Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1895-12-06
A Great Step of Reform.

greatest single step taken since
the enactment Of the pendleton
civ;l-aorvce law Of January 10
1888. was that "taken quietly No
xem6pr s, 1895, by President Cieve-
land" in issuing an ORDER Whlcb
bring large number of our co.
OOO fonrth-class postothces under
the operation Of the eiyll.servlce
rules and promises the ultimate m
rlusion Of still larger number.
The Presidents order authorizes
the Postmaster General to consoii-
date postofiices. and when IL post
off e is by him consolidated with
"free-delivery" Office, then all the
emploves Of the office thus cons III
dated shall be .upder the civil-ser-
vice rules which apply in all free.
delivery offices. The smallest coun-'
try postoffice when consolidated
with the office of an adjacent city
or town which has free delivery
will thus b. under the merit sys-
TEN and no longer at the mercy ot
the sportsman. The effect Of the
system. from an administrative.
uo;n. Of view, will be to divide the.
country into postal areas, to be
M ,naged each from some convent
ent central point, and not, as now
directly from Wnshingt>n. Al
present the Postolice Department
deals directly with each OF Its Co.
600 local offices, There is no sys-
tem tic org unization, bat a prl'oi-
tive method inherited from a time
when Offices were much less nu-
merous. The result is much CORE
lspondence between Washington and
..way back for the correction OF
errors, loss of time in dealing with
Offices distant often thousands OF
miles and much inconvenience to
the public. Under the new system
the fourth class postofice Will be
c,me a subordinate station control
ed bv Il division superintendent
who will be in rlany cases the post
master of the nearest city. Rura
ne;chborhoo,ls will be benefited by
getting more Efficient service, an,
in this era Of bicycles farmers may
expect ultimately to see the area O.
free delivery widely extended. Th'
plan will be gradually carried mt
execution as circumstances permit
and merits all the praise it has le
ceived
Harper's Weekly seconds the Civ
il Service Chronicle in its approva
of the reform and cilates upon tn
political benefit to be derived frOr
taking fourth-class post-ofices on
Of politics. "'rhe postoffice IN tn
small town or village" says tn
Weekly, has been the OmnipreSen
embodiment of the spoils idea
has been pre-eminently the pri2
fought for by the local politicians
It has dom more than anythln
else to give party contests the cha,
tacter of scrambles for plumber.
has been gathering place OF tt
party-hacks md wire -2nllers'
has more than anything else accn'
toned the popular mind to the ne
ton that ii change Of party IN pow
ser necessarily means partlSa
change in the minor offices.
measure of reform tending to tab
a large majority Of the Postotilc'
out of olitics by pnttins them NJ
4 r the merit system thus strikes {
qhe strongest bulwark of the spol
ell. We. therefore, most earneS
/ call upon friends of vi'-servIC
reform all over the country to glN
this measure their attention, and
rally public opinion to a vIsor0'
support OF it"
Doubtless the exhortatlon wit
which the Weekly closes is muc
needed President Cleveland's han'
should be upheld. His election
1892 was violently opposed by mo
Of the civil-service reform leagu
and their organs-which had fallt
Il seems. under republican contr
but they must now see that the
causa has, after all, been best ser
oil nv Senator Pendlet0n, OF OH