Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1912-08-11
SIT tVEMENTS BY POSTMASTER GENERAL. THAT UNDER HIS MANAGEMENT THE DEPART. MENT HAS \ RpLUS ARE ER- RONE0US-DJE TO FAULTY METHOD OF BOOKKEEPING.
(Ry Jonathan Winfield.D

Washington, Aus. 1o.-Postmastcr General Hitchcock has been handing himself verbal boquets in the form of carefully Hrepared statements showing that the postoffice depart | ment. has changed the usual deficlt in the operation of the mails into a surplus, and the service now is seir- sustaining.
 But these statements set the Sen ate Committee on postotices ant post roads to figuring, with the result that the committee has just announc- ed that Postmaster General Hitch- cocks methods of accounting are il,- complete, and that the Cepar;men, Is not self-sustaning by any means.
 In report filed with the Senate, Senator Bourne, of Oregon, chairman of the committee, insists, and the report is approved by the commit tee, that the postoffice department is not making as much money as 1t costs to operate The methods of book keeping employed in the department are found to be faulty and 10 these defects is attributed the fact that the heads of the postoffice depar;men,
 have been led to believe that the
 postal service has become mone,
 making venture.
 Senator Bourne in his report, calls
 attention to the fact that for many
 years the postoffice department has
 reported deficits annually and that
 recently it has been claimed to the
 credit of Postmaster General Hitch
 cocks administration, that he has
 overcome the deficit and now has a
 surplus. Senator Bourne adds: We deem it apt to call attention to the fact that all computations : which indicate surplus overlooking several important items which should
 be included in the financial state ment and would be if it were run as
 any private enterprise'
 It appears from the report of Sen- ator Bourne, that the postoffice de-
 partment statisticians, in making out the statements showing a surplus of receipts over expenditures, failed to
 take into consideration as items of expenditure such matters as the rem
 tai value of buildings occupied oy
 the department throughout the coun- try, as well as the interest on the s investment in Federal buildings. There are many other little items,
 Senator Bourne says, that the Post
 master General neglected to charge against his department and which
 properly should be charged in maK-
 ing up a statement of the financial
 operations of the department.
 Referring to the matter of federal
 buildings, the report says that these are under the control of the Treasury
 Department, which is charged with ; the expenditures for their mainte. nance. The report has this to say in addition:
 "These items are properly charge
 able to the postal service, and shoult :. be taken into consideration in pre- = senting financial statement show ? ing the revenues and expenditures o
 the postoffice department. This is nt
 reflection on the present administra ,, tion, but is commentary on tn :, :, antiuuated and unbusinesslike meth ods which have been in vogue for de " cades, making it impossible 70 giv . correct balance"
 :, Another feature that does not al :. pear in the Hitchcock statement of 7 surplus, Sentaor Bourne asserts, = the fact that the government receive
 especially low rates for transport:
 tion of postal matter over railroad
 that received land grants from u
 government. He admits that 1t wou ev be impracticable to try to indica .a. in an annual report the actual va ne ue in figures of the reduction u- rates of transportation ill exchans Ter for the land grants. "But," he urge teS IL sHouiu AoJ Uc loI6otIcu lo AAo4"e ,ot this question in conclusion as ,ni whether the department be self-su ne taining or not
 at- Then there also is the item of tran a portation of government document ,m which the postmaster generals [ III port has overlooked. says the cor ,ld mittee. Many of these governme '-ts documents are carried free q chaxl