Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1897-10-30
INTERESTING STATISTICS
j. l. Bristow Reports Work of Fourth
Assistant Postmaster General.
Onenses Against Postal Laws-Registered
Mail Handled-Delinquest Postmas-
ters-Omces observation-disclosures
tant Recommendation.

Fourth Assistant Postmaster General
Bristow was made public yesterday:
In the establishment OF post Offices it has
been the policy of this bureau since the begin
ming of the present administration to establish
a new post office wherever it is desired, and il
Is shown that it will accommodate reasonable
number of people. the purpose being give
the people the most convenient mail facilities
possible. believing that such policy contrib
utes to popular intelligence and good citizen
ship
York ranks first with -. II per capita expended
in the of the mails and South Carolina is
the lowest. with so % per capita During the
year there were: Post offices established, L.
COL; post offices discontinued. $780, names and
sites changed, 1.O67; appointments on changes
Of name and site. $50; appointments of fourth
class postmasters upon resignation 1899: ap-
pointments of fourth-class postmasters upon
removal 5.115; appointments of fourth-claSS
postmasters upon deaths ~: offices relegated
to fourth class, % During the year 1914 offices
became presidential
The report the appointment Lewiston
closes with a table showing the number of post
offices in operation in the United States from
1890, when there were as. to 1897, with n. or.
During the year there have been 595 post
masters reported to the bond division by the
auditor for delinQuencieS. and Abs notices
have been sent sureties of postmasters advising
them of the hardness of poStmaSterS in their
remittances For various causes $40 acting
postmaSterS have been designated by bonds
men during the year.
The total number of pieces of registered mail
handled by the post office department for the
fiscal year ended June 80. 1897. is estimated at
13 $50 600. Four thousand two hundred and
seventy five of these cases were investigated
and closed. In 2.75O of these cases it was dis
covered that no actual loss had occurred. and
in 1,067 cases the full amount of loss alleged
was recovered leaving only ass cases in which
actual loss was sustained, or only one loss for
every p, $40 pieces of registered mail handled
During the year there were .778 comp plants
received affecting ordinary mail matter; 35, ia
referred to letters: 21.OO4 referred to packages
Of olNor
plants received during the previous year.
There were on hand at the beginning of the
fiscal year %. III cases Adding the number re-
cefved during the year we have 80. $50 for con-
sideration, of which 65, 800 were disposed of.
The total number of arrests for onenses
AGAINST the postal laws made during the year
1852 OF this number los were poStmaS-
ters A were assistant postmasters AZ clerks
in post offices, IL railway postal clerks "a let
ter carriers, 30 mail carriers, and II others en-
ployed IN 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-
ice.
The following are a number of the
most important recommendations
made:
That severer penalty be provided for en-
ployes of the service who may be found guilty
of embezzling or destroying newspaper mail
An amendment to the statute making the
depredations by railway postal clerks con-
tinuous offense, in order to avoid the difficult
task of proving in which particular district
the ofense was committed
That more stringent statutes be enacted COW
ering green goods" and obscene matter, and
in this connection the amending of section 334,
postal laws and regulations of 1898 (revised
statutes, section 5430). relating to green
goods and schemes to defraud. making those
onenses continuous. as is now the law concern
ing lottery cases under section 331. postal laws
and regulations of 1893. amended The pur-
pose being avoid distractions to and miscar-
riage of justice incident to trials in some large
cities where criminals may have friends and
sympathizers
That. in order to provide greater safety and
security to letters sent in the registered mails,
both foreign and domestic a special stamped
envelope of superior material of the demon ina
ton of ten csntS. 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, as is now the case with postal
cards
That the subject of the use of postage stamps
currency be taken up and considered, with
the view of ehecting some legislation, which.
if it would not entirely do away with them as a
medium of exchange, may at least curtan the
tant of their llSa in ma