Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-12-08


and in letting those contracts for post
office supplies and star service which are
not regulated by statute.
An effective cooperation between the
auditors office and the postoffice depart
ment, and the making an enforcement of
orders by the department requiring i'm
mediate notification to their surities of
all delinQuencieS on the part Of postmas-
ters and compelling such postmasters to
make more frequent deposits of postal
funds, have resulted in a prompter aud
iting of their accounts and much less de-
fault to the government than heretofore
The years report shows large extern
sions of both the star route service and
the railway mail service, with increased
postal facilities. Much higher accuracy
in handling the mails has also been
reached, as appears by the decrease of
errors in the railway mail service and
the reduction of mail matter returned to
the dead letter office.
THE SECOND-CLAsS ABUSE.
TE9 deficit for the last year. although
much less than that of the last OF pre-
ceding years, emphasizes the necessity
for legislation to correct the growing
abuse of the second-cla5s rate, to which
the deficiency Is mainly attributed. The
transmission at the rate of 1 cent.
pound of serial libraries, advertising
Sheets house organs. periodicals adyer-
Using some particular house or institu-
ton, sample copies and the like, ought
certainly to be discontinued. glance
at the revenues for the work done last
year will show more plainly than any
other statement, the gross abuse of the
postal service and the growing waste of
its earnings. The free matter carried in
the mails for the departments, offices,
etc, of the government and for congress,
in pounds, amounted to 94,4S0,1S9.
If this is offset against buildings for
postofiicss and stations, the rental OF
which would more than compensate for
such free postal service, we have this
exhibit: Weight of mail matter Other
than above) transmitted through the
mails for the year ending June So 1885,
o. Glass Weight. Revenue.
Domestic and for
eign letters and
postal cards, etc. G5,3S7,s4S $50. o24 AGA
Newspapers and pc
riodicals, l cent
psr pound ........34S, 98S648 99S,4O3
Books, seeds, etc,
cent per pound. 7S7O114S 10.S24,C69
Parcels, ETC., Is cents
pound ........... 1995o1S7 129,321
5l2,977S2C 77,O44 .257
The remainder of our postal revenue,
amounting to something mere than S5,-
900 ,000 was derived from box rents, rcgis-
try fees money order, business and other
similar items. The entire expenditures
Of the department.. including pay for
transportation credited to the Pacific
railroads, was S92 1S6 1871, which may
be considered as the cost of receiving.
carrying and delivering the above mail
matter. 1t thus appears that though the
second-class matter constituted more
than two-thirds of the total that was
carried, the revenue derived from it was
less than one-thirteenth of the total eX-
panSe. The average revenue from each
pound of first-class matter was % cents,
from each pound of second-class 8h
of ha eenpn1 SC 70 2A2 o07 free
matter). from each pound of third-c1ass,
1871 cents, from each pound of fourth
class, 1876 cents.
The growth in weight of second-class
matter has been from 299,000,0 600 pounds
in 1894 to 312, 600, 900 in 1895, and to al
NEST 34e, 600, 600 in 1886, and it is quite evil
dent this increasing drawback is far out
stripping any possible growth of postal
revenues. Our mail service should of
course be such as to meet the wants and
even the convenience Of our people, at a
direct charge upon them so light as per-
haps to exclude the idea of our postoftice
department being a money-makinE con-
Germ. but in the face of a constantly re-
curing deficiency in its revenues, and in
view of the fact that we supply the best
mail service in the world. 1t seems to be
quite time to correct the abuse that swells
enormously our annual deficit. II we
concede the public policy of carrying
newspapers free in the county of publica-
less than one-tenth of their cost, other
bona fide newspapers and periodicals
there can be no excuse for SubJecting the
service to the further immense and In
creasing loss involved in carrying at the
nominal rate of 1 cent a pound the serial
libraries sometimes including trashy and
even harmful literature and other matter
which under the loose Interpretation or
a loose statute has been gradually given
second-class rates, thus absorbing all
III 1sst- cd 6rCt
matter, which pays three or four times
more than it's cost, and producing large
annual loss to be paid by general taxa
ton. IL such second-class matter paid
merely the cost of its handling our de-
felt would disappear and q surplus result
which might be used to give the people
still better facilities or cheaper rales OF
letter postage.
POSTAL REFORMS.
1 recommend that legislation be at once
enacted to correct these abuses and in
troduce better business ideas in the regu-
laltion of our postal rates. Experience
and observation have demonstrated that
certain improvements in the organization
of the postoffice department must be Sc
cured before we can gain the full beneft
OF the immense sums expended In IT'S ad-
ministration. This involves the follow
ing reforms, which L earnestly recon-
mend.
There should be a small addition to the
existing inspector service to be employed
in the supervision of the carrier force,
which now numbers 1900 men and per-
forms it's service practically without the
surveillance exercised over all other
branches of the postal or public services
or course such a lack of supervision and
freedom from wholesome disciplinary re-
straints must inevitably lead to imperfect
There should also be appointed
a few inspectors who could assist the
central office in necessary investigation
concerning matters of postoifice leases,
postoffice sites, allowances for rent, fuel
and lights and in organizing and secur-
ing the best results from the work of the
ID 900 clerks now employed in first and
second-class offices. 1 am convinced that
the small expense attending the inaugur-
alton of these reforms would actually be
q profitable investment.
I especially recommend such a recast-
ing of the appropriations by congress for
the postoffice department as will permit
the postmaster general to proceed with
the work of consolidating postofhces.
This work has already been entered upon
sufficiently to demonstrate by experi-
ment and experience that such consolida-
ton is productive of better service, larger
revenues and less expenditures, to say