New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-05-17
c1y THE PosTfL SERrICE FAY ITS wlYi

C1N THE POSTfL SEEIJCE ray ITS WY
Heretofore it has been the traditional policy
Of the Post Office Department to spend more
money every year than its income, ana call
upon Congress to make up the dcirlchcy. IL
has never tried Ia cut lis coat according to its
cloth. Public opinion has demanded II liberal
policy in the postal service, and has not Scrtti-
nizea very closely the expenditures of the De-
partmcnt until the Star Route exposure came.
The people wanted frequent mails and last
mails and were willing their representatives
should pay for them ont of the general funds oil
the Government il the revenues OF the Depart
mcnt would not suffice. They have not been IN
the habit of asking whether the service they get
could not bc had for the money they pay III pos
tagc- if good business economy were praciiNrd.
a deficiency of from three Ia five millions
wear came to be regarded ~ thing al course.
No matter how much the revenues 0l the de-
uartmcnt increased with the growth Of popua-
ton and business, its outlays always ran about
40 far ahead of them. For ttic last fiscal year
ending June 80, 1850, the postal cXpcnd-
lures were $50, ji2, SOB IS, and the receipts
were S33,3l5.179 81, leaving a deficit OF
S3227.32i 81 The appropriations for the
current year are $50. O93. I2O-problbly about
three and a half millions in excess ol the rcyc-
nucs. In the last report Of the Fostma>tcr-Gcn-
cr.ll it was estimated that the receipts for the
wear ending june 30 lS~2, would hr
! S3S.s45I7i, but the Congressional mind was
carefully prepared in advance for deficiency
of about the usual amount the SUN To bc ap
propriatcd out Of the general Treasury being
estimated at $3.50, 7j7. The revenue aniic-
7 Ia, -. # hat, 4 sf,t.t.
yious year. the figures given being 81, az, 1872.
but the Department officials are prepared OF
We should rather ray were prepared when they
made up their accounts for the late Postmaster
| General to spend this vast sum Of money aud
| three and a half millions more.
II was under cover of this regular appropria-
! ton which had come TO he accepted rs an essen
tal feature of the postal service, that the Star
Route jobbcrs were enabled 10 prosecute tlcm
! profitable business. Congress looked at the
balance sheet every year and SAID Here is
! only about the usual amount 20 he made mp"
! and voted the money without much hesitation,
/ not stopping to consider the enormous increase
| in the receipts of the Department and to ask il
| it were not about time that its demands upon
| the Treasury should cease, or nj least show
steady reduction. II any Congressman with an
economical turn of mind vcnturcd to suggest
| that IT was time for the Department to begin an
| effort to make both ends meet he was silruccd
with grandiloqucnt. talk about the growth of
| the country and the Importance Of good mail
! facilities. Practically there was no control
! outside the Department over its expenses.
| Congress said in effect to the Postmaster Cen
cral: aYou can spend all the money y0u take
I'm and we will give you three or four millions
sin addition" Under such system extrava-
gance, corruption and rascality could hardly
I fail to creep in. The heavy deficiencies rcgu-
| larly voted by Congress were an invitation to
dishonest officials and greedy mail contractors.
How much honesty and economy would be
practised in n business house if the proprietor
should say TO his employees at the beginning of
the year: "You can spend all the money you
= take in during the year and draw on me for
fifty thou sand dollars III addition"Y
| We believe that if the Department had begun
FIVE years ago an earnest effort to put its affairs
on business basis its expenditures would now
| be within its income, and this, too, with ser
vice just as efficient as 1t is to-day. We should
not, perhaps have daily mails across the Indian
| Territory, where there are no letters to carry,
and the miners at remote camps in Arizona and
Idaho would not be given better postal facilities
than are enjoyed by the farmers in New-York
and Ohio There would be no expedited routes,
no contracts IA sed 500 per cent, no fat and i'm
| pudent Star Route jobbers, and'no Brady. But