The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1890-08-22
Total Expenditures.........,.. $6,7S.

During the year the receipts of the
Office here amounted to ST, 900, bui
they were constantly on the increase,
and the expenditures for, office eXpen-
SEES amounted to but 80 per cent. OF
the gross receipts of the Office. TOT
the first quarter of the present year,
being from April 1 until June 80, the
receipts of the Office have been S7,fl6,
and as they are constantly increasing,
there is not doubt but what the
gross amount received here will be
more than at the Lynchburg office.
But even if there is no increase, and
the three coming quarters Will be as
much as the first, the amount received
at the office here will be S3l, 10l, or
within a couple of hundred dollars OF
the receipts OF the Lynchburg Office
last year.
But Lynchbure has SIG, 119 to pay
its expenses, while Roanoke has but
Sc, 7S4, though the gross receipts, OF
the offices differ only few hundred
dollars. This is the state OF affairs
that is complained of. Postmaster
Asberry finds it impossible to furnish
as good a service as he would wish,
and he could not furnish even as good
as he does if it were not for the fact
that he goes down into his own
pocket to pay part of the expenses
II am obliged to supplement the
salaries of the employees said MIR.
Asberry, or it would be impossible TO
furnish a service in any way accepta-
BILE. With the money allowed me to
run the office | could not get men
capable of doing the work" This IS
not right, and the Government should
not expect it of any one of its officers.
The money at my disposal is too little
to paw the men. We should at least
have as much as Lynchburg, where
the service is much less difficult than
it is IN this city. In Lynchburg there
is but q small transient population,
while here this class is very large and
there is a constant changing OF adj
dresses. This makes the work OF the
carriers much harder and to great
extent delays the delivery OF letters.
No other city in the State, and bl !.
few in the country, has so great Z!
lmber of changes proportlonateps
as do we.
"What is the remedy? Why it IS
simply enough if we can only get tie
ear of the people at Washington a.
This sudden and rapid G owth OF
cities has been provided for ia Il e
estimates of the department, al 4
special provisions are often made to
make the service of booming towns
as complete as possible. There is q ::
ways a fund at the disposal of the dc
partment to be used for this purpose,
though but little of it ever finds it's
way to the South. / have time and
again requested the authorities to
look after the matter, and asked
them to send man here for the pur-
pose of reporting on our poor facili-
ties. but as vet nothing in this direc-
tion has been done. We do not ask
anyone to take our assertions un-
backed. These are the comparative
figures; they can see for themselves
the unjust discrimination"
It is not only from Roanoke that
complaints of the poor service comes.
The complaint is general tn. odGhout
the Southwestern section of the coun-
try. The facilities hsve not been at
ali improved during the past five
wears, while the country has been in
the full flood tide of progress, and
towns are springing up in every direc-
ton. The mail clerks on the roads
running through the city are the
hardest worked men in the service,
and yet they cannot keep up.
Blue Ridge Springs, eleven miles
below this city, is an illustration Of the
way in which thes service is ordueted.
The TIMES has had complaints from
its subscribers at that point time and
again. They say that the paper
does not reach them regularly, and
never in the morning, though it
leaves this city promptly at $50.
| When it does reach them, it's by way
| of Lynchburg, having gone through
/ to that place, and sent back on the
/ evening trains. There is but one
postal clerk on the early train, and
The has more than he can possibly at
! tend to.
\ There ara Eve malls leaving the city