The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-03-02
NEWSPAPERS GO
 AFTER POSTOFF|CE Atlanta Papers Trying to
 Get Even
  SPY SYSTEM WORKED Atlanta Press Claims That Workings of Spy System Have Demoralized POstoffice Force-Railway
 Clerks Complaining
SPY SYSTEM WORKED

Atlanta, March 1.-(Special)- )-All the derelictions of the postoffice past present and those that may occur in the future
 are being raked up by the Atlanta news papers, and for the time at least the de-
 partment and it's system are being given some rather unpleasant notoriety.
 There was recently made an unsuccess-
 fu effort to indict two of the Atlanta newspapers on the charge of conspiracy
 to defraud the government out of postage
 on sample copies. In one case the grand
 jury refused to return any indictment at
 all and in the other the indictment found
 was thrown out of court on demurrer
 Now, 1t seems, according to the papers,
 the postoffice department has certain faults of it's own which have been ignored to q large extent in the past, but some
 of which are now being extensively and conspicuonsls' emblazoned to the public eye.
 Unnecessary delay or carelessness in
 handling the mails is one basis of the pub | lieity which the postoffiee is getting, and every time letter Is heard of that goes astray fer a week or ten days before reaching it's destination, a story is made of it. But the chief and most interesting foun- dation for the present publicity the de- partment is getting, is it's so-called spy l system
 | Inspectors shave been employed from | time imrhemorial to ferret out cases of | theft and tampering with the mails on the part of employees, but the inspector sys- | tenn has never been worked so extensive | ly as has been the case in recent years. | Much has been made out of the fact | that in the construction of the new post l office building in Atlanta there has been | placed n the room where the mails are | handled q steel gallery With blind win dcws." from which. without being seen, an inspector may keep a constant eye | upon any or every employe he desires | to watch There is no point of the mail | ing, money Crder or stamp room but may be closely watched from this gallery. and | the inspector may even see his man in the | toilet room if he desires to watch him | that far
 That this spy system." this species of "Foucheism, as it has been called, has
 demoralized the postoffice force and | threatened its disruption is the almost
 daily assei ton of the local press That
 the postoffice employees here are demoral- | i2ed as result of 1t there is nq question. ! They don't know at what minute even an | innocent action may be misinterpreted,
 and tSey may be called to account as a
 iesult of It.
 | None of the employees will talk for fear
 of losing their jobs, but some of them are
 talking quietly and not few are writing anonymous letters about conditions In the
 office and in the service.
 | One man asserts that If man is | honest, he don't care if he is watched, !" | while the man under surveillance de- | clares. wherever he dares, that he is growing nervous under the strain. | GO into the postoffice, if you can get | there,' said one of the employees, and l watch the men for a while. I'll wager
 that within less than ten minutes you | will see al least dozen men look fur | lively over their shoulders as If conscious that their every movement is being | watched"
 | The fact itself and the agitation of it l have gotten the men into such a stew that
 nothing else is talked about among them. | And along with it they are complaining
 of other unsatisfactory treatment which | is not in accord with what they have | heretofore experienced It Is stated the | department's plan of economy has result | ed in a cutting down of the service here | with a further result that more work is | being put on the individual man. The employees of the railway mail ser | vice are complaining particularly on ac- l count n the fact that 21-fo0t
 are being substituted on some of the i'm | portant lines for the more spacious 40- 1 foot cars, because thereby the department will save both in transportation charges | and in the smaller salaries paid to the mail clerks in the smaller cars. All of this, of course, Is but an echo of l the movement on the part of the postof- | fee department in Washington to cut | down expenses and try to put the depart ment on a paying basis-a movement of which the magazine publishers are feeling | the weight, in anticipation, if not in ac- 1 tual increased postage.
 | Along with it comes the report that | Postmaster Hugh Mckee of the Atlanta l postoffice has himself rebelled against | some of the operations of the inspectors | force
 | There was a report circulated that h. | spector S. A. Cisler had been in practical charge of the Atlanta postoffice for the last four months; had issued orders and posted pronunciamentos around the office | at will
 | According to the story, on his recent | trip to Washington Postmaster Mckee put it up to the department to abolish | Cislerism or accept his resignation. | Postmaster Mckee insists that there is | no foundation for the story. Neverthe- | less 1t has had general circulation around | the Atlanta office.