What, however, are the facts? The rate of wages of the lowest class of letter-carriers in London ranges from 18_s._ to 25_s._ a week. Each man (who must necessarily begin _under 21 years of age_) commences at the former sum, and steadily advances at the rate of a shilling more each year, till he attains the maximum of 25_s._ This is for the lowest class, be it remembered: but besides the chances of rising into a higher class of carrier, he has the prospect, realized by many in the course of two or three years, of being promoted to the higher grade of sorter. If, as some have been, he be appointed to the corps of travelling sorters, he will nearly double his income at a bound. But not to dwell on chances of promotion, the letter-carrier, in addition to his wages, is allowed to receive Christmas-boxes; and many thus receive, as the public must know well, most substantial additions to their income. He is supplied with two suits of clothes, one for summer, and the other for winter wear. If ill, he has medical attendance and medicine gratis. When unfitted for work, he may retire upon a pension for which he has not now to pay a farthing; and during service, if he insure his life for the benefit of his family, the Post-Office will assist him to pay his premiums, by allowing him 20 per cent. on all his payments. Every year he is allowed a fortnight's holiday, without any deduction from his pay; many spare hours each day he may devote to other pursuits, for if, when at work at the office, his hours of duty exceed eight hours daily, he is at full liberty to ask for investigation and redress. In short, a London letter-carrier is in as good a position, relatively, as many skilled artisans, without, as regards his pay, being subject to any of the contingencies of weather, trade, and misfortune, which make the wages of other workmen occasionally so precarious, and without having had to go through any expensive apprenticeship or preparation for his calling, as in the case of most of the numerous handicrafts of life.[204]
Finally, it cannot truly be said that the Post-Office institution is not moving with the age, but is as it used to be, intrenched in the traditions of the past. Different from other departments, with their undeviatingly narrow routine, the Post-Office is managed with that enlightened policy which openly invites suggestion and criticism; nay, it goes further, and offers rewards to persons, either in its employ or otherwise, who may devise any plan for accelerating its business. Post-Office work is of such a nature that the Post-Office establishment admits of constant improvement as well as constant expansion. The authorities publicly intimate that they will be glad to receive clear and correct information respecting any faulty arrangements, promising that such information shall have the best attention of the practical officers of the department. At the same time, they take the opportunity to urge upon John Bull the practice of patience, reminding him of what he is often inclined to forget, that changes in machinery so extensive and delicate must be made carefully, and only after the most mature thought and fullest investigation. "The Post-Office," says Mr. Mathew D. Hill, the respected Recorder of Birmingham,[205] "no longer assumes to be perfect, and its conductors have renounced their claims to infallibility. Suggested improvements, if they can sustain the indispensable test of rigid scrutiny, are welcomed, and not, as of old, frowned away. The Department acts under the conviction that to thrive it must keep ahead of all rivals; that it must discard the confidence heretofore placed in legal prohibitions, and seek its continuance of prosperity only by deserving it."