Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1901-11-14
POST OFFICE REPORT
I. L Bristow Discusses Needed
Reforms 10 the Service.
some OF HIS RECOMMENDATIONS.
The Total Number OF Registered Pieces
Handled During the Year Was 20.Sl4'.
SOL with Only IN Average Loss OF
ono Piece In Every 44.666.

tlitions III Cuba and needed reforms
in bonding post officials and employees
generally are discussed in addition
10 routine matters in the annual re-
port of J. L. Bristow, fourth assist
pnt postmaster general.
Tie report recommends repeal OF
the act of June 80, 1898, and recon-
mends law requiring assistant post
masters, cashiers and other employees
to give bonds TO postmasters direct.
holding postmasters responsible un-
der their own bonds for any and all
acts and defaults occurring at their
respective offices. Other recon-
mendations are for the payment OF
incidental expenses incurred by local
authorities for prisoners charged
with violation of the postal laws.
pending transfer of the custody to
authorized marshal; authorization OF
the postal inspectors to take out such
warrants Ahenever necessary; an ap-
preparation for constructing lookouts
(for use of inspectors watching en-
ployes in post Offices whenever
deemed necessary by the postmaster
general; an amendment Of the inter-
state commerce law to prohibit tele-
graph and express companies or their
employees from aiding and abetting
in the green goods or lottery swindles
or any other schemes carried on part
ly by mail and partly by common
carrier, in violation of the postal
laws.
At the close of the fiscal year there
were 76,945 post Offices in the United
States, divided as follows: First
class, 2OS; second class, $40; third
class, 1918; fourth class, 7S,47o.
There were 1857 appointments dur
ing the year. There were 1924 post
offices established and 3,O37 discon-
tinued. The latter item is an increase
of lips over the previous year, due
in 1,l26 cases, where the postmasters'
salaries aggregated $79,336, to estab-
lishment of rural free delivery sta
lions in lieu Of fourth class post Of
fees, to extension Of city delivery
service to include post Offices adjacent
to large presidential Offices and to
the improvement Of public highways
Many "private post Offices have
been suppressed. During the year
there were 4S designations of post.
masters at presidential offices and 81
deaths. An increase in the number
of inspectors is asked. Numerous IT.
regularities were discovered in re-
mote country post offices which the
inspectors have been unable to reach
in former years.
The total number of complaints
about registered mail was s,o33, Of
which 1927 related to letters and 400
to packages. Of these cases 1894
were Investigated and closed, and
actual loss was sustained in only 314
cases, being 5.s per cent. of the cases
investigated. The total number Of
registered pieces handled by the de
partment during the year was 20,s14,
sol, making an average loss Of but ont
piece in every 44,f66 pieces of regis
tered mail handled.
The total number of arrests during
the fiscal year was 1,Gl1. OF THU
number 1O1 were postmasters, 40 were
assistant postmasters, 65 were clerks
in post Offices, 10 were railway posta
clerks, ~ were letter-carriers, 40 wert
mail carriers and 10 were employed
in minor positions in the postal serv
ice. The total number of post offict
burglars arrested was 1927, and the re
naming 079 were persons in no wis'
connected with the postal service.
A cosI:k1dga sc655ng sunk.
Vineyard, Haven, Mass, Nov. a.
The schooner Douglass Haynes, Of
Bath, Me-, Capt. Blaisdell, from Port
johnson for Hallowell, Me-, with a
cargo of coal, is sunk between Shovel
full and Pollock Rip shoals with her
three masts projecting out of the
water. Capt. Blaisdell and his crew
Of four men were rescued by the
schooner Luther T. Garretson and
landed here yesterday afternoon aft
er having suffered terribly from ex.
posture.
Peculiar Accident tn Boy.
Memphis, Mo-, Nov. 13.-The l3'
~ "a Tl,nvu<op Mona uta