Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-11-20

gests that the regulations Vi tue OePaiS
ment regarding it be clothed with the
authority of law. By this we assume that
the official means that the Government
shall take on responsibility for this de-
post fund, for which it is not now held.
The adjustment of Postmasters' salaries
under the law reducing letter postage re-
suited satisfactorily, and for the fret time
in the history of the country the salaries
of Presidential offices have been equalized
and placed on the basis of the gross re.
ceipts of the offices. The aggregate allow
ances for clerks in Postoffices in the year
amounted to 81, 1856. 600; rent and fuel
and lights, 1886, 43l Sc; for miscellaneous
items, ST., 1853 "a for furniture, $40. 900 /;
for stationery, $50. 7S4 05; for advertis
ing, 81, 292 10; salaries for fourth class
Presidential offices assigned to the class,
for one year, s2lS, 900; total amount for
salaries of Presidential Postmasters, &c.
$50, 700 rents for Postofice rooms, 1854,
Isl amount saved by clerk hire reduced
and discontinued, SAG. 505; there was also
saved by discontinued Postoffices and re.
duced salaries of Postmasters, 1000.
The department. declined in the year
., GOA applications for clerk hire, or over SIS
per cent. more than in the preceding year.
This was largely due to the exhaustion Of
the salary fund. The department was
forced to adopt heroic treatment and re.
duce salaries in many places in order to
create fund to meet the urgent demands
of the department, a fact which Congress
should remember and remedy. 1t is a
dangerous practice, unquestionably, and
should not be forced upon the department.
We learn also from the report that in many
offices where the duty requires mails for
other offices to be separated, the Post
masters have been forced to hire extra
clerks at their own expense, in order to
accomplish the work devolving upon them.
This does not tend to the proper discharge
of the duty, and it is clear that Congress
should enable the department to enlarge
the number of separating Offices where al.
lowances are made for the necessary clerk
hire.
It would appear from the whole report
that while the department has vastly in.
creased its business, and the service has
augmented in work and Importance, it is
very difficult to bring Congress to real
ization of the necessity of keeping pace in
legislation with the advance of the system.
There is not money enough allowed for
office furniture, nor for salaries, nor for
clerk hire, nor for supplies, nor is there a
true economy manifest in renting rooms
and buildings for the use of Postoffices
and, as result, they are very frequently
what they should not be. 1t is not only
the duty, but it is the wiser policy of the
Government, to furnish roomy and proper
offices for the dispatch of business. This
has been proved by improvements and new
leases made at number of offices in the
past year, the result being an increase in
box rents and general receipts. Mr.. Hat
ton urges that the office rent of offices of
the third class, as we'll as of the first and
second classes, be paid by the Govern
ment. To refuse to do so, and compel
these Postmasters to pay for their rent,
fuel, furniture, etc., from their not over.
generous salaries, he thinks unjust and
impolitic, and we believe this judgment to
be correct one.
The free delivery system cost So, l73, 1886,
and was extended to 40 additional cities.
The postage on local matter at free.deliv.
cry offices increased S37S,654. A recon-
mendation as to free delivery will excite
general interest 1t is proposed that
wherever the need for it is shown boys be
employed between the time the regular
carriers cease work and 10 o'clock at night
to deliver letters that may bear stamp to
be provided for the purpose signifying the
desire that the letter be delivered the
night of its arrival. This will do away
with the inconvenience of not receiving
correspondence until the day after the re-
ceipt of the letter at the office, in cases of
urgency. Thus, letters that arrive after
the carriers go out for their last day round
must await their next morning round, un-
less they can, by this arrangement, be de.
livered that night Already the demand
for some such system is SO great that in
several cities private delivery companies
have been formed to deliver letters at
night. Mr.. Hatton proposes to cut off
this competition by having the Govern.
ment undertake the work for a trihing
stamp-cost to the writer of the letter
These boy delivery agents would, of course,
procure a receipt for every letter so deliv-
cred at night.
The postage on local matter exceeds the
cost of the carrier service by Sl,02l, S94,
and hence, the report holds, the time has
arrived when local postage may be safely
reduced to one cent wherever the carrier
system prevails. 1t is also suggested that
the carrier system be extended to towns
lying closely together whose aggregate
population is 10000
Mr.. HAtton strongly opposes the private
dispatch companies, and AYERS that the
Government loses thousands of dollars an.
nually by their operations. He denies EN-.
phatically that their service is better than
that of the United States. The reduction
of local postage to one cent, he thinks,
will strangle them. Mr.. Hatton's esti-
mates for the expenses of the year ending
June 80, 1885, is so, OILS, O0O or 20 Sc per
cent. in excess of the appropriation for the
current fiscal year. His estimate for the
current years expenses is $40 1868, 09l, or
Is As per cent. increase. There are num-
Der of very interesting tables of exhibits
attached to the report, but which cannot
now be noticed. The document certainly
shows that in the Postal Department we
are making best models.
THE HEALTH ASSOCIATION VERDICT.
1t cannot have escaped the notice of citi.