The Railway Mail Service.
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��capacity and application — both great considerations — are the promotions and reductions made. Those in charge of lines are fully cognizant of the status of the men, bearing on all points. The clerks in the service are classified, those on the small or less important routes ac- cording to the distance. Ovu: attention, however, is drawn particularly to the trunk lines. The probationary appointee is of class I , receiving pay at the rate of eight hundred dollars per annum ; but at the expiration of his six months' pro- bation, if he is retained, he is paid nine hundred dollars per annum, and placed in class 2. The number of men in a crew on a trunk line making through connections is governed by the quantity of work performed, and generally con- sists of four men, excepting the fast lines, New York to Chicago and Pitts- burgh, where more than one mail-car on a train is required. With four men in a crew the clerk in charge is classed 5, and others successively 4, 3, and 2, and paid at the rate of thirteen hundred dollars, eleven hundred and fifty dollars, one thousand dollars, and nine hundred dollars per annum. In the event of a vacancy in class 5, the records of exam- inations and errors made in the per- formance of work are scanned, the rela- tive working capacity of the eligible men in class 4 considered, and a copy of the records, with recommendations, for- warded to the General Superintendent. The gap caused by the retirement of one of class 5, and filled by one of class 4, necessitates promotions from classes 2 and 3, and also a new appoint- ment into class i, probationary, and after that period is passed into class 2, thus preserving a uniform organization. The selections for promotion are made from the clerks on the entire line. Thus it will be seen that a graduated
��system of promotion exists, based upon merit and competitive examination, and which to the fullest extent is practical and theoretically satisfactory to the most exacting civil-service reform doc- trinaire. The general supervision of the Railway Mail Service is under a General Superintendent, the Honorable William B. Thompson, located in Washington, District of Columbia. It is divided into nine sections, with offices in Boston, New York City, Washington, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco, and Cleveland, and is respectively under the superintendence of Messrs. Thomas P. Cheney, R. C. Jackson, C. W. Vickery, L. M. Terrell, C. J. French, J. E. White, E. W. Warfield, H. J. McKusick, and W. G. Lovell, — men who have risen from huirible positions in the service, step by step, to their present positions of responsibility.
It is an erroneous impression that prevails in certain quarters that the forwarding of mails over the various railroads is arranged by postmasters; the especial charge and control of the reception and dispatch of mails is under the Superintendents of the Rail- way Mail Service, who, in their turn, are responsible to the General Superinten- dent, who, in his turn is responsible to the Honorable Second Assistant Post- master-General.
It will readily be seen by the fore- going sketch that a clerkship in the Railway Mail Service is far from being a sinecure, either mentally or physically. As the country increases in population and the system becomes more complex, it is found to be important to the public that the clerks should be insured against removal except for the following reasons : " Intemperance, inattention to or neglect of duty, incapacity for
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