Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1897-07-24
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
ESPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE. |

NcW 10TH dht pIOohlNH pOSlolHte
will be considered in Washington late
in the year, and Postmaster Genera
Gary is quoted as saying that by tn,
time the consolidation Of the two cit
les takes effect his department will h,
ready to make the necessary change.
in the administration of the postoifice
Meanwhile, the various candidates fol
the postmastership of Brooklyn VIII,
are now in the field are of the opin
ion that the question of the salary tt
be paid to the successor of Postmaster
Sullivan after January will be adjusted
by special act of congress, says the
New York Sun. When the Brooklyn
Office is made station subordinate to
the New York office, as it will be, the
salary to be paid to the superintend-
ent will be reduced to $1,000, which is
the limit allowed for officials for this
class. One Of the Brooklyn members
will introduce bill in the house after
the consolidation takes place, increas-
ing the salary of the superintendent
of the Brooklyn station to either $4,000
or $4,000 var. The present salary
OF the postmaster of Brooklyn is
$4,000. The postmaster of New York
receives $4,000, the same as member
of the present cabinet. The postmas-
ter of Long Island City receives
$500. The duties devolving upon
the postmaster of the enlarged New
York will make this city, in many re-
spects, the greatest postoifice centre
III the world. The revenue of the
New York postoflicc from the sale of
stamps, stamped envelopes and postal
cards amounts in year to $1,000,
900; the sale of stamps for use by
newspapers mailed in New York
amounts to 500, 900, or at the rate of
nearly $4,000 a day. The other sources
of revenue include 500, 600 year for
postage collected for insufficient pre-
payment, $40, 900 for the rent of post
Office boxes and other items, bringing
the total receipts up to nearly $s,OOo,-
900. Against this in the New York
postolice are expenses of about 3d.
5O) 900 year, leaving net profit to
the Unitcl States of 81, 800, ,O0o from
the operations of this one Office. No
other postoffice III the United States,
of course, yields profit nearly so
large, and the net New York city rev.
enues go far to pay up the losses in
other states. Indeed, but for New
York city's revenue, the burden of cx-
pense from postal operations would be
a heavy one on the people of the
Unite'l States. The operations of the
Brooklyn postolIice, though not, of
course, SO large as those of New York,
are cons derable. The receipts last
year from the sale of stamps aud
stamped envelopes in Brooklyn
amounted to 81, 900, 900, this item also
including the sums paid for newspa-
per stamps. The Brooklyn box rents
amounted to $1,000 only. The ex-
penscs of the Brooklyn department
amounted to 1915, 900, leaving net
revenue of about $290,O00. The re-
ceil t., of the Long Island City post
Office in year are $}5, 900, and the
expenses $4,000, the profit being
$40, 900. When all the offices are
consolidated into one, and, especially
when the tubular system of commune
cation between the various stations
and sub-stations is applied, the reve-
nues of the enlarged city postof1ice
will, it is figured, be materially in
creased, and the profit will be much
enlarged.
Father Knicker booker is rather dis
gruntled at the frantic way in which
the neighboring little towns are laying
out streets this summer and piling up
debt for greater New York in the due
course of time to liquidatc. This is
one of the evils of greatness, and
New Workers simply have to grin and
pay the bill. Many people who are
always grooming over the burden of
national taxation have just awakened
to the fact that the real burdens are
these local taxes. The national gov
erument holds us in debt to the ex-
tent of about $l2 per capita, and
taxes us about 81 per capita to cover
all It's expenditure, including interest
on its debt. But the municipal gov
ernment of Greater New York will
hold it; ;, 600, 900 inhabitants in debt
to the extent of about $57 per capita,
and will tax them $2j per capita per
annum to meet its expenditures,
which for 1896 were over $75, 900, 900.
In other words, the government of
the consolidated city will make near
ly four times rs large levy of taxa
ton upon us as the national govern
ment. Moreover, it will be direct
taxation. In commenting on this sit
uation, Democratic paper says: '"The
national tax bill is collected indirectly,
and we feel it SO little that it has been
found easy to persuade some citizens
that the foreigner pays it. The city
tax bill, almost four times as large per
capita, will certainly be paid by our
selves"
Governor Black has obliged Mr..
Platt again by refusing to remove
Police Commissioner Parker on the
charges of neglect of official duty
made by Mayor Strong. 1t is his
opinion that the charges were not
borne out by the evidence, e,-that the
failure of efficiency in the police board
of New York city was due ''rather to
the intirmities OF several of its mem
bcrs than the neglect of one." That
is, Mr.. Roosevelt, president of the
board, and Mr.. Andrews,-perhaps
even Mr.. Grant-were as much to
blame for that as Mr.. Parker. OF
course this shows for one thing the
absurdity of governing New York
from Albany Mayor Strong's power
of removal should be absolute. But
it shows also that Mr.. Platt's deputy
boss is doing what he was put in the
capitol to dn-certainly pleasing
sight, and plainly indicative of that
great strength of boss government
which has made the Empire state
hywcrd iu the Union these many
years.
When a crime so shocking in every