The Washington times., 1901-11-13
Mr.. BRIsToW's ANNUAL REPORT
Various Branches of Postomcc Ser
vice DiScusSed

|
| master General, yesterday submitted his
annual report for the fiscal year ended
| June 30. 1871. to the Postmaster General
| II is an extensive treatise. covering every
branch Of the service under Mr. Bris-
tow's supervision. and presenting the
workings of the Office in an interesting
1 and comprehensive manner.
Mr.. Bristow makes the following rec
| concentrations: The act of June 90 1893,
/ providing that assistant postmasters.
| cashiers. and other employees in postoffices s
| of the first, second and third classes
! snail give bond direct to the United
| states. has not proven satisfactory In op-
| Grafton, and has raised a number of legal
questions. which. II decided in accordance
| with the conteutior of sureties and post
masters. may result in serious loss to the
! Government. l, therefore, earnestly rec
| nmmend that the act be repealed, and
| suggest a law be eracted requiring assist
ant postmasters. cashiers. ard other en-
| ployes to give bonds to pcstmasters di-
rect. and holding postmastcrJ responsible
under their own bonds for any and all
acts and defaults occurring at their re-
| spective Offices.
81 further recommend; That provision
be MADE FOR the payment of incidental ex-
penses incurred by local officers or others
in the arrest. detention, and keeping of
! prisoners charged with violations of the
postal laws. until such prisoners can be
| transferred To the custody OF a United
States Marshal.
| THAT a statute be enacted authorizing
postoffice inspectors to take out search
warrants whenever the same may be nee
| essary in the prosecution of their official
| duties
That an appropriation be made for
he purpose of constructing lOokouts
| wherever, in the opinion of the Post
master General. the same may be needed,
THAT the Interstate commerce law he
| amended to prohibit common carriers
| to wit, telegraph and express companies
or any of their employees from aiding
| and abetting in the green goods or lot
| terry swindlcs. or any other scheme car
RED on partly by mail and partly by
common carrier. and which Is in viola
tion Of the postal laws"
Speaking Of the work OF the office, Mr..
| Bristow says in part:
There We're $,29i postofices established
during the year. a decrease as compared
with the previous year of s05 There were
3.O37 postotIices discontinued during the
year. being LIPS more than during the
preceding year.
TIE principal causes for the large in
| crease il the number Of postoffices dis
| continued haze been the extension of the
| rural free delivery service and the es-
| tab!ishment of rural free delivery sta
| tions in lieu Of fourth-class pOstohices.
| the extension of city delivery service so
| as to include postoffices adjacent to large
! Presidential offices, and the Improvement
| OF the public highways.
| The extension of rural free delivery
has resulted in the discontiruarce of 122S
postoffices during the year, the salaries
/ of postmasters of said offices aggregat-
| ins S79.3Se Increased diligence has been
! exercised in the suppression of private
postoffices.
''on June 30, 1891, at the close Of the
| fiscal year. there were 1886 postoffices.
divided as follows: First class, 2ts. sec
| osd class. $40; third class, 3.3Is; fourth
/ class. 1Z.47y.
| The aggregate amount Of the penal
ties OF aii postmasters bonds now in force
| is about SlII, ,e69 lI2. The penalties of the
bonds which We're approved during the
/ fiscal year amounted TO SO 7l5 246
| During the fiscal year larger number
J of postohce inspectors was employed than
/ during any other year in the history OF
/ the postal service. Numerous irreguiari-
I
| postotiices which our inspectors have been
unable to reach in former years.
/ The total number of complaints in re
gard 20 registered mail received during
the year was 8.053 of which 1871 related
I to letters and 406 to package OF these
! 1884 were investigated and closed and ac-
( tual loss was sustained in only IA cases.
! being 5.S per cent of the cases investi-
= gated. The total number OF registered
pieces handled by the Department during
the year was 2O.e1l,9Ji, making an aver
pieces of registered mail handled.
The total number of arrests during the
! fiscal year was l,6ll. OF this number Ig1
were postmasters, 40 were assistant post
masters, 50 were clerks in postofices II
We're railway postal clerks, - were letter
carriers, +3 were mail carriers, and 9were
employed in minor positions in the postal
service. The total number of pOstofiicC
burglars arrested was 32I and the re-
| mainder of 9I9 were persons in nowisa
/ connected with the postal service
| with an aggregate amount OF $3.50 Il
! on hand July !, 1900. there was collected
( the sum of S3Sl 1910. making a total of
SsS6. .966 II to be accounted for, CT which
{ amount SSS5. S23 10 was disbursed, leaving
J an unexpended balance of Sl42.1 at the
close Of the year. Attention is invited to
the fact that the total amount Of cash
! collected is G9.25 per cent OF the last an
I nual appropriation for postOffice inspec-
tors. $5j6.(00. This money represents col
lectiOns Of balances due from postnas-
teTs. penalties fer violations. amounts re-
! covered on account of fraudulent use Of
ti1e mails, and collections of amounts il
Z legally received by pOstmasters through
false cancellations, as well as collections
| In cases of rObheries of postofices
wrecking cf mail trains, highway robbery
Of mail stages, and moneys received on
account of loss in the ordinary and regis
tered mails attributable to careIe essnsss
/ accident, o. larceny.
The matter Of the Identification of
| criminals is one of Importance. The sec
ton having charge Of this feature of the
work has been in operation since July.
1893 and promises to be valuable TO the
service.
"The general conditions in Alaska have
become more settled. and the postal ser
vice has been fairly well organized dur
ing the last four years throughout the
Yukon and the very remote sections along
the north coast of the Behring Sea.
inspector NJ c. FOsnes was continued
throughout the entire year as Director
| General of Posts OF Cuba, and still hold.
that position, and Inspector +. NJ Hamil-
ton remained as acting Chief Special
Agent Inspector J. r.. Harrison was act
ing postmaster Of Havana during the
| greater part Of the fiscal year. The ser
! vices of these inspectors merit commcn-
dation. BY their untirins work they have
firmly and ably carried out the plans of
reorganization inaugurated during the lat
ter part Of the fiscal year 1900.
The Island of Porto Rico was formed
into a division Of Postotiice Inspectors
with an inspector in charge. one inspec-
! tor. and one clerk. the headquarters Of
the division being at San Juan. II is
\ nsCC SSary to maintain an Office at that
place for the reason that so many post
masters in the island are unable to CORE
spond with the Department direct on ac-
count of their inability to write the Eng
lish language. The correspondence be-
tween the pCstmasters and the Depart
u,ent passes through the office of the in
speCtpr in charge. and pcstmdSterS ac-
! counts and TFpgrtE are gyI mined by him