The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1903-03-12

great Governmental departments, that 1Or
the support OF the Post-otfice Department
not only appropriates the largest amount
of money, but also carries salaries and
compensation to the greatest number OF
persons. More than all, the service for
which these gratis of money provide d.
rectly reaches and affects substantially ey-
cry man, woman and child within the
boundaries of the Republic, and all Its
islands dependencies. Hence the whole
population is. or ought to be- individually
interested in the provisions OF this enact
lnent.
PUBLIC INTEREST SHOULD BE ALIVE.
The public mind has, as YET, only faint
ly grasped the magnitude of that public
instrumentality with which all the people
of the country are most Intimately con
nected. Our postal service has become
the leading Department of the Govern
ment 1t is. therefore, of supreme impor-
lance that its functions be jealousy guard
ed and that the people inteliigently en-
courage its legitimate progress, criticize
its durable defects, and strenuousiy oppose
its unwarranted extension into dangerous
fields The American heiress who cheer
fully weds foreign duke with all his dirt
and diseases, usually finds repentance
humiliating and divorce expensive. An III
judging public opinion that will hastily
force the adoption of costly experiments III
TEN, will sow the seeds of unGtterable re-
grets and irreparable damage.
AN AMAZING GROWTH FROM SMALL BEGIN
NINGS.
The session of Congress which closed
March passed, two days before adjourn
ment, the bill which appropriates funds
for the postal system for the fiscal year
which begins July l, 1905. The total sum
of these appropriations is S153, 4O1 ,o49.15,
as against 15S,416, $3.50 for the current
year.
This is an increase of almost exactly
S15.000,0G0 in a single year. The pos
tai appropriation has now passed above
that for pensions in amount, and almost
equals those for the Army and Navy COM
bined.
The passage of this bill is notable in one
particular-it is, for the time being at
least, the closing service in that line OF
Hon. Z. F. Loud, of California, for sew
eral years past Chairman of the House
Committee on Post-otfices and Post Roads.
In that capacity the burden of preparing
these annual supply bills has fallen on
him, and the duty has been most ably per-
formed. Mr.. Loud has gwen the entire
postal service an intelligent and solicitous
study, and the results have been embodied
In much general legislation of great value,
besides the enlargement of money grants
In some directions and their curtailment in
others as changing circumstances de-
manded.
Mr.. Loud was Union soldier, having
eiisted at the age of 10 years in Mas
enekasetts regiment and served in the
ATny of the Potomac and with Sheridan
in the Shenandoah.
The appropriations for the Post-Office
Department, now ag,sregating over hun
dred and fifty millions per annum, show a
. rapid increase, which is but feature OF
the amazing growth of this service. As
recently as 1860 the appropriations were
less than that now allowed for rural free
!. delivery carriers. From Insignificant be-
ginnings on. present mighty enterprise has
been evolved by processes and gradations
which we have not space here to specify.
But there are features of this expansion
on which it is profitable and encouraging
to dwell. 1t will be readily seen that it
is not merely to be taken as an index of
the Nations advance in population and
wealth. 1t is the measure of a marvellous
development of intellectual activity. The
service is 4 colossal educational institute,
quickening the mind and energizing the
spirit of the entire people. Its expansion,
compared with other elements of progress,
has startling significance. The popula-
ton of the United States in 1880 was
100000; in 1900 it was 100000. The
wealth of the people, in real and personal
property, probably aggregated S2,OO0,OOO,-
600 in 1880, and was cOnservatiyeiy esti-
mated at $4,000 100000 in 1900. The
number of pOst-ofiices was 70 in 1870 and
16,691 in 1900. The postal revenues were
$37,975 in 1880, and $1U2, 354 1929 in
1900. Therefore, while the population of
the country increased 10 to 1 in 40 years,
and the wealth of the people 40 to /, the
number of pOst-offices increased 1000 to
and the revenues of the service 2, 100 to /.
NECESSITY FOR ANNUAL LEGISLATION.
1t might seem, at first thought, that,
since the postal system yields earnings al
most equal to its expenditures, only the
deficit need be provided for in the annual
appropriations. But the Constitution Of
the United States Ordains that no money
can be paid from the public Treasury ex-
cept after appropriations duly made by
< Congress, and as all the earnings or
revenues are, in contemplation of law,
technically paid into tile Treasury, they
can only be drawn out in pursuance of an
appropriation covering the entire amount.
1t would also seem, perhaps, that much
OF the detail OF these appropriations could
be avoided-that the executive officers
might be trusted to properly distribute
lump sums, instead of being held down
to numerous specific subdivisions, and tied
up with many stringent restrictions. But
this is Government of law" in which
. tne ltslsldtINt Is only supreme
but shows an increasing tendency to jeal-
ously guard its supremacy. And, on the
whole, this tendency unquestiOnably helps
to maintain purity of administration and
promote official integrity.
And. then, to ensure compliance with all
limitations. and restrictions imposed, Con-
gress has provided, in the office of the Au-
ditor for the Post-ofIice Department, with
his 600 clerks, an absolutely independent
Bureau, under the Treasury Department
which must pass upon all the accounts
and approve the legality of all disburse-
I1ents. This Bureau was established in
1896 after serious postal scandals, and is
the right arm of the law-making power in
asserting its supremacy.
When new postal service was estab-
lished in Cuba under the auspices of our
Government, the same mistake was made
against which warning was raised in this
country 60 years ago. The control of
finances and accounting was left in the
hands of the Director of Posts. Instead
of the independent auditor there was a
Chief of the Bureau of Accounts" who
was subordinate to the Director of Posts
Statements were made that the new
Cuban system was organized on the
United States plan, but in this vital particu-
lar there was the widest possible depar-
ture from the principle of an independent
audit. which has prevailed here since 1896
The consequences could have been easily
foreseen. They were exactly what Oc-
CURED in connection with our own service
In its earlier days, which, after much tribu-
iatIon. brought about the present account
ing methods