The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-09-22
THE POSTAL SERVICE.
Efforts to Improve the Present Hish
Condition Of the Department.
One Weeks Business at the o'''ce
In This City.

rho nos,master general. the middle OF last
,,,h cont a circular letter to the post
,,astars AZ each county seat. asking them to
to- certain information from the post
os,css in their counties for the good Of the
service and to report by the 10Th of October.
The postmaster general proposes to give to
each postoffice standing on the records of
the Department according to the making up
on a paper Of questions. There will be five
grades of Offices: Perfect. excellent, good.
fair, poor, and at the end Of each fiscal wear
the postmaster general will report to the
President those who rate the highest for
such honorable mention as he may see fit
personally to make.
Acting under these instructions Post
master Briggs and Assistant Postmaster
Sanborn have already visited Al of the 81
offices In the county.
This Is the paper of questions:
In regard to the post office at..............
Nounty Oi.s.
otate 0t.................
1. Is the post office located conveniently for
the people? III map OF the town with location
marked. or picture OF the binding can be con
venenty OBTAINED 1t VIII be useful to the Depart
2. Is it within the so rod limit; if not, vhy
could II not be so located?
.. Is the post office well arranged, clean and
4. Are the books, accounts and repor es kept
properly an o!p,,rom II written up?
and dispatched.
~, q Is notice Of the lottery law posted where
g.. Do the patrons of the Office generally re-
gard the post office as efficiently conducted.
8. Does the postmaster study and understand
the postal laws and regulations and realize The
ffesp1nsibiIity and dignity of being an officer Of
personally to the duties Of the office; and II the
work is doneby proxy, who does it, and at what
ii. If the postmas er has any other business OF
~; What improvements in the postal service
lot lns locality nave occurred since the present
13. State the names of and distances from your
once 10 the four nearest post 0fdees. q
IA. How can the service be improved and
what Is the chief obstacle in the way Of improve
aS A. what distance from your office is the
16. AT what distance from your office is the
nearest savings bank?
=. what marking will you give the postmaster on
Inc f0llowing.basis: 1 means poor, means fair,
81 means good, means excellent, means per-
The elements to enter into the rating are the
following: Convenience Of location Of the office
cleanliness, order, keeping OF the accounts, per.
SonaL dtcHtiOn VI TIC postmaster, improvements
In the service made during the last year, growth
OF the business in the past IL months.
Another matter of interest. which concerns
the Portland office, Is the work completed
last night. when a voluminous report of q
weeks work was mailed TO the Depa, tmen,
in Washington. Some time ago Postmaster
Briggs received instructions from the De
partment at Washington. requiring the EN-
ployes Of this Office to perform for one week
in addition to their regular duties. the grea
task Of counting and weighing all mail mat
| ter deposited In the Portland postoffice dur
| ing the current week, and computing the
postage on it. Statistics similar to these are
collected at irregular intervals, usually
about once year, for the information Of the
Postoffice Department, but the work just
now completed is for use In the census Of
1890. A summary Of the report of the Port
land office Is given below:
Character of matter. Pieces, Pounds. Postage