The record-union., 1895-11-25

Causes a Yearly Deficit in the Pos
tai Revenues.
WASHINGTON. Nov. 24-Postmas-
ter-General Wilson, in his annual re-
pert Of the operation of the Postoffice
Department, remarks that the financial
and industrial depression which has
seriously affected the revenues of the
postal service for the past two years,
and disappointed estimates of prede-
cessors, extended far enough into the
fiscal year 1895 to make an unusually
wide gap between revenues and ex-
penditures. 1t is gratifying, however.
To report that a large part of this de-
tciency occurred in the first quarter of
the year, and that since then the reve-
nues Of the department have reflected
the general returning prosperity of the
country.
He ascribes the gross abuse of second
class rates of postage as the chief cause
! OF the yearly deficit in postal revenues.
/ lie repeats and indOrSeS the recon-
mendation of his predecessors Bisseu
ana Wanamaker, for an amendment of
the law in regard 10 the transportation
I
1 the estimate Of the department thac
tWo-thlrds III weight of all the matter
/ carried IN the mails is, under existing
/ laws and classifications, carried as sec
ohd-cIass matter at the rate of one cent
! per pound, where it is not actually car
/ ried postage free.
( The aggregate weight of second-class
matter in the year 1874 was 299 600, 600
pounds. During the last year it in
/ creased to over 3l2 100000, a growth of
over 100000 pounds. Deducting the
weight OF that which is known as
county free" being the matter which
IS circulated among subscribers free Of
( postage IN the respective counties of
publcalon, estimated to be III. $50 135
pounds, there remained 263.314.3S2
pounds Which returned at the rate of
/ one cent per pound, a revenue of S.
Oao,I43 81. The average cost to the de-
paftment Of transporting and handling
| this matter is estimated at eight cents
per pound.
Speaking of the extension of civil
! service rules to letter carriers, he says:
An Indispensable basis Of good service
( mas been laid by placing the carrier
force under the civil service system and
! no effort should be spared by the de-
partment to insure a high morale in
TINS force, and to familiarize the idea
among individual carriers that as they
enter the service by merit system alone.
!
/ ure but by faithful and efficient dis
charge of duty, which demands self-re-
spect and honorable living. 1t is in
| eYltabIe that few individuals here and
there should interpret his stability of
employment as a personal privilege en-
| couraSlng sloVenly service and insubor-
dlnatlon to superior officers, rather than
arrangement based on considerations of
better public service; and such in
stances have occurred, and viii doubt
less continue to occur even after the full
meaning of the civil system is under
stood and accepted. But it is crafty
| ing TO report that as q whole. and by
such overwhelming predominance as to
make the exceptions more prominent,
| the army of letter-carriers is alert,
faithful, efficient and honorable"
The Postmaster-Genera desires civil
service methods to be carried still fur
! ther and higher in the Postoffice De-
partment He says; 1.-TWO of my assist
ants are charged each with the eXpend-
! iture of over S40,000000 annually. to-
! Sether with the management and dis
| clpline of tens of thousands of en-
! pioyes. The duties of the other two are
| not less OnerOuS and multiDIeX If
such officials are to be the real heads of
this bureau, intimately acquainted with
all the machinery and working of them,
! competent to direct and able to infuse
their own intelligence and zeal among
their subordinates, they should have a
! tenure at least as assured from the
chances of political contest as those
SubOrdinates. The continuity of the de-
partment should be preserved in
changes of administration, not only
| along the line of it's subordinate and
/ separate service but in that larger
grasp of it's history, it's daily work and
! its healthful progress, which is found
alone with those who direct and con-
| troll its chief bureaus 1 concur, there
| fore, in the judgment of one of my re-
| cent predecessors, that at least three
Assistant POStmaSterS-G General should
hold their Office by a civil service and
| not by a political tenure. | refrain from
! offering a like opinion as to the Fourth
Assistant General, because
! fourth-claSS POStmaSterS, whose ap-
| pointment is practically allotted to him,
are yet outside of that tenure.
! The question of extending civil serv-
! ice methods to the selection of fourth
! class PoStmasters has naturally re-
| ceiVed my attention since 1 have been
at the head of this department. 1t is be-
! set with difficulties, which my expert
ence as a Representative in Congress of
( a large country district during three
changes of administration brought
home to me more clearly than they
might appear to a theoretical reformer,
or to the representative of a city con-
| stituency. 1 have studied various bills
| introduced in both branches of Con-
gress in recent years, ana welcomed
suggestions from other quarters. But
do not find myself able to make, as
yet, any specific recommendations on
this important subject in the line of
| legislation which has been proposed
The order which you have recently
approved, providing that when the
/ Postmaster General shall consolidate
with a free delivery Office any other
| Postoffice, such consolidation shall
carry into the classified service at the
| free delivery office the Postoffice De-
partment roster of employees of the Of
flee consolidated, including the Post
master, may be accepted as the begin
ming and the foundation not only of
letter postal service of the public,
better and more business-like account
| ing to this department, but also wise
extension of the civil service system TO
! Fostmasters.
Two Negroes Probably Lynched.