The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-03-25
BLAKES[EE IS NOW
MAN WHO HANDLES
RURAL CARRIERS
Typical Business Man Dis
cusses His Plans for 49,
900 Rural Routes
HAS THE ENERGY
OF A ROOSEVELT.
Hopes to Get in Close Touch With the
Men and Show Them That He
Wants to Cooperate
Thoroughly
BY G. T.. STEWART

seph [. Bakeslee,f the new fourth assist
ant postmaster general. and successor to
p. V. De Graw as head of the mail de-
partment which serves something like 49,
100000 people living on 10000 rural routes.
is from Pennsylvania, and during the last
campaign was one the generals in direct
ing the fight in that state for the demo-
cratic ticket. He headed the Pennsylvania
delegation at the Baltimore convention,
though George w. Guthrie was nominally
the chairman, and never lost moment
in working for the nomination of Wood
row Wilson,
He is an ex-railroad man, and has at
one time or another held practically all
the offices in the operating department
from clerk to tralnmaster. He is as full
OF energy as Theodore Roosevelt, and that
is handing it to him on the energy. He
enlisted In the Spanish-American war and
served as lieutenant in the eighth Penn
sylvana volunteer infantry.
He Is business man and may be ex-
pected to give his department business
administration. He looks like business
man and not politician. His ideals are
those of the commercial world rather than
the political. He will fit admirably into
the scheme of Postmaster General Burle-
son to make the postoffice department an
efficient business institution.
Typical Business Man
He Is OF medium height. with twinkling
blue gray eyes, shrewd tand keen a sure
sign when seen in a Yankee that he Is
right there in delivering the goods on
any proposition with which he is conver-
SAINT. He has the sturdy rounded figure
of a man who has INDUCED in sports
and used his muscles, and then settled
down to a quiet routine life of sedentary
habits. The added flesh has not impaired
his unusual activity.
Upon his return home after the war
Mr. Blakeslee engaged in the business of
furnishing electric light and power in his
home town. and he has acquired COM
Portable fortune.
He got his first taste of office holding as
representative in the state legislature
from Carbon county, but he has always
taken an active interest in public af-
fairs, and was put on the state ticket in
1910 by the democrats as a candidate for
secretary of internal affairs 1t is useless
to say that he was not elected Pennsyl-
vania is not given over to the habit of
electing democrats, and when you find one
In that state he is usually of the true blue
variety, and not for revenue only,
Mr.. Blakesee is ''jiner.'' He is a
Shriner, and wears the Insignia of that
order on the lapel of his coat. He is also
an Elk. In religion he attends the Epis-
copalian church. declining TO be an limo
cent bystander' in anything though he
is very liberal in his religious views, and
his taste running toward the Universal
church of the Christian religion.
Discusses His Plans
In a discussion of mis- plans for the
conduct of the rural delivery service, Mr.
Blakeslee was very frank and outspolxen:
My knowledge of the service is so
very limited at this time that / could
hardly express an opinion that would be
worth any thing. l know absolutely moth
ing more about it than the ordinary citi-
zen.
g"But expect to make every effort to
learn the service from the ground up and
get in touch with the men on the routes
who are the real veins and arteries of
this great and valuable branch OF the
postal service, and make them understand
that | want to cooperate with them n
every way possible
Mr.. De Graw, while In this position did
extensive travelling attending the various
conventions of the rural letter carriers
and mingled with them freely Mr. De
Graw probably did more of this kind of
work than he would have done ordinarily
had it not been for the fact that Postmas-
ter General Hitchcock was averse to at
tending these gatherings himself Mr..
Blakeslee was asked whether or not oe
expected to attend the conventions OF the
rural letter carriers and follow the same
line in this respect as his predecessor. II
shall do whatever the Postmaster General |
wants me to do said Mr.. Blakeslee II
am here to asst him and cooperate with
him and will do whatever is required of
me-"
Attitude Toward Parcel Post
Mr.. Blakeslee was asked what mis- atl,-
tude toward the parcel post system wou d
be- and he said that he expected to de-
vote himself very carefully to the study
of this service, as he was of the opinion
that 1t could be vastly extended with
benefit both to the farmer and the city
man.
How to make it the greatest service to
both Is what l shall strive to ascertain
he said. "Of course, the Postmaster Cen
eral Is given power under the law to make
any changes In rates or regulations that
may seem to him desirable. But before
any changes are made we want to study
the results OF the actual working of LIE
system. 1t may be that this investigation
will show that it is practicable to lower
rates on rural routes where there is no
cost for transportation by rail. This will
bring the truck farmer and the dairyma n
closer to the consumers in the nearby
towns and help to create business.
1t Is the intention of Mr.. Blakeslee ~
keep close In touch with the men in II {
service and cooperate with them to pro-
mote the greatest efficiency II want to
be their friend and help them every way