Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-12-28
SALARIES ARE TOO LOW
Assistant Postmaster General Gay, Office
Clerks Are Undsrpaid.
STANDARD OF EFFICIENCY is DECREASING
Emergency Appropriation of S75.OOo
IL Asked for to Provide Mail
Facilities for Mining
Camps.

camps.
! WASHINGTON. u. c.. Dec Fin his
annual report made public today. First
Assistant Postmaster General Hitchcock
saws thatthe low salaries paid clerks in
first and sCcond-class postoificos is de-
creasinS the standard of efficiency. 1t is
| impossible, he says. to induce efficient men
| 10 enter this branch of the service when
the salary to begin with is but s6N per
| year. with no certainty of promotion for
perhaps several years
MT. Hitchcock strongly recommends a
| discontnuanCe Of the practice of INSTALL
ing postoffices in public buildings devoted
IN part to other branches of the govern
fnent service. The best type of quarters
Tor postoffice purposes, he says. is sin
gle large room in one-story building
Much embarrassment has been oCcasioned
inc postal authorities to provide emer-
sehcy mail facilities in mining towns. and
MT Hitchcock recommends an emergency
appropriation of $4,000 to meet such re-
quirements
mere has been an Increase OF more than
| SlSWOOO in the amount of domestic and
or moro than 100000 in the amount of
foreign money orders issued during the
While the number OF undeliyered letters
which found their way TO the dead letter
| Office during the year was smaller than
curing the previous year. the number of
| uhdelivered letters with valuable enclosures
greatly Increased. General prosperity Of
the country is given as one reason: an
| oth'r Is the suppression by the depart
nheht OF concerns using the mails for
fraudulent purposes. Mail for such con-
'er"s containing money, money orders and
CoHhIhefclal paper was received at the dead
letter ONCE in unusual quantities Nearly
i'ODVp pieces of mail were received al
the dead letter office during the wear.
including 1,66S that failed OF delivery in
the Panama canal zone
over 100000 cases of alleged indecent
ana scurrilous matter received attention.
In the summer the influx of Offensive
pictorial postcards became so great as TO
cal for special order by the department
looking TO the abatement of the nuisance.
AS result OF this order many thousands
Vi objectionable cards have been with
drawn from the mails by the postmasters
ana forwarded to the department for de-
struction."
ShOnts and stevens Arrive
chairman Shonts. accompanied by Chief
Engineer J. +. Stevens of the Isthmian
Canal commission has arrived in Wash
lhstoh' Mr.. Stevens has come to Wash
instoh to give his views to the commits
sion on the type Of canal that should he
constructed Mr.. Stevens II NAV be def
nitely stated. is in favor of lock canal
ana ut moderately high level.
Old War Claim is Revived.
Secretary Shaw and the United States
trpDg ttf-N- lnT.
today in the federal court here to recover
from the government the value of twenty
five steamboats, alleged to have been taken
from James L. Montgomery during the
civil war by men representing themselves
to be military officers of the United States
MI Montgomery. who is now dead was n
prominent steamboat owner and lived n i
81. Louis. The suit is brought by the
trustee OF the Montgomery estate, who
seeks to recover $4,000 for the heirs The
petition states that Mr.. Montgomery on
posed secession. but was compelled TO cast
his lot with the confederacy as his prop
erty interests were chiefly in Mississippi
He became commodore In the confederate
navy. but was the first confederate officer
to take the oath of allegiance to the
United States after the war He took the
oath in the presence of General L. s
Grant, his nelghbor. who was the first
federal officer to congratula Commodore
Montgomery on his return 10 the support
of the union.
President Gordon Relieved.
The trustees of Howard university today
accepted the resignation of President John
Gordon, to take effect at the end OF the
present school year, in May, 1906 and
granted him leave OF absence from Jan
uary !, 1906 until the school year ex-
pires. Dean Frederick d. Fairfield of the
collegiate department OF the university
was named as acting president of the uni
versity and will assume his new duties at
once.
Mr., Gordon offered his resignation after
a demonstration made against him by the
students in the university several weeks
ago. At that time he Missed and
jeered as he entered the chapel This
outbreak was the elimination of alleged
grievances against Dr. Gordon which date
back to the time he came to the university
from Tabor college Iowa, two years ago
Most % the students in Howard uni
versity are negroes and some of them
charged that DR. Gordon did not show
proper respect for their race
Traffic Men In Washington
delegation of western railroad men
headed by j. c. Stubbs, traffic director OF
the Hartman lines, who arrived here to-
day, will confer tomorrow morning with
the Interstate Commerce commission re-
garding several of the laws regarding rail