Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1857-04-17
For the Union and American.

IRREGULARITY OF OF THE MAILS-OARELESS-
NESS OF POSTMASTERS A PARTIAL CAUSE.
For several months the mails have caused a
great complaint. Mr.. Postmaster CAMPBELL hsE
received large share of the abuse, whilst the
Postmasters and Contractors have come in for q
part of the blame. There seems to have been q
general rejoicing at the appointment of Gov. A.
V. BRowN to the head of the Post Office Depart.
ment Knowing his capacity for business, many
suppose that sll the evils pertaining to the Post
Office Department viii at once cease. This is ex
pecting too much. believe have as much con-
fdenCe in the capacity, energy and industry of
Gov. Brown as any one; yet think it is utterly
impossible for him to correct ell tie evils that ex-
lists on that subject.
believe that the esreIessness of Post Masters
is more serious cause of complaint than any fall
ure of connection that may exist between routes
OFT of twenty, odd thousand Post Offices, large
majority are what are termed small Offices; they
do not pay for the trouble Of attending to them.
Men often keep the Office for accommodation, and
they handle daily or weekly a large mass of mail
matter, ard soon become accustomed to do that
bu,iness rapidly. The address on many packages
is scarcely Ineligible In large Office packages
of this kind are often thrown into the wrong box,
and they often fall into different one from tn st
intended, and thus start in the wrong direction and
frequently travel for days before sny Post Master
takes the trouble to stop them and put them in
the right direction; The object Of many persons being
to get 10hat belongs to their oOn office and let the
balance slide If this error could be corrected we
would hear much less complaint of the mails.
1t is the settled policy of this government to pay
a fair price for services rendered Fit, and an not
an advocate of a different doctrine; but whoever
accepts Post Office ought to attend to it prompt
y, whether it pays or not.
1 have observed the management at a great
many different Offices, and know that evils exist.
Packages coming to this office, distance of from
thirty to sixty miles, are often on the way from
ten to twenty days. This is no fault of the Post
Master General, but Of some one else. Packages
for Elm Hill, Ell Grove, and Elm Tree, ILL.,, often
get here. For omissions of this kind the Post
Master General is not accountable; but it is the
carelessness Of Post Masters that cause them.
It is impossible to select the name of any Post
Office but what there are others that lock similar
to it, on letter or newspsper-wrapper, when
badly written. Hence there will always be pack
ages going sstrsy in all directions until Post Mas
tiers generally are much more careful in their du-
ties in asserting the mails
The safe and diligent transportation of the mails
is an enterprise in which the whole community is
interested. He who is proficient in his duties in
that respect is public beneisctor; but the Post
Master that from either csrebesness or incompe.
tency fails to comply with the strict and rigid
meaning OF the lsws and instructions governing
the Post Office Department, is q nuisance to the
government and to the public.
have for several years held an Office in this
department. and have heard many complaints, and
seen many causes of complaint which have
promttd me to make these statements.
N. Y. CAVITT.
ELM TREE, Tenn, April II, 1857.