The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-13
BorcorTrsa rosr oFFtoRs.
Tns eeveruuasnt's wars Or DeniiuE with the
pi.sntisnsd In snch Gases.
IRON ths boston ErentnO Transcript.

FROM He Boston Erenfn0 ITnnscrtpt.
WASHINGTON, Feb. s.-The form OF venge-
ance adopted by the Inhabitants Of Hogans-
vile, Ga. in the case Of Postmaster Loftln, who
refused to die or resign after the recent assault
upon his life. 10 not q now one in postal circles.
The boycott has given the Post Office Depart
ment almost as much trouble as II has given the
industrial world. 1t has not been confined to
tho South or TO negro Postmasters. During the
last Administration it fiourished 30 vigorously
In various parts, OF the North that First Assist
ant PostmasterG General Jones made 1t q sub
ject Of special treatment in his report for 1894,
and Representative Henderson of North Caro-
lima prepared a bill to forbid q resort to such
means of annoying obnoxious Postmasters.
In fourth-class Post Offices the compensation
OF Postmastors depends mainly on the number
OF stamps, they cancel on mail matter actually
sent through their offices. Their reports to the
department on this point have to be taken as
truthful until proved otherwise, as 1t would be
impracticable to incur tho expense OF keeping
But the surest sign the department receives
that the boycott has been instituted ct, any Of
people disclose in the affairs OF the office. in tho
way of sending to the department voluntarily
mail matter Which ipY have ve' passed through n, SisS't The
ofiice, thus enabling tho departmont to keep
tab" on the Postmaster's accounts. II. after q
tho department that the Postmaster has been
making excessive returns for the purpose of
spot His. investigation, four times out of Ave,
discloses the fact that tho Postmaster was
by his neiRhbors upon him. This. of course,
does not absolye, the Postmaster or release his
bSrsment a , arsat l%sls ssI y sn SSt IT si Sss S ssS dS;
patrons Of that Office. One way ~ In which the
due warning, to abolish the office altogether.
Then the offending patrons are driven TO tho
future on condition Of getting their Office back,
or Of venting thor further spite upon them
usual usual to on mali siHi'tths Their lsttersH lI%sss e' as far as W tho
noxt town.. This lisa resort to which the oe-
partmont aoGs not IKE to be driven 4 !. is posi-.
Hence MI. Jones's desire to prohibit Post 0fice
munity. on Its good behavior in the first instance.
One Of tho noteworthy cases which arose under
Long Island. For twenty-five years the Post
Office was located at the store Of G. w. Ray
f hGaas S S. tssntn Fre EsiRSSslifS oF the M nRss time Ms; a i poS.
ocrat was appointed to succeed Raynor. but by
q friendly arrangement the Office was left at
assistant Postmaster. When the second Cleve-
land ADMINISTRATOR came in It found Mt. Ray
| restored during the Harrison ADMINISTRATORS.
A Democrat was appointed again-.this time
Of business. was at the other end OF the village.
Raynors friends were much agRrieved at this
s n % I SsH: :Gps that Ss, thy ny. pTs sns was eS SS5sStdi
with. having, during Raynor's term, kept a
supply. Of postage stamps at his store, so as to
their. letters on passing trains or at other sta
tions, and thus cut down the business Of his
When. therefore, Lane was appointed Post
master, and removed the office to his store, the
WHICH Lane had praetieed when t the ea cases were
reversed. But Lane was an energetic and out
spoken man. and he lost no time in appealing
l n NV n h Ia Ihnnr n1anf
had been very much exercised by the treatment
its new Democratic Postmasters were receiving
In the absence Of any prohibibory statutes, to
a ths t sSds,'1'Z xs Of is. stsSs ai!sc xiss t ,Ss s sSs Faifsa5
mail car. while passing through Mano nN 70;
posted on 1t, and by request of the department
ceived orders to accept no letters or packages
they CAME through the local Post Once. It
took somo time 70 bring MaDoryille to terms.
att aa a eonsld HSsa5s,ne st ientionrA IN e sasRsT;
Pennsylvania; AZ Amber, Montgomery eo1nn-
and suffered a boycott Instituted BY q local
drug manufacturing firm who wanted to rent
one OF their stores to the G%oyernment Mr..
the premises designated by tho firm. who re:
sponded by buying their very large supply, Of
Washington, which had up to that time boon q
fourth-class Post Office paying not more than
which was raised BY this new patronage to
Presidential rank with an income of about
The persecution suffered by Postmaster Bit
ting might have been relieved by his surrender,
but there were geographical reasons for his re-
fusal to change the location Of his office. Tho
Reading Railroad tracks run through the town
and the larger part Of his patrons were situated
on the east side of tho track, while the store to
which he was urged to remove was on the west
side. The department, therefore, had O double
reason for standing behind him in his fight. and
he went out of office with his flag still flying.
When the second Cleveland administrator
| came in, o Democrat named ~StIllwagon sought
the indorsementsof the;business:men of the town
for appointment as Postmaster, and received
2 yery, generous en- support 6 upon @t, condition ~ ! lon that That
side of the track. The drug concern sounded
the warning, .of another campaign. insisting
people into Q .town, and spent a good deal Of
money on public or semi-uublic improvements.
they deserved the support IF the townspeople
estate by building up the part Of the town lying
west of the railroad. But Mr.. stillwagon was
faithful to his trust and declined to move, and
from 81 300 down to $l.4o0.
1t Is tho demoralizing effect OF having the
| Post Office Department, and the postal service
great public interests belonging TO the people
Of the whole United States dragged into all
sorts of petty local wrangles that spurs the de-
partmental authorities spd members Of Congress
into:taking action of a rather radical kind on the
subject OF the boycott, IT takes some time to
key Congress up to the point of legislating on q
ma er,o Of this this sort SO . ,i One snS SGIa aSres WHIT Eitns sssss
| underlie II, another muils over the subject. and
possibly n third gets to the point Of actually
postal boycotting matter has by this time reached
the third and decisive stage, SO that, we may
look to see the efforts of Representative Bling
ham, called forth primarily BY BY the , hoftin case,
adJourns.