common welfare, do represent that thought. If there are any men who have the right to demand the care of their fellows they are the

men.

In that wonderful address our friend spoke of the Government of the United States as a great family. Now, what is the law of family, if it is not this: From each according to his ability and to each according to his need. That is the thought that I want to leave with the people here. I want to see that wonderful service extended, because upon the machinery of transportation and transmission and upon all these men engaged in work under the postal service more than upon anything else does the general economic as well as social and political development of this country depend.

So said the Postal Commission of 1907. That is the thought that I want to leave with you to-day. We are all together here, all bound to help each other. That is decent, that is human; anything less than that is inhuman. Life, after all, is not so much what we get out of the world as what we put in it and what we do in it. When we apply that wonderful principle to the great machinery of transportation and transmission, when we break down the barriers. that separate the man from the Nation, then we will have a great scheme of world-wide cooperation under which this old warring earth of ours will become what it should be a bit of heaven in which everyone of us will be a cooperator, giving to others all that is in him.

My 70 years of life have taught me that every human being I have met is my superior in some line of thought or of action. In other words, each one of us needs the other; each one of us is the supplement or the complement of the other in this old earth of oursevery part of it-by reason of differences of soil and climate. Each one is a complement to the other, fit to help the other. There is no machinery that has ever been devised that has so much in it for the common welfare as this wonderful, wonderful Postal Service.

As I think of it sometimes I remember that it was an American Postmaster General who suggested a United States of the World away back in the days of New England. It was a German Postmaster General that gave to us our flat rate letter post service. I have met these men time and again in my movements over the country, and I have learned to love them and to respect them. The least we can do for them at this time is to pass a bill of this character. I believe that if we can reach a point where we will pay to the least man the highest possible return, sharing with all the common benefits of this whole world, we can bring about such a condition. of things that each of us will realize that competition is war and that cooperation is life. It is surely time that this country should take this course.

One word more and I am through. To refrain from using the powers of government for the advancement of the people, said President John Quincy Adams, would be treachery to the most sacred of trusts. I think that it would be treachery to the most sacred of trusts if we failed to at least pass this bill, or a similar bill, at this session of Congress. To do so would bring hope and confidence to these men.

What is it that makes officers of the Army able to do such wonderful work as Goethals did at Panama? It is the fact that they can

give themselves altogether to the common good without fear, without hought of themselves. Fear is one of the most awful things in this world, and by joining together we can abolish fear from this planet. Gentlemen, I thank you.

STATEMENT OF MR. E. C. YEATS, REPRESENTING THE BROTHERHOOD OF RAILWAY POSTAL CLERKS AND THE NEW YORK & PITTSBURGH ASSOCIATION OF RAILWAY POSTAL CLERKS.

Mr. YEATS. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I desire to call attention to one thing that I think was probably omitted by Mr. Ryan yesterday. During my 16 years' service, and particularly during the last few years, there has been brought closely and clearly to my attention the necessity for some form of retirement for superannuated employees in the Railway Mail Service. I have in mind several particular instances of old men who are still serving in that capacity and who are reluctant about dropping out of the service, although they know full well that their ability is such that they can not continue to meet the efficiency requirements that the Post Office Department is now laying down and has been laying down in the past two years.

One particular fact that stands out clearly in my mind is that the men in the Railway Mail Service do not have a parallel opportunity with the post-office clerks and the letter carriers. In the Railway Mail Service the runs are usually arranged on long heavy lines, and in many instances they aggregate from 15 to 18 hours of consecutive work. In some instances, I believe, they are even greater than that. A case which I have particularly in mind is that of a clerk in charge who is now in his sixty-fifth year. After 38 years of faithful and efficient service he is obliged either to drop out entirely and live on his savings which he has accumulated or to take a reduction and go on some side line. A very natural spirit of pride causes this clerk to feel very keenly his present condition, after so many years of service, and after having come up from a pioneer in the Railway Mail Service to the position of clerk in charge of one of the trunk-line services. This particular individual feels his position keenly and is particularly anxious that some legislation be placed upon the statute books at this time that will give him a fair amount of money for maintenance. I desire to call especial attention to the fact that in this branch of the service it is not possible to take a position of a less important class or kind. It is necessary, as I say, for this man to keep his work up as he has done in the past 10 or 20 years. The nature of the work in the Railway Mail Service is such that an unusually large part of the work is done at night. A railway postal clerk can not go to work at reasonable hours during the day and terminate his work after certain reasonable hours and get his night's rest. His rest is entirely disarranged, and that, of course, works a great hardship upon the men, especially the older ones.

I do not know that I can add anything further to what has already been said. Evidence of great value has been submitted, and it is not my intention to burden the record with anything further. I desired only to impress some of these facts upon the committee. I thank you, gentlemen.

STATEMENT OF MR. JOHN J. DEVINY, NATIONAL SECRETARY NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CIVIL-SERVICE EMPLOYEES.

Mr. DEVINY. We have an association with 280 branches throughout the entire United States, and one of the purposes of our association is to secure the enactment of some legislation that will solve the old-age problem in the civil service. In keeping with that idea I am here this morning to heartily indorse the principle involved in this bill. I am sure that the results will be gratifying both to the employees in the Postal Service and to the taxpayers of the country. The bill is really in the interest of efficiency, and real efficiency means real

economy.

One of the bad features of the present civil-service system is the fact that a large number of the more efficient employees use Government work only as a stepping-stone to something better. They enter the Government service, but have no incentive to remain, because of the lack of opportunity for increased pay, promotion, and so on, and the lack of salary that will permit them to provide for old age. The result is that a large number of employees in the Government service are resigning to enter more lucrative and more promising positions outside.

It is estimated that during a recent eight-year period there were some 80,000 separations from the service. Most of those separations were due to the resignations of young men.

The principle of this bill has been indorsed by at least 11 State legislatures, by hundreds of city councils, chambers of commerce, and civic organizations of all kinds in all parts of the United States. I am sure that its passage by Congress will meet with the hearty approval of the rank and file of the people of the country. There is need for legislation of this kind; there is need for it in all branches of the Government service, but especially in the Postal Service.

I am reminded of an incident that occurred in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where I am employed. We had an old plate printer over there who had worked for the Government for over 50 years. He had devoted his skill and talent to the printing of the currency of the country and to the development of that high art in which we have attained such perfection in the production of the securities of this Government. After 52 years of service, worn out in body, his hands turned in and gnarled and knotted with rheumatism and old age, he was compelled to give up his position. At the end of 52 years of faithful and efficient service all that he received was a letter of commendation from the Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

I am sure that this legislation is humane; it is just and it is necessary. There is one point I wanted to make in connection with the matter of resignations. I think that the establishment of such a system as this will inure to the advantage of the Government in decreasing the number of resignations to which I referred.

The English civil service is probably the most efficient in all the world, and for some considerable length of time they have had in operation a retirement system. They say there are few resignations in the English civil service, for the reason that most English Government employees take up Government work as a career, and the result is that the Government itself derives the benefit of the most

; efficient, the most loyal, and the most patriotic service that citizens can render.

I wish to say that I take particular pleasure in indorsing this bill, and I sincerely hope that it will be acted upon favorably by this committee.

Mr. BEAKES. You have a branch of your organization in Detroit? Mr. DEVINY. Yes, sir.

Mr. BEAKES. I noticed in some newspaper of Detroit a statement that during last year about 60 per cent of the civil-service employees there had resigned. Do you know anything about that?

Mr. DEVINY. No, sir: I do not know anything about that, but I would not be surprised at all.

Mr. BEAKES. It occurred to me that there would probably be a larger number of resignations proportionately in Detroit on account of the automobile industry there.

Mr. DEVINY. Yes: that is probably true; and that applies particularly to Detroit because of the Ford establishment and other firms, where, I am told, conditions are as near ideal as it is possible to make them. Opportunities outside of the Government service are also more attractive than those within the service. I know from my residence in Washington that a large number of young men are constantly leaving the service to accept better positions on the outside. Mr. GRIFFIN. What would you say is the percentage of resignations?

Mr. DEVINY. There were 80,000 separations during the eight-year period to which I have referred. There are approximately 400,000 civil-service employees. I understand that the greater proportion of separations during the eight-year period was through the resignation course. So you can see that the percentage is quite large. I know that in my own bureau, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, a large number of the young men are qualifying themselves for better positions by going to night school and in other ways preparing themselves.

Mr. GRIFFIN. Mr. Chairman, I desire to incorporate in the hearing a letter of invitation sent by me to First Assistant Postmaster General Roper, requesting him to appear at the hearing and submit any views that he may have upon the pending bill, and his answer thereto. I request also that pages 13 to 15, inclusive, of Postmaster General Roper's article on the rewards of the superannuated be printed. Mr. BEAKES. That article is a Senate document, is it not?

Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes; it is a Senate document. It has been published as a Senate document, and was printed for the use of the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads in the Sixty-third Congress, third session.

Hon. DANIEL C. ROPER,

APRIL 4, 1916.

First Assistant Postmaster General, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR GENERAL: Inclosed herewith is copy of H. R. 6915, known as the indefinite leave of absence bill.

The subcommittee having this bill in charge will have a meeting on Friday, April 7, 1916, at 10 a. m., to listen to arguments in favor of this measure. I will appreciate it if you can furnish me with any statistical data showing the number of employees 60 years of age or more who have served for a period in excess of 25 years. If you have any views to submit on this bill the committee will be pleased to have you attend the meeting on Friday morning to express them, or you can submit a statement in writing if you prefer. With best wishes, I am, DANIEL J. GRIFFIN.

Faithfully, yours,
41532-16-7

Hon. DANIEL J. GRIFFIN,

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT,
FIRST ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL,
Washington, April 6, 1916.

House of Representatives.

MY DEAR MR. GRIFFIN: In reply to your letter of the 4th instant with regard to H. R. 6915 (copy of which was not inclosed), I wish to invite your attention to pages 3388 to 3397, inclusive, of the Congressional Record for February 22, 1916, which gives a list of the letter carriers according to grades, age, and length of service. The attached pamphlet, pages 13-15, gives all the information available at the department with regard to the clerks in post offices. While the number of years in the service is not given in the case of clerks, it is safe to assume that practically all of them have been in the service for as long as 20 years.

Attention is called to the fact that these tables carry only the statistics of employees in the field service of the bureau of the First Assistant, and do not include the Railway Mail Service or the rural carriers.

Sincerely, yours,

DANIEL C. ROPER,

First Assistant Postmaster General.

Age and salary of all assistant postmasters over 60 years of age at first and second class post offices, Sept. 24, 1914.

Age and salary of all clerks over 60 years of age at first and second class post offices Sept. 24, 1914.