The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-12-01
FOR POSTAL SAYINGS BANKS
ONE or POSTMASTER-GENERAL
MEYERS RECOMMENDATIONS.
SIC Also Recommends Hrhat n Permanent
Omce ne Created to ne Called DirectOr
of POnts-ENeensAOn Of the Parcels
Post by Increasing weight Limit.

SIC Also recommends NlHat n Permanent
once ne Created to Re Called Director
OF POHts-ENaensaOn Of the Parcels
Post by 1mcreasIng weight Limit.
WASHINGTON, Nov. SO.-In his annual
report, just made public, Postmaster
General Meyer makes some important
recommendation. The first ia the adj
ditiOn TO the administrative department
OF an official to be- called Director Of
Posts or Deputy Postmaster General, or
some such name. This Official, h Post
master-0eneral says, should be made
permanent and should odd Office through
successive Administrations to act NJ expert
adviser Il the head Of the Department,
thus insuring a continuity Of policy that
would conserve the Departments great
interests.
Mr.. Meyer also comes out strongly for
the installation Of postal savings banks.
This, he thinks, would achieve two great
results. 1t would encourage among u
people economy and thrift and would
afford a place Of deposit free from any
possibility of doubt or suspicion for vast
sums Of money which might otherwise
be boarded and kept out Of circulation
through ignorance or lack Of confidence"
The Postmaster General points out the
fact hat the seven millions of immigrants
who have come TO this country in the last
ten years rave sent back to Europe vast
sums Of savings. I'm many instances"
he says, sit has been found that for want
Of postal savings banks money orders
are being bought. payable to the purchaser,
good for one year" In the fiscal year
ended tune 30 last postal money orders
for over 81, OOO, 900 we're sent abroad from
this country.
This money. " said Mr.. Meyer. while il
was accommodating would naturally nav
been placed for safety in the postal
savings banks. In fact. it has beer brought
to my attention that the money of the inn
migrants. on account Of its possessors being
ignorant Of our language and suspicious Of
our private institutions. is being sent home,
in order hat IL may be placed in the postal
savings banks Of their native countries. Il
is believed that this would not he the case
in many instances IL we had postal savings
banks in the United States"
The Postmaster General recommends that
all money order Offices be designated to
receive deposits for savings, the deposits
TO be made in even dOllars with 81 as a
minimum and not more than $500 to be re-
ceiVed from any one person. He suggests
NANpN n A1NS - = - S>aN ~ R0Rh @A4 NANAh
the money deposited with the Government
be returned to n channels of trade. He
would have authority given his Depart
ment to deposit this money with the banks
designated in each State ~ Government
d~eDositaries. He has been assured that
the national banks receiving such money
would allow an interest rate of "a per
cent. upon it.
Mr.. Meyer is sure such. a system would
have great beneficial results. He believes
hat for n thing IL would give each immi-
grant who used the postal savings banks
a personal interest in the Government and
make him by that much a better citizen.
Tn Postmaster-General also recon-
mends the extension of the parcels post
by increasing the weight limit from four
pounds TO eleven pounds. A novelty he is
now experimenting with il the stamp end-
ing machine. He plans, II it can be done,
TO put out many slOt machines which will
sell stamps and postal cards. Their use
in post Office lobbies.' he says. will afford
an all night service with no expense for
clerk hire, and their wise in post office sta
tons, hotels, railroad stations, news stands.
department stores and drug stores will add
immeasurably 10 public convenience. The
machines examined thus far are not quite
perfect. Their inventors say they will
make them 30 soon, and as soon as they
do a few Of them will be tried out in actual
service.
The report records the settlement Of the
Governments case against the Hartford
Manufacturing Company. which IL was
learned had for years been making an en-
velope inferior to the one called for in its
contract with the Government, The Gov
eminent has accepted SlOO 600 Nom the
company and has called the thing square.
TIL results Of the recent experiment with
evening deliveries in New York are not yet
determined. though Mr.. Meyer says that it
il likely that the people of the city are not
yet generally aware of the late delivery or
that they avail themselves OF 1t as much
as they will later on.
The railway mail routes in operation at
present have a len 9Th Of 2O7. 237 miles. and
cost the Government $45 ,1lS.872 a year,
an increase over the annual rate Of ex-
pe%nditure of about 5I1 per cent. About
0.343 miles Of electric anq cable car routes
are in Operation at a cost of over 5000. 900.
IL cost O. .123. 400 to transport the foreign
mails in the year ended June 10. Mails
are now sorted in sixteen steamship sea
post Offices on vessels plying between New
York and Europe. This sorting cost S72, AIS
last year, but the POstmaster-General says
/ 10 was worth IL.
In the railway mail service last year
twenty-one postal clerks were killed and
l25 seriously and 062 slightly injured in
railroad accidents. an increase of five
killed and 290 injured over the previous
year. Many of these accidents are due
TO inferior cars. but these are improving in
quality, IL il believed.
Over S35, 900, OOO more domestic orders
were issued than in the previous year and
over s2l ,OOO. 900 moro foreign orders. these
increases bringing in TO the Department
an additional revenu of more than t4OO. eco.
The registered mail business also tOo
a big jump. Over 4.OOO.O 900 more parcels
and letters were registered last year than
the year before, and about one letter or
package in every ~, 600 was lost.
That the public lie as careless and hasty
as ever in the matter OF addressing things
sent in the mails ia shown by the fact that
in the year ended June 30 no less than
10, OO5, 2S5 letters or parcels were received
at the Dead Letter Office. an increase Of
over a million and a quarter. About 5,225,-
600 were subsequently, delivered to the
owners.
The receipts OF the Department for the
year were 8IS3. 5S5 COS 81. and the eXpen-
ditures 500. 23S, 2SS -. an excess of expen-
I ditures over receipts Of S8.6S3. 282. This.
however. In an improved showing. In
1905 the receipts were sl67. 032. 1872, The
expenditures Si7S. 27O. 1903, leaving a deficit
of $40. $40. Dos.
Since 1861 the postal business of the
! United States has just about doubled every
ten years. Mr.. Meyer thinks that by 1911
the postal receipts will have passed he
$3.50, 900, 900 mark.