St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-08-28
MAIL FACILITIES.
An Improved Service Needed in Da-
kOta.

An improved service needed In Da.
k0ta.
Mercer county, OAK, has not proper mail
facilities. There is weekly mail from
Mandan to Stanton, and another weekly
star route from Weller, in Mclean county.
The people have been preferring their re-
quests for proper facilities, for nearly three
years, but the department has d one practi-
cally nothing for them. The star route
from Mandan to Stanton runs along the
west bank Of the Missouri river, and would
be a good route for daily service. The de-
partment, however, says that the best that
can be done for the people i'll that county is
to give them Jri-weekly service from
Weller. in Mclean county. This will
neceSsitate the crossing of the river by the
mail carrier. That is a difficult matter at
the best seasons of the yaar. But there are
times when the feat is as practically and
physically impossible as it would be to draw
an inference with team of horses. To
establish that kind of service would be of no
benefit to the people. Yet, that is what the
department proposes to do. In reply to an
inquiry one of the officials in the Office of
the second assistant postmaster general said:
''The offices in Mercer county are small and
do not pay enough to warrant the outlay of
money for increased star facilities" That
is penny-wlse and pound-foOlish way of
running the postoffice department. The
railroads in Dakota have shown more horse
sense. They have not waited for civiliza-
ton to precede them, They have pushed
ahead and made immigration follow them.
The poStoffice department should follow
suit. There is not hamlet in the United
Ssates into which the mails should not 60,
and as often as possible. If the department
waits for the frontier communities to be-
come self-sustaining in such matters, it
would be we'll for the people to know it be-
fore they penetrate the Businesses of the
Western empire. If they are to meet with
obstruction and thereby are prevented from
having free and full communication with
the rest OF the world, they might better
know it, and challenge the fates with full
knowledge of what to expect. 1t is not to
department shall be self-sustain
ing. The other departments are not.
There is no reason why the postoffice de-
partment should support itself when the
war department never earns a dollar. All
of the departments are supposed to be run
for the benefit and advantage of the people.
The poStoffice department is no exception.
But there is no doubt that policy of ruin
GUS economy is being practiced by some of
the officials of that department., and those
officials are not in harmony with the pres
ent administration. Chiefs of division who
do not come under the protection of the
civil service law are retained by Mr.. Villas,
and some of them are undoubtedly detri-
mental to the service. Certainly when
branch of the department stands in the way
of progress and enlightenment, as in the
instance concerning which this article is
written, there is screw loose somewhere.
The people OF Mercer county, Dakota, have
a right to easy access and free and rapid
communication with the outside world 1t
is as important and legitimate that mail
should come frequently and with celebrity
to Jones of Stanton, as to Jones of Bis
marck OF st. Paul