The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1870-12-16

tho Governmens Stationery SnOps
There are very many important matters con-
nected with our postal service in reference to
which the people need light. That light ID
sought for vainly In the debates Of Congress
and in the lengthy reports Of tho Postmaster
General We feel 1t to be our duty, therefore,
to communicate some highly important facts
derived from our own special Investigations.
The people are treated with speeches and
arguments for and against the franking ssprivi-
lege" Gd nause0m, but little or nothing Is said
in relation to the important fact that our mails
are loaded down with tons upon tons Of mer
freight trains or In the express car. During
the present year our mail routes have been
encountered with four hundred and thirty-one
tons eight hundred and ninety pounds Of
envelopes and stationery that should have been
distributed through the natural channels Of
trade; and our postmasters have been forced
to act as statesmen in the disposal Of the entire
mass-dealing it out by Wholesale and retail.
Postmaster General Creswell is apparently
ambitious to undersell the regular trade In
envelopes and in certain other kinds Of sta
tionery. He has sold during the year, accord
ing to bis report just published, SO, OOO 1926 en-
velopes, with his customers business cards
or address gratuitously printed thereon;
45,O27, $50 plain envelopes, and 1896, ESQ
newspaper wrappers-in all sc, 2S9, 500 pieces
of stationery that should have been pur-
chased from the regular dealers throughout the
country.
The weight of this enormous mass Of sta
tionery could not have been less, according
to the closest calculation, than four hundred
and thirty -one tons eight hundred and ninety
pounds. This whole business is an outrage
upon every printer, papermaker, bookseller,
stationer, druggist, envelope maker, grocer,
notion dealer, country merchant and tax
payer in the United States. If the Post
master General may engage in the card print
ing and the envelope and newspaper wrapper
trade, as he is now doing, he may take but
step further and supply his customers with all
other kinds Of stationery. He does not COM
pute the interest on capital invested, the cost
of transportation or the pay of statesmen, and,
thus emitting all these items Of cost, it would
not be surprising should he be able to under
sell the trade.
1t would not, however, be difficult to show
that the stationery sold by the Postmaster
General really costs more in the end, all
things considered, than that purchased Of the
trade generally, and that the whole business
results in loss to the government and injury to
private enterprise. The price paid the con-
tractor last year by the Postmaster General
was -
For small sized envelopes, per 1000. 80
Wooden cases to hold boxes. o.
Cost OF transportation TO 1900 post offices, at
which they are delivered iree average, per
lOU0.. ............ ~
Total cost per 1000. .......................ss rs
These envelopes are sold by p0stmasters. per
i,ooo' oo
Loss per 1000, to government ...............$l 90
The fact is that the Postmaster General is
selling stationery for LEGS than cost, and that
the difference falls on the national Treasury.
1t will be seen from the above that the loss on
a thousand envelopes is 81 96 when packed
for distribution in wooden cases. When they
were packed in small paper parcels or PASTE
board boxes for transportation over short dis
thousand envelopes for last year was 81 81.
During the year 1869 the Postmaster Gen.
eral sold 67,367, 800 small envelopes at an
average loss of 81 659 per thousand, or an
aggregate difference to the Treasury estimated
by those best informed at SILL 2l in single
year.
This loss is exclusive of that sustained through
favortism in awarding contracts for station
cry to others than the lowest bidder. or
this abuse we have had more than one in-
stance.
There are those who urge that it is abso-
lutely necessary for the government to con-
tinue the manufacture and sale of envelopes
and other stationery; but the Postmaster Gen.
eral in his last report unwittingly reiutes this
assumption.
During the present year 4Gs, lib, 445 adj
hesive postage stamps have been issued, and
Sc, $50. 500 envelopes and newspaper wrappers
have been sold. In round numbers, 400 enve-
lopes have been purchased from the trade and
prepaid by stamps for every 80 stamped en-
velopes purchased from the government sales
men at the post Offices.
Now is it worth while for the government
to engage in the stationery business to the ex-
tent Of four hundred tons per year for the sake
of accommodating one letter writer in five who
might be served as well by the trader
The manufacture and sale of stationery
by the Post Office Department form direct
interference with the business Of all the
nrinters statjoners and enyelOpe manufac-
turers in the United States. They create
monopoly that is contrary to the principles
of our government, and, if continued, will
eventually ruin the business of thousands,
amounting to many million dollars annually.
Thus the practice becomes an unjust, unequal