Evening journal., 1903-11-05
THE POST OFFICE
AND THE PEOPLE
Details of American System De
scribed by M. G. Cunniff.
HOW THE MACHINE Is REGULATED

HOW THE MACHINE Is REGULATED
Oon@resS the Governing Power-An-
eient Methods stnl Obtain-Enect
OF its Shortcomings ON the Public.
How Our System Compares with
That Of Foreign Countries.
The Worlds Work for Novamhar
contains the first OF a series OF articles
by NJ. G.. Cunnin on the American
postal system. Prefacing his article
Mr.. Cunniff states that it Is his MIR.
pose TO tell the facts about our most
Office, with the hope OF arousinr inter.
est in the department Of the govern
ments business which most nearly !
touches every citizen; to lead to a reau- |
zation of its shortcomings and to helm
TO secure Improvements which win
put the United States post office service
on par with the service OF other civ
ilized lands"
The following is taken from Mr.. Gun
MINIS article:
asked Postmaster General Payne
how. in his opinion. the United States
post Office compares In efficiency with
private business organizations and
with foreign post Offices.
How do / known said he. "I've
been postmaster general only year"
An assistant postmaster general, once
invited TO address convention OF post
masters, joaingIy replied, so runs the
story;
Il cannot 20. 1 couldn't tell you
anything anyway. What do 1 know
about the postal businessg"
Said another assistant postmaster
general:
IF man attends closely TO hts work
he can learn to manage one Of these
departments In about four years Then
he goes out and another pupil comes in
the chances are, a politician. A busi-
ness? Why. it's simply training
schoolr'
These three remarks do not argue
that the speakers were regarded even
in cynical Washington as poor Off
cials. Indeed the two assistants were
quite the reverse. But inQuiring into
the workings Of the post Office 1t Is nee
essary FIRST 10 understand the weak
ness of the system at the top. and here
It is.
The postmaster general, however
and his four assistants are not the post
Office. 1t was apparent as early aa
1904, when there was only one assist
ant postmaster general. that the polit-
zeal heads Of the post Office do not be.
long to the machine. The machine be
gins with the chief clerks and superin
tendents and their army OF civil service
subordinates. who hold their places
] while administrations come and 90 and
who manage the postmasters, thl
contracts, the delivery service. the
money order system. the inspections
These officials put their initials on ex
ecutive documents and hand the docu-
ments, great piles OF them. to the as
= sistant postmasters general, who sign
them. 1t would require omniscience
for an assistant postmaster general to
know whether he should sign or not
He trusts the initials. a system still in
vogue In brief, the system is one in
which the permanent subordinates
have every chance TO direct all but the
most wide awake OF their temporary
heads-the cart before the horse. The
attorney generals Office superintends
the enforcement Of postal laws. A
branch of the treasury department
audits the accounts, though, unlike all
other branches OF the government, the
post Office Is its own bank and does not
use the treasury for regular banking
purposes. But the service of the at
torney generals Office and Of the treas
ury department is not paid for by the
! post office. Afisfit bits Of three depart
ments with separate accounts do the
i country's postal business.
; The machine has grown up, not or
ganically, but by accretons OF unre-
hted departments, under laws passed
In 1874 Occasionally a postmaster
3 general has conceived of an improve.
: ment In the service. Postmaster Gen
eral Wanamaker tried TO reorganize
It. There are men In the civil service
machine today who know more about
post Office affairs in their own depart
t. ments than any outsider could possibly
/, know who would like to make i'm
: provements. Why. can't they? Simply
because the real directors Of the post
Office have been the members OF the
committee on post offices and post
b roads in the house OF representatives
n Congress must necessarily decide the
:. policy Of the post Office, but 1t is be-
7 wildering complication Of an institu-
!. ton, already complex, to have some of
its most powerful quasi officials In a
house committee.
Instead Of working on business prin-
y ciples the post Office machine is gov
erned by a bulky book OF laws that
Il has grown from the slim book Of 1874
d as fast as successive congresses have
cared to pass postal bills. Rates OF
postage are changed, service is rem
dered, contracts are made under regu
J. lations passed by men dead for genera
n tons. whose laws were made for ,
4 post office which as late as 1873 cos
= in total expenditures only what It cost