El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-10-05

This was last April. The reports from
those offices show a wide range OF
methods employed, and Just What Il
costs by each method II was AOuHu
that the cost Of delivering by motor We
hicles varied from one and one-haIt
cents to nearly Is cents per package
where as delivery by horse drawn We
bfcIes showed a variation of from one
are now investigating how 10 denver
goods the most cheaply-
Outranks Other Branches.
The conversation here turned to the
political business of the pOstOffice de
partment and of its closeness 10 the
people. Postmaster general Burleson
said:
'aThe postoffice department outrankS
any other of the executive branches IN
its direct value to and connection with
the people It is the department that Is
closest to every individual, and II IS,
more than anything else, a representa-
tive Of the national government IN
many communities, it is the only rep
resentative of the national government
The state department is verY import
ant part of the administration put
there are millions OF our citizens VINO
never come into contact with it, or have
any knowledge of what it is doing The
AGRICULTURAL department and the treas
ury department touch hundreds OF
thousands of our citizens, but the
postOffice department comes into al
most daily contact with every ind1v1d-
ual in the United States who IS old
enough to read and write. II IS
concern that touches the individual
and that every day. If there IS
any department that should not be con-
troled by politics, it is this department
And STILL" continued the postmaster
general. with a smile, ''the head of the
postoffice department is the man who
is supposed to keep the executive and
legislative departments in touch with
each other. He is the INTERMEDIARY and
gobetween Of the two"
What are you doing with the rural
mail?"
Puts On zoo New Rural Routes
I'VE have put on over zoo new routes
involving an additional expenditure OF
something like $4,000 year. That
branch of the service steadily grows It
now has in the neighborhoOd OF $4,000
officers and clerks. and It cost some
thing like S20, 000, goo a year. The num-
Der of miles travelled per annum runs
high into the millions, and more than
100000 people are now receiving their
mail at their doors instead Of at remote
postOffices-"
How many postOffices are there in
the United States2"
The number is almost $1,000. We
have $4,000 postOffices and about 20O,-
600 employees. Our gross revenue per
annum is in the neighbOrhOOd of $780,
100000 and our gross expenditures are
a little less The department always
runs at a slight deficit, and this is
largely because we do a great deal of
free business for Uncle Sam, which
ought to be charged to the other de-
partments. And then, to continue the
enumeration of the contents of the
nutshell, we sell every year almost ten
billion postage stamps and enough
stamped envelopes and wrappers to give
one to every man, woman and child
upon earth and leave some to spare
Last year we issued more than $780,
0O0 600 postal cards and we sent out
registered letters to the number of al
most 100000. We do an enormous
money order business both at home and
abroad. The domestic money orders an
nually number so or more millions, and
our foreign money orders are more than
four millions, representing all told an
aggregate value of something like
S700,000,000. In some years we send