The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1894-11-28
THE POSTAL SERVICE.
Postmaster General Bissell Sub.
mits His Annual Report.
Abuses Connected With second-Class Mall
Matter Severely CriticIsed-RecOm-
mendatlons to Increase the Ell
cheney of tho Service-Re-
celpts and Expenditures
for the Year.

WASHINGTON, NOV. So.-lJ is SeluOIn
that much interest is found in the
pages of the formal annual report Of
the government officers, but Postmaster
General Bissell has succeeded in prov
ing the exception to the rule in his ac-
count of the operations of the post
Office department during the past
| twelve months. It contains number
of novel, almost unique, suggestions
and recommendations, but these are
associated with practical ideas and
plans that render them of more than
ordinary value and tend to incite
deeper study into their scope and
worth. The policy which Mr.. Bissell
has outlined may be briefly given in
his own words:
I'm general he says, 81 would
recommend that the first and most inn
portant' thing to be done is to revise
the law as to second-class mail matter,
SO as to place the post Office department
Immediately upon self-sustaining
basis. Avoid expensive experiments,
like the postal telegraph, rural free de-
livery, etc. Develop the postal service
on existing lines of administration, viz:
Extend free delivery in cities that
now enjoy it. Accord it to towns al
ready entitled to it under the law.
Quicken railroad transportation. Re-
wise and reclassify organization of the
railway mail service, and reclassify
clerks in post offices and provide for
district supervision of postal affairs by
appointment of expert postal officials
from the classified service, as recon-
mended in my last annual report"
Two of the novel features to which
reference has been made concern lin
itation in the broad construction
placed on second-class matter and a
suggestion as to the selection of the
lower grade of postmasters.
In the first instance, Mr.. Bissell puts
forward plan by which legitimate
publications of the second-class such as
newspapers and periodicals, may be
carried free through the mails, and yet
leave the government with surplus
instead of the usual deficiency in the
maintenance of the postal service.
With reference to the postmasters in
smaller offices, Mr.. Bissell expresses
his willingness to indorse any reason
able plan which will take their selec-
ton, with all the consequent bicker-
ings and jealousies, from the hands of
the postmaster general, and he makes
his ideas so broad on this subject as to
leave no doubt that he will favor the
suggested popular vote as the means
out of the difficulty in cases where
there is more than one candidate.
To show just how vast is the postal
service Of the United States, Mr.. Bis
sell has taken another novel method.
He has secured from his subordinates
and incorporated in the report record
Of what is actually accomplished in one
day, and the table presented gives a
better Idea of postal business than
fuller and more complicated details.
This record of an average days busi-
ness is as follows: Number OF miles of
post routes run, 100000; number of
stamps manufactured, $4,000 num-
ber of envelopes manufactured, 1,s0O,-
900; number of postal cards manufac-
tured, 100000; number of pieces
mailed, 1890, 900; number Of letters
mailed, 100000 number of pieces of
mail matter distributed and redistrib-
uted by railway poseal clerks, $780,
900; number of pieces handled in dead
letter Office, $4,000; daily transactions
in money order business, $l,10O,0O0;
daily expenses, $23l, 100.
The deficiency in postal revenue for
the fiscal year ended June 30, 1894, was
50, 243, 9S5. The total revenue derived
was S75,OsO,379, and the expenditures
$s4, 1924, Ala For the current fiscal year
Mr.. Bissell estimates that the expendi-
| lures will amount to 800, 800. 4S5, leav-
ing an estimated deficiency of IS, ,971, 1886
, and his estimate for the fiscal year end
ing June 30, 1896, places expenditures
at $91, ,O59, 1853, and the deficiency at only
81, 151, S76.
The most important topic in the re-
port is treated under the explanatory
caption: Abuses connected with sec
ond-class matter"
Mr.. Bissell states without reserve
that advertisers, book publishers and
others, have taken advantage of the
broad construction of what constitutes
matter Of the second-class by sending
out their advertisements and publica-
tions, under the technical disguise of
newspapers and periodicals, and have
thus secured the benefit of the lower
rate of postage. He has discovered
that the abuse has grown SO great that
it now costs the government eight
times as much to carry second-class
matter as the revenue derived from it.
The volume of second-class business
grew from 143, 900, 900 pounds in 1883 to
to 256,OO0,O0 in 1892, more than doub-
ling in six years.
Upon the subject of the postal tele-
graph Mr.. Bissell disagrees with his
predecessor, Mr.. Wanamaker, with
reference to its desirability, He thinks
it wholly impracticable at this time,
and contends that our existing postal
service should be fully developed be-
fore adopting postal telegraphy, which
would add enormously to the already
large deficit of the post office depart
ment
|