Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-03-07
POSTAL DEAD HEADS
How Railroads are Swindled by Gov
eminent OmciaIs-eFree and Easy''
Mode OF Travelling by Grants

eminent OmeiaIs-sFree and Easy
Mode OF Travelling by Grants
Henchmen.
From the st. Louis Republican, March 8.
While the Congressional advocates
of the restoration of the franking
privilege are endeayoring to prove
that it costs the government more to
carry the mails unencumbered with
public documents and garden seeds
than it did when these articles were
sent free all over the country, there
can be no harm in examining briefly a
point developed in the report of the
Senate Select Committee on Transport
tation.
About a year ago the leading rail-
ways of the country made formal COM
plant in regard to the abuses of what
is called the "postal-car service" and
the matter was referred to the above
mentioned committee of investigation.
During the Congressional vacation
persons and papers were examined,
which, as the report shows,
threw good deal of interesting
light upon the particular abuse of
which the railway managers most ur-
gently complained. 1t appears that the
Postoffice Department has large and
active army of "dead-heads," who can
travel whenever and wherever they
please, without the disagreeable neces-
sity of purchasing tickets. This army
is divided into two divisions-one riding
free for an indefinite period son general
ORDER" or until the order is revoked by
a new one; and the other riding free on
special permits for special occasions.
All, be it remembered, enjoy this privi-
lege on the ground that they are
Especial postal agents, whose business
it is to watch over the prompt and
proper transmission of mail matter. In
the first division of "dead-heads" are
the first, second and third Postmaster
General; the auditor, the topographer,
the superintendent of free delivery
and postofice buildings; the heads Of
the dead letter department, of foreign
mails, money orders, and various other
dignitaries who have no right OF title
to be considered special postal agents"
They claim and obtain free passage
simply because of their connection
with the postofice. But this first
division has more distinguished men,
bers. According to the lists furnished,
there have travelled free since 1869, as
Especial postal agents" Orville B. Bah
cock, of the Presidents staff; R. NJ.
Douglass, President s private secretary;
James P. Ely, assistant private secre-
tary to the President; Levi P. Lucky,
executive clerk; A. B. Mullett, gov
eminent architect; John L. Davenport,
supervisor of New York elections; w.
P. Flaherty, Washington grocer IN
known to fame; ]. Sella Martin, col
ored politician, whose pass was revoked
in 1871; S. 81. Knapp, of the New York
postofice; Geo. b. Knott, assistant
postmaster of New York, and W. n.
Saunders, another colored brother of
the political persuasion. These are
merely sample of the special postal
agents" whose dead-headism is perpet-
ual, unless formally withdrawn.
OF the semi-occasional postal dead
heads" the array is immense. Mr..
Harris, President of the Connecticut
River Railway, says, in his testimony,
that 1.-The persons whom the depart
ment sends on free passes are as nu-
merous as the locusts of Egypt" Mr..
Worcester, of the New York Central,
says:
I'VE carry on our lines a large num-
Der of agents, who have no connection
whatever with the mail business on our
roads, or its immediate or even remote
connections. They are frequently GO
ing to some distant point for the pur-
pose Of examining into the affairs of
some other road not having anything to
do with US, or on some other business,
or returning therefrom. These agents
accumulate, so to speak, on the trunk
and principal lines of the East, and the
number of them that pass over our line
is enormous"
The President Of the Philadelphia,
Wilmington and Baltimore Railway
Company says:
"We are liable to be sued by any one
of the numerous clerks who ride free in
these postal cars, or by any one of the
numerous agents, so-called, of the
Postofice Department, who ride free In
our passenger cars, In case the slight
est accident happens to him or her. l
viii merely say, with reference to the
word her. that they carry women in
these postal cars. / say it plainly. /
have informed the department, and it
has not been rectified. / do not allude
to Postmaster General Creswell's ad-
ministration, however, in this cOnnec-
ton"
Now while all these persons travel
free so far as they themselves are cop-
cerned, Of course the government in
directly pays for it. The railways,
knowing to what extent the special
postal-agent" fraud is thrust upon
them, raise their rates for mail trans
portation enough to cover it, and would
be fools if they did not. We have no
doubt that if the whole postal dead
head" system was abolished, excepting
of course the men actually in charge of
the postal cars, the contracts for car
rying the mails could be let at least ten
per cent. cheaper. Hundreds of thous-
ands of dollars 60 annually to pay the
passages Of individuals who ought to be
compelled to travel on their own peck
cts, as the rest of the community do.
Let the champions of the franking
privilege stop this leak in the treasury
before they cry out against the increas-
ing expense of mail carriage. Econo-
my being in order, here is an excellent
head for Congress to hit, and hit hard.
AGRICVTVTUTRaU TnErrnES