REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE. POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT, OFFICE GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE, Washington, D. C., November 1, 1878. SIR: The appropriation for RAILWAY POST-OFFICE CLERKS for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1879, is $1,325,000. From the tables accompanying these estimates the increase in the force and expenditures for the various years will be seen, as also the large increase in the mails now passing over the various railroads, and the large increase in the proportion of the same handled on the postal cars. This increase of mail handled is necessitated by the improvement that is made each year in the connections between the different railroads, in the running schedules of the trains, and the improvement in the system of distribution. Each of these makes the postal service of more advantage to the public, and at the same time increases the work required of the employés of the service. The registration of third-class matter-a great convenience to the public-will largely increase the work, already onerous, in connection with the handling of registered mail, in much greater proportion than the number of pieces handled, as it, being bulky matter, cannot of course be handled and recorded as expeditiously or conveniently as can the registered letters. This increase in the work in railway post-offices will in a measure be offset by employing route-agents on all lines to perform the local service. Although the distinction between these different classes of employés of the railway mail service should be abandoned, yet, so long as it is continued, each class of employés should be confined to its particular work. With a view to making correct estimates for the ensuing fiscal year, each line of railway post-offices has been taken up in detail, and the probable demand for extension considered. It is, therefore, respectfully recommended that you ask for an appropriation of $1,400,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1880. ROUTE-AGENTS. The appropriation for route-agents for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1879, is $1,030,000. The placing of route-agents upon lines where there is railway postoffice service, to perform the local or way work, has necessitated a very large increase in this class of service. In addition to this, each year the service upon lines of railroad is being placed upon the express or fast trains and taken off the local or way trains. This gives much better satisfaction to the public in expediting the mails, not only local, but through, as this class of trains make all the important connections which the other trains miss. It, however, necessitates that the same amount of work be done in much less time, thus making an increased force necessary. There is, too, a growing demand for additional or double daily service on the more important route-agent lines. As in the railway post-office service each line has been considered separately, and the probable increase and extension of the service estimated in detail, it is therefore respectfully recommended that you ask for an appropriation of $1,125,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1880. MAIL-ROUTE MESSENGERS. The appropriation for mail-route messengers for the present fiscal year is $171,000. This amount, although all that was asked for, is insufficient to meet the demands of the public, and there are many routes upon which it has been impossible to place service. This was caused by the more rapid increase in railroad mileage than was anticipated. The public demand, and it is a demand that should be met, that wherever there is a railroad there should be service by agents of the department. Railroad service without an agent is, for mail purposes, not as advantageous as stage service, it being impossible to have an exchange direct of the mails between all the offices on that route without making up and forwarding a pouch from each office on the route to each other office. This service, too, is chiefly for the more thinly-settled portions of the country, where they do not enjoy the fullest advantages of the postal service— the greater reason why all that can be should be given. As in the other estimates, all the routes, probable increase and extensions, have been considered in detail. It is therefore recommended that you ask for an appropriation of $200,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1880. LOCAL AGENTS. The appropriation for local agents for the present fiscal year is $115,000. The demands on this class of employés increase probably faster than on any other. The quickening of the schedules on railroads, the close connections that are made at junctions where there are transfers, necessitates that the mails be handled at the depots instead of passing through post-offices, as is the custom wherever time will permit. If there is not a local agent this work is performed by employés of the different railroads, who are in no wise responsible to the department, and who are in continual dispute as to who will look after it, and who think it is an addition to their work for which they are not paid; consequently it is badly performed and the public suffer. There should be a local agent at every junction where there are mails of any importance to separate and dispatch in different directions. The increased benefit to the public would be far greater than could be given by an equal expenditure in any other branch of the service. After an examination into the requirements of the service in detail. I would respectfully recommend that you ask for an appropriation of $150,000 for local agents for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1880. SALARIES. In my last annual report I called attention to the present salaries of the employés of this service, varying from $900 to $1,300 per annum on the heavier routes and below $900 on the lighter routes. If this salary represented the net amount received by these employés it might then be considered fair; but it does not; for out of this must come their expenses when absent from home attending to their duties. In this expense there is no uniformity. His absence, and consequently his expense, depend on the importance of the route, the length of the run, the schedule, &c. The more important and heavier the route and the work, the longer time the employé has to absent himself, and the less opportunity he has to take advantage of any little circumstance which would inure to his pecuniary benefit. The more he has the interest of the service at heart, the greater the sacrifice he is called upon to make for its benefit. In fact, the success and growth of this service and the efficiency it has attained has been secured almost entirely by the efforts of those holding subordinate positions, who have, with comparatively small salaries, devoted their time and energies to it, changing from one place to another as their services were demanded, filling in where the exigencies of the service required regardless of the sacrifices they were called on to make, and which could not be compensated for except by such occasional promotion as it has been possible to make. While some have received their hard-earned and merited promotion, there are still many who cannot, under the present organization, have their services thus recognized. In the present organization, one general superintendent, two assistant superintendents, and nine division superintendents are expected to keep the system in perfect running order on 95,000 miles of railroad and steamboat routes, over which there is performed nearly 100,000,000 miles of annual service, superintend and regulate the workings of 2,608 employès on these routes, regulate and correct the distribution at all post-offices. How this has been done can best be judged from the report of mails distributed and errors made. In this connection, it should be remembered that at least twice in each year there is a general change in the railroad schedules, and many less important ones each month, all of which must be anticipated, and the effect of each on the forwarding of the mails provided for. CHIEF HEAD CLERKS. After all these changes in distribution and other information has been tabulated and put in convenient form for reference by the employés on the line, it has been necessary to detail employés to examine the clerks, to see that they keep informed of all these changes, and that the duty assigned to them is properly performed; in other words, to superintend the work on each particular route or group of routes. To do this, it is necessary that he travel constantly, and for this the utmost that can be paid is $1,400 per annum, out of which all his traveling-expenses must It does seem that to provide for this a grade of officers, to be styled chief head-clerks, should be established, with pay not to exceed $1,400 per annum and actual traveling-expenses not exceeding $3 per day. come. CLASSIFICATION. The question of a change in the classification was discussed last year. Now that the service is brought under one general management, and |