POSTAL SERVICE. 



239 



postal indebtedness, the control of the registry and 

 special-delivery systems, and the issue to postmasters 

 of postage-stamps, stamped envelopes, and other forms 

 of stamped paper. The duty of the Auditor is to 

 audit and settle quarterly the accounts of postmasters 

 and other postal officers, and to certify for payment 

 the several classes of postal indebtedness. The duties 

 of the other officers named are indicated by their des- 

 ignations. The number of persons employed in the 

 postal service on the 1st of March, 1887 (not including 

 assistants in post-offices of the third and fourth classes, 

 and employes of mail contractors on star routes), was 

 as follows : 



In Department proper at Washington 600 



In Auditor's office at Washington 404 



Postmasters of all classes 54,774 



Assistant Postmasters, first ami second-classes 384 



Clerks in post-offices of the first and second-classes... 5,781 



Messenger*, janitors, and laborers in post-offices 222 



Carriers at free-delivery offices 6,206 



Post-office inspectors and inspectors' clerks 11!:! 



Contractors and sub-contractors, star service 14,53.3 



Contractors and sub-contractors, steamboat service... 126 



Special carriers 2,4.' 



Mail messengers 5,412 



Employes in railway-mail service 4,760 



Miscellaneous 33 



Total _ 94,790 



About 5 per cent, of this number should be added to bring 

 the statement up to June 30, 1888. 



PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS. 



Among the many things that have been urged for 

 the enlargement and improvement of the postal service 

 of the United States these are the most important : 



1. The postal service, it is said, is incomplete with- 

 out the telegraph. Every other great nation lias had 

 to attach to its postal system this important medium 

 of transmitting intelligence, and the United States. 

 doubtless, will eventually do so too. If it is to be done 

 at all, however, it ought to be done soon ; for the only 

 really equitable mode of beginning such a service 

 woufd be to buy up all private lines of telegraph, and 

 every year, of course, is adding to their value. The 

 Postmasters General, who have advocated the adop- 

 tion of the telegraph, are Cave Johnson, in 1845 and 

 1846, under whose administration it was, by the aid of 

 the government, brought into existence ; Alex. W. 

 Randall, in 1868; Jno. A. J. Creswell, in 1871 and 

 187:2; Horace Maynard, in 1880; T. O. Howe, in 

 1882; Walter Q. Gresham, in 1883; and Don M. 

 Dickinson, in 1888. 



'2. It is said, too, that the postal service should in- 

 clude a system of savings banks. All over the world, 

 wherever this system exists, the patronage of it proves 

 that the people desire a perfectly safe means of invest- 

 ment for small savings, even though the rate of in- 

 terest be trifling. In support of the proposition the 

 claim is made that a considerable part of the national 

 debt might be paid off by the money deposited in 

 postal savings banks ; or, to speak more accurately, by 

 a proper system of receiving and applying the deposits 

 in such banks a great part of the present bonded debt 

 might be transmuted into a savings-bank debt, held by 

 a greater number of the people, and bearing a much 

 lower rate of interest. The great importance, too, to 

 the government, of the possession of a large amount 

 of ready money in times of national peril or financial 

 stringency, such as would be available under a pos- 

 tal savings-bank system, is manifest. 



3. Again, it is said that the present method of 

 compensating railroad companies for transporting the 

 mails should be changed the government now paying 

 too much for the service. The items, at least, (if 

 "postal-car service" and "special facilities on rail- 

 roads," which now amount annually to about 

 $000,00l), should be unknown to the government, 

 ledger. That is to say, the railroad companies should I 



provide, without any addition to the statutory pay for 

 mail transportation, whatever cars are necessary, so 

 constructed as to afford the best possible facilities for 

 postal clerks in the distribution and receipt of the 

 mails, and they should transport these at whatever 

 rate of speed the Postmaster-General might at any 

 time deem necessary, just as is done under the law in 

 England. 



4. It is urged, with reason, that the civil service 

 reform should be extended so as to take under its pro- 

 tection every employe 1 of the postal service not merely 

 the letter-carrier and the clerk, but employes above 

 and below these grades ; that every official in the ser- 

 vice should have a secure tenure of office co-existent 

 with efficiency and good behavior ; and that an equita- 

 ble system of promotions upon competitive examina- 

 tion should prevail, together with one for the imposi- 

 tion of fines and penalties for improper conduct or 

 inefficient service. No person under such a business- 

 like mode of administering the department should 

 ever be taken into its service except after such an ex- 

 amination, to which any man or woman of good char- 

 acter and sound physique should be eligible, and no 

 one should be dismissed except for cause. In this 

 way the service would secure and retain the best talent 

 and character ; and instead of its breeding an official 

 aristocracy, as some over-scrupulous statesnien have 

 apprehended, it would originate the purest kind of an 

 official democracy. 



5. As soon as postal business shall have sufficiently 

 increased to allow of it the present absurd distinctions 

 in the rates of postage on mail matter should end. 

 Everything admissible to the mails at all with the 

 exception, perhaps, of newspapers and periodicals, 

 which might, as at present, be granted better terms 

 than other matter should be placed on the same foot- 

 ing. The lowest rate of postage compatible with pub- 

 lic interests should prevail, and it should be no more 

 on a letter than on anything else. One cent for every 

 two ounces would be a rate simple and sensible, and 

 it would, no doubt, be ultimately profitable. 



6. The government should, of course, as the law 

 now requires, exercise a complete monopoly in the .r- 

 riage of letters for pay. Private letter expresses, dis- 

 trict telegraph companies, and the like, which in many 

 of the large cities now invade the rights of the govern- 

 ment, should be made to (jive way. It is admitted, 

 with justice, that the exercise of the government's ex- 

 clusive right in this respect should carry with it such 

 efficient service as to render any private competition 

 unnecessary. 



7. _ It is further insisted that all the mails for deliv- 

 ery iu the great cities should be separated as far as 

 possible during their transit. For example, the mails 

 that go into New York by rail should all be made up 

 en route, so as to reach every postal station and, for 

 that matter, every letter-carrier without the necessity 

 of separation on their arrival at the post-office, and 

 therefore in the shortest possible time. So the mails 

 that pass from one part of the city to another, and 

 the mails which arrive at and depart from the post- 

 office and stations, should be carried to and fro, not by 

 wagon service, as at present, but by underground 

 steam conveyance. Less expense, greater rapidity of 

 transit, and later hours for closing the mails would 

 thus be secured. 



8. The free-delivery system should be greatly ex- 

 tended. If, as can, perhaps, be demonstrated, free 

 delivery is profitable and desirable where there is a 

 population of 10,000, there is no reason why it should 

 not be profitable in a place containing 5000 inhabi- 

 tants ; or, to put it differently, if it be proper to 

 introduce it where half a dozen carriers are needed, it 

 would be proper to extend it to every place where a 

 single carrier could be economically employed. Indeed, 

 in thickly settled parts of the country, the system of 

 nml deliveries might be adopted, the same as exists 

 in England, France, and Germany the carrier taking 



