Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-16

fSst roads. - .,,,l Upon -. that 4 ,at
pressed, the entire postal system of the
country has grown.
Let us glance briefly at how this i'm
portant branch of the government is
managed and see what it does for the
people. Take first, the officers of tho
department. There is the postmaster
general. 1t is his business TO establish
and discontinue postofices, to instruct
persons in the postal service with refer
ence TO their duties, to superintend the
disposal Of the moneys and attend gener-
ally to the business of the department.
About fifty persons are employed under
him in the Office.
There is the chief clerk. who is a sort
OF personal superintendent of all the
other clerks in the department. An ap-
pointment clerk keeps n list of all the
persons employed in the department all
over the country. Applications for ap-
poiutment in the service and recon-
mendations for promotions are filed with
him. There is n superintendent who
takes care of the buildings used by the
department and of the furniture in the
same. The first assistant postmaster
general has the general care of pOstmas-
tiers and their instruction, and gives gen.
service, its laws and regulations. The
second assistant postmaster-geneTal de-
cides on how and by whom the mails
throughout the country shall be carried
the transportation Of the domestic
mail, as it IS called. He makes up the
timetable showing when the mails
shall arrive and depart to and from the
different towns and cities. The third
assistant postmaster-geneTa is
sort of treasurer of the department, for
he attends to the collection of the rev
enues OF the postal service, and keeps
accounts of the postal receipts. Some
times there are questions of law that
have to be decided, a citizen threatens
to sue the government on account of
some alleged negligence on the part of
postal emplOye, or clerk in some
office has been guilty of violating the
printed rules and regulations according
to which the work of the department is
conducted. To provide for such con-
tingencies the office has the services of a
capable lawyer, called the assistant
attorney general, whose duty it is to
give his opinion to the postmaster general
OF the heads of the several departments
upon any question which may arise in
the way / have stated. The head of a
department may think that such and
such man stole or embeZzled stamps
from his office. The evidence, as it has
been furnished the chief official, will be
laid before the assistant attorney-gen-
eraI. After looking it over he may
come TO the head Of the department and
say to him: "YOu better not have this
man arrested. You may honestly think
he is guilty, but 1 can tell you, as law
yer, that when you come into court you
l.
have against him and which you have
shown to me. Better drop the case
against him and make further efforts to
find the real culprit. -
In such cases, and in many others in
volving what are termed questions of
law, the services of a competent coun-
Rellor are found necessary in the pOstOf-
fee department. These are a few of the
principal officers of the postof1ice depart
ment. There are other superintendent
and chiefs of departments whom 1t will
not be necessary to refer to here, al
though their duties are quite necessary
and important, and each of the leading
officials | have named has a number of
clerks and sUbordinates under him to
help him in his duties.
l suppose that the postmaster-ge general
receives more letters than any other man
in the United States. You have heard
of people who are always wishing that
some ore would write TO them and never
so happy as when they hear the post
mans knock. You will recall, too, the |
character of Mr.. TOots in Dicken' S |
"Dombey s. Son, - who was q young
man of this description, and who, failing
in persuading anyone TO write to him,
was in the habit of writing to himself |
epistles of considerable length, which he |
would receive from the postman with an
air of much concern and read the same |
IN the presence of his friends. The |
postmaster-geneTal Of the United States |
is not obliged to resort TO this service |
for the purpose of receiving letters |
and of obtaining thereby glow of |
momentary excitement. When l had |
the honor a few years ago of occupying |
the position alluded to, the mail address |
ed to the postmaEter-gen was so large |
that 1t took five clerks TO sort it out and |
distribute 1t TO the proper departments. |
For, you must understand, that many of /
these letters referred to purely official |
business which, even if they were opened |
by the postmaster-general, would have |
TO be referred to some of his subordi- |
mates; very often the direction |
Gu the letter would be accom-
panied with a word or two showing the /
character of the communication, in |
which case il would be sent at once with
out being opened to the proper official. |
IN other cases when the clerks would |
open the letters they could tell at q |
glance to which branch of the depart
ment the letter belonged, and it would
be so referred.
But, aside from this vast mail, there |
were daily an immense number of letters |
addressed to the postmsster-g general and |
marked personal, - which he, of /
course, had to open, read and answer
himself. This correspondence would &C.
cupy all the space on a good-sized writ
ing desk, and when tell you that the
gentleman who received them would be /
occupied often until l 'olock in the