The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1880-12-02
DEPARTMENTAL.
Reports Of Heads Of Government Bureaus.

department which bas already been pubIished
10 ahsttacts of reports OF his subordinate
officer. Attention il invited to the s.atemeot
Of Assistant Postmaster General Brady re-
specting star service transportation
and last yesr's deficiency - worthy Of careful
onsideration. To- have restricted tho po.t.i
service to tho meaRre appropriation fnr 1879
would hsve rendered It entirely ipadeq rste 10
the wants ut the penple. He further savs he
has carefully reviewed the estimates submittt d
by General Brady for tho mex! fiscal y-ar'e mx,l
transportation in all its branches aud approves
a. a. Ut them 2. bti. in aco".danoe With proba-
bic requirements OF the aervice.
An appropriation II ec"mmended for the
continuance of special mail fscili,iea on rail.
roadr, such "a extra trains with malta orly, and
the accelera,ion Of reguIa train. carving sill.
etc, which The people have enjoyed for several
years past. The 1rport fuelher rays: 1t il
not doubted that regular and frequent means
Of mail steamship communication win s1+xi.
can, Central American, S,n,h American and
trans' Pacific por.a. would prove important aux
il''r'es to American commerce. and
measure Of public policy to encourage by leg
ia'ati"n the establishment by our own citiz .ns
OF American lines of steamers to such uf said
po'ts - will in tho judgment of Congress,
pr"rn"te our mmercisl intereats. think it
~onId be wise measure to 50 amend the gen.
ersl law on the tubject a. to
authorize the payment BY the post master
general of just ard rea.o. able c"mper-
satlon, within prescribed maximum limit
commemorate with the importance of the SER
vicea perform ed. t. auch limo of amended
stesmera a. may be employed under contract
With this depsrsment in transporting mails Of
the United States to Mexico Crntral America,
south America and trans-PAci6c points.
MoSrY ORDERS.
The money order syste N continues to grow
In popular favor. The superinteodent of the
money order 'ystem suggests = plan fox tho
reduction 1t the fees which seems to me en-
tir.1y feasible and which il commended to the
attention of Congress. Bri. fly stated bis plan
is to reduce the fee for money orders mt ex-
ceediug five dollars to five cents and extend
the maximum limit of an order from $50 to
elU0 40 that increased commissioLs received
for large orders may Offset the loss resulting
from the reduced fee for small orders. The
money order bu.iness and operations of letter
csrFierr were reported in highly satisfactory
condition.
Mr. Maynard renews no recommendations of
bis predecessor for les: :s..ive authority to &C.
cept and to carry into Effect the provisions of
IN article OF the universal postal union CON.
vention concluded at Paris The first of June.
1873, respecting the payment of limited in.
demnity for registered articles Of the postal
union, the original address ct which NAV be
lost or stolen during transmission through the
mails, aud also for such modification cf the
provisions of the act of March 81, 1879, as will
authorize the adoption, by the secretary of
The treasury and postmaster gen.
eral, of regulations providing for
delivery by mail to addresses at Offices of
destination in the United States, subject to
pa. ment of customs duties thereon, any
t<,< 4 HssAl
malls from foreign countries. He il of opinion
also that authority to transmit and deliver
dutiable articles of mail matter to addresse.
through the mails subject to the paymne of
cuatoma dutiea thereon, should not be restrict
ed to such mail matter ~ is COW exchapg pgeabie
in the universal pustal union mails, but should
embrace all articles of dutiable matter received
in its mails from other Countries.
POSTAL SAVINGS BANK AND TELEGRAPH,
The postmaster general suggests the estab.
lishment of q ''pos,al savings system and also
of postal te'egraphs in the country, iu the fol-
lowing terms:
One of my predecessors some year. .ince
recs m'nended the Incorporation into the de.
pa' m 1T Of system Of postal saving.. The
subject ha, from time to lime occupied the ar-
tenti"n Of Congress for several years. The
system has been in operation in Grea. Britai u
and iceland and Canada. When in London re-
Gently her majesty's pos,master general
kindly gave me- facilities for .ob-
serving the management OF his department..
learned that :he postal savinga aystem had
been remarkably succ ssful and had Constant.
~ grown in public favor. As managed In
that country it 10 . ""urce Of some profit t, the
government. In this ooun'ay incline to the
belief hat the syatem would have adv .n,sRes
even greater than in c"mpaot population like
that OF Great Britain. In by fur tho larger
~ = hn Tnjeo oA
ings depositories. and are not likely to be- To
pe"pie OF these parta the use Of the postoffice
for this purpose would be q real boom 1t
would be IN additional advantage that depos.
its would be available at anv depository flee
in the United States. an important consider
alton with people 40 migratory as ours
1t In believed the system would interfere little
with the bu.iness Ut ssvioes' b.nks. but would
absurb funds MT nov deposited ia them, nor
would the patronage of tho government be
aensibiy increased. since the system would bo
op. rated by persons already in public service,
with no considerable addition to tho number
Your attention and the attention of Congress
is respectfully Invited to 1t.
During my vi-t to tho British pos toffice I
examined with much interest the system If
telegrapby for several years past connected
with tho postal service. This method of cor
retpopdence 10 Thought to have made great
advance since it Was changed from the manage
ment of . private corporstion, respouslble to
mob dy. hardly to public opinion, and placed
under control Of the government. The busi:
meas has incraaaed many fold. Tho cost of
sending messages has been largely reduced and
the service is performed in localities which
would never be reached under tho atimilus of
private enterprise. At the same time 1t
yielda a margin Of profit TO tho royal treasury.
This j. not tie time for us to renew the in
qufry whether 1t 10 wise to leave thi. important
inatrument Of correspondence in charge u
corporations whose primary object is gain tt
the managers ard etockholdera, aud conven
ance Of the public secondary only.
of Congress. the suyeestion made by hia pre-
decessor, that tho word fraudulent" .. i,
occura In sections $40 and 4,04l, reviss
statutes, preceding tho word ''iott-ry." should
b. st,icken out. He nays THAT Cone1ese
while expressly forbiddipR tho uso OF
ordinary mails to oil lottery companies whether
fraudulent, or not, ahould intend to afford
special .ecurityof the registry syste:n, and
convenience and ssfety OF tho money ordel
system to persons engaged In employmerts de-
ciared by the supreme court Of the United
8tatea to be 'demofalixiuR in their effect," NJ
matter how carefully regulated.
Unless expres a proof of fraud can be made
Congress will intentionally aid in demoraiiz
Ing the public by adordin9 extra ordinary
postal facilitie" to per.ons or companies whose
buaipess accompany this result.
He further says that tue legal positions taken
bv biz predecesaor conce, ming the power of the
pos Office department to exclude lotteries from
the use IF the mails meet hin approval, and un.
der recent decision of the Uni'ed States
supreme coart in the case of Stone W. The
State of Mississippi, he baa felt it to be hi.
official duty to give full effec. to the action o.
any State Legislature in its effort to relieve the
put lie from the evil consequences of pernicioue
legis)ation in the past.
Before leaving the subject Mr.. Maynard re-
news the recommendation of Postmaster
General Key that newspapers containing lot
terry advertisements be deprived of the privi.
leges Of the mails.
Attention 10 again called to suit brought by
Christopher O. Campbell sgaiost po.t mas or .,
New York. which il nov pending upoa appeal
before tho supreme court. Suit has recently
been brought by tho same person aRain.t sev'
eral other peat masters upon the same szou nd.
viz slleped Infringement 1T letter. patent TO.
i'm nprovement in post"fice pv-t-markinR
and cancellinz stamps, which stamp. arc fur
nist Cd to p"stmasters bv the department. I.
10 again n Quea'ed that before fusl judgment
l.. Id, ~ L.