As there was a long period of inactivity and stagnation between the period of the cruel dismissals in 1874 and the introduction of the Fawcett scheme, so among the letter-sorters there followed another such period after 1881. This time the period of stagnation lasted nearly seven years. During that seven years or more, the service had relapsed into much about the same condition as prevailed before Mr. Fawcett took office. But for the slightly better rate of pay, the increase on the maximum and an increased holiday for the senior men only, the state of things was little better, if any, than twenty years previous. The men had no organisation to safeguard their interests, and consequently were more or less at the mercy of minor officials who very often did not scruple to take advantage of their helpless condition. That the indoor staffs on the postal side of the service should have drifted into this, that their very lack of combination should have courted the over-zealous attentions of the minor authorities, is not to be wondered at. Still less is it to be wondered at that their interests were neglected; that privileges were lost sight of where they were not openly filched from them; and that sporadic and individual attempts to obtain redress remained unnoticed and went unheard. The monotony of this period was occasionally broken only by the appearance of some criticism of Post-Office administration, or of the petty tyranny of the lower officials, appearing in one or two papers which pretended to have espoused the cause of the men. Two of these papers circulated principally in the gutter. One was the notorious _Town Talk_, which from time to time printed several ably-written articles on Post-Office treatment of its employés. Had they appeared elsewhere than in its too-spicy pages, they might have commanded more attention and carried more conviction of their sincerity. Another was an appropriately-named print called the _Rag_, sold at a halfpenny, and with which for the brief period of its existence there was associated a lately-resigned sorter, who, from a knowledge of his own cruel experiences in the General Post-Office, either wrote or inspired the bitter and vulgar paragraphs which, with pointed personality, were aimed for the most part at the minor supervisors, who were represented as acting the part of bullies and petty tyrants towards their helpless underlings. The _Rag_ and _Town Talk_, however, came to an untimely end, and, so far as their peculiar advocacy of the postal cause went, perhaps it was as well. The Post-Office employés were in such an oppressed state that they were ready to welcome any criticism almost that was supposed to be aimed at their taskmasters. But though such criticisms were read with some amount of interest by many, they gratified very few, while with many they disgusted more than they interested.