El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-05-31

| UUIuIIIUU HU
ON PAYING BASIS
Continued from page 1. this sectiOn.l
/ defective administration and just criti-
! cism on the part Of the public"
It appears that the departments
| practice has been to base its state
! ments Of the cost of the service upon
/ payments made during the year as
! shown by the accounts settled by the
auditor for the pOstOffice department,
Q irrespective Of the years IN winch the
! obligations were incurred In this
/ connection the report says:
Notwithstanding the great zeal dis
! played in the effort to place the de
! partment on the sOcalled paying basis
I and the resultant injuries to the ser
1 vice, the claim Of the former post
/ master general that the service actual
" yielded a profit in 1911 has no foun-
7 datiOn in fact. as is shown herein.
1T is TO be further noted that the bal
+ ance sheet as heretofore prepared con-
cerued itself entirely with the reFe-
nues from postage and the operations
Of the department and expenditures
under the appropriation for the service
/ Of the postOffice department In ad-
ditiOn TO this, the department should be
able TO make a complete statement Of its
{ financial status. which should include
! the administrative expenses Of the de-
Dartment the expenses Of the audi
tors office, and fair charge for the
maintenance Of federal buildings used
exclusively or in part for pOStOfflce
purposes as items Of cost 1t has not
/ been the custom TO include these in
E the balance sheet. Furthermore. QGe
credit should be given the department
[ for the service performed in handling
and carrying ranked and penalty
nails
The report declares that the failure
to fill vacancies in the latter part Of
1910 and during 1911 was not justi-
fled, and goes on to say that instead
Of making deserved promotions. a con
siderable number of transfers from
other departments were made at sal
aries in excess Of the entrance Srade.
of men unframed in the work Of the
pOstOffice department"
Certificates Mystified.
It is further stated that 'in ordsr
! to effect these transfers the postmaster
general certified in each case where
. the transfer was at a salary in excess
Of the entrance grade that the per
/ son recommended for transfer was
/ especially equipped for the work to
which it was intended to assign him,
and that the vacant position could not
be adequately filled by promotion
Many of these Qualifications were IN
justified
The records show that during the
four years from March (, 1909, TO
( March 4, 1913 vacancies which were
allowed to exist for periods of from
one month to more than one year ag
gregated the equivalent of "a clerks
employed continuously during the
above period"
The committee asserts that imme-
diately before the time when the new
administration was to take office there
was a complete reversal of policy, and
that all available places in the depart
ment that had remained vacant for
months were filed. On January p. 1913"
says the report urgent verbal instruC-
lions were given by the postmaster
general TO report for immediate final
action every possible favOrably ap-
proved rural route, and, acting under
these instructions, over 100 rural mail
delivery establishments were author
lied in three days. Directions were
given to expedite as much as possible
inspectors reports on all cases then
under investigation of rural delivery
routes and Of allowances"
Economy at Expense Of Service.
A considerable section Of the report
is devoted to an account of the meas
ures taken by tho postmaster general
Hitchcock to impress upon the service
generally the announcement that econ
Omy would be the WatchWOrd of the
administration. Notices to this eff
feet" the committee says, were carried
by the press. delivered personally by
Representatives Of the department at
pOStmasterS' conventions and in off
cial letters to pOstmasters at first and
second class pOstOffiCes. 1T is as.
sumed by the committee that the
stress laid upon this matter induced
many DOstmaSterS to exercise drastic
economy at the expense of the SER
vice. The result has undoubtedly justi-
fled such complaints of imperfect and
unsatisfactory service as have been re
ceived recently from New YOrA, Phil
adelphia and elsewhere"
Rural Mails Suffer.
The practice Of delaying action an
til the pressure for it became too
strong is even more nOticeabI by ex-
animation of the records of the divis-
ion Of rural mails" the committee
says. During the greater part Of the
fiscal year ended June 80, 1911, rural
routes were apparently established
only in cases of extreme emergency,
except where a net saving to the gov
eminent was involved. Practically no.
extensions Of existing routes We're ap-
proved on October 1, 1910. 11S4 ap-
proved petitions for rural route esta5-
lisments were held in the division Of
rural mails awaiting final action.
These continued TO accumulate. and yet
at the end of May following MAY,
1g1I the record for the IL months
of the fiscal year shows a net increase
Of only 20 routes
In the single month of June, 1911.
80 routes were established and eight
---Al-- ---e-flli6 Il lEL 4lltA ease t'L
56l for the one month, or net total
for the year Of 577 routes The an
nual cost during the fiscal year for
this increase of 577 routes was thus
limited to S2l0.43T. OF 57-10O of 1 per
cent Of the annual appropriation
I'm October, 1910, the fourth assist
ants bureau apparently faced a defl-
cit on account of the star-rOute service, /
and Instructions were issued to reduce
the expenditures for existing service TO
such q figure as would avoid a deficit
The attention of congress was not
called to the condition, and star-route
service was discontinued or cUrtailed. |
and proposed additional service was
not established Protests and demands
for restoration were so urgent and in
siStent. however, that in the early pat (
Of May. 1911, nearly all of the star
route service previously discontinued
or c---lLL.l WIS ras-nral .Er-.----. |