The Portland daily press., 1889-11-30
THE LARGEST BUSINESS IN THE WORLD.
Mr.. Wanamaker',s Report on the
Post office Departments Work.
His Plans For Putting the System on
a Business Basis.
What the Telegraph might Do For
the Peoples Convenience.

has been made public. Mr.. Wanamaker
says:
"The first Postmaster-G General submitted
his first report to President Washington one
hundred years ago. It's exact date was Dec.
Q, 1889. mention this as Of interest in this
centennial age. have the honor to state
that to the Postmaster-G General Of the Unit
ed States is committed tine management of
the largest business concern in the world,
consisting of central establishment with
almost 10000 branches, and employing over
10000 people. Its agents embrace one-half
of the civil list IL maintains communica-
tion between the near and the remote places
of the country with frequency, celerity. and
security. The number and value OF its mes
sages are such that the imagination can
scarcely form conception OF them. The
capital in use in carrying on this vast Dusi-
ness was last year 81 to each man, woman,
and child in the United States. Neverthe-
less, the postal service Is not a money-mak-
ing enterprise. tits not intended to be. 1t
is mistake to expect it to be self-sustaining
until 1t is fully perfected"
ON BUSINESS BASIS.
The report. after speaking of the detri-
ment to the business caused by the periodi.
cal changes in the heads of the department,
form of government, says:
"Create new place and find the best edu-
Gated postal man in the service at the Post
Office Department, or in any OF the $1,000
post offices, and make him the general man.
ager. No great business establishment can
succeed that changes its principal officer
once in fifteen months. The Post Office De-
partment can not do itany more than couldthe
Pennsylvania or New York Central railroad.
Who would command or gain increasing
in
changed presidents in about once year?
With a work that must always be laborious
and subject to mutations 1t is not likely that
these frequent changes will ever cease, but
the department ought to be organized as not
tG be sesa moTs ssssS du S any Re Sug a
to be one perfectly educated pos
tai man charged with the gen.
eral management whose controlling mind
and firm grasp should remain while Others
come and go. Instead OF $500 clerk allot-
ting annually $22, 900. and necessarily de-
layed decisions in the different offices regard
ing questions affecting carriers and clerks
and extensions of the service, and thousands
of details connected with the daily routine
of the postofices throughout the United
States touching the welfare Of millions of
people. transfer the oversight of the salaries
and allowance division and the free delivery
system, and many Of the duties devolving
upon the first assistant, to general manag-
er, who, in impaiting promptness and eff
cheney throughout the service would earn
his salary five times over"
The division of the country into 26 postal
districts with supervisor In each, to harmon
ize the work of tha individual offices and thus
increase their efficiency, Is recommended.
The need of an adequate post office building
in Washington is urged, and the creation Of
the office of fourth assistant postmaster gen.
eral is deemed desirable.
TELEGRAPH FOR THE PEOPLE.
Regarding the recent negotiations with
the Western Union Telegraph Company and
a cheap telegraph service in connection with
the post Office department, the Postmaster
General says:
81 confess to a disappointment in that the
negotiations with the Western Union Tele-
graph Company did not lead to a scheme
which hoped to submit with this report for
your approval, whereby the people at large
could have the benefit Of telegraphic service
at popular rates. 1t is stated that merchants,
bankers and newspapers are now the prfnci-
pal customers OF the telegraph companies In
this country. The statistics of ths telegraphic
system Of the English government show that
large proportion OF the customers go per
cent. is stated by some persons) are from the
family and from social messages, and not
from business sources. With lower tele-
graphic rate and with stations at the win
dows of the p3st offices, to which ladies are
accustomed, an entirely new class of business
to many not now in the habit of using the
wires. The telegraph is defined to be IAN
instrument for conveying intelligence beyond
the limits Of distance at which the voice is
audible" This definition would apply equal
ly to the post Office, and Is in fact the object
for which the post Office was established.
THE great propriety and advantage of
united service cannot be questioned from a
point of convenience and economy to the
people. There Is no reason whatever why
the night messages of the telegraph COM
panies should not be delivered as postal mat
ter by the first morning delivery Of the car
riers. This Is proper post Office business,
and would add to the profits of the depart
inent The vast network OF wires covering
the country could easily reach many of the
village post offices and benefit more people
tlan by stopping at the railroad stations,
which are often mile or more distant from
where the people live. An experiment could
be easily and quickly made to ascertain
whether the demand for cheaper telegraphic
service exists as is claimei. 1t could be done
without any outlay of money by the govern
ment, and with no interference with exist
iIg telegraphic interests, inasmuch as 1t
would create, as stated new class of busi-
ness. Moreover. many peoples becoming ac-
quainted with the uses of the telegraph
would wonder how they ever managed to get
along without 1t; and would hnd themselves
using the swifter service as well as the limit
ed, and financially guaranteed messages
would continue to be confined to and carried
by the existing corporations.
"a contract should be made with tele-
graph lines now in operation, or that may be
hereafter built. under advertisement and
public bid, at the most favorable rate that
can be obtained. in the same manner as the
Post Office Department now contracts with
railroad companies for the carrying of let
ters and postal cards; connecting thelwires
with free delivery and other designated post
offices, and receiving messages to be deliver
ed In each instance at the next carrier deliv-
cry after their. receipt in the city to which
they are SENT"
FOREIGN MAILS.
"There is only single instance in which
the department is free to make contracts
that afford just compensation for mail car
riage from domestic to foreign ports, and
that Is the transportation between Tampa,
Fla, and Havana. There Is no reason why
the principle which governs this case should
not be extended to all cases in which Ameri-
can steamships are engaged. The result of
ships are engaged in foreign trade, and
where they do exist it is because of liberal
payment made by foreign governments to
those steamships for the carriage Of
the mail to the United States.
This government, on the other hand, pays
inadeQuately for the outward carriage II
Illustrative Of this is the line from. Newport
News to Brazil, and also the line from San
Francisco to New Zealand and Australia.
Neither line could probably maintain itself
except for the payment made for mails to the
United States, the amount paid for outward
mails being greatly disproportionate to that
paid by Brazil in one case, or the British
colonies referred to in the other.
",rhe total number of railway postal clerks
in the service on the 4th of March. 1889, was
1884. The re-instatements and appoint
ments Of new men from March to July 30,
1889, were 1882, leaving undisturbed 3, ,4o2 OF
those previously appointed; or nearly two
thirds of the whole number that were in
place when this administration came In
power still in place. This is so different
from the current statement that l make rec
ord of the facts as matter of information
and reference"
The report adds that efforts will be con-
tinued to minimize the amount Of Sunday
work.
The Postmaster General does not think the
time has come for establishing full parcels
post and consolidating third and fourth class
matter.
WHAT 1T COSTS.