The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-16
SHOWING Is SPLENDID
PosToFrIcE Rzcr1rrs IN ALA
 RAMA.
Only One Town in the State Shows . Oecrease, While Elsewhere . Healthy Growth is Shown
 By Figures.

Washington, Oct. 15.-(speciai. .)-There is no surer indication of the material business progress of communities, as far as government statistics may show, than In the Increase from year to year of the receipts of the postofices..
 Judged by this standard, Alabama's exnipit' as given in the reports of the the past three years is most excellent. The increase in gross receipts is general throughout the State. only single post omce showing a decrease of receipts. While the towns of the mineral district stili Keep up their aggressive forward movement the advancement is by no means confined to the old boom commu- mites; it extends from the Tennessee line to the gulf, from the Georgia to the Mississippi State line. The older interior towns. which used to appear to suffer in business showing by depletion going to Birmingham, Sheffield and. the other manuiacturinE centers of the State, are more than holding their own now, and are moving, onward with the procession of prosperity.
 An interesting feature of the depart. ment auditors report is the precentage of expenses to gross receipts of each post omce. Where the per centage Is low, 1t Is set down to the credit of the post. master in his applications for clerk hire and other allowances. There is no limit set to this percentage, except that he must make the office pay his salary and ofhce expenses. for his compensation de- pends wholly upon his receipts. He gets no increase because he makes an excep- tional showing by keeping his expenses lower than the average, but he is credited with good administration in a way that has much to do with his tenure of office The postoffice is a business institution, part of a vast system, and the expecta- ton Is that 1t shall be conducted with reasonable economy.
 According to their several showings in the item of percentage of expenditures to gross receipts the best ofices in Alabama are. in the order named, forty-five being the average: Gadsden. with 27: Birming- ham and Eufaula and New Decatur. with 33; Decatur. A; Ensley. 35; Cullman and Shehheld. with 36; Montgomery, 3s: and Mobile 8 per cent The postofsices that have the west per centages, being above the average are: Florence, @: Fort Payne. Oxford. N: Attala, P. Alexander City. Anniston. Prattville, Russellville, scottsboro and Roanoke are all over 60.
 Nearly every time the auditors report appears there are newspapers in commu- mites In which the postoffices make e good showing in per centage of expenses to gross receipts which boast that these postofices are making money for the gov ernment. Department authorities are at once anoyed and amused by these claims. It is' pointed out that there can be no profit at any office so long as the aggre- gate business of the departent is con- ducted at loss. Collections of revenues at local postofiices. consisting almost wholly of the sael of postage stamps, postal cards. etc. are not only obliged to pay for the necessary expenses of that office. but also to pay for the transpor- tation of the malls to their destinati ton and their delivery to the addresses Be- cause large amount of mall originates at the Birmingham postoffice. for instance entailing a. correspondingly large sale of stamps and collections for newspaper postage, 1t does not necessarily follow that the Birmingham offlce pays and pro- fits whatever in the transaction. A rail- way station would not be regarded as amount of freight bills collected and pas- senger tickets sold exceeded the salaries of the employe. Still. as already re- marked. low percentage of expenses to receipts is well worth while for the post master to obtain. 1 -s
 The most important feature of the re- port of the auditor for the department is manifest by comparison with his former reports. Below Is a table which shows the increase in the gross receipts and the per centage of that increase over what was shown by the report of the auditor for the fiscal year ending June 30. 1908. two years ago: th
 Inc. of Per Ct.