The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1904-07-17

was easy for me. ] know that when we
TOOK stock | could keep my footings so
that could give the totals within ten
or fifteen minute after the last items
were called out. This was considered
rather remarkable. l have met but few
people who could do it."
AS \ STREET RAILWAY MAGNATE.
What did you do after your bookkeep-
ing experience?" I asked.
Almost everything" replied the Post
master General. Much of my work has
been along the lire of railways and rail-
for mathematics. and keeping accounts
the receivers of the Northern Pacific Rail-
way. and had much to do with the ON
solidation and development of the electric
street railway Of Milwaukee. | am proud
est Of my success in that line.
Ter or twelve years ago We had a
dozen different street-Car companies In
others by electricity. The roads had been
built largely 10 aid in suburban develop
ment and they were poorly managed. l
was made president of one of them and
improved il.
Later on l became interested in the
others and planned to consolidate the
whole. ! got other men to join me and We
bought the roads and so reoreanized them
that we have now one OF the best trolley
systems OF the United States. / was
president Of chat system at the time 1
was made Postmaster General"
You were at one time president of the
American Street Railway Association.
were you not
Yes. l was, but | am not low. I gave
up active business of all kinds when l
came here"
How about our street cars. Generals;
will the time ever come when we Will
have cheaper fares"
fares are not for the good of the street.
car service or OF the people. If you have
low fares you must graduate them by a
distance or by zones. as in Glasgow and
other European cities.
distance. , cents for a little more and so
on. The result is that the workinsmen
to save fares, crowd themselves nearest
their work.
''The cities become congested, the sub
urbs are not built up and the working
man lives in the heart of the city IN
stead of in the country. 1t Is better TO
pay a scent rate per ride and to allow
the people to live out.
This is an important consideration ana
one which conluces to the making of bet
ter American citizens.
BUSINESS VIEW OF POSTAL MATTER
You nave been a business man. han
ding large affairs. General. Is the Post
Office hard to manage as a business insti-
tution"'
"Yes. it is. The chief trouble is you
cannot manage it as You can a private en-
terDriSa. The employees are selected lor
YOU, and YOU cannot dismiss them, except
by making charges and bringing them be-
fore what might be called the department
court. There are many laws which ham.
per your individual action. The moment
you try to do something you find there Is
a law against it. and the result is there
are all sorts of clogs in the way of prog
reSS."
How about the postal service-is it a
good one?"
Yes, with the limitations / nave men
toned. and l do not know but that they
are good limitations on the whole. one
feature which prevents the system being
as efficient as a private institution IS the
number of s~uperannuated clerks;
W have some clerks who have been
serving the department for years. and
who nave given good service. They have
grown old. and in an ordinary business
they would have to go. Here the process
to stay"
How about the Post-Ofice Department?
Do you think it worse or better than the
others of the executive departmentS?'
Il think the postal service is as honest
now as any in the United States. public or
private replied General Payne.
THE fraud Investigations have purged 1t.
We had fifty or sixty Post-ofice Inspec-
tors at work for eight months examining
into every branch of the business: we
prosecuted every ~irreguiarity. and nave
already seven of them indicted and five
sentenced to the Penitentiary.
Many others are under Indictment
awaiting trial. Indeed. l don't believe
that any Government department, in this
or any other country has ever been more
thoroughly investigated than the Post-Of-
flee Department. The result is that it is
now in a thoroughly healthy condition..
OUR POSTAL BUSINESS.
Give me some idea of the business of
the department." l asked.
TT is one of the biggest. II not the big
gest. business of the kind upon earth" re-
piled Postmaster General Payne. 1T has
been estimated that the aggregate number
of letters and newspapers which annually
goes through the post offices of the world
is thirty-two and one-half billion.
About eight and one-half billion pieces
go through our mails. SO that We do about
one-fourth of the post-ofiice business of
the world. We have now almost 15.00O
Post Offices. and our postal routes are half
q million miles in length.
IF you went all over the lines you would
have to travel as far as twenty times
around the world. and the annual travel
over them is almost 500 900. 900 miles. The
service is now costing in round numbers
more than $50. COO. 010 a year. and we shall
in almost that much this wear"
How about the postal receipts? Do they
show that lie times are growing better or
otherwise?'
The postal business is one of the best
of our financial harometers. 1t shows that
ts> hnsinass of this country Is Rrog1ps