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Show rm What Shall It B? out of his district. For instance, suppose sup-pose your boy lives in WisconslB, which Is in the 10th division, and Is' working on a railroad In northern; Michigan. Along comes a letter addressed ad-dressed to Rudolph, South Dakota, which is in the same division. He' should know instantly, without stopping stop-ping to think or to look it up, how to send that letter across Michigan, Wisconsin Wis-consin and Minnesota, and finally to the little hamlet in the northern part of South Dakota to which it is addressed. ad-dressed. This means that he must know the name of the railroad that will carry it there soonest, the time the particular train leaves Chicago for Minneapolis and the closest connections connec-tions that can be made all through. You can readily see that your boy, when he becomes an A 1 railway mail clerk, will be just about the best posted post-ed man on the political geography of that division in existence. There are frequent examinations to test the competency and advancement of your boy all through his work; for he must show progress and acquaintance acquaint-ance with new territory In his region, that he is familiar with the opening of new railroad and mall and stage routes, and this Is very Important that he can read just about the worst addressed envelope that ever was written, and this instantly as he grabs it from the top of the pile in his hand and throws it 10 feet down the car, over rows of open sacks, into Its proper prop-er bag. Incidentally, the man who can throw mall the fastest and most accurately into its proper pouch is the best railway postal clerk. There are several promotions, all bearing the same title, but with increases in-creases In pay. Each one of these brings an advance of $100 a year, and it is a rule that a clerk shall not gain more than two in any one year. He is promoted in this way, as he shows Increased In-creased efficiency, until he is drawing $1,400 annually. Then, a vacancy occurring, he Is made clerk in charge of the mail car or cars on which he Is working, meaning mean-ing that he is at the head of all clerks employed there, at $1,600 a year. His next promotion is to chief clerk in charge of the lines running through that territory, at $1,800. By this time he will have been at work probably IB to 20 years, but he will have reached a position of Importance and will be one of the leading men In the service. Further promotions are to assistant superintendent of the field at $1,800. to assistant division superintendent at $2,000, and to division superintendent at $3,000. These division officers are at the head of the railway mall business busi-ness In the IS great divisions of the country. The highest jobs In the service outside out-side of the Postmaster General, of course, who is a political appointee, are the general superintendent of the entire service, located in Washington, who Is appointed by the Postmaster General, and draws a salary of $4,000 annually, and the second assistant Postmaster General, at $5,000, who Is the extreme and direct head of the railway mail department. Both of these offices customarily go to men who have worked up from the ranks. (Copyrlffht, 1910. by the Associated Literary Lit-erary Press.) ( RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE. I Another opportunity offered X ' ' by Uncle Sam that is open to T any intelligent and trustworthy X ' boy who is ambitious to rise t above the rank of common day X ' laborer. It Is an occupation t !! which has the great advantage I of being permanent if one T .. learns to fulfill the require- menta properly Its possibilitiea I of advancement, too, are at- J 1 1 tractive. By C. W. JENNINGS. ? ' ' I vft-i $&r T is not unlikely that one iAUpV or several young men from XfnjL your town or city have en-tir en-tir tered tne railway mall "i3 service and are now regu-larly regu-larly employed In that work or have risen to higher positions In the same line. Now your promising promis-ing boy can take up the work and succeed suc-ceed In it, if he happens to like this sort of employment. It Is agreeable work, and fairly remunerative and there Is high success possible as a reward re-ward for Industry If your boy will stay with it, besides the advantages of being be-ing employed by the government under un-der civil service regulations. That makes employment certain as long as the worker attends to business. Thus he Is free from all the uncertainty that now and then disturbs the industrial indus-trial world and may look upon his career as fixed an advantage that is more attractive than a high salary with a possibility that business reverses re-verses of one's employer or other causes may compel him to look for another an-other job without warning. This is how to go about it getting Into the railway mail service: Write a letter to the United States Civil Service Commission at Washington, stating that you wish to enter the railway rail-way mail service, and you will receive full Information as to the general preparation required, physical and mental qualifications, as well as the time and place of the next examination examina-tion to be held in your vicinity. Your boy must pass the civil service tests before he Is eligible to appointment; but examinations are held at frequent Intervals In various parts of the country, coun-try, often enough and sufficiently near to where he lives so that he can arrange ar-range to attend them without difficulty. diffi-culty. At some time in the year every State has Its examination for the railway rail-way mail service. Your boy must be between 18 and 35 years of age to take the examination, examina-tion, and must be at least 5 feet 5 Inches in height and weigh 130 pounds. The subjects of examination are as follows: Spelling, arithmetic, letter writing, penmanship, copying from plain copy, political geography of the United States, reading addresses, and systems of railway transportation. The test In reading addresses consists Qf comparing a qumher of written addresses ad-dresses with printed copy on which various errors are purposely made. The questions on systems of railway transportation will be confined to railroads rail-roads entering and running through the railway division in which the applicant ap-plicant lives and connecting the principal prin-cipal cities or important railway cen- ters within or near Its borders; also Junction points on these railway routes. The country Is at present divided di-vided into 13 divisions, according to the distribution of volume of mail traiflc. For example, the first division Includes the New England states; the second, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Penn-sylvania, Delaware, the eastern shore of Maryland, and Accomac and Northampton North-ampton counties, Virginia; the 11th division, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico, and so on. Having passed-" this examination, your boy's name is added to the list of eligibles, and he awaits the summons from Uncle Sam that informs him that there is a substitute job awaiting him. This means that somebody is 111 or has been transferred, or that there Is a sudden increase of work and he Is wanted to take some place temporar-riy. temporar-riy. He will remain on the substitute list for a year or a year and a half, according to the needs of the service; but during that time he will be paid at the rate of $800 a year for the time he works. After that he will be given a regular appointment at which he must work on probation for six months before be-fore being a full fledged postal elerk. However, the time he served as substitute substi-tute is deducted from this probation period, and, If he has served for at least six months, which Is likely, as he will have worked as substitute at least half the time he will jet his full appointment at once, at a salary f $900 a year, or $75 a month. Now he will be at his regular work, with no doubts of futnre employment and steady promotion on ahead of him. His duties will be on mall cars, where he will work for eight hours or more a day, according to the requirements require-ments of his particular route. His work will be the distribution and routing of mall. This sounds simple sim-ple enough; but it means that he should know the proper and speediest route to send a letter that comes from anywber rid goes anywbre in or |