New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-01-10

"a carrier of letters and papers; one that goes at
/" stated times TO convey the mail or dispatches.
Tie same eminent authority adds that i" this sense
also denotes fixedness" But this is not all, for
there is still another definition" post, Latin
proposition, signifying after" Such are the au-
thertc meanings of the word, and it must be graft
fvng 70 the curious student of pathological precision
10 know that tie institution, as it exists in these
United States. perfectly cmbOdies and eXempllhes
them all So much, at least, is clear from the
recent Annual Report of our Master-General OF
the Post In that luminous document we see that
the establishment, over which he presides, is %
carrier of letters and papers," a type of fixed
ness" showing no signs of progress; and GER
tainly great way latter " or behind the times.
We have already commented upon some of the
positive faults of this Report Its sins of omission
are, however, equally glazing and far more blame
worthy, and those We now propose to notice.
In the first place, it advises no amelioratlon what
ever in our wretched postal system. In fact dur
ing the whole period of Judge Campbells term of
offce-nearly three years-he has neither recon-
mended to Congress- nor carried out in his Official
capacity ole single improvement of any conse-
quence He has, however by way of com
pensation procured the passage of several laws
seriously detrimental both TO the business OF
the country and 10 an efficient postal service.
He clams indeed to have done something to-
ward bringing about better distribution scheme
at distributing Offices. We will give him his due,
and acknowledge that he has made the plan OF dis
tribution more complete and little more sys-
tematic, but it is merely an extension of an old
plan. 1t cannot claim originality He has also
procured the passage Of law OBTAINING, Opeaing
and destroying all letters that happen to be mailed
without payment of postage, by which means one
million two hundred thousand letters annually are
prevented from reaching their proper destinations
This same law, moreover will frequently entirely
stop the mails in consequence OF the offices getting
out of stamps, and thus throw the business OF
the nation into the hands OF express COM
panes 1t will also operate with great hardship
ON the settlers of our frontiers Moreover, this
law takes away from the POst-Ofice at least
FIVE hundred thousand dollars of its annual
income, and that too, at the very time when the
Department is greatly in need of funds. We
hazard nothing in predicting that just as certain
annual Postal revenue will be half million dol
lars less than il would have been but for this law,
n,tw outstanding the increase Of postage rates to
and from California. This prediction may in due
tine be verified or falsifed, as the case may be,
by comparing the actual income with what it
would have been, according TO the ordinary ill.,
crease of past years.
ID, (fou. al h..
passage Of law raising hostages from six to ten
cents on all letters going three thousand miles.
This is both unjust to the citizens Of our Pacific
coast and is a measure of bad policy, it perpetu-
aes and increases the Irregularities in our postal
rates, and creates an actual extra expense of Il
million of dollars year that would not have been
incurred with Uniform postage. He has further
more procured the passage of the law for register
ing letters-a complete farce, pretending to carry
On its face guaranty Of safety, while it is no
guaranty at all, but direct swndle. Having
thus shown what the Postmaster General has ac-
tuay performed, let III now what he has not
done.
He has not advised the abolition of franking, Il
system the niquity of which ID acknowledged
the Office, keeps the Department on the verge
of bankruptcy, and BY its enormous burden fur
nishes pretext for preventing extensions of mail
service TO all parts OF the Union. He has not ad-
yised uniform rate of postage, measure that b.
its mere economy and convenience would effect al
ennual saving Of nearly a million OF dollars, and
which with the abolition of frankng, would allow
of uniform rate of postage Of two cents, aud
would entirely support the Department. He has
not advised Congress TO establish letter-carriers
in operation in nearly every nation in Europe, and
which, as is well known, completely supports itself
without any extra charge, and is a great cOnyen.
fence 20 the people, while il also pays large profit
to the Post-Ofice He has not advised Congress To
psss law establishing money-Order system for
safety in renting mOney-s system that has long
been practiced with entire success in France
Spain, Prussia, the German States and Great
Britain, and is greatly needed in this country.
where there are mailed annually over ninety mill
ions Of dollars He has not proposed a law ~
quirng all dead letters to be returned TO their
writers. He has not propOsed simpfcation and
reduction of rates Of postage on printed matter
while the expense OF mail carriage is now four
times the price charged by expresses. He has on
the contrary advised raising of the rates on the
poor mans Newspaper, measure that could not
possibly add half : million to the postal income
While four times this amount is added to its ex-
pensos by the Thanking inquity.