New-York tribune., 1903-07-20
half because of the commissions failure {,
meet the requirements
RURAL FREE DELIVERY.

a half because of the commissions failure TO
meet the requirementsi
RURAL FREE DELIVERY
The only other point of Mr.. Procter's letter
which calls for any attention from me is his
statement respecting the Rural Free Delivery
Division as follows:
Nearly all of the clerks and messengers In the
the CLASSIFIED service were in positions in Washing
ton D. C. One hundred and thirty.three of them
pointed In the four months Immediately preceding
twenty-sx days preceding clsssiScation! ~ How low
many Of these were appointed for reasons other
possible for the commission to determine but that
terests of the Individual is indicated by the fact
that the number Of appointments in the month Of
for the preceding four mouths
With few words of plain statement shall
leave judgment to be pronounced on this
gratuitous imputation. The rural delivery ap-
Iropriation for the fiscal year ending June 30
1901 was $1.I50.0O0; for the fiscal year ending
June 80. 1902 il just double. $35O0O00
The number of routes in operation on July l.
1900, 1.276. and on July 1, 1901, IT was 4301
In the next five months before the classification
the number increased to 5000. Was double the
appropriation to be applied double the service
TO be provided and double the work to be done
without any increase of force?
The truth iS that when Congress- by making
the large appropriation of $3.5OOOOO for the
fiscal year 1901-02, settled that the service was
no longer experimental. the department set
about organizing ii on permanent basis. 1t
carefully calculated how the appropriation
should be appropriated, how many agents
should he employed in the field. how many
clerks were needed at headquarters to keep up
with the work. etc. With the greatly increased
appropriation and service the force was made
quate TO the requirements; the clerks
working over hours. and it under these cir
cumstances that the additional appointments
were made. How much ground there for
Mr.. Proctor's unworthy innuendo may be judged
from the fact that of the ffty-six appointments
TO which he refers forty-one were women clerks
four were transfers, six designations for
division headquarters in the field and five all
told were original appointments of men for the
department! A vast deal of politics. surely. in
the appointment of forty-one Womenl Another
fact deserves remark Nearly two years have
elapsed since the appointments You have been
Postmaster General a year and a. half. and you
have not dropped of them If the service
your dutyi This needless critic didn't see that
1t may have been q sad of mistaken
ganzation of the rural delivery service and the
appointment of all its force the Postmaster
General, and not Mr. Proctor. For several
successive years II made constantly increasing
appropriations TO be expended absolutely at the
Postmaster Generals discretion without condi-
tlOn or restriction. So far 1 now recall, there
Is not a parallel case running through period
of years in the history Of the country. This
great confidence imposed high obligations on the
Postmaster General He made his regular
ports to the President and to Congress, and they
approved his action.