The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1903-11-05

amount Of the post Office deacit on
certain contracts lie shrugged his
shoulders
why bump ones bead against q
stonS walls" said he. Congress wont
passet7
Every plan that has ever been pre-
sented TO congress for Improving the
postal service" said a high post office
authority, has been scrutinized by in-
terests. DO you suppose We can have
a revision changing the present rates
Of paying the railroads as long as some
Of the most prominent senator's and
congressman are identified with trans
portation interestsgn
I turned to another official
"Do you mean, said !. chat you
could not pass a bin obnoxious to ID.
| terests q
wei, and he smiled automatically
there would certainly be opposition.
Finally there is the civil service sys
tenn. II a post Office official fulflls his
routine duties he rises in the service
by sheer mechanism. Once In a berth
it requires a trial for gross inefliciency
or misconduct TO get him out If the
miasma Of an Office where there is no
spur Of self interest to goad a man to
effort fails 10 stifie his progressiyeness.
sophistication tells him that it is UNI
wise to arouse an interest Not too
much zeal!" is a watchword in the
United States post office. Even If the
head Of ! department wished 10 have
force as efficient as that demanded
by the manager Of business, lie could
not have it.
Tiny Switzerland has many things to
teach us So have Germany, France
and England
In a German ty-take Berlin, for
example there is a post office every
few hundred yards. A post Office can
be found as easily as a cigar store in
New York. A network Of underground
tubes connects all but the very small
est. Ordinary mail goes from station
to station by government owned wag
ons but a special delivery card or
stamp, costing less than cents, Will
cause a message to be shot by tube
anywhere in the city. A messenger
win carry It from the point Of recep.
ton the few necessary yards to the
receiver and viii wait for an answer.
Message and answer in Berlin take
about two hours This IS service far
speedier than any in the United states
The German telegraph system is an
adjunct Of the post office kilograms,
costing u cents for ten words. inelud-
ing address, beat special delivery let
tiers by just the margin between cleo
trio and pneumatic transmission. Postal
checks for small amounts almost who'll
IL take the place of bank checks. One
may send a postal money order with a
message written on the back, and a
postal messenger win bring it to the
house Of the receiver and pay it there
on the spot, service as accurate and
complete as by personal messenger
Subscription to magazines and news
papers IS through the post Office. You
pay the postmaster. he orders the prop
er number of publications for his Of
fee, and the journals come cheaply and
smoothly in bulk to the several sta
lions for delivery And not only does
parcels post do practically all the
German express business at low rates,
depending on weight and distance, but
Germany, through agreements with
other nations, sends parcels around
the world know a resident Of Berlin
who has a package Of meat mailed to
him every Saturday from a point 100
miles away in sllesia for d little more
than II cents, the rate for a twenty
pound parcel German merchants de-
liver most Of their goods By mail, the
small storekeeper thus provided with
as good a delivery service as the lar
ger. All the parcels. large and small
are brought of course to the address
to which they are directed. Germans
have even been permitted to mail
eleven pound parcels 10 addresses in
the United States
In London the pneumatic tube sys-
TEN is so perfected that within the
radius OF London one may send an
ordinary letter, receive an answer.
send another and receive an answer to
that all in the course Of day De
lIveries run until Q and 10 o'clock in
the evening. The English post Office
maintains d telegraph system. convey
ing twelve word messages all over
Great Britain and ireland for - cents,
and a parcels post system comparable
to the German and, furthermore, main
tains a savings bank. An this pays.
The United States post Office fails to
give such service and fails to pay even
its expenses.
1t would be impossible in New York,
for example, to send a letter, receive
an answer, send again and receive an
other answer, all in day, as In Lon
dom The pneumatic tube service is
very restricted. A letter posted down
town at A o'clock will not be delivered
uptown in the residence district until
the next morning. If packages are too
bulky for the ordinary carrier one
must journey TO the post Office for
them, and likewise one goes to the post
Office to cash money orders.
/ asked high post office official why
parcels are not delivered