The New York herald., 1851-12-23

nous accounts and the labor ana trouble 81
their settlement, are dispensed with. The saving in
clerk hire win be very great and the business in all re-
spsets be better done The accounts be easily
checked when they confined exclusively to the mail
ing receiving oce and the of Letters through
the mails in Of oes be made with far
tainty than an now The large SSss wi G object on &C.
Of 1t will in great measure cease ON being relieved OF
the distribution work The force employed on it can be
dispensed with The labor Of mailing the matter origi
mating the large offices will doubtless be greater than
now, mails will have to be divided into greater num-
ber Of PACKAGES but this increase w be small IN com
tnued. II clerk-hre is necessary than what the
delivery commissions will pay for it will be better and
safr to submit the matter to the Postmaster to
order such additional clerk and for them out Of
the general fund, than incur the liability 60 the
abuses which ycu so well know the present system Is
subject to.
When the reduction of the rates in 1915 was con-
templated, the Postmaster General issued an order
allowing but one distribution The mailing post
master, under this order, was required to mail his
letter to the distributing Office nearest to the office
addressed. Now this was an extraordinary require
ment; yet the expense and delay of distribution was
such that it seemed to have been absolutely neces
sary to justify reduction of the rates of postage.
postmaster in the interior of Maine, for example,
receiving letter addressed to place in Missouri,
or any other State, was required to designate the
proper distribution; ard how he to do it? What
was the point? The Postmaster General, to be
sure, caused some printed instructions to be pre-.
pared, but they were, in their very nature, COM
plcsted thatfew could act upon them, and for this
reds0n-tnat a Ql5trlDutlOu Whlcu WOulu De proper
for mail matter emanatipg from the East would
net be proper for matter coming from the West,
the South, or the North, because it depends upon
the circumstances of the route, as the length,
the mode of conveyance, time OF arrival.
and nature of connection with depending
routes, all of which exposed to variations with
the change of seasons, the opening and closing of
pavg ation the completion Of railways, Sc; SO that,
although the nearest distributor to the office ad-
dressed, might be the proper under ordinary
yet from the nature of the routes,
a distributor inter mt date on the route, even
nearest to the mailing Office might prove to be the
proper in many instances. Suppose letter
mailed in North or South Carolina, for Columbia,
Pa, which is the Susquehanna river nearly equi-
distant from Baltimore and Philadelphia the mail
ing postmaster would be required to send the letter
to Philadelphia for distribution. Whereas, it
should be ARE sted at Baltimore, by which means it
would save the one hundred miles travel between
that city and Philadelphia, and reach its destins-
ton one day earlier Suppose, however, that the
or to Pottsvlle, the mailing postmaster would pro-
badly send it to Baltimore; whereas, in this case,
it should be sent to Philadelphia, for although it
might very properly proceed from Baltimore, via
vile, yet, if espatched from Philadelphia, it would
Giverge from the Reading Railroad and re esch its
destination several hours sooner.
AS might have been xpected, this order involved
the mail service in the greatest confusion. 1t Is
characteristic Of people who enjoy so many glo-
rious privileges under government, to forbear;
forbearance is. indeed, virtue in our countrymen,
and they exhibit it daily and continually in bear
ing the ills and abuses Of our post system. The
abuses generally of q small char actef-that is,
they involve but q small amount, though much
may indirectly depsnd upon them. TIE RESPONSE
biity is distributed amongst such Large number
of gents, that no ore appears directly at fault
hence people rather bear the ills they have, than
fee to Others that they know not Of"
The distribution service, while it delays the mat
ter as already stated, also presents opportunities
avip moi ahs citing
the mail. But, after ALL the delay and the errors
committed BY mailing postmaster, what renders
the system supremely obnoxious IL ninpossible for
them, with the means placed in their hands oy the
fectly impossible-pay it is absurd to expect them
TO do t. During the time that this order remained
in force, upwards Of three hundred letters were
received daily at the New York Post Once, erro-
neousy sent there for distribution. like number
was pr robably received at Baltimore and Philadel-
phis, and proportional number at the other dis
tr butoIs, about fifty in all. Supposing one hun
dred letters daily were thus sent to EACH We would
have Just 80, coo, which, multiplied by the number
OF days in the year, would give Is 10000 Rating
the postage Mt an average OF four cents, 1t amounts
to $3.50, ,0O0, upon which the commissions at IL per
cent would amount to over one hundred thousand
dollars This does not Of course include tAe blanks
and wrapping paper consumed, which would swell
the amount into q still greater sum. Now, this
enormous amount is not only lost, but under the
oIder of the Postmaster General a register had to
be kept Of all such blunders and the mailing post
masters notified Of their mistakes, failing to OBJ
serve which, they were liable to be reported to the
Department.
Now, let me inquire, Why is such folly as this
allowed in one Of the most important arms Of the
goverrment-a branch in which all are more or
less Interested Why has this abuse been suffered
year after yesrl Simply because, as have before
stated, the individual teest felt in the subject is
so small, the responsibility shared by so many Sc
cret hands, and the stupendous machinery at work
so complicated, that few persons are willing, II
they really felt themselves competent, to make
full exposition to excite the spirit OF reform The
Department, from a very Insignificant beginning,
has of late years grown into such dimensions aud
extraordinary i'm portance that it has forgotten to
change its system Of discipline. The evils, there
fore, which originated with IL, "have grown with
riyeyed and dove tailed into the whole system, that
there is really no other alternative for improvement
than the complete demolition Of the monster, WITH
all its imperfections on its head
Mr.. Hail, the present Postmaster General, like
seyeral Of his predecessors, expermented for some
time with this distribution scheme, in the hope, pro-
bs bly,, that he would be successful, and therefore
mOitslize himself By creating permanent, cheap
postage system. He, however, has met the COM
mon fs,e scr afftr straining every nerve TO main.
tain single dstribuuv.-af vainly issuns orders
and cir euars, ard pronunc mentos, solemnly en-
ioining it-he suddenly wheeled about and ordered
double distribution-probably finding ", upon the
whole, less expensive, although caleulated 70 70.
tara tue trhusl Ol h1tttrs w uNt uoWg
therefore, all the expense and delay Of two dstri
buttons, with many Of the evils Of single distribu-
ton Without going into details to show the pro-
babe cost Of this branch Of the service, will put
il down. (all things direct and indirect, considered
a. hur hundred thousand dollars per annum.
Now, propose not only TO save all this amount,
but Ir5 pose to secure direct mailing, without de-
lay, without overhauling, without postbillins to
distributors ! consider the plan proposed BY
Major Hobbie TOO cOmplicated-in fact, It is no
bet n the Iresent 81 STEM except that IL saves
lOstbn.iyg bu; IL will not save money, nor
W.. u I, secure celerity in transmission The re-
form must either be G"mplete erd thorough, or II
will be no reform at all Wat propose is to mail
eircc.; and now, lc. ne skow how this 70 to be
done.
The General PCst Ofise Ia the only place in the
nited states where the details OF our trsnsporta-
ton service, and all its es.scomtant braG6nss are
understood. And Why Because 1t is the imme.
diaie and parsmta,t business Of this ofse to keep
al the affairs of Ae Department in systematic or
Ger. To enable - 10 do this, 10 prescrises the
Nc Of Offices ascertains their exact 9eogra-