The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-08-13

are made up with woeful careiessness
thus: With compensation at the rat.
Of s. per . commencing with
the day Of . 1852" These. |.
must be remembered. were the ortgI-
nal entries of appointments n Other
dealings. and. in case of dispute. tho
parties would have had to rely upon
them alOne--a matter of SO much
waste D as far a. it's value as
legal proof goes. since the blank
spaces had been carelessly left un-
filled.
In February. 1862. the president Of
the Confederacy called for a roster
Of the members of the force employed
in the postal service. in the depart
ment at Richmond. with their COM
~pensation. The entry of this shows
that there were fifty-seven persons,
from postmaster general to watch
man. employed there. The sum total
Of all salaries paid them was a little
less han $4,000 a year. being a lit
tie over a hundred dollars a month
average.
In this matter of salaries. one Oh
serves that. as h months have gone
by. the unselfishness exhibited by tho
pioneer employees in the infant de-
partment. having doubtless been sore
ly tried by the hardships of war. es-
pecially from the blockade. has be
gun to wear thin in spots. There
is an entry on this subject. made in
the latter part Of 1863. that illumines
a dark and dismal situation in the
financial affairs of the Confederacy.
Owing to the inability of the authorl-
ties to get stamps printed. the various
postmasters had been instructed to
accept coin in payment for postage
merely marking the letter as pre-
paid.
Now. since there were no stamps to
be purchased. people sending letters
merely paid for each single letter az
they sent it. The result was h tho
receipts Of the post offices were
made up almost entirely of small ON
OF the United States, which continued
all through the war to circulate at
par. These coins were turned into
the post office department at Rich
mond by the various postmasters
throughout the country. which. in
turn. paid the cCin. in kind, into tho
Confederate treasury.
Now. these coins, we have seen.
were worth par. But. along in tho
DAYS Of 1868 and subsequently, the
value Of the paper money Of the Con-
f~ederate government rapidly depre-
ciated. Consequently, when the pos
tai authorities made a requisition on
the treasury for funds for salaries or
other needs, and received paper
money worth only about one-half Of
It's lace value, they entered a protest,
which is plaintively set out in these
old records. and asked President JET
ferson Davis to compel Memminger.
secretary Of the treasury to pay all
reouisitions made by the post office
department in the same kind OF
money the postal authorities turned
IN fhaf I nntV vy> rf TI..- 49,
the pinch Of dire poverty make sor-
did the most patriotic!
This brought on quite a spirited
nsnt Reagan and Memmin-
ger. for the receipts from the post Of
noes were pretty much all the money
worth It's face value that came into
the treasury. and Mem
mlnger did not want to return it all
70 the post office department. Presi-
dent Davis decided in favor of Rea-
gan and instructed Merminger to
pay all postal acquisitions in coin.
Memminger heard-and continued to
pay sueh acquisitions in the constantly
dePreclating ape money.
Wherefore. some months later is
found in the the records a crisp COM
mun1cation from Reagan to Mem
Munger. IN which the former. deeming
IL useless to bother the already much
narassed president with these internal
44o"oioS O1 MS government, tartly
aoVises Memminger that. if that sort
OF thing keeps up a day longer, "there
WIZ not De any more payments in
coln MADE to the treasury by the post
ounce department. until after the
postmaster genera has deducted from
such coln-money to be paid sufficient
70 pay salaries and all other expenses
or the post office Departmental
ire winch he, Reagan will turn over
the balance.
Ihis matter of turning over a bal
ahce was a little joke on Heagan's
part, seeing that the postoflce de-
pratment ran steadily behind several
thousand dollars every month.
ms appeal made Memminger rea-
: sonaole; he paid post office bills in
eoIh' and no more complaints are
found under the head.