Show DAllY DAILY HASKIN LETTER LETTERI THE POSTAL SERVICE I VII The The Railway Mail Service I By FREDERIC FREDERIO J. J HA SKIN If It you can Imagine what It means to know tho the exact location of ot some ten thousand to know by bj what railroads thoy they are arc reached and by which of or these roads a letter will reach them quickest through what Junction points it ii must travel and a a. hundred and ono one other things and then be ablo to throw letters into a half halt hundred pigeon holes each pigeon n hole representing a certain locality and each letter going Into tho right pigeon hole at tho rato of ot a hundred hundred hundred hun hun- dred or more moro a a. minute tho while the train Is s thundering along at a forty or mile fifty gait then you cn can grasp asp what It It means to be bo a Q railway moll mall clerk clork It requires some clerks to man manthe manthe the railroad in tho the United States State and they draw a n. total pay of at about a a. year For many years yean they were the poorest paid of ot all the te servants of ot tho the government considering considering consid consid- ering the of ot heir their calling and the dangers to which th they y are are- exposed ex ox- posed but today their aV average com compensation en- en Is more moro than a month nth and and Slag a n. year ear moro more than the average postal servant ervant gets The postal clerk in the past pact had to torun torun run a serious risk of or getting killed Inthe in inthe the tho discharge of ot his duties The ordinary postal car was run up next to the tho en engine engine en en- gine and was constructed of wood throughout With a a heavy engine elne ahead of ot Jt it and a heavy train behind it it the result in case of or a wreck usually was a amass amass mass of kindling kindling- wood with the clerks killed or or wounded To add to the tho horrors horrors hor hor- of ot tho the situation gas JUS lighting pipes suddenly severed would be begin ln to pour their loads toads of ot gas out over the tho m mass ss of ot Wood and mall mail and In hundreds of ot in instances instances In- In stances stanc- t th the e horrors of ot incineration were wore a added ad to t those of or collision n. n Install Steel Suel Postal Cars OarS The postal clerks begged ed the the government govern govern government ment to Insist upon the equipment of all aU postal cars with electric lI lights but the railroads answered that electric electrio train lighting was still stilt in the experimental stage In In taco faco of the fact that every one of ot them was oven then featuring its crack trains as being electrically lighted throughout and the government accepted accept accept- ed the statements of ot tho railroad Then when hen the steel cars came out the clerks bogged begged that the railroads be required to furnish steel postal cars ears pointing out that the average postal car was vas being hired bv by the government for tor approximately approximately 5 a n year a n rental which the they considered high enough to entitle them to steel cars There was the usual protest protest protest pro pro- test but finally con congress required the gradual substitution of or steel cars for tor the theold theold theold old wooden ones The degree of ot proficiency demanded Inthe in inthe the railway mall mati service is remarkable In other branches of the government s service a man has to take an entrance examination bu but bull that Is the he end of It unless It be for promotion to some other grade crade In Tn the railway mall service the clerks must constantly stud study and memorize mem mem- orize thousands of ot new and the quickest ways was of reaching them Out of every ver pieces of mall mail handled bv h bythe the railway mall mati service last lut year ear were han handled led correctly Each clerk must under undergo o an average c of about three examinations a year rear Tho The department has hu books printed giving full data about each postoffice in a a. given territory and showing the system of distribution dis lIs of mall so 80 as to reach each one of ot them The clerk must m memorize all the these e usually for tor- all tho tha post In a given state at a It time lime Then he lie makes out a card for tor each postoffice on the front of which there Is the postoffice name an and 1 on the back the tho routing particulars par par- He buys himself a Il little case caM of pigeon holes boles to tn correspond except pt In dimensions to th the big cases seen een In eVer every po postal I ta 1 car This little ca case e contains contains con con- 88 SS hole He labels each tach hole doing doln It in such a way war that nil all letters going to certain individual offices or to certain groups of offices are re put Into their proper pigeon holes hotes Then he mur must mut t take the t packs acks of or cards yards he has made out and throw each card Into its proper I pigeon hole Not ot only must must b l learn arn to todo todo todo do It accurately but hut rapidly h as well I After he lie has half satisfied himself Ith with his In distributing those these arts he ho goes before the tho authorities and die die- J the lards cards In their presence pro h hr hp- w lag Ing timed for tor speed and rind checked up for tor accuracy Must Throw About 1000 Cards In each of ot these examinations the clerk must throw about 1000 cards and arld he hebets gets bets so 80 many points ort oft for toz each error and so many oft ort for tor each minute above the standard it lt requires to throw a given number of ot cars card cards A A clerk running from Washington to Greensboro N. N C. C will Inthe la In lathe lathe the course coure of ot a few tew years ears b be required to pass an examination on the 2500 2600 post poet offices In Virginia the 1800 in North Ca Carolina roll nil the 1300 in Alabama the 1300 in Georgia and those e of ot three or four tour other states as well Then too ho must know in what package to tie every evory letter addressed to a a. street number in ever every one of three or four tour important cities like V Washington Baltimore Philadelphia a. a or New York Yorke Every tune time a a. clerk throws a a. card cardIn In the wrong b box x in taking an examination examina tion it hows that he would have a letter It he had been throwing them In the mall car pigeonholes And that thatis is regarded as something almost almot beyond tho the point of toleration in the railway mall service One can scarcely expect any person person per per- son to o perform the same samo identical act 1000 times without making more than three mistakes but when each time represents represents represents a a thinking process involving no lees less than five different considerations besides the physical effort required to perform It Iton iton I on a fast rast moving mo mo train it will be realized to what hat high standards of proficiency t tho e railway mall mail service has attained and out of of every Is the average showing shoeing that thousands of ot clerks do much better than this Indeed some of them will mil correctly pigeonhole out of ot er e every ery Must Be Handled Piece by Piece The Thc real secret of the efficiency of ot tho the mall service of ot the United States Is duo due mainly to tho railway postal clerk Nearly all tho the mall mail th that t travels by rail must be handled e by piece by him When a I person malls mails a a. letter In la Washington for tor someone in In St St. Louie Loula he can depend upon it ft th that t 99 times out of or lOO his letter lotter will reach rench the addressee on the first delivery from the first train into St. St Louis Louie from tram Washington after atter the tho letter was mailed The Washington office makes make up the St St. Louis mail mall into bags bass These are turned over OYer to the railway mall service and go forward by tho the train due to arrive at tho the earliest possible moment When the they are on the last leg of ot the Journey journey journey-as as from Indianapolis on the Big Four Four the tho railway railway rail rail- wa way postal clerks empty empt their contents on tho distributing tables and begin bolln tho the work of throwing each laeh piece into its proper pigeonhole A it letter addressed to a a. certain certain tain number on Olive 0 street goes Joes to a n certain carrier at the main office and a a. aletter aletter letter to a suburban address goes gos to a certain carrier from a lettered station And so each piece of ot mall mail goes into the tho pigeonhole that will Ill turn it over ove to the themen themen themen men who are to deliver It latent Is Obsolete In these days of or distributing malls mails b by the billions of pieces the old system of ot earning carrying mall mail from the city of origin to the city of destination without tion according to streets tx would swamp the po Tho The mall mail would havo have to tobe tobe tobe be nS assorted piece by In the postoffice post post- office and tho the hour of of delivery delayed dClay d greatly So while e and while while-we we sleep clerks the thou thousands of or railway postal clerks are working away on the thousands s of mall trains day and antS and night In order dor that our mall may Y gC g get t to t us e at the earliest possible moment The Tho railway mall service has been A matter of ot evolution In Tn 1864 4 George Georgo B. B Armstrong laid put P tho the schema scheme for tor Its establishment and on August 28 8 S of that year ear under authority from tho the postmaster ter general the first railway postal carI car carIn carin I in the history of the world made its Initial Initial Ini Ini- trip between Chicago and Clinton I la Ia In the first nil all mall train be bo- tween Now New York and Chicago w t and ami from that forward day ono one another has hns been made In the mont of ot the raU railway ay mall service u today it ft stands without a a. peer a ate am all aU the institutions of the trOY ov services of tho world in efficiency c |