The Portland daily press., 1886-01-18
the POSTMASTER AND THE
STAMP AGENCIES.

Some time ago the PRESS called attention
to tho discontinuanee Of two Of the stamp
ministration of Postmaster Barker, and sug-
agencies established in this city during the adj
gested that they might have been abolished
to take the Office from the operation of the
civil service law. Subsequently Postmaster
Palmer sent to the PRESS the following let
ter, which was published:
To tho Editor of The Press:
notice your editorial this morning in relation
to the stamp agencies In this city. am not
significance as you seem to think. The fost Of
nee Department ordered a dSsc0nts'aidnce Of taco
ts To- aeaon sy. me lad 10
signed because 1t was Of too much trouble to him.
When the order to reduce the number to two ar
the greatest public convenience, and having salts
ned myself that Mr.. Frye has the best location--n
remain. prevailed upon him to allow the resto-
ration Of the agency to his store, which l have no
doubt the Department win acquiesce in. AS it
now stands, Mr.. A. S. Kinds at the West End
and Mr.. George c. Frye at the East are the au-
thorized agents.
You are In error as to the number Of employees
at this office under Mr. Barker, and also at the
present time. Yours respectfully,
J. 8. PALMER, p. NJ.
The PRESS accepted this statement as a
disclaimer on the part of Postmaster Palmer
that he had had anything to do with the
abolition of the agencies further than to ex-
ecute the order of the postmaster general.
INQUIRY had been made at about the same
time of the post office department at Wash
ington. The answer of the assistant post
master general has recently come into pos
session of the PRESS, and is as follows:
POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT,
once Of the First Assistant Postmaster General,
Salary and Allowance Division,
WASHINGTON. d. c., Dec. 21st, 1885.
Hon; T. B. Reed, House Of Representatives, Wash
SiT.-In reply to your request, have the honor
TO state, that two Of the stamp agencies nereto-
fore established at Portland. Me-, were dlscon-
tinued from the 18th inst. on the recommendation
OF the postmaster.
Very respectfully,
A X. STEVENSON,
First Assistant Postmaster General.
We ask our readers to compare these two
letters, and judge for themselves whether the
postmaster's explanation of the abolition Of
these agencies was ingenious. He says
the agencies were abolished by order of the
postmaster general, which is true, but he
neglects to say that that order was issued at
his recommendation. The inference which
everybody would draw from the postmas-
ter's answer was that the post Office depart-
ment was entirely responsible for the discon-
tinuance Of these agencies, whereas the
truth appears to be that the major part, if
not the whole, OF the responsibility was upon
the postmaster himself. 1t is for the public
TO Judge whether Ethe postmaster answered
as he did in order that that inference should
be drawn.
Having fixed the responsibility for the dis
continuance upon Postmaster Palmer we
now inquire again as to his motive. The
cost Of each enc of these agencies to the gov
eminent is 1874 per year. BY discontinuing
two of them the people are saved s4S annu-
ally 1t may be that the sole reason for rec
ommending their discontinuance was the
saving of this s4S. But if SO why did not Post
master Palmer say 80 in his letter to the
PREss9 Why did he give the impression
that he had nothing to do with itS The dis
continuance of two offices that he believed to
be unnecessary from motives of economy was