New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-12-02
IN JHPROVED POSTAL SERVICE.

Mr. Wanamakers report on the Postal Ser
vice, printed on Saturday. is full OF suggestions
for the Improvement of the postal service. The
remarkable thing about his recommendations
is their common sense practicability. They are
not schemes to get more money nor to create
more patronage. In the highest degree they
are directed toward widening the scope and bet
tering the efficiency Of the service. They are
all easy to carry out. The excellence of their
practical effect is obvious, and they are ell in
harmony with Civil Service reform.
II has been the experience of all Postmasters-
General since the country began to build rail-
roads and develop west Of the Mississippi that
the unwieldy proportions Of the service rem
deed thorough supervision almost impossible
Of late years this difficulty has grown enormous
". There are now nearly $4,000 offices in the
United States, and they are increasing in num-
Der and in the extent of their operations phe
nomenaly. Especially is this the case west Of
the Missouri, where offices spring from the
fourth class to the first, and move from log
cabin into granite block during one Admins
tration. More than 800 900 persons are now
employed in the postal service, and a small army
CT carriers messengers, route agents and in
spectors is added every year. Mr.. Wanamaker
shows most conclusively the pressing necessity
of organizing this service upon an improved
basis He suggests the division Of it into TWEEN
tv-six departments, each of which shall have
the personal attention Of a superintendent who
shall be a man Of the necessary experience and
whose duty shall be to instruct poSmasters to
keep them up to a standard Of efficiency and
to classify them for promotion according to the
quality Of their work.
The whole service thus organized should be,
in Mr.. Wanamaker's judgment, under the di-
rection Of controller. whose salary should be
at least $4,000, and whose term of Office
should not be less than ten years Under the
operation Of such a system this officer would
always be able TO know Just what was being
done in every office, what it required to meet
the reasonable demands Of the community il
served. what il was earning and ought to earn
and. in fact. every detail with regard to every
point in the whole county. With this informa.
ton ALWAYS available the labOrs of the executive
officers could be performed intelligently prompt
" and with regard to harmonious results. II
is particularly to be noted that the tendency Of
Che utilization of experience by gradual promo.
tons, and the placing Of the service upon thai
high plane in which fitness capacity and fdet,
will be the test Of office getting as well as office
holding in the postal service
Mr.. Wanamaker's report OF the change,
that have been made since March shows how
sincerely and firmly the Administration has helt
TO its Civil Service reform pledges. OF course
being a Republican Administration pledged t,
the maintenance Of the protective system, it ha,
been necessary that those curious persons wht
have assumed to be the sole guardians of re
form, and whose cardinal doctrine is tina
Heaven and earth TO be entirely right must b,
conducted in absolute accord with their will
it has been necessary that they should attacl
the Administration and Mr.. Wanamaker in par
ticuIaI. since he has charge OF full half Of tn,
Civil Service. They have been industriou
and mTe or less ingenious in their misrepre
sensations. But Mr. Wanamaker shows that a
matter of fact and record, Of the $50 change
that occurred in Presidential Offices from Marcl
to the close of the fiscal year, "A were cause,