Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-02-01

10
field soon swarms with competitors. 1t re-
quires brain and muscle to manage any sort
of Il business, and the same elements which
have produced business success in the past
will produce it now and will always pro-
duce it.
Suppose YOU we're asked as to the most
promising field for enterprise, industry and
capital in the United States to-day, where
would you locate it?"
"One of the best fields" replied the Post
master General emphatically, 'is the South,
ard this section would to-day have hun
dreds of millions of dollars of Northern cap
ital and thousands of good Northern busi-
ness men thrown into it, could it be shown
that Northern man would hold there the
position that his intelligence, ability and
honesty entities him to Irrespective of his
political principles.
Wanamakers Ideal Postal Service.
The conversation here turned to postofhce
matters, and l asked the Postmaster Cen
eral to give me, in a nutshell, his idea of
what the postal service should be and do.
Postmaster General Wanamaker studied
moment and then saving, "The question is
rather big for nutshell" he reached for a
pad of yellow foolscap paper and rapidly
wrote the following:
Our postal service requires q number OF
changes to make it efficient one. In the
first place the Postmaster General should be
relieved from all clerical work, so that he
might study postal subjects, improve upon the
old methods and construct plans for the en- en-
largement and expansion of the service. he
should be an ex-officio member of the Senate
and House Com mittees on Postoffices and Post
roads, and he should be privileged to go upon
e e. .l,,ra SNanh n a
subjects as are pending before that body.
Again, the Government should procure the
best trained business man in the postal service
and make him the permanent secretary, not OF
the Postmaster General. but of the Postoffice
Department. so that the department would al
ways have one thoroughly reliable official for
Its routine work. This man should receive not
less than
Ten Thousand Dollars a Year.
He should be good business manager and
should not be removable during his term ex-
cept for misbehayiUr. He should be appointed
by the President for term OF wears with the
approval of the Senate. believe that all post
Offices where the rental is $500 year and up
ward ought to be located in Government build
ings costing $4,000 and upward, according TO
the popu:ation of the town. In the larger citles
the pos'ofices should be connected with their
sub-statlons by pneumatic tubes, telephones
and telegraphs, and the smaller cities should be
connected 10y telephones with postothces having
telegraph stations.
y
savings office Ought to be located In the post
Office within walking distance of every home.
and that free delivery should he made at least
once every day from every office that receives
~ letters and newspapers per day.
Again, the United States should be divided
into postal districts. AS the business is now
managed it is like big store with number OF
branches scattered at wide distances apart. but
ali run from the main establishment. without
any man to see whether their accounts are cor
rect, or whether their business is being
Pushed as 1t should Be.
The different parts of the United States have
different requirements. We need men on the
ground to see that the people are getting what
they need, that the service is pushed to the
fullest capacity. and that complaints are in
vestiCated the moment they are made. For
this purpose the smaller posrnfhces should be
grouped around the larger offices for the pur-
pose of supervision, or the United States should
be divided into postal districts, with superin-
tendea. of postotfices for each district who
might be the best postmaster in the district.
Again believe that all postmasters should
be graded and that all employees should have a
fixed tenure Of office with a scale of promotion
pointed 10 the railway mail service who has not
had experience in postal work at the
the postofhces, and no one should be
appointed in the Postofice Department
here who has not served in the railway mail
service or in one of the three principal post
Offices of the State in which he lives and no
bureau in the Postoffice Department without
having served at least four years in that de-
partment.
"There," said the Postmaster General as
he handed me the four sheets of yellow
foolscap paper which contained the above,
"vou have some of the changes L would
make if 1 could and one that 1 would
dearly like TO make would be that intro
ducing the postal telegraph"
Postal Telegraph Arguments.
but, Mr.. Wanamaker," said l, 81 see it
charged that your postal telegraph would
both entail expense upon the Government
and be a tax upon the people,
That replied the Postmaster General,
sis d mistake. The postal telegraph bills
before the Senate aud the House give all
telegraph companies the right to bid for the
business only they TX the rate about third
below that which the monopoies charge.
Here for instance are two great machines.
One is the United Telegraph Company
dominated and made inordinately profitable
bv one company. The other is the 10, 000
carriers outside of ouf free delivery post
Offices. Suppose a company can use these
carriers and messengers Tree OF charge, can
it not 90 business cheaper and bring telec-
raphy within the reach of more people?
There will be no increased cost to the Gov
eminent save perhaps in the little which will
be expended by a small bureau managing
it, which will be more than supported by
the increase IN the postal revenue. There
is no doubt in my mind that under thi.
system the ielegraphing could be
Done at Profit.
1.-THE English telegraph, which is a rea
Government telegraph, makes money, anc
the bills before the Senate and House simply
state that there is enough ingenuity in Iht
American people to assist the telegraph
companies TO do class of work which il
waiting TO be done. The passage of thest
bills would cut down tine price of messages
would remedy the unreliability of operators
and would give US a limited postal telegraph
which would pay as 1t went for what i
actually did.
"As for me, would like to take the risi
OF inaugurating the details of such plan
Postal telegraphy is bound to come. Tn,
opponents OF the present bill know il, anC
many of them, indeed, favor postal teleg
raphv, both in their hearts and in thei
pocketbooks. FRANK G. CARPENTER.