Daily globe., 1882-10-05
THE RUSSIAN POsTOFFICE.

Pecaf(iGrities Of Its Management.
Russian Letter to the Manchester Examiner.
In Russia letter may be opened in its
passage through the postoffice by anybody
and everybody. 1t is true that acts of this
kind usually have the will of minister for
their authority. It is also we'll known that
certain times and seasons are chosen for
prying into correspondence for scraps of
sedition and. threads of conspiracy. But
it is none the less true that there is nothing
in the regulations of the Russian postoffice
to prevent the arbitrary and irresponsible
acts of minister from being initiated by
the postmaster or his clerk. The chances
of a letter being allowed to pass without
interference are not visibly greater than
the chances of its being opened. Nor is
there much ceremony in the process. The
| officials seem to dispense with that time
| honored expedient of inquisitive lodging
house keepers-a steaming tea-kettle. The
| letter is simply slit for half its length
| more if necessary-the contents removed
and examined, and the envelope finally
fastened up with the gummed paper that
forms the margin of sheet postage stamps.
As there is not the slightest necessity for
concealment, there is not the smallest at
tempt to disguise the act Of inqrisition,
and the opened letter reaches its destin&-
ton with the evidence of its treatment
written broadly, even triumphantly, across
its face.
Opened communications are not, how
ever. always reclosed. On the evening OF
the assassination of the late emperor every
letter passing through the st. Petersburg
posto1fice was opened and subsequently
delivered-when delivery took place
with gaping slip in the envelope, indicat
inc the feverish haste with which the scru.
tiny had been conducted. In the provinc-
es, perhaps, posto1tices are less liable tc
panic than in the capital, but their very
distance from the seat of government gives
q precariousness to postal communications
from which the system does not suffer IL
centers like st. Petersburg and Moscow
In the capital there is at least dispatch
even if accompanied by disagreeabls
form of espionage; in the provinces posta
, traffic is beset with much slowness and un
certainty. Some of the postmasters hav,
, habit of OBTAINING correspondence TO
days at a time. From Astrakhan, for ex
ample, have just received at the SAM
hour and moment two letters, one of whicl
was posted six days before the other. Il
country towns postofice servants ar,
, strongly suspected-with what justification
I know not-of delaying and opening let
ters purely for the purpose of possessin,
themselves of local secrets. If the addres
is written badly, and does not at once dis
close its meaning to the postofice employf
it is put aside and ultimately consigned t
the flames. In this way many thousand
of letters are annually burnt in Russia
communications which I think it safe t
say would, under a better and more pains
8 taking system for the most part, reac
their destination. It is, of course, upo
!: books, newspapers and printed matter Q
all kinds that the Russian postoffice Ger
o sorship presses most heavily. To receiv
magazine with four or five pages of a
: article obliterated by filthy stickin
o compound of oil, beeswax and printin
! ink; to have ones newspaper handed
! one with its first or second leading articl
cut cleanly out by the censorial scissors
are experiences which in England coul
!, only be conceived of as the preliminarie
! and provocatives of some national agit;
: ton, but which in Russia are treated b,
: cause they have to be treated as everyda
occurrences.