The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-01-07

| copnt e. uoO heId postmasters To ac
the Govornl lvl rnls proht They simply paid
a ana pocketed the difference. V'v ona pIae da,e
nowever, Mr.. Madden inyest;ootad us!E tS!E
ihaVter and Inasmuch as epcb ,,ost ciils
5er gets his regular pay and ia pnotn,as' not Ids
uer tne law entitled to any nern,,;s;ta,
ne forthwith sent out an orda1 20 I'll
posomastess, aono directing them to keen an
ana ..o oI 5he retail sales of wrappers
mnrain Gir"nPed envelopes, and return the
inhIeln TO the department. where = ~
longs. 1t took some time to eauoa"o j., oe,
/ postmasters up to the point Of comni,
| ing, In fact, all Of them arr NOT az,
Gated to II yet. The habit of yo.rs CIV" -
not SO easily corrected. The orasr sr'S was 20
rsSueG IN March, 1905. and for the
temainaer te OF that year postmasters
s sa.hs9 IN total for the country nm.
soo uer 'nls mead of $l7,l24. Thereupon
lhey came from headquarters and e,,;.
IDENTITY meant business. and in 1909 +ha
returns s. from this souce Jumped to s65,.
244' Inc department is satisfied tbot
~ does not yet begin to get ali II
should from this source, but the trouhIc
WIN the collection Of it is that the dc.
PdItnent has no means of chcckinr IN
'hc pos1masters IN this respect
HOW Postmasters Profit.
VI course, if the postmasters sold
these goods in wholesale lots. thev made
no money For example, package
containing 70 No. 8 2-cent stamped en-
yelopes is charged to the postmaster at
% cents, and he is required TO sell If
to the public at the same rate, Bnt If
20 persons came in and each bought
one OF the envelopes. they would pay a
tooal OF 10 cents. or profit of 22 cents.
Wnlch heretofore the postmaster has
taken for his own Mr.. Madden esti.
mates that the department has lost
not less than $l,000,000 by neglecting
70 hold postmasters TO an accounting
Tor TINS money, stamped envelopes hav-
lnF been on sale ever since 1853.
Another thing in the financial man
agement of the postal service likely to
roll up into living monument for
MI Madden is the little book of stamps
now so familiar to all the people. The
idea OF binding stamps into g book be.
tween leaves of oiled paper emanated
from Mr.. Madden himself. II is his own
invention and if he had taken out a
patent on it and secured to himself
the profits now enjoyed by the Govern.
1t is now six years since he devised and
introduced the idea and in that time
the books have paid total profit TO
the department of S4lS,Ssl. AT the
present time they are paving at bet
ter than 100000 wear, and what the
demand for them may be in the future
can be Judged by the fact that during
the past year their sale has increased
over Is per cent, 1t costs three-tenths
OF a cent book to bind the stamps
and the entire profit lies in the differ
ence between that fraction and the
smallest coin of the realn-one cent
which is the sum charged the public
Tor the books over and above the face
value Of the stamps. The little book
has now been adopted by a number OF
foreign countries, including France,
Canada, Cape Colony, Sweden, the
Netherlands, and Switzerland
But perhaps OF all the improvements
in the service brought about BY Mr..
Madden the most highly appreciated by
the business men of the country is the
provision for mailing third and fourth
class matter without afiXing stamps TO
the same The law for this, passed
upon the recommendation of the third
assistant Postmaster General, WAS en-
acted in the spring of 1904, and al
ready over 500 postofices have taken
advantage of it, and during the past
year the monthly average of mail sent
without stamps affixed reached 11,254,-
800 pieces, This improvement not only
causes a saving of time in the dis
patch of mail but il also makes for
economy IN labor expended and in saw
ing Of wear and tear upon cancelling
machines, the financial gain to the de-
partment in these respects reaching 81
respectable sum annually, Postmasters
throughout the country praise it un-
stintedly, for the time 1t saves the pa
irons Of their Offices and for the very
great amount of labor and expense it
cuts off. Postmaster Wilcox of New
York places the saving of time at 30
per cent