Arizona weekly citizen., 1885-10-24
Mr XIlns,S Methods

II
 Mir. Villas runs the POstoffice Depart
 ment on what he calls business princi- | ples. His purpose Is to make IL pay | He does not seem to look beyond the
 balance-sheet at the end of the year.
 Probably MT. Villas knows, ss a matter
 of fact, tha6 the Postoffice Department
 was established for the benefit or COL
 yenience of the people. He knows,
 doubtless, that 1t was not devised as
 a revenue measure. There IS no such
 thing as postal service for revenue
 only. The primary object Ot the depart
 ment IS the convenience of the people | POatage is charged that the department
 may be, to sn extent, self-sustaining:
 but as the service approaches the pay
 Ing point, postage IS reduced. The pur- pose IS to give the people mail facilities ! at as small a cost to the Government as
 IS possible. Any method of conducting
 the department which keeps constantly
 m view the imposition upon cOrrespOu- dence of the largest tax possible Is a
 mistake. Correspondence, business or
 otherwise, should be encouraged.
 Merchants all over the country are
 complaining of delays occasionally by
 what they term the Postmaster Generals
 makeshlfts. The statement Is made
 that since the Postmaster General with
 drew the mails from the Ward line to
 Havana, a large part of the Cuban mall does not go through the department at all- The D1ugley act permits private parties to carry letters enclosed in a re-
 gular stamped envelope, and cancelled at the date of the departure, without passing them through the postO.lice. The department receives the same DOS tage m both instances, but parties send ing by private conveyance must pay for the carriage as well as the privilege of carriage. Bu. the POstmaster-G General l does not like to have his mail service dis regarded. He IS not willing that mer- chants should dispatch letters by the Ward line bearing full postage. and of 1 course contributing as much to the rev enue of the department as If sent through | the PostOfiice. The postmaster of New 1 York has received numerous complaints | from Havana that the postmaster of | that city, acting at the request of | Mr. Villas, dlscriminates against frIll-pRid | letters carried by this line. Other com. plaints are made that the Postmaster. General has endeayOred to persuade the | Havana authorities to discontinue the post privileges the Ward line has en- Ioyed as mail carrier. While, of course 1t k possible that these complaints are exaggerated Co accomplish certain pur poses, there k abundant evidence hat 1he methods ot Mir. Villas are too narrow and llllberal for such service. The idle, Of the period Is to snnIhilate space at cost. Private enterprises ruD lightning express trsiUs, and in many cases ind them profitable. Mir. Villas takes the United States mall out of a last line and entrusts 1t to the lowest iIdder to save a few dollars in the cost )t transportation. Business interests are seriously injured that the Govern nent may make it's postal service self supporting. MT. Villas seems to have mistaken the first condition in the man. igement of his department, which IS that he servlce shall be efficient. The self uppoating proposition is an after con- F. Call.