The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1854-12-15
FRIDAY MORNING .::::::::::::DEC. Is
urPo.smas,er General.


FRIDAY MORNING .::::::::::::DEC. 10.
Our POssmaster General.
There has never been Postmaster Gen.
eral more unpo ou ar than Mr. Campbell, the
present p. NJ. General. Although doubtless
a man of ability, he seems to possess none
Of the peculiar qualifications necessary for
the Office he has SO long filed to the sacr-
fee of most important interests and TO his
own discredit. He is close and narrow mind
ed in his vies 8, jealous in watching tribes,
but negligent the consideration OF great
evils. He has never been able, no more
than the President, to see over the noun
tans into this western land, study eur inter-
ests, remedy glaring evils, and give proper
response to the voice of the people when
they have loudly called for certain improve
ments in mail carriage, &c.
At the head of the very spirit Of progress,
as this country is, and progressing in ali the
elements of prosperity, and claiming first
rank among nations, we are still far behind
England and several European governments
in our postal arrangements. There is great
room for Improvement in our postal system,
yet in the Postmaster Generals report, in
stead of recommendations to improve the
system, he is more intent upon remedyin ing
lesser evils, and providing some way Of in.
-creasing the revenue Of his particular de-
partment. There appears to be one bug.
bear with Mr.. Campbell. to carry out which
he is ready to sacrifice oil the desires and ac-
commodations of the people-and that is,
that the Post Office Department must pay
for ITSELF No matter il we have flush
treasury, and the people are determined they
yet the Department must pay for itself. To
make IL do this, he has once recommen ded
an increase Of postage on letters, and the
bill was accordingly introduced by Mr.. Oh g..
Of Ohio. 1t was put doon by Congress, and
"put down. by the people, and MIR. Olds
himself was "put down" by most inglori-
Gus defeat. Now Mr. Campbell, in his last
report, recommends an increase on the pos
tsge of newspapers, which is probably quite
as Objectionable to the people as his previous
Recommendation. The whole amount OF
postage on newspapers and pamphlets
amounted during the last year to little
over 100000. Now we resume postage
on newspapers could very well be dispensed
with altogether. 1t is serious iniiclon
on the people, on publishers, and on even
the postmasters themselves. We do not
think there is any postmaster Of large
town or city, but who would gladly relin-
quish all the emolumenis Of this postage to
be rid Of the thousand vexations and the i'm.
mense labor attendant upon its collection
He 10 compelled to keep an account with
subscribers and with the Department, and
there 10 more labor attendant upon this than
the public ure aware, while large amount
Of postage actually de must be lost. Let
public information be pubic-let newspr-
pers be free-and let the Treasury continue
to make up the deficiencies of the Post Or.
fee Department.
Mr.. Campbell is, we think, unnecessarily
alarming himself on the subject Of the rev.
enue Of his Department. tits by his own
report over 90 per cent. what il was last
year, while the expenses have been but ~
per cent. more this year than last. The
present system appears to be working well
enough q, far as dollars and cents are con-
cerned. Let the Pos master General divert
his attention to carrying out the system in
the way it should be, instead Of spending
sleepless nights in efforts to increase its rev.
enue. He has failed in one attempt to renew
an old tax upon the people. and he will fail
in his present effort to bring US back 10
newspaper postage to the old law of 1925
Let him look to that monstrous abuse called
the "ranking privilege" from which the
people receive no direct benefit, but which
is curse on the whole Department, and
disgrace to the country. Let him seek some
remedy for the continual losses of money
which are of daily occurrence through trans
mission by mail. Let him study the postal
laws Of other countries, and see If some ideas
cannot be CLEANED from them, worthy the
attention of cur Congress and the adoption
Of our people. But let him not seek to i'm
pose larger tax upon printed intelligence.