51 n-eral n-eral public as the it flheiltn:t-ment, flheiltn:t-ment, at d there is no etht r btanch, pro'ablr, so little uuJeisUtoJ by the people at lare a the nsilft J3 mail service. This fcrvlce u ai organlxul early iu !. Iifti ss scon a tliere was a suflUient number of milrscl rallwjy under o,ratlon to make It worth the while. It uon tx tend-over tend-over all rail llne and hai to dil with the time and manner of dU pitch of all mail' transported l Uie governmiut. lor comenieure ol handling, the United States is divided di-vided Into eleven divMou with regard to tho railway mall mrvl. e, each of which has 1 superintendent and a number bl chief cltrks, all being under a gen;-ral gen;-ral HijierlntcndenL Tlie eighth divislou, wliLli Is the lsn,tt in the finite J otates, territorially, included California, ?LvaJa,Uitpu AUcka, Anrotia, Idaho LUh ami Wellington, Welling-ton, and is under tho tur-rvi,ion ol Jus. I;. iider, wIium! luai!Uarter)i are in S.u, Frardrco. He has a chief cleric at Portland, ane it Og-dcu, Og-dcu, one at I.CU Augclcs and one at ban Franrlsm. The mot important diu-iouiu the country, inismurli as IU work concerns the mottpeop'e every day, Is the ninth, coiijiri-iug the through mdls by ua o: It u Halo, Ha-lo, Detroit, Supen-lon ISridge ird Toledo, an J the Hnu of the Like Shore aud Michigan bouthern. The mall run on the Jorhern Pa clfic between hpokane FalN and Portland, known as the Spokane Falb4.rort.ILP. O," ij. a fir sample of the railway pUil cte-tb's wor. II the way, iu naming the runs it will we oUerved that the northern mid eastern terminus is placed first,as'Spok. Falls A. Port," "Hunt- PorL," "dk. Falls i Pend ," "Port. A. San iran ' The run bet ween bikane Falls and Portland is 55u miles long, end eight clerks are employed, m each one mutt make a round trip once Iu eight tlayi. Thus each one travels 1,103 miles in eight Jiy, or a mcau average of I?TJ miles r da . This places tbew clerks in the third ehu, with a salary of 31,000 a year. TJnder I0J miles dally makes ilerks second clats, with pay of $0J0 Firt clas clerks arc beginuer! Fourth and 'fifth clu-svs are employed In what are knows a) full It. P. O. cars that Is, where the entire car Is given up to the mall and two or more men are required to handle the matter. ThetercceUo as high asSl,y3aea-. But on the Spokane and Portland run the cars are known as compartment cars car Iu which one end for a length cf twenty two or thirty feet Is fitted for handling the mall, itut one clerk worts iu one of time cars, which are invariably coupled next to the locoijothc, so there is no ueccmly for train men to os through them. Indeed thu only doors to the compartment arc In the sides. Starting from either end of tho run Portland or Spokane Fill the clerk retarts at ttie pottolllce a reasonable length of time befurohis train leaves. He mu't receive the registered Jiackages that aretlgo with him, an 1 receipt for the u in a record liook kept In the pent oftlee for that purpose. He must then ac-cornpanv ac-cornpanv the mail to the dejat., keeping" the regUters In his own possesion all the time. If tliere Is more mall than one vehicle will carry theclcrk accompanlts tho I ail Jn which his registers JR and alio takes tho letter mall. The rnt of the mall is cnlniftcd to thecart-msu thecart-msu from the rotofflce to the train. It is required that, the registers be transferred from band to hand between be-tween clerk', K that at no time do they coinfc Into possession of others than the government agents, and cachsucceclvo clerk must rcceljt for every regis tered package pafsing through his hands and aL-o Make a re-cord of its condition. Tho clerk begins work immediately immediate-ly "urxn taking possession of his car. fcm tylug Ills pouches destined for the nearest places he fi nds letters In Lundlea marked 'l'aml2" the first going to lhoe oClrc8rrachtU cailiet au I n here the train l likely to 011 vc before theefcrkcsuU w tk .11 the letters. o.2Is fM.ptir.is ujt requiring immediate atttutlon Forlnstance, starting from bpoknne 1 lalls. Cardial Cheuej nndbirsgue wool 1 be mai-eU ' 1 " TUie tte-ijuul tte-ijuul woiildbo'i" TIiet,e .-aier 1 p2ckeare similarly nurkc- , and I preference Is glveu loeltil iapus. HU tt-urn, thitw Is only tbn nurl 1 taken ou at the starting pelut urd i lltat received from the It, P O. I Willi whieh the route makes connec-liin, connec-liin, to deliver at the first station, ijlut rt ever siall-ii mail is received re-ceived that may tontain matltr fur I an oreverj other statkiii, aifl all that has to be "woiked"by thcelerk j on the train before ho reaches thu ' next station. Hie letter case is a . i-uc of IIM I igeon holeslu which tho distribution is made. The case ruay 1 labeled, but a clerk thoroughly I familiar with his run does not need labels, and he uMnbutes with tlie areuracy and facility of a printer at 'hl tyj case. When any liovon 1 hole "becomes full, or when the station sta-tion or route for which I's coutenU are dtslgue-J is neared, tlie clerk ties tlie letters In a bundle, with which j he puts a slip of parrstaiui-edullh the name of the clerk, the name of 1 the n.u, thodaleand thu direction Iu bleb the train U curing. |