CHAPTER II.
WHAT IS REQUIRED OF CANDIDATES.
Clerks and carriers must be citizens of the United States, physically fit for the service and temperate. They must be more than 18 years of age and not more than 45, stand 5 feet 4 inches in height in bare feet and weigh not less than 125 pounds without overcoat and hat. Some applicants who know they are below the weight foolishly try to secrete about their person, beneath the soles of their feet, or in their hair weighty materials to make up the deficiency. Not one in a hundred ever succeeds in fooling the lynx-eyed examiners, but those who try, do succeed in getting themselves blackballed and are debarred from taking examinations in the future. Female applicants are not required to be of any specific height or weight. The age limits are waived in the cases of persons honorably discharged from the military or naval service by reason of disability resulting from wounds received or sickness incurred in the line of duty, but they are waived only for such persons as have been physically disabled in the way mentioned.
Physical Conditions.
Eye glasses are permitted during the examination, but very serious defective sight is sufficient to cause rejection. As also are defective hearing, or speech; persons blind in one eye; one-armed, one-handed, or one-legged persons, or those having crippled arms or legs, or those suffering from asthma or hernia. Deaf mutes and persons with defective speech may, however, be appointed to the positions of mail clerk, distributor, and directing and forwarding clerk. Applicants also are excluded from examinations for any of the following reasons:
That he is, on the date of the examination, under the minimum or over the maximum age limitation.
That he has any of the following defects: Insanity, tuberculosis, paralysis, epilepsy, blindness, loss of both arms or both legs, loss of arm and leg, badly crippled or deformed hands, arms, feet, or legs, uncompensated calvular disease of the heart, locomotor ataxia, cancer, Bright’s disease, diabetes, or is otherwise physically disqualified for the service which he seeks.
That he is addicted to the habitual use of intoxicating beverages to excess.