Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1906-12-14
TAKE MAILOUTOF POLITICS
Postmaster General Advises Use of Bust
ness Principles in Department-Keep
Good Men in Office.

WASH INGTON, ID. C.. Dec 10
know of no one thing that will do more
for the postal service than continued
insistence upon the policy of substitut-
ing business for politics ia the admins
tration of its affairs.
This recommendation for making more
efficient the administration OF one OF the
most important departments of the ma
tional government is contained i'll the
annual report of Postmaster General
George b Cortelyou, which has been
submitted to President Roosevelt The
development of the country's postal sys-
TEN and greater study OF its ills and
needs. he declares, has demonstrated
that the elimination of politics and the
persistent injection OF up-tO-date bust
uess methods III the department is Il
necessity.
There can be further economies in
rural delivery without any impairment
Of that service says the report. BY Il
more precise method of determining the
basis Of pay for the transportation os the
mails. the department can be relieved of
an unbusinesslike feature of admipistru-
ton with Il probable decrease in eXpen7
ditures. BY the enactment of q SEN
sible law as to Second-claSs matter. the
department and reputable publishers can
be saved embarraSsmentS they now Suf-
increased. BY Il proper system of ac-
counting, the department can be placed
upon a better business footing and i'll
cidentally credited with work for which
it now receives no credit And as re
suit of these and other needed changes
the deficit, which is, in fact, only d pa
per deficit can be altogether eliminated.
Progress toward these improvements
viii open the way for inyestiga tons to
determine the feasibility of the adoption
of many important policies of admins
INSTRUMENTATION of postage, both do
nestle and international, postal savings
banks parcel post postal telegraph and
telephone. and otners-the merits and de
fects of all of which should have, i'll the
not distant future. the fullest considera-
ton
1t is announced in the report that the
policy of retaining fourth-class post
masters during satisfactory service has
now been extended until ii practically
embraces tire postmasterS Of the preSl-
Dental class.
\ financial statement of the depart
ment shows that the receipts for the
fiscal year ended June 80 last were $167,-
932. 1872. 90, as compared with Sl52,S2G,-
$50. 10 for 1905. The total expenditures
for the same periods We're S11S,449,
1908, leaving Il deficit for 1906 of $40
51G,995.94. as against $14,572. 5S4 Is.
Losses from fire, bad debts, burglary and
other sources increased the deficit foI
1906 to $10,542, 94I76. In the 1906
fiscal wear there were 1900 postotfice@
in the country, as compared with 1O,360
IN 1896. The decrease, it is said, is
largely due to the discontinuance of
minor offices on account of the introduC.
ton of rural delivery.
In referring to the estimates of ap.
preparations required for the fiscal year
19O7-S. the postmaster general says that
the amount requested for salaries III the
department is S1,529,420, an increase OF
S122 030 over the present appropriation.
The estimates for the service ut large
aggregate S206, 662, 100, an increase OF
about S15,0000O0 over last years ap.
uoIriation, the principal increases being
in the compensate of postmasters, post
office clerks. letter carriers, both city and
rural, in the railway mail service and i'll
the transportation of mail by railroad
routes and pneumatic tubes. For city
letter carriers alone he says. an increase
of ST, 1916, 700 will be needed, while for
the rural carriers it will be necessary
to have an additional 81 ,4I5,OO0.
A feature of the report is Il recon-
mendation that provision be made for the
appointment of deputy postmaster gen
eral, who shall be the ranking officer of
the postmaster generals assistants, and
whose tenure of office shall be perma-
nenT.