St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-05-18
DEMOCRATS FEELING BETTER.
Changes Being Made as Rapidly as
PossibIe--PostOffice Affairs.


PosstbEe--PostOffic Affairs.
Special to the Globe.
WASHINGTON, May 17.-There is a
marked improvement in the feeling of the
average Democrat. 1t is easy to see, when
you come to think of it, that the work of
filling the offices is going on as fast as can
be with safety, and that pretty good prog
ress is being made right along. There is
almost every day a griSt OF from five to
twenty-five appointments at the White
house, while there are ten times that many
that do not come to the surface at all. The
scene of the greatest activity is at the post
Office department. While things look very
quiet on the surface there, the fact is that
the heads are flying in every direction. 1t
is a cold day when a hundred heads do not
drop into the basket there. A hundred
dav now means double or treble that num-
Der by and by, when that first assistant
postmaster general gets accustomed to the
duties Of his position. The Department. has
been saying all along that it could not do
much in the way of changes until the first
assistant. in whose especial province this
comes. should take hold of the duties of his
office and become conversant with it. AS
indicated above, they are now going at the
rate of hundred a day or more.
The appointments under the new admin
istration now amount in number to over
1000. True these have been scattered over
months of time, or a little more, but this is
in period when there is the greatest occa-
sion for caution. 1t means that if there
were 1000 changes in the first two
months there will be double that in the two
that are to follow, and that the end OF the
first year will find at least 20, 600 Democrats
in Office. With this as basis for work,
the second year will double the work Of the
first, and so on. Whether the civil service
appointments are to be also cleaned out,
the departments raided and the railway
mail service made subject of reform, is
not yet known. 1t will come along in good
time The present is too engrossing for
any sDeculations on this subject.
The constant removal of men at the rate
of hundred a day, with prospect
of doubling the rate pretty soon, is
having its effect. Men who were two weeks
ago very mad because they couldn't get what
they wanted are to-day smiling. They be-
gin to think that this is pretty fair ad
ministration after all. They are getting
some of their men in. That is the secret of
the change of heart. With the constant
cropping of hundred or more heads day
their districts have been reached, and they
begin to feel better Their appetites are by
no means sated but they are now able to
fall back and take brief respite. They
see that work has begun, and are satisfied
that it is to continue with greater vigor.
SELECTING PoSTAIASTERs.
The pOStoffice department is now giving
most of its attention to the selection of new
postmasters. OF course the greatest care
has to be exercised with reference to the
0f 4lo, ,oI1
ones the postmaster does not handle S25 Of
the governments money in year. Strange
to say it is not the very highest Salaried of
fees where there is the greatest need of
care in the selection of men. 1t is with
those of medium grade, where the salary
runs between $1,000 and 50, 1000. These
sort of positions are given to men who are
expected to give their whole time to
them They are as q class the kind of men
who desire to live like gentlemen, and as
they are practically restricted from engag
ing in other business at the same time, they
find it difficult to make ends meet on a sal
ary of this size. Talking Of this the other
day postoffice official said: 1.-The usual
Way the defalcations occur is when post
masters in some pinch for funds use the
postoffice money with the full intention of
returning it. But having used it, they find
it easier to go deeper still than to save or
procure the means of balancing their ac-
counts. And then they go from quarter to
quarter, cOncealing the deficiency as best
they can until some pOStoffice inspector
drops in on them unawareS and lets the
secret out. In most cases, if pOstmaSterS
have an inkling of the inspectors visit,
they continue in some way to obtain the
money to make their accounts square. The
inspector, on finding a deficiency, simply
says: Make this good or l shall go to your
sureties, and in nearly every case he has no
occasion to carry out his threat. Thus it
happens that the government seldom suffers
loss"
In what classes of postoffices do defal-
cations most often occur?"
In the second class. These are paid all
the way from thousand to two thousand
dollars. They go to class of men who de-
sire to live well, but have not political i'm
portance enough to enable them to obtain
postoffice of higher grade. The salary is
not quite sufficient to meet their wants, and
so they are led into misappropriation of the
moneys intrusted to them. The fourth class
offices pay very little and are generally
secured by men in small business as sort
of advertising adjunct, and consequently very
few defalcations occur. / have no hesita-
ton in saying that the government loses
less by the peculations of its postoffice en-
ployes than do private business firms en-
blowing an equal number of clerks. The
fidelity with which the work is conducted is
evidenced by the fact that the amount
charged to bad debts and compromises on
oooonnt of balances dua hv DOStnaStarS