Morris tribune., 1903-11-07
THE POST OFFICE
and THE PEOPLE
Details of American System De-
scribed by M. G. Cunniff.
HOW THE MACHINE IS REGULATED

of Its Shortcomings on the Public.
That of Foreign Countries.
The Worlds Work for November
contains the first of series Of articles
by Nj. G. Cunniff on the American
postal system. Prefacing his article,
Mr. Cunniff states that it Is his pur-
pose Ito tell the facts about our post
office. with the hope of arousing inter
est in the department of the govern
ment's business which most nearly
touches every citizen; to lead to reali-
zation Of its shortcomings and to help
to secure improvements which will
put the United States post office service
on a par with the service of other civ
ilized lands"
The following is taken from Mr.. Gun
nif's article:
asked Postmaster General Payne
how, in his opinion, the United States
post office compares in efficiency with
with foreign post offices.
GLOW do l known said he. i've
been postmaster general only a year..
An assistant postmaster general. once
invited to address a convention of post
masters, jokingly replied: so runs the
story:
81 cannot go. l couldn't tell you
anything anyway. What do / know
about the postal business"
Said another assistant postmaster
general:
'If man attends closely to his work
he can learn to manage one Of these
departments in about four years. Then
he goes out and another pupil comes ia
the chances are, a politician. A bust
ness? Why, it's simply a training
school,
These three remarks do not argue
that the speakers were regarded even
in cynical Washington as poor Off
Gals Indeed the two assistants We're
quite the reverse But inquiring into
the workings of the post office it is nee
essary first to understand the weak
ness of tie 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 as
1904 when there was only one assist
ant postmaster general. that the polit-
ical heads of the post office do not be-
long to the machine. The machine be-
gins with the chief clerks and superln-
tendents and their army Of civil service
subordinates. who hold their places
while administrations come and go and
who manage the pOstmN&ters, the
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. SYSTEM still in
vogue. In brief, the system is one in
which the permanent subordlnates
have every chance to direct all but the
most wide awake Of their temporary
heads-the cart before the horse. Tie
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 it's own bank and does not
use the treasury for regular banking
purposes. But the service of the at
tornoy generals Office and of the treas
ury department is not paid for by the
post office. Misfit bits of three depart
menrs with separate accounts do the
country's postal business.
The machine has grown up. not or
ganically, but by accretions of unre-
lated departments, under laws passed
in 1874. Occasionally postmaster
general has conceived of an improve
ment in the service. Postmaster Gen
eral Wanamaker tried to reorganze
it, There are men in the civil service
machine today who know more about
post office affairs in their own depart
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
roads in the house Of representatives.
Congress Elust necessarily decide the
policy of the post office, but it is a be-
wildering complication of an fnstitp-
ton. already complex, to have some Of
its most powerful quasi officials in
house committee.
Instead of working on business prin-
ciples the post office machine is gov
erned by bulky book of laws that !
has grown from the slim book Of 1894
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-
lations passed by men dead for genera
tons whose laws were made for a !
post office which as late as 1873 cost !