Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1912-08-02

and interests Of the constituscls8tSsy
are supposed to serve; vaS isSFSs:.St
the purpose OF the recomn Hhde zion
made 50 to cripple the postoifice de-
partment in the administration Of the
postal business. On the contrary, the
recommendation reserved to',rhe de-
partment the authority Of summary re-
moval, and we do not think that
postal administration having that au-
thority could Justly complain Of lack
OF power to enforce discipline.
On the other hand 1t Il q profound
error Of the critics to assume that the
position OF postmaster is essentially
clerical. The postmaster is indeed q
necessary adjunct Of the postoffice de-
partment; but he Is also the local rep
resentatve Of the interests of the peo-
pie in the matter OF postal conven-
fences. II he is zealous In the matter
Of promoting the service he probably
makes additional trouble for himself
without getting increase Of pay and ne
runs the chance of seeming to the de-
partment to be rather too numerous;
whereas II he Is conservative in his
view OF postal convenience. he may
still be absolutely correct in all his re-
lations to the department and yet be
an obstacle which communities want
ing the local service to be better
adapted to the local convenience have
much trouble in getting around and
generally can not get around. People
who occupy editorial offices in large
cities may not be in position to under
stand the real value of this argu-
ment: but the people who get their
mail thru second. third and fourth
class postoffices generally DO under
stand 1t, and they were the order of
people from whom the late Iowa pro-
gressive convention was recruited.
The truth of the matter is that a
postmaster is both public official
and local representative. Upon the
understanding that he Is appointed to
look after the political interests OF his
congressman and to keep on terms
with the department and that further
activities are at the cost of his own
convenience there are lots of things
of legitimate concern to the iocat pos
tai adm inistration that come in for not
better than fourth consideration. Now
the pending proposal is not 10 weaken
the authority of the department. hut
TO put the people served in the place
of the congressman in the matter
subs tantial claims on the thought and
consideration of the postmaster. We
think that the proposal TO this effect
viii stand large amount of scrutiny.
Suggestion is made that the pro-
poSaa to elect postmasteEs contraveneS
the proposal also popular and merit
orious Tor q shorter ballot. The sug-
geS1ion is not we'll taken. The pro-
posaI for a shorter ballot seeks to re-
lieve the people of the responsibility
of choosing among field of unknown
candidates for the offices that are not
of dlrec, interest TO the people. Par
ticularly does this proposal apply to
the selection Of minor state officers, |
as TO whom ii is demonstrated that a
very large number of voters mark
their ballots Tor the first name on the
ticket. But the postmastership is
very different matter 1t is am office
of large local Importance, Ii n small !
field Save in large cities. the voters
are generally almost universally ac-
quainted withzthe men from whom |
choice would be made for postmaster, |
and in cities OF any size land in small
towns they soon form very definite
opinion concerning the sort of service
provided for them by the man who
ASlCdAiy SclS Tic Lie ASASS NAnI 1
as 70 some candidates and Offices votes
now cast are not Intelligent has moth
ing to do with, the postoffice question.
AS TO that votes would be as intelligent
and discriminating as votes ever can
be and the capacity OF the people to
choose sensibly in this matter cannot
be impeached without impeaching at
the same time the capability of the
people for seif-svvernment Of airy sort. |
Tho Modern Spinstsr