The Mena weekly star., 1897-10-27
PosTMAsrERs AND OFFICES.

POSTMAsTERs AND OFFICES. Interesting Figures from Report of Fourth
 Assistant Postmaster General Bristow.
 WASHINGTON, Oct 27.-The follow ing abstract of the annual report of Fourth Assistant Postmaster General Bristow was made public yesterday:
 In the establishment of post offices 1t has been the policy of this bureau since the begin ming of the present administration to establish a new post ofhce wherever 1t is desired. and it Is shown that 1t will accommodate reasonable number of people, the purpose being to give the people the most convenient mall facilities possible. believing that such policy contrib utes to popular intelligence and good citizen ship
 In the amount of business transacted New York ranks first with $2 i2 per capita expended in the use of the mails and South Carolina is the lowest, with S029 per capita During the year there were: Post offices established 1,- 60i; post offices discontinued, oSg names and sites changed, i,067; appointments on changes of name and site 552; appointments of fourth class postmasters upon resignation 7,2e9; ap- pointments of fourth-class postmasters upon i removal. 5,iis; appointments of fourth-class postmasters upon deaths 722; offices relegated to fourth class, 22 During the year l94 of1ices became presidential
 The report on the appointment devision closes with a table showing the number of post ofloes in operation in the United States from 1790, when there were 75. to 1897 with T. 0e2.
 During the year there have been i.596 post masters reported to the bond division by the auditor for delinquencies, and 4,3l5 notices have been sent sureties of postmasters advising them of the tardiness of postmaSters in their remittances For various causes S20 acting postmasters have been designated by bonds men during the year.
 The total number of pieces of registered mail | hv fiscal year ended June 30, 1897, Is estimated at lS 750, ,000 Four thousand two hundred and seventy y-fve of these cases were investigated and closed In g 750 of these cases 1t was dis covered that no actual loss had occurred and in 1 OCT cases the full amount of loss alleged was recovered leaving only 45S cases in which actual loss was sustained, or only one loss for every % 9..o piece. cf registered mail handled ! During the year there were 68 77s complaints received affecting ordinary mail matter; 35 774 referred to letters; 3l 004 referred to packages; an increase of 2165 over the number of com plaints received during the previous year. l There were on hand at the beginning Of the fiscal year 23, i77 cases. Adding the number l ceived during the year we have 80. .955 for con- sideration, of which 66,60O were disposed Of. l The total number of arrests for offenses against the postal laws made during the year l was 1, ,632 Of this number 05 were postmas- l ters, A were assistant postmasters, 47 clerks in post offices, Il railway postal clerks, 24 et- ter carriers, 90 mail carriers and il others em- ployed Tn minor positions in the postal service. | The total number of post office burglars ar rested.was 34s. and the remaining 924 were per- ] sons in no way connected with the postal serv- 1 ice
 The following are number of the most important recommendations made:
 That a severer penalty be provided for em- ployes of the service who may be found guilty of embedding or destroying newspaper mail
 An amendment to the statute making the depredations by railway postal clerks q con- tinuous offense, in order to avoid the difficult task of proving in which particular district | the offense was committed.
 That more stringent statutes be enacted cov- | ering green goods and obscene matter, and in this connection the amending of section 334 postal laws and regulations of 1893 (reyised 1 statutes, section 5430). relating to green goods" and schemes to defraud, making those i ofenses continuous, as is now the law concern | ing lottery cases under section 331, postal laws | and regulations of 1893 as amended. The pur- pose being to avoid Instructions to and miscar- riage of justice incident to trials in some large | cities where criminals may have friends and l sympathiZers
 1 That, in order to provide greater safety and 1 security to letters sent in the registered mails | both foreign and domestic, a special stamped l envelope of superior material of the denomina- tion of ten cents, be adopted; and that all per- sons who desire to register letters be induced | to purchase these envelopes at the face value of the stamp, is now the case with postal | cards
 That the subject of the use of postage stamps as currency be taken up and considered with | the view of effecting some Legislation which, 1 if it would not entirely do away with them as a medium of exchange, may at least curtail the extent of their use in this manner