The Monticellonian., 1895-11-29
THE MAIL SERVICE.

Poatmaster-GeneraI Wilson's Report sug- | sests Number of KefOrms-Free De- livery EKtension-Abuse of the Second- | Glass Service Should be Stopped-Merit l Tenure for Assistants.
 WASHINGTON Nov. 25.--Postmaster- General Wilson has made his first an- nual report to the president. The re- ceipts of the post-office department for the year ending June 80, 1895, were | S76, I'll, ,09O, and the expenditures were Ss6, 79O, l72 It is gratifying, says the report, that large portion of the de- fieieney occurred in the first quarter of the year, and that revenues are in- creasing with returning prosperity. | MT. Wilson estimates the revenue foe the year, ending June 30, 1897, at SS9,- 793, 120 and the expenditures at S94,- SIT, GOO, the difference to be made up by congressional appropriation. Speak ing of the deficiency, Mir. Wilson says
 The regular annual deficiency in the revenues Of the postal service. emphasized as 1t aP- pears to be by the unusual amount of the | deficiencies of the past two years, may call | forth comment from those who believe that the post-ofice department should be self-sustain- ing. But it should be remembered that the free business done by this department for other branches and departments of the government, | if paid for at regular or cost rates, would more than wipe out it's deficiencies.
 The postmastergene refers to the growth of the free-deIivery service, and says:
 Ibeliele that 1t Is good policy for congress | and for the department to foster the extension Of this service by Judieious appropriations and | jHdicioas administration. The vigorous and l effective efforts of my immediate predecessor | n a 4 honest a1- ministration Of the eight-heur law and made letter carriers trip and official time reports actual and truthful records Of service. To bring about this substantial reform, just alike to the department and to the carriers, as we'll as to lay the foundation for other necessary | improvements in this service. special inyesti- | gation of the carrier system was begun under l his administration, involving t thorough ex- animation iHte the needs and details of the system.
 He concurs in the recommendations of the first assistant postmaste~-g gen. eral for promoting the efficiency of the work Mr. Wilson reiterates the neces- sity of legislation to punish tran- wreclling and obstruction of mails, urged by his predecessor, and reeom- mends legislation authorizing the use of private postal cards. Concerning the abuses of the second-elass mail matter, Mr. Wilson says:
 can add little to the reasons given by Post masters-GeneFaI Bissell and Wanamaker for amendments to the law as to second-class mat | ter, imperattFely needed to save the postal service from the enormous abuses and conse- l Quent enormous loss Of revenue, which no regu- | laion Of the department, nor watchfulness on | the part of it's officials can guard against. l | respectfully and earnestly recommend to con- gress careful scrutiny into MS abuse and such remedial legislation as shall be deemed necessary and effective for it's correction.
 Upon another feature of the second class matter the postmaster-genera says:
 The volume of second-class matter passing through the mails increased rapidly, and has reached such proportions as to seriously retard | distribution of mails in the larger post offices and railway post ofices
 | The department, through it's local repre- sentattves, has repeatedly urged publishers to | separate their publications by states and routes, where the quantity for any one state or territory is sufficient to justify 1t, before send ing them to the mailing offices, and has deaYored to show them that their own interests would be subseryed thereby.
 Administrations Wilson says that the civil-seryice rules should be ex- tended wherever practical. He says:
 The magnitude and multiplicity of it's busi- l ness operations, the perfection of service | which the people are learning to demand and to expect of it, and the palpable truth that such business operations can be carried on and such | perfect service rendered only by men trained | and eXperts-all these and many other reasons l call for such stability of tenure alone can | command or beget the requisite training. skill and enthusiasm. The continuity of the de- partment should be preserved in changes of administration, not only along the line ! nf tG Ep4t fyaf nd a vi ht1t in that larger grasp Of its history, its daily work and it's heaithful progress, which is found alone with those Who direct and control it's chief bureaus. l concur, therefore, in the judgment of one of my recent predecessors, that at least three Of the assistant p0stmas- ters should hold their offices by civil service or merit tenure, and not by political tenure. I refrain from offering a like opinion as to the fourth assistant postmas ter-general because fourth-class posLmasters, whose appointment Is primarily allotted to him. are yet outside of that tenure.
 The question Of extending civil-servce meth- ods to the selection Of fourth-claSs postmasters has naturally received my attention since l have been at the head of this department. But do not find myself able to make, as yet, any specific recommendations on the simple sub iect in the line of the legislation which has been proposed
 The order. which you have recently approved, providing that when the postmaster general shall consolidate with free delivery office any other post office, such consoli- dation shall carry into the classified service at the free delivery office the post office department roster of employees of the office consolidated, including the postmaster, may be accepted us the beginning and fOunda- tton not only Of better postal service for the public, a better and more Dusinesslike aeeount- ing to this department but also wise eXten- sion of the ciyil-seryice system to postmasters. It is my purpose to proceed under the aulhort- ty of this order aS dtsoreetly as 1 can, and in the long run, Us far as experience will justify. so us to secure these commenaDIe results,