APRIL ASSESSMENT NO. 325

Assessment No. 325 is due from all members in good standing on the first day of April, 1921, and must be paid before the twentieth day of April, 1921.

A member failing to pay this assessment on or before the twentieth day of April, 1921, ipso facto disconnects himself from this Association and renders void his benefit certificate during the period of disconnection.

See Law 8, Section 9; also Law 9.

The advance assessment paid by members admitted during the month of April is placed to their credit on Assessment No. 325. See Law 8, Section 1.

Board of Trustees:

Nashville, Tenn., March 1, 1921.

Brothers: Herewith I submit my report for the month of February, 1921.

Balance January 31, 1921.

Received since:

4670-Mecklenburg Real Estate Company 4671-Commissioner of Insurance, Tennessee__Annual License Fee____ 4672-Superintendent of In

Amount

$65 70

5 30

1 50

4662-The Fraternal Monitor Four subscriptions to-4663-E. A. Hollander 14 4664-B. J. Curtin__ 4665-L. E. Swartz.

6. 00

Bonus

2.00

Salary for February. Salary for February

41 68

250 00

4666-Mrs. Robert Cuthbert_Salary for February.. 4667-Void 4668-Hazel I. Bateman_____Extra Clerk Hire---. 4669-J. F. Keirnan_.

100 00

60.00

Salary for February-

25.00

Rent for March------.

72.00

10 00

1,000 00

1,635 00

4673-Superintendent of In

637 40

492 11

surance, Missouri Annual License Fee.. 16 4674-Mrs. Geo. Oman_-_-_-_Salary for February 1st

10 00

to 15th Expense of trip to St. Louis, via Indianapolis for conference with President Gainor and Trustee E. W. Engel, February 21 to 26, 1921 Expenses January 1 to March 1, 1921

37 50

Amount

4676-E. W. Engel

$1,798 30

76 60

13 32 $801 60 $2,512 20

STATEMENT OF MEMBERSHIP

soon as he was able to move. And then one morning in less than five minutes he was gone. If the carriers only realize how much the insurance means to those left behind they would sacrifice everything if necessary to keep it up. There is nothing more pathetic than a middle-aged woman, left with funeral expenses and doctor's bill, and with little or nothing to meet them. And then the early search for employment, before the strain of nursing has been eased. Or perhaps little children left, with inadequate resources to care for them.

Much, oh, so much of the bitterness of death is removed, when funds are at hand to meet things as they come and to allow time to look about and adjust oneself to changed conditions; and truly, life insurance provides this protection. I am most grateful for my husband's loving forethought, which provided for me so well, and to the organization which met that obligation so promptly.

Sincerely,

ANNA E. HAMILTON.

THIS ASSOCIATION PAYS AN INDEMNITY OF TEN ($10.00) DOLLARS A WEEK for loss of time resulting from disability caused by accident or disease FOR A PERIOD OF TWENTY-SIX WEEKS in any year, the said indemnities to be drawn at once or at different times during the year,

AT A COST OF 55 CENTS A MONTH

The monthly premium is fifty cents and the monthly per capita five cents.

Benefits begin on the eighth day of disability in every case an are paid for each whole day of uisability thereafter.

Benefits are paid for fractional parts of a week, after the first week of disability. in all cases.

Benefits are paid by check through the local clerks, who act as the agents of this Association in each branch.

Certificates are in force and benefits are payable on them thirty days after the date of their issue.

Members who leave the letter carrier service may retain their membership in this Association.

QUALIFICATIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP

All letter carriers who are in good health and under 46 years of age, who are members in good standing in a branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers are eligible to membership.

HOW TO BECOME A MEMBER

Apply to the local clerk for an application blank. Fill out the same and return it, with the necessary application fees to him If the branch is without a clerk apply direct to the chief clerk of the National Sick Benefit Association, John T. Mugavin, Cincinnati, Ohio. In that case, if your application is approved, you not only become the first member of this Association in your branch, but its local clerk as well, and will be entitled to hold that office until your successor is elected or appointed. But whoever holds the office must be a member of the National Sick Benefit Association.

NOTICE TO CLERKS

All remittances, on account of monthly dues, must be forwarded by you in time to be received at the Chief Clerk's office not later than the 30th of each month. Monthly reports of the number and standing of the membership in each Branch, on the blanks furnished by the Association, must be forwarded with the remittance. All other remittances and reports should be promptly forwarded and especial care taken in the matter of members' claims for benefits, to see that the appli cations for same are properly filled out and are made as soon as the benefits are due. Prompt applications for benefits will insure their speedy payment, if correct, and in view of this assurance it would seem to be the duty of every clerk to get these claims in on time.

"Application for Membership," "Application for Sick Benefit" and "Monthly Report" blanks, also "Members' Receipt Books" will be furnished on application to the Chief Clerk.

BONUS OFFER CONTINUED

During the month of April local clerks remitting for new members will be permitted to retain the application fee of One Dollar and will remit only FIFTY-FIVE CENTS with each application. This will pay the premium and per capita tax for the first month of membership.

The need for salary insurance becomes more pronounced each day, and all letter carriers should have this protection, which is furnished by themselves and is the best they can obtain. They own the Association and should give their own Association the preference when looking about for insurance. We give more for the money than any, and give it promptly without any long waits or delays. The money when you need it most. Service is our motto and service to every letter carrier in the country is our hobby.

LET US SERVE YOU

The N. S. B. A. Is Best of All

This experience of a brother letter carrier was written out of a deep sense of gratitude for the prompt and liberal treatment accorded when most needed, when illness overtakes you and you are compelled to stop work and your salary ceases: "I was taken ill October 18 last, with an affliction that came over me like a bolt of lightning out of a clear blue sky, and I did not get back to work my route until February 1 of this year, a loss of 15 weeks' pay in my case meaning between $450 and $500 lost through this illness.

"I am now past my sixtieth year and have been in the service a little more than twenty years, and have never had any serious or prolonged illness in my life. For more than thirty years I have tried to protect myself against loss of salary through illness, so that when I was taken ill this last October I was a member of three sick benefit and fraternal societies, and also carried a policy for sickness and accident in a well known company that writes life, accident and sickness in its policies.

"One fraternal society, of which I have been a member in good standing for thirtythree years and in which I have paid nearly $250 as sick benefit dues, paid me $26 and still owes me $30, as it very reluctantly acknowledged.

Another fraternal society in which I have been a member in good standing for the past twenty years and which costs me every month more than my dues in our Sick Benefit Association, paid me promptly, but $50 was their limit, and that was all I got from them. The Accident and Sick Benefit Company in which I have only paid premiums for the past three years, costing me more than two dollars per month, paid me $56 very leisurely. But our own Letter Carriers' Sick Benefit Association in which I have been a member for the past twelve years, paid me $140 and as promptly as the mail could bring it. "This is the experience of "FRANK PERCIVAL, "Carrier No. 3."

Port Jervis, N. Y.

OFFICIAL N. A. L. C. EMBLEMS
Solid Gold, $1.00. Gold Plate, 50c
Same size as illustration
Send order with remittance, through
Branch Secretary, to

Ed. J. Cantwell, Secretary

A. F. of L. Building, Washington, D. C.

Postal Salaries

The final report of the Joint Commission on Postal Salaries was submitted to the Senate by Senator Sterling on March 3, 1921. On motion of Senator Sterling the report will be printed as a public document. The report is a voluminous one and contains a great deal of valuable information which was gathered by the Commission during the course of its investigation. It also includes a statement of the recommendations and suggestions of the Advisory Committee, the recommendations for reclassification submitted by the Post Office Department officials and the oral statement of First Assistant Postmaster General Koons, all of which were submitted in executive session.

Commission Submits Final Report

The report also contains much historical data on the growth and development of the postal service, which not only makes interesting reading, but will be of great benefit to students of postal activities and governmental research. While the final report does not contain any recommendations for new legislation affecting the salaries or working conditions, it contains the opinion that the legislation recommended to and adopted by the Congress may in a few instances require certain readjustments and modifications in order to coordinate and harmonize with the general scheme. It was further submitted that suggestions of certain amendments which had occurred to the Commission and others submitted for its consideration will be referred to the Post Office Committees.

Further details of the report cannot be imparted until the document is available for inspection.

On repeated occasions this Association in National Convention has recorded its vigorous opposition to a reduction in the rate of letter postage. Insisting that no con

Postage Letter Rates Should Not Be Reduced

siderable public sentiment favored a reduction and arguing that it would entail a serious loss in postal revenues that were already inadequate, we have protested this proposition as being unwarranted and calculated to work irreparable injury to the postal service. Meanwhile, the National One Cent Letter Postage Association with stock arguments and in nation-wide propaganda, has persistently advocated a reduction of letter postage rates to a one cent basis. Many bills to translate this reduction into fact have been introduced in Congress and the movement for lower postage progressed far enough to secure a favorable report from the Senate Post Office Committee in the second session of the 66th Congress.

Former Postmaster General Burleson frequently urged Congress to enact legislation fixing a one cent postage rate upon drop letters, claiming in defense of his recommendations that such reduction would not only be of benefit to the postal patrons but that whatever loss to

postal revenues might follow would be amply compensated by an enlarged volume of postal business. His zeal in behalf of this legislation carried him so far that in his last annual report he took occasion to severely criticize the postal organizations for having the temerity of disagreeing with him. The report stated:

"They have strenuously opposed legislation which would have been in the interest of the public and given the public benefits to which it was justly entitled, for no other reason apparently than to hamper and retard the administrative policies of the postal establishment; one instance being the reduction of the rate of postage on drop letters from 2 cents to 1, which was approved by the Senate Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads during the last session of Congress."

Now what are the facts in the case? What effect would the adoption of one cent letter postage rates have on postal revenues and eventually upon the postal service itself? Quite recently much additional light has been shed on the subject and the facts as disclosed not only fully confirm the stand taken by this Association but what is more they show that all of our representations made on this question have been extremely conservative. On January 7, 1921, in the House of Representatives during the debate on the Post Office Appropriation Bill, Representative Madden in response to an inquiry on this subject said:

"Sometime ago I introduced a bill to create a 1 cent postal rate for drop letters. The Post Office Department was in favor of that. Investigation shows, however, that that would reduce the revenues about $28,000,000 a year.

"It would increase the volume of business and thereby increase the expense, because of the number of additional men that it would be necessary to employ to do the increased volume of business, and it would not be merely a reduction of $28,000,00 of revenue, but it would be a $50,000,000 increased expense, so that we might say it would involve a loss of $78,000,000."

Here we have it. Adoption of the one cent postage idea on drop letters alone would mean an added burden of some $78,000,000 on the postal revenues. Think of it—$78,000,000. This is the unchallenged estimate submitted by Representative Madden whose expert knowledge of postal affairs is conceded, and it is given to show what straits the service would have fallen into had the views of the former Postmaster General on this subject been accepted. If we add this $78,000,000 that one cent letter postage would occasion to the $17,000,000 bookkeeping postal deficit of 1920 or to the $93,000,000 estimated deficit for the current fiscal year we would have a sum so staggering that its effect on the postal service would constitute a great national problem. In opposing this legislation the National Association of Letter Carriers performed a worthy public service.

March 4, 1921, will mark an epoch in the affairs of the postal service and in the lives of the great army of postal workers. The outgoing administration closes a memorable

"The Job Can and Will Be Done"

chapter in the history of the postal establishment. There are no regrets from either the public or the employees in saying good-bye. The employees welcomed the change and are made happy over it. They already feel as if they had been brought from an atmosphere of darkness into the warm sunshine. The future looks bright and they are filled with hope. To the millions of patrons of the postal service the change of administration holds forth a hopeful outlook for a restoration of the service to the prideful place it occupied in former

years.

The new administration has a huge task before it. It assumes charge of a half-starved, debilitated service and a dissatisfied and disheartened personnel, the result of eight years of experimentation and innovation of foolish and impractical ideas to report a saving of money. The load that Postmaster General Hays has assumed is, to say the least, prodigious. It is indeed a man's job. Mr. Hays, however, is a man accustomed to dealing with big problems and he is so constituted as an organizer and a promoter of popularity that success seems inevitable.

When Mr. Hays assumed command on March 4, 1921, he seems to have made a complete survey of the conditions

confronting him. On March 9, 1921, he issued a brief statement containing an outline of the policy he intended to pursue. In this declaration Mr. Hays said:

"The postal establishment is not an institution for profit or politics, it is an institution for service, and it is the President's purpose that every effort shall be made to improve that service. "Every effort shall be exercised to humanize the industry. Labor is not a commodity. That idea was abandoned 1,921 years ago next Easter. There are 300,000 employees. They have the brain and they have the hand to do the job well; and they shall have the heart to do it well. We purpose to approach this matter so that they shall be partners with us in this business. It is a great human institution touching every individual in the country. It is a great business institution serving every individual in the country. I know that with 300,000 men and women pledged to serve all the people and honestly discharging that duty, fairly treated and properly appreciated, all partners with us here in this great enterprise, we can do the job. It's going to be done."

The Postmaster General, with true understanding and logic touched the mainspring that is essential to an administration of the postal service designed to overshadow all past achievements. His words acted like magic and have had an inspirational effect on the rank and file of the workers in the postal service. Cooperating with each other as partners in business, Mr. Hays said, "We can do the job. It's going to be done."

The Postmaster General has declared a policy that is broad and just. As a business man of proven ability, enthusiastically desirous of bringing. the postal service out of chaos to a state of high class efficiency, he has announced a plan of procedure that calls for the hearty cooperation of his subordinates.

If Postmaster General Hays surrounds himself with assistants and chiefs of the various bureaus and divisions who possess the ability and qualifications necessary for carrying his policies into effect, and who will work in harmony and cooperate with the postmasters and the working force with a desire to rapidly bring the postal service to its rightful place in the industrial, commercial and social affairs of our country, there will come into being an organization functioning one hundred per cent efficient.

As far as the great army of postal workers are concerned, Postmaster General Hays will have their whole hearted and enthusiastic support in giving to the public

the service that it deserves and should have and in cooperating in every possible way in making his administration a pleasure and

a success.

The Dawn of a New Day

When one emerges from a dungeon into the sunlight he is temporarily blinded and confused. Letter carriers and other postal employees are in a similar situation. They can scarcely realize that the query propounded by the "Literary Digest" "Are Letter Carriers Human Beings?"-has been answered in the affirmative by their new commanderin-chief, Postmaster General Will H. Hays. The official greeting of the new Postmaster General printed in the Postal Bulletin of March 11, will have a far-reaching effect. It emphasizes what the National Association of Letter Carriers has always advocated, namely, that the Post Office Department is an institution primarily for service; that politics has no place in it; that the question of profit is secondary. The selection by Mr. Hays of the word "humanize" in expressing the Department's attitude toward the men and women workers in the postal establishment, was happy. Not in years has such a sentiment been expressed by a head of this Department, who holds in his hands the welfare and contentment of 300,000 men and women and their dependents. How strange and yet how sweet! What a contrast to the policy heretofore existing that made for a dispirited,

hopeless and discouraged working force!

This simple statement of the Postmaster General opens the door of hope to every postal worker. It will put heart and soul into them and will be reflected in their work. No longer regarded and treated as a "commodity," they will put the spirit of willing and cheerful service into their duties and feel a personal pride in helping to restore the postal service to its once proud position as the most efficient in the world. As partners in a great business and governmental enterprise they will guard jealously the fair name and efficient administration of the Post Office Department.

Postmaster General Hays has sounded a note that finds a response in the breast of every letter carrier and every postoffice worker. On the foundation, the cornerstone of which is "humanizing," he will build a postal structure that the American people should have and which will be

a monument to his genius as an organizer and his humanitarianism as a patriotic citizen. The Postal Record pledges the loyal and hearty support of the 35,

000 members of the National Association of Letter Carriers and looks confidently to the future of this great business institution.

It is suggested that each Branch secretary read the statement of Postmaster General Hays printed on page 92 of the current number at the next meeting of the Branch. Resolutions should be adopted commending the sentiment expressed therein and assuring the Postmaster General of our hearty cooperation and support. These resolutions should be signed by the officers of the Branch and sent to Postmaster General Will H. Hays, Washington, D. C.

The Post Office Appropriation Bill was signed by the President and became law on March 1, 1921. Two provisions affecting letter carriers in the city delivery service

Important Legislation Enacted

were placed in the Bill in the Senate, agreed to in the conference committee and adopted. These amendments provide:

Due to the extraordinary growth of the postal service in recent years, the facilities for handling the mails are now almost taxed to the limit. All classes of mail have

Better Facilities Needed to Handle the Mails

experienced a notable increase, but the parcel post, through its amazing development, has been the chief contributor to this greatly enlarged volume. Plainly enough, postal facilities have not kept pace with service needs until from all reports a condition of serious congestion exists in a great number of postoffices. In turn and in divers ways the employees undergo many grave inconveniences if not injury to their health as a result of this condition.

The present inadequate postal facilities can be attributed to a number of contributing causes. It is only fair to concede that so rapid has been the increased volume of mail handled that it has been difficult to keep Then again, a policy of surplus seeking economy halted many needed improvements. Furthermore, due to the demands of war and post war legislation, little or no appropriations have been made for public buildings in the past few years.

"1. That the marine assigned to the Detroit River postal service shall be paid $300 per annum in excess of the highest grade for carriers in the city delivery service, and that those in the service on July 1, 1920, who have continued in the service be paid such salary from July 1, 1920.

"2. That postal employees and substitute postal employees who served in the military, marine or naval service of the United States during the World War and have not reached the maximum grade of salary, shall receive credit for all time served in the military, marine or naval service on the basis of one day's credit of eight hours in the postal service for each day served in the military, marine or naval service and be promoted to the grade to which such postal employee or substitute postal employee would have progressed had his original appointment as substitute been to grade one.'

"The provisions herein shall be effective as of date of passage of the original act of June 5, 1920."

No action was taken by Congress on the separate bills introduced by Representatives Madden and Steenerson in the House, and Senator Sterling in the Senate, to correct the inequalities caused by the new classification act. When the extraordinary session of Congress convenes an effort will be made to have a bill introduced in both Houses of Congress that will correct all the inequalities complained of and which we hope will be enacted into law.

On March 16, 1921, a delegation composed of representatives of the National Federation of Post Office Clerks, the Railway Mail Association, the National Federation of Rural Letter Carriers and the National Association of Letter Carriers, accompanied by Representative John I. Nolan, of California, waited on Postmaster General Hays to pay their respects. The Postmaster General greeted the visitors very cordially and after felicitating him, a heart to heart talk and exchange of views was indulged in. The conference lasted for more than onehalf hour.

Postmaster General Hays Meets the Representatives of Employees

The Postmaster General made a deep impression on his visitors by the earnest expression of his views regarding his plans for putting a heart into the service, to restore its efficiency, and to win the hearty cooperation of the post office employees. Mr. Hays voiced the sentiment that the one most important element of any service is the spirit of the men engaged in it. "The battle is won in the heart of the soldier," said Mr. Hays, "and 300,000 men are engaged in this enterprise. We are going to have 300,000 partners. The Post Office Establishment is not an institution for profit or politics; it is an institution for service and it is the President's purpose that every effort shall be made to improve that service."

It is the hope of the Postmaster General to put a heart into the service, and to make the men and women feel they are a part of the work, as he realizes that there is a certain kind of hearty service that money cannot buy.

The visit of the representatives of the employees to the Postmaster General was extremly satisfactory, and we trust that it is but the beginning of a number of meetings wherein the plans and policy of the Department for the development of the service and questions affecting the welfare of the employees can be discussed. In this simple way a mutual understanding and confidence will be had which will insure hearty cooperation between the officials and the working force and will be helpful to all concerned.

It appears, therefore, from what information we have at hand, that many postmasters and post office officials need resort to various devices to handle the accumulated mails in altogether insufficient office and work-room space. Sometimes nearby buildings have been requisitioned; again postoffice basements have been utilized for work rooms and again galleries up against the ceiling in the main office floors have been constructed and letter carriers' cases have been moved to these crowded and obviously unpleasant and insanitary quarters.

It is from this latter innovation that the greatest complaint has come; complaint which on its face bears the stamp of merit. Naturally the atmosphere in such galleries is close and oppressive; naturally too, the temperature is much higher than on the work-room floors immediately below and of course the added labor entailed in carting heavy mail up difficult stairways leading to the galleries, constitutes a weighty burden. The most serious phase of the case, however, lies in the susceptibility of workers in these cramped quarters, with its overheated and impure air, to contract colds and quite often to bronchial, throat and lung trouble. We do not speak by the book on this matter because we have only a limited amount of data on hand, but from what information filters in the situation has become acute in many offices. conditions are as serious as indications lead one to believe, nothing short of a sweeping and comprehensive building program will properly remedy the situation. However, this is one of the problems that will doubtless claim the early attention of Postmaster General Hays. Then, too, a joint Congressional Commission appointed to investigate conditions in the service, aided by a corps of efficiency experts, have been conducting such investigations for the past few months.

If

It appears, therefore, that at an early date, we will have more light on this situation. It is a matter that deserves thoughtful attention.

After the retirement act went into effect August 20, 1920, a large number of letter carriers and postoffice clerks who were retired under its provisions were reemployed as temporary employees and paid 60 cents an hour. A question arose as to the authority to reemploy these men who were drawing annuities and the Comptroller of the Treasury delivered an official opinion on December 8, 1920, in which he held that such reemployment was prohibited by the retirement act.

On January 28, 1921, Representative Moores, of Indiana, introduced a bill H. R. 15934, to reimburse the employees for the money which had been refunded to the Treasury upon the ruling of the Comptroller of the Treasury. The bill was favorably reported to the House on February 8, and taken up for consideration on March 3. On a roll call the measure was passed by a vote of 284 in favor to 30 against. The bill was reported in the Senate on the same day and referred to the Committee on Civil Service and Retrenchment. Owing to the legislative jam and the limited amount of time the bill failed of passage in the Senate.