New-York tribune., 1907-08-17
POSTAL REFORUS.

Ii must be exceedingly gratifying to the
country to know that the present head OF the
Postoffice Department is man with progress
sive ideas and an inclination TO have those IDEAS
tested in practice No other branch of the TED
eral government plays SO large part III une
daily life and concerns of the average cltlzeh
as the one which is charger WITH the manage
ment OF the postal service. and any increase
in the efficiency OF rnaT service Is or universal
benefit Until recently the pOcy OF the de
nartment had been one of drift rather than OF
action Mr.. John Wanamaker. Postmaster Gen
eral under President Harrison. wAS man OF
ideas ana energy. but be found no encourage
ment in an environment distinctly hostile To
postal experiments. Congress ignored ms rec
concentrations. since the average Senator or
Representative of that period concerned him
self with the postal service less aS Il great
business agency than a convenient patron
age reserve out of which 10 pay debts to faith
full party workers.
From Mr. Wanamaker's incumbency 10 Alr
Cortelyou's the Postoffice Department prac-
tically ran itself. its policy being generally de-
termned by subordinate officials acting IN con-
cert with members of the two houses more IN
terested in appointments than in bettermentS
i'm service This period Of tagnatiOn ended
with the disclosures which resulted in the down
fall of the Beavers -Machen ring and since 1901
telliSent cooperation of Congress in reforming
postal methods checking waste and establish
ing a modern accounting system. under winch
il will be for the first time possible to snow
which branches of the service are conducted al
a profit and which at a loss Substantial prog
rpsS in administration has been made III the
last three years. But progress should not sop
with reorganization of the administrative SyS-
TEN. and Mr.. Meyer is right in pushing ahead
making if more responsive to public needs
We are not sure that all the innovations pro
,,osed are workable and desirable. But many Of
them seem reasonable and the public VIII wei
come an effort to have them tried out me
Postmaster General suggests. for instance ule
desirahity of an s p. m. mail delivery IN this
city to tighten the burden of the first morning
delivery He would like to see facilities rapidly
increased here for the special delivery of letters
"a service which might be made profitable at
- moderate charge and thereby displace the
uncertain slow and costly delivery by private
agencies which the city now endures. He would
Ike To supplement the present money order
and registered letter services with Il postal h"te
system requiring less red tape He would ais"
favor the establishment of postal savings banks
and the enlargement of the parcels post service
by increasing the limit of weight 10 five or per
hans ten mounds Another innovation would he
the installation in the larger cities OF stamp
slot machines. which would relieve the corner
druggist from the necessity of doing thank
less stamp business and save would-be pur-
chasers many trips TO the nearest branch post
offices ANY project which really promises to
extend the usefulness Of the postal service de-
serves grateful consideration
We are glad to note that Mr.. Meyer does not
believe that the free rural service delivery has
been a mistaken or losing experiment. He points
to the fact that In the first quarter Of the pres
ent wear there was postal deficit although
the rural free delivery materially expanded.
This service has justified itself in many ways
and would be well worth continuing at loss
But it is encouraging to find that it, too is
beginning to contribute, both Indirectly anu
directly its share to the postal revenues