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VOL. XIX.
PORTLAND, OREGON, SUNDAY HORNING, OCTOBER 14, 1900.
NO. 41.
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HS general public
knows next to noth
ing about the rail
way postal service.
The Inner -workings
of this -particular and
most important di
vision of the United
States Mail Depart
ment are veiled in
comparative mystery. The railway pos
tal clerks do not, in the discharge of their
duties, come in contact with the public
they so faithfully and efficiently serve.
Their work is performed in the seclusion
of a rapidly moving car, to which no one
is admitted except on official business of
the most pressing nature. "With the
working force in the postoffice, on the
other hand, very different conditions pre
vail. Peoplp the people, that is to say
come in constant touch with all con
cerned, from the postmaster himself to
the letter-carriers in gray, and there is
established, in time, a sort of.friendly
feeling between the servitors and the
served. All' the world "has a chance to
obtain mono or lass knowledge of the
buslncrs of mdHHCT up and distributing
the mall, as managed In city and country
offices: But that branch of the service
jknown. as the railway postal is conducted
on entirely different lines. Only the fa
vored few are permitted to observe its
processes.
In presenting this article. It is taken for
granted that a subject about which so
little is known, and so much less written,
will possess a certain degree of interest
for the general reader. Besides, every
one who sends or receives a letter must
"be willing to learn something regarding
the transmission of the sealed messages.
It is through the proffered kindness of
those officially connected with the service
that the facts herein stated have been
gathered and put in print. ,
"Jlade-TJp" on Train.
Few people are perhaps aware that the
incoming mail destined for Portland is
'"made up" on the train, and is ready,
-with the exception, of being "back
Btamped" for distribution by the carriers,
"when it leaves the car at the Union
Depot. The two most important trains
from the mall clerk's point of view, are
the 7:45 A. 3S, from the South and the
4:30 P. M. from the East The former
arrives at the station at the moment
when the carriers are ready to start on
their first round in the morning. By a
special arrangement, therefore, as the
train passes Morrison street, on the East
Side, the letter sacks are thrown off,
seized by a man in waiting, put into a
cart and hurried to the postoffice, where
their contents are in the hands of the car
riers by the time the mall car reaches the
depot. Thus the people of Portland re
ceive their morning mall, without delay
I had almost .said, before it arrives.
TJiis promptness in delivery is du& to the
efficiency and completeness of the railway
postal service.
In the case of the 4:30 train from the
East, the action is no less prompt. The
deftness and dispatch with which the in
coming city mall is now handled insures
its delivery within a very short time after
Its arrival. There is always a wagon
ready at hand, when the train comes in,
and to which the pouches containing the
city mail are swiftly transferred.
This vehicle is drawn by a horse who
has been conected with the United
States mail service so long that he is
regarded as a fixture. He has notions of
his own about the proper gait to be main
tained by a steed of his years and posi
tion, and wrhlch, ordinarily, no amount
of persuasion can change. The whip has
no terrors for him, and he plods along
after the manner of the tortoise in the
fable, oblivious apparently to the exas
peration of bis driver.
But the moment he is hitched up to
meet the 4:30 train, he is a different horse
altogether. It is impossible to restrain
him. He tears down to the 'station,
stands Impatiently while the mail sacks
ere being1 loaded -upon the wagon, and
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after a system of their own Invention.
The train: pull3 out, and the man. In
convenient dlFhabllle, stand, hour after
hour, at the open cases, the steady flow
of sealed messages through thlr deft
Angora only interrupted by the addition
of fresh matter, taken on at the towns
and cities by tho way, and the dropping
of occasional mail bags, or, in the case
of the larger places, a .wagon-load of
matter, ready for distribution.
At the end of the division the first men
turn back, but the work continues, with
out Interruption, and the letter, mailed at
Portland, goes by the shortest route, as
swiftly as steam can carry it, to its des
tination, which may be San Francisco,
Chicago, New York, Borne city of lesser
But." he added, with emphasis, "the lot
ters that are lost in transit are few. To
come down to the facts In the case, mo3t
of those reported missing were never
mailed."
"You mean, I suppose "
"Simply this; the correspondent, guilty
of neglecting to write, finds a convenient
way out of the difficulty by shifting tha
blame upon the service."
A case in point is one that occurred sev
eral year3 since. A young military man
came West, leaving behind, in a certain
Eastern city, a lady In whom he was ut
the time very tenderly interested. They
had promised each other to write dally.
For a few months the promise was falth
fully kept. Then the young military man
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then rushes madly to the postoffice,
where he at""once relapses Into his normal
tortoise state, satisfied to have dis
charged an important duty. Pedestrians
along Sixth street late in the afternoon,
whose attention is arrested by what, to
all appearances, is a runaway, have
, really no cause for alarm. It is only
"Jack," bringing in the city mail.
Reporting: to the Chief.
The first thing a railway postal clerk
does on arriving in the city which is the
home terminal of his "run" in this case,
It is Portland is to report to his chief at
headquarters. There is a room on the
third floor of the postoffice building which
is known as the "clerks' room." It is
here, where all things needful for the
task are at hand, that the returning rail
way mail clerk comes to make" out his
"trip report."
In the "trip report" is included every
thing connected with the work during the
"run," down to the minutest detail. Be
ginning with the time he enters hlB car
till the moment he leaves it, he must
neglect to chronicle no smallest incident
that bears relation to the service. He
must mention and enumerate all extra
mail received letters, packages, circulars
and papers and state whether they are
plainly or poorly . addressed. In fact,
there is nothing too trivial to notice, if It,
In any way, touches upon the business of
handling the moll.
If, for any reason, the.olerk has failed
to catch an exchange pouch, at a way
station, he must make out an Immediate
report upon a big white card furnished
him for that purpose, stating the cause
of the failure, and after signing, mail it,
"by the first train," to the chief clerk of
the railway postal service," at Portland,
whose address is printed upon Its face.
Ohce each month every clerk must make
art accurate transcript of the doily trip
reports, and forward it, through this
Portland office, to thesuperintendent in
San Francisco.
To that room on the upper floor of the
postoffice the railway mail clerk also
comes to get Instructions and to prepare
for his next "run." These Instructions
are typewritten and postedMn- much-han
dled volumes, known as "order books,"
and Include-mention of everything affect
ing the local service. They are issued by
the chief clerk at Portland. Matters per
taining to the general service are under
the immediate jurisdiction of the San
Francisco office, and any Instructions
affecting It come from the superintendent
there, and are posted in the weekly bul
letin. Foreign, Mull.
"This," remarked the affable official
who was enacting the role of Instructor,'
"contains slips for the foreign mail."
The room is lined with "slip" cases, from
one of which he took some squares of
thick- Manila paper, with "San Francis
co," "Foreign," "Military Mall," printed
upon them, In bold type.
"You can have no idea," he 'continued,
"of the Immense quantity of mail we
handle for the army in the Philippines.
Every one of the 70,000 'men over there
has, presumably, a wife, mother, sister
or sweetheart who sends him a letter by
every outgoing mall steamer. As for pa
pers and periodicals, they are carriedjn
'tie' sacks, you know; the bulk is some
thing to tax belief."
The mail for the Philippines is made up
in separate packages, after leaving Port
land, labeled "civil," "naval" or "mili
tary." In the San Francisco office it Is
again separated Into batches fdr
company commands, and . is then
ready for- rapid distribution im
mediately upon reaching the Orient.
There has already been established
in the Philippine Islands a railway
postal service -which Is operated over the
military railroad in 'Luzon. F. W. Vaille,
formerly assistant superintendent here,
isthe official head of the service in the
Philippines. The army postoffice' at Taku
is also under the direct supervision of the
railway postal clerk. That part of the
service which centers at Portland is su
pervised and directed by a chief clerk,
the service. Mr. "Whitney won that for
his division in the competitive examina
tion. Worlclns Force.
The present working force- of the Port
land district numbers 68 men and Includes
an assistant chief and the transfer cleric
at the depot. Every man in the service
is examined twice each year as to his
knowledge of the states and cities for '
which he separates mail. There are 1440
"separations" in Portland alone which
he must know by heart, and the number
is constantly increasing.
Three trips each year ore made from
Seattle to Dawson, as well as from San
Francisco, via St Michael, to that
point, by men detailed from the railway
postal service for the work, and although
the trips are regarded by those who make
them as somewhat in the nature of a
holiday, there is no cessation of either
responsibility or labon. One man who
went up last year left Seattle on" the 13th
of the month; was 13 days going to St.
Michaels, and 13 days more going from
the latter place to Dawson, and yet he re
ports that he never had a better trip In
his llfe He no longer believes that 13 Is
an unlucky number. He carried In 19
heavy mail pouches and -brought back
only 15 pounds of mall.
The interior of a mall car, when the
work of distribution Is In progress, pre
sents an interesting scene, of which the
passing public catches but the briefest
glimpse. The menthere are usually two,
the clerk In charge and second clerk,
or, In some Instances, a helper, who Is
dropped off when the heaviest of the
work is done go on duty an hour, or an
hour and 'a half before the train is sched
uled to start. f
Preliminary "Worlc.
There' is a certain amount of prellmi- '
nary work to be performed, such' as ad
justing racks all recently equipped mall.
cars, by the way, are furnished with the
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F. E. "Whitney, who has been in the Trnrrinon foldintr racks hfimriTur th nmn
service 17 years, and whose record Is one ty sacks In place, unfolding the ''tables,
to be proud of. "When Mr. "Wannamaker disposing of accumulated matter, and
was at the head of the" United States otherwise making ready for the mall
Postoffice Department, he "hung up" a which, shortly before leaving-tlm'e, ar-
gold medal in each of the 12 divisions of rives from the nostoffice and ls.jput-lnto
the car. The arrival of the mall wagons
heralds the beginning of the serious part
of the labor, which thereafter proceeds,
without .Intermission, for hours, the hea
viest tasks coming during the first half
hour of the "run."
In the storage -end of the mall car, that
towards the engine, the through mail Is
compactly piled In "tie" sacks, and there
it is left, undisturbed, till it reaches its
destination. The car goes through, but
the clerk turns back at the end of his di
vision, which may be 100 or GOO miles from
the point of departure. The length or
extension of the "run" is in no wise.gov
erned by the regular railroad divisions.
JJext to the storage section In the postal
car are the hinged tables for sorting the
paper mail: Each one of the hundreds
of sacks suspended by hooks from the
foldlnc racks has an adjustable label,
giving the name of the office to which the
contents are addressed, and the route,
and Into these sacks goes all second,
third and fourth-class matter. Conveni
ently ranged above the tables and racks
.are boxes which receive the local paper
mall. The lotter cases, Ingeniously con
structed, aro.placed In the rear, as shown
In 'one of the accompanying illustrations.
Accommodations.
In furnishing andflttlng up a coach for
the postal service, convenience and econ
omy of space are the first considerations.
The cars are well-lighted, either . with
Plntsch gas or electricity, and, in some
instances, they are provided with a tiny
gas stove or range, ,upon which the
weary mail clerk is permitted to make
himself a cup of coffee, if he can find a
leisure moment In which to do so. There
is also a-folding cot (in each car for the
convenience of- its occupants,
i The' moment the mail is put into the
postal ear the work of sorting and dis
tributing! begins. The letters come first,
of course, and It Is then that the clerk
has need of a sixth sense, for there are
people whose handwriting resembles the
inscriptions on a Babylonian brick, and
these ore others who aoeH "phonetically
significance, or an unknown hamlet, hid
den In the hills of New Hampshire, or
stranded upon the wind-swept plains of
North Dakota.
All mall comes Into the car except that
which Is made up for the larger cities and
states, marked 1," "2" or "3, Portland
and San Francisco R. P. O." That which
is to be distributed within 100 miles from
the Initial point Is labeled No. 1. Each
clerk Is supplied with a'moil key, when
he takes his oath of office, and this
key he is expe'eted to guard with care, Its
loss being held as sufficient cause for re
moval. Transfer Cleric.
The transfer clerk at the Union Depot
is "W. W. "Wetzler, who has been longest
In the service. It falls to him to make
report of the arrival and departure of all
mall trains, and to take charge of all
left-over work. The personal belongings
and supplies of the railway postal clerks
are stored In his office. In reply to a ques
tion regarding letter mail, he said, with
a smile:
"Of course, letters are of the first im
portance, but it Is an open secret that
the responsibility attached to the prompt
delivery of the dally newspaper Is the
thing that gets on our nerves. Every man
along the line who takes a daily Is look
ing for It and want3 It on time; if it
is late, it Is practically worthless. As
to letters, while' he may be expecting
them, he cannot be absolutely certain that
they are en .route, and, consequently, can
have no grievance against the service if
they do not arrive on the minute."
Its Delivery Sure.
The care with, which mall Is handled
on the train insures its safe delivery. In
.the eyes of thev postal clerks, one letter
is Just as important-as. a. thousand, and
the loss of it, barring accidents, of course,
is beyond the range of the probable.
"To tell you the truth," remarked the
chief clerk of the service here, discusaSng
this question of missing-mall, "It is next
to impossible-to -traco. on. ordinary letter.
began to tire of hl3 part of the contract,
although the letters continued to arrive
every day from .the Eastern end of the
line. To all complaints, he invariably re
plied that he, too, wrote dally, but that
the mall service being very Inefficient In
his particular part of the world, some of
his letters were probably lost in transit.
The lady in the case, convinced that she
wa3 losing several precious epistles per
week, entered complaint at the postoffice
at her home city, and the matter was
at once taken up and Investigated.
The postal clerks at the Western ter
minus felt. In honor bound, to get at
the bottom of what began to have the
appearance of a profound mystery. It
seemed Incredible that so many letters
could drop out of existence every week,
and leave no trace. A close watch was
kept upon the military officer for a fort
night, and In that period of time, it was
ascertained that he mailed Just two mis
sives to the address of the fair complain
ant. This information was duly forward
ed to the authorities at the Eastern office,
and the incident, so far as the postal
service was concerned, was closed.
Once In the service,, a railway postal
clerk hold3 his- place, subject to promo
tion, of course, so long as he 13 deserv
ing. Any neglect of duty or Infringe
ment of rules subjects a man to disci
pline, a repetition of the offense means
suspension or dismissal. A clerk is al
ways on duty that Is, he is never sure.
In his leisure moments, that he will not
bo called upon to serve In some capacity,
and he must hold himself ready to act
as a substitute, or take extra work, in
case of an emergenucy.
The department requires him to be hon
est, efficient and morally upright. He
must act with decision and dispatch, and
his memory must be something phenom
enal, when it cornea to small details.
Moreover, his position Is one that entails
grave and continued responsibility, for
all of which he receives a very modest
salary. v