The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1907-01-17
P0ST0FF|CE THEFTS
The U. s. Government Spends Much Money in Catching
Rogues.

the one who robs the United States
mail, and for looking after them the
government spent $621,44S.4S in the
last fiscal year-$347,447.24 for salar-
les of postoffce inspectors: $177,3s0
daily allowances for inspectors, and
$96.621.14 for salaries of clerks, mis-
cevlaneous expenses, mail depreda-
tions, etc.
The methods of the postoffice thief
are SO ingenious, his plumber is so
easily hidden or destroyed and his
rascality is so we'll masked by the
honesty and integrity of his associates
that he not infrequently continues his
operations for years before he is final
ly overwhelmed with proof of his
guilt, disgraced and sent to prison.
Though letters, and valuable ones, too,
are stolen every day and keen eyed
inpectors are hunting high and low
for thieves, arrests for this crime are
comparatively rare
1t would indeed be strange if the
thousands Of clerks who constitute
the great mail army of the country
were all honest men. 1t would be
stanger still if all of them could
withstand the temptations that con-
stantly arise as they handle the mil
lions of precious letters and parcels
which are carried in pouches through
all the ramifications of the railway
systems. The government does not
guarantee the safe delivery of let
tiers or parcels, but as a matter of
precaution it provided the money order
and registered letter system to pre-
vent the sending of money and val
uables through the general mail. But
even letters and parcels sent by
money order and registered letter are
not sacred to the mail thief. He robs
them with >as little IMMUNITY as the
humblest letter that falls into the
hands and looks good to him. The
only protection the user of the mails
has against thieves is the postoffice
inspector. His influence over the
morals of men throughout the great
department is simply amazing. He
is feared because his ways are myster-
ious and he seems to be omnipresent.
His clever ruses to overcome the cum
ming of the thieves he is after, his
nearly invariable success in rounding
them up. in sending them to the gangs
where they practice the lockstep
daily, and the unlimited power he has
at command to carry on his work
secretly or publicly, as he may choose,
make him one of the most important
factors in the service.
The staff of inspectors has been
largely augmented by an act of Con-
gress which became operative on Dec
ember 1, 1905, placing the division
superintendent, rural agents and
clerks at division headquarters under
the postoftice inspectors. BY this law
the two great travelling forces of the
Postoffice Department were placed
under one head. Thus large number
of really first class men became in
spectors, and the Postmaster General
says in his annual report that he be-
lieves that the year 1907 will show a
vast increase in the work done by the
inspectors and more noticeable I'M
provement in the postal service In
a general way the inspectors are the
direct representatives of the Post
master General in personal supervi-
sion of the service. The inspection d.
vision is thoroughly organized, and is
perhaps the best detective service" in
the world. They are all what is known
in police parlance "plain cothes men,"
They work quietly and without dis
play, their only badge of authority be-
ing certificate from the Postmaster
General in an inside pocket. With
this document an inspector gains i'm
mediate access to postoffices, books,
cash and stamps. The postmaster has
no say about it, no matter whether
the inspectors dropping in is at a
season or not. The inspec-
tor is as likely to make a demand
for keys and combination to the safe
at midnight as at noon. He suits his
own convenience, or when he believes
the best time for making an examina-
ton of the Office.
An old inspector says that years
ago, on one of the old Star Routes out
in New Mexico, hundreds of letters
money, drafts, checks and
other valuables were being stolen
daily. At first letters and all disap-