The morning news., 1889-02-18
TALK OF THE OFFICES.
TIE SCRAMBLE FOR TIE FEDERAL
APPOINTMENTS


cratic Incumbents.
In the scramble for the federal appoint
ments which are presumably TO flow nom
the fountain head at Washington after
March 4, the candidates SEEM to have
Just awakened to the fact that the
offioe of postmaster is a littae more iHper-
tant, if anything, than collector OF the port,
and with great deal more patronage Be
sides the new postmaster viii be a not aH-
important factor In connection with the
new government building, as he may have
local charge of looking after the progress Of
the work and more or less influence thereby,
OF the three pronounced candidates for col
lector Of customs it is not believed that a
single one Of them thinks the postofiice is TO
be sneezed at, and in fact II the political arch
ers shoot at the custom house and hit the
postoffice, they will not lament that the
arrow went aaliss.
The direct patronage Of the postoffice is
thirty-two men-more than double that Of
the custom house.
A TAsOOED sUBJECT.
Inquiries at the custom house do not show
that the inevitable political change is dis
cussed there very much. The subject is not
a pleasant one, aud beyond occasional
bsdinage between the clerks it Is a tabooed
subject Once ia a while some clerk viii
sing out to another, who is deeply engrossed
in his work: Look out, now, ana get your
books up in good shape for your successor
The working force Of the customs depart
Inent is as follows
Collector Capt. John F. Wheaton.
Deputy Collector-Marmaduke Hamilton.
Entry and LiquidauBg Clerk-John Paul
johnson.
Marine Clerk-D. B. Hull
Auditing C4erk-Ciement Saussy.
Messenger-Chris Melvin.
Janitor-Wi William Bryan.
Assistant Janitor-Tom Wright lcolored).
Night Watchman-Peter Lawler.
Boarding Officer-Capt John Riley.
Inspectors-J. A Herschbach and John
Morrissey. O
Boatmen-A. n. Miller, James Middleton
and Joseph Hayward,
or the above MessrS, johnson, Riley and
Melvin we're connected with the depart
ment under the former republican admins
tration, and we're retained by Capt. Wheaton
when he became collector Of the port
THE PosroFEICE PLUMs,
The postoffice department as has been
stated, requires a much larger force, aud
even now Postmaster Lamar says the
clerical force is too small, and for the work
required Of the clerks the pay is not as
liberal as it should be- The following is the
roster Ct the postofiice department;
PostmAster-Capt George w. Lamar,
Assistant-postmaster- A Warlng
Money Order Clerk-R NJ. Larcombe.
Assistant Money Order Clerk-Henry
Lemcke
Registry Clerk-Wallace Howard.
Stamp Cierk-H A Charlton.
Superintendent-Wi Wiliam Coolidge
General Delivery Clerk-W. B. Canon.
Chief Mailing Clerk-R. w. Green.
Second Mailing Clerk. ". Black.
Third Mailing Clerk-R G. Tunno.
General Utility Clerks-M. d. Coburn
and J. A Lege.
CancelIng Clerk-A. c. Cannal.
Special Delivery Clerk-George Back
man.
General Mail Carriers-Michael c. Dris-
coll, A. D. Miller, J. J. Hewlett, j. J..
Donavan, J. p. Murphy, II. d. Green, j. j .
Alleoud, and the following colored carriers
J. D. Campbell, A. s. Lafayette, C. c..
Deveaux, NJ. T. Jones, J. D. Boughes, S. B.
Cooper, George A Lord, T. A Dennegal.
George r. Tyson and M B. Brannen.
Sub Carrier-Henry Hymes.
From the above lists IL will be seen that
there is quite number Of choice pickings
in the two departments with salaries rang
ing all the way from that of the as
sistAnt janitor of the custom house at $500 a
year, to $4,000 for the highest subordinate.
GOOD OFFICE TO HOLD.
The position Of postmaster will be much
moro desirable when the department moves
into the new building than it has been un-
der Capt. Lamar, as not only viii the
quarters be more commodlous and inviting,
but the facilities for handling the mails
will be much better, the department. at
Washington having been favorably i'm
pressed with suggestions for such added fa-
cilities as will be commensurate with the
growth of the city and the large increase
Of mail matter from year to year, and the
purchase Of the contiguous lot to the pres
ent site Indicates that it would have been
the policy of the present administration to
have adopted Capt. Lamar'S suggestions for
better facilities for handling the mails than
were contemplated in the original plans.
There seems to be general impression
that the Harrison administration will not
be so frugal as the Cleveland administra-
tion, but that the customs department will
have an increased force of inspectors, aud
the postal department an increased
clerical force, with better pay, and that the
force of carriers will be materially increased
so that the mails may be delivered more
promptly and more satisfactorily.
There won't be so much fault-fndlng
about a surplus four years from now" said
republican the other day. THE demo
Gratis began to reduce the force in the de-
partments and curtail salaries as soon as
they got in, and that is the reason why the
newspapers we're continually complaining
about the inefficiency Of the postal service. u
NO MORE CIVIL SERVICE.
"You wont hear any more Of the civil
service humbug after March A. said a gov
ernment official, looking up from his desk,
yesterday, when a reporter called TO make
some inquiries about his department.
"Why, they had a civil service examina-
tion here the other day. Two poor girls
from out of town were examined, and one Of
them, who went through all right, thought
all she had TO do was TO apply at once for a
position in one of the departments here,
which she did, and Of course she was disap-
pointed, and felt sorry for her. She was
tired and down-spirited, and asked me if l
would not give her a chair 10 rest 1
took a chair outside in the corridor, and
she sat there for an hour or more, detected
and an object Of pity. Under the rulings
Of the civil service, those who have never
gone before the commission get places.
No. You will find the republicans won't
let civil service reform stand in their way" a"
The democrats will get the grand bounce,
according 10 this officials view, and it won't
be put off long, either.