Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1897-03-18

there WAS density of secrecy that was
ss maddening as il was unnecessary.
For example, there are approximately
1000 presidential post Offices. with sal
aries running from $1,000 to 5000.
The postmaster at each of these places
holds a commission for four years: and
at the expiration of four years sue
cessor is appointed. The prominent
democrats IN every state wanted In
know when these commissions would
expire. in order that they might intel
ligently plan for their turn at Office
holding. Acting under the advice of an
old holdoyer republican employe. Post
master-General BisseIl declared tina,
this information should not be given
out. This angercd the newspaper men.
and they tried to get the information
anyway. Each man had his own eNIeri-
ence at that time. ! can oni. narrate
my own:
l was representing the Detroit Trib-
une, and sent to that paper a consuiefe
list of the presidential postmasters for
Michigan with the date of the expira-
tion of each commission and the salary
attached to each Office. As the repre-
sentative of the st. Paul Dispatch sent
that paper a complete official list COW
ering Minnesota. North Dakota and
South Dakota. To the Des Moines Reg
lister | sent the complete list for Iow
and Nebraska. ~
When those newspapers arrived in
Washington copies were laid before the
postmaster-genernl. and he was very
wroth. He was anxious to find the
clerk in his department who had given
out the forbidden lists. II he could
only find out all the particulars he
would make some discharges, and teach
his clerks practical lesson of subortii-
milton But he could not find out how
the information was obtained.
Having formerly been employed in
the post Office department, was ia
miliar with the working of the great
postal machinery, the manner and
method of appointments, the book
keeping system, and all that sort of
thing. knew that the sixth auditor of
the treasury kept duplicate accounts of
al postmasters In the United States.
and that the books of the auditor must
always tally with the accounts kept by
tneir third assistant postmaster zen
eral. The postmaster-general could
suppress news in the post Office depart-
raent, but he had no control over the
treasury department. The Office of the
sixth auditor of the treasury is purely
bookkeeping Office, and nobody ever
goes there for news Consequently the
sixth auditor had never been ordered
TO suppress news. Therefore, when /
went to the books to get the names.
salaries and dates of commissions OF
postmasters nobody interposed any OBJ
lection. Thus the lists were obtained
and nrinted in spite of the postmaster
general. He was afterwards told that
this government has many ramifica-
tons, and that there are various ways
OF ascertaining facts.
Another news matter of considerable
Importance was harder to obtain. and IL
required considerable effort and some
expense to circumvent the officials who
refused to give information. For every
post Office there are always two or more
candidates, and sometimes as many as
20 men aspire for good Office. All of
the applications are kept in the Office
of the fourth assistant postmaster-gen-
eral, and no clerk can give out the list
of candidates for postmasterships with
out authority to do so: and there is no
other Office in which they can be found.