The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-03-04

ed by the senate. removes the limitation
of $50 month on the earnings of the
special delivery boys. They are paid ON
the piece basis, but have heretofore had
to stop work each month when they
had earned uD to this limit Some boys
would do that when the month was
tWo-thjrdS over; others would take
about the number of runs each day nee
essary to spread the work out. all of
which has proved an inconvenience to
the postofice. If the bill goes through
in its present shape land the senate
committee does not expect to make
many changes), there viii be an incen-
tive to the ambitious boys to earn IS
much as they can.
One of the important pieces of the
new legislation is that authorizing the
department TO accept lots of 1900 identi-
cal pieces of matter or less. without the
attachment of postage stamps. In prac-
tise, the department has been through a
system which has grown up of selling
.'pre-cancelled stamps to the large
merchants These are affixed at the dry
goods and department stores TO pack
ages of merchandise The usual can
ceiling process often proves injurious
to the contents of such packages. This
new legislation is intended to correct the
abuses which it is believed have grown
up under the reconciliation system.
and to give the department more direct
authority in drafting regulations. Just
what the precancened stamp abuses are,
the department officials are either un-
able or unwilling TO make public. they
simply say that the sale has become 50
extraordinarily large that they fear that
it has gone beyond the lines of the de-
partment's intentions.
This new post0ffice bill also provides
penalties for assaults on railway mail
clerks, giving them the same protection
that letter-carriers and other employees
of the department now enjoy. The bill
also extends the provisions of the stat
ute relating to assaults and robbery
Of 7esF do
livery messengers, and to men under
private contracts who carry the mail
Professional hIghWaymen would better
read this new law carefully, SO many
people are brought by it within the pro-
lection of the federal statutes
1t is interesting to compare various items
of the postal service Of today with the
total cost of the establishment only a few
years ago. For example. the sum to be
paid during the next fiscal year for trans
porting the mails on the railroad is greater
than the entire cost of the postal service
during the first year of the Gfarfie1d-Arthur
administration. The free delivery service in
cities costs more than the whole depart
ment did in 1851 Rural free delivery alone
costs more than the whole service in 1861
than the Wnole service IN andrew JACK
sons time The appropriation in the new
bill for cancelling machines is greater than
the administration Of John Adams. The d.
partnent wanted $685. 900 for cancelling ma
chimes, but this bill gives them only S2lV.-
900. The government had been in operation
under the constitution q years before the
gross expenditure Of the postal service
reached $4,000, and the first time they
touched a million was the second year Of
Monroe Now items too small TO be un-
derstOOd cost the service a million dollars
year. It viii not be long before the pcs
tai establishment. with an express parcel
addition. and possibly a savings bank VIII
be doing business of a billion dollars q
year. Without these adiuncts it will taks
only a few years to. reach that figure at
the present rate OF increase. There is an
interesting possibility that the time may
come when the two political parties Of this
country Will be those who hold govSrament
Jobs, with their dependents. and those
who want their places. The outs would
be employed in private walks of life; this
ms by the government in its vsr3Ouz
forms. municipal state and national. but
all linked together By an un1mistakable
party label.