The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-31
NEW ROUTES ARE FEW
REGULAR APPROPRIATION HAS
 BEEN NEARLY ExHAUsTED.
Bowie and Maddox Claim Discr'mi- nation Against the South in Rural Delivery Matters-De-
 partment Pleads Broke.
Advertiser Bureau.

Washington, Jan, 30 When Representative Maddox claimed on the floor of the House that there was unfair discrimination against Southern Democratic districts in the matter of the distribution of rural free delivery estab- nshments. Fourth Assistant Postmaster general Brtstow, having charge of the system since the busting of Machen, promised that there would soon be such a change as would leave no just cause ot complaint from the Southern dls- | tricts.
 Thon Representative Bowie of Alabama. few weeks later went to digging into department data and found that the half had not been told by the Georgia mem- Der. Yet the preponderance of favors for the Northern district still continues, as the reports in the shape of bulletins of this week show Possibly the delay may be- accounted for. as far as improving conditions for tho service in the South, by the comparative lack of petitions for consideration. Meanwhile the work of l extending the system goes on steadily, as 1t has gone on the past eight months. Fourth Assistant Postmaster General Brlstow has exhausted the appropriation of SIP, ,oO0,O00 for the current year. and has l served notice upon Congress that he must have an additional $SoOOO0 to last until next June 30. The department %in be obliged to suspapd the authorization of new routes within the next two weeks if Congress should fail within that time to pass an emergency bill extending the appropriation. When the general dehcien- cy bill comes up, provision will doubtless be made for any shortcoming Mir. Bris- 1 tow will get the $S0o,0OO. but meanwhile a l number of members of Congress will not set the routes they want established. When August E, Machen, who is now l on trial to answer supdry indictments, | was removed from the position of super- l intendent of the rural free delivery ser- vice, there were lS,1lS routes operating. Since Mfr. Bristaw took charge he has edded ever 6,ooo. which is said to beat the record for any similar time during the Machen regime. But Brtstow had much more money for the purposes of the sys- tenn than had Maehen. besides with ex- perience it had grown far less difficult of operation. Machen, with all his ai- legged sins of commission, cannot justly be charged with much offensiveness in the way of omission. for it was through his foresight and diligence that obtained from Congress the sipews of war in use now by Brlstow.
 l Much have things changed at the de- partment since the banishment of Ma | chen, Beavers and the others of the al- ] leged graft-ring who have so far been indicted. and who had managed large part of the Federal postal service A notable feature of the change is in the interesting fact that now not near so many congressman as in the old days are seen about the corridors and rooms of the department. In the haIcyon Machen- Beaver times, streams of statesmen were | to be seen dropping back and forth about 1 the quarters of the two lusty postal chiefs. There has been of late a decided falling off in the attendance of the statesmen. Possibly it may be accounted for in the fact that several congress- men. including two senators, have had to answer charges in court, while others are under grave suspicion as in- dicated in the Bristow report. Those 1 that do now show up from day to day take themselvesF without dallying on the way 10 the efices of Postmaster Gener- al Payne, First Assistant Wynne, or Fourth Assistant Brlstow.
 It may he recalled that about the be. ginning of the mutterings of the storm In the department there was much dis gruntlement among the highest officers because Of the apparent superior sway and swing among congressman enjoyed by Machen and Beavers. The first to kick, and to kick 50 that it could be heard on the outside, was First Assistant Post master General Wynne Left in charge when Mir. Payne took an extended voyage
 
 ed every day until Machen was reused in his lair and proceeded to defy every body except his friends in Congress. The row waxed fierce For time It looked as though either Machen or wynne would have to get out but lot of postofice in- spectors were set to work, They found so much rottenness. that 1t took no great detective talent to find the guilty persons. Thus the postofice scandal burst into national view.
 Machen's room. at one corner of the big department building, which used to be a popular resort of congressman. is now comparatively deserted. No other of- icer of the government outside of the | White House saw so many congressman a day as Machen, The old rural free de- livery headquarters are just as any other office in the building, as far as concerns visitors, The business Is in the hands of Mr. Bristow and an intelligent clerk. This is a condition about which Repre- sentative Livingston of Georgia. was very skeptical when 1t went into operation.
 The whole postofice history will be re- vived most interestingly when the post office appropriation bill Is reported to the House by the committee on postofices and post roads. This will be about the second week in February.
 R. II. Watkins. ---------------------- | When all the Directors of the CnitLi