Omaha daily bee., 1917-04-08
People Denied Privilege of Having
Mail Service That They Demand

service, and system Of government
espionage has been established the
like of which heretofore has been
supposed to exist only in Russia.
Point System.
A rating system for this great serv.
ice was established some years ago
by which every official act OF a clerk
great or small, omission or commits.
sion, is subject to plus or minus
points, mostly the latter, for il you
forget figure on a report you are
charged with 5 minus points, but Il
your report is complete there Is nc
recognition. The gaining Of plus
points is a difficult matter, but the
field for minus points is absolutely
unlimited and CORRESPONDENCE dis.
proportionate and unjust, but lately
there has been inaugurated another
system for compulsory labor which is
as ingenious as II is wicked.
Every head clerk makes a report
OF the work done on each trip, so
many sacks Of papers and packages
of letters distributed. These sacks
and packages are arbitrarily rated at
so many pieces, which is placed at
entirely too low figure on all heavy
lines, which run through large cities,
where mail originates in large guam
titles, and many full boxes and full
sacks are tied out and dispatched.
This seems to make no difference
and when crews are not able to finish
their work at given point on the
road the labels from all letter pack
ages and sacks of papers distributed
must be sent in with the daily report
of the trip and If the entire work OF
the crew does not average a certain
number Of labor units for each men,
Der of the crew, the head man Is
charged with failure to properly ad-
minister his crew and an explanation
is demanded.
Crews Are Driven.
The system is most mischievous
and is calculated to force the head
clerk to drive his crew to the limit to
save himself. This is the result Of
placing politicians at the head of the
big business concerns Of the govern
ment. Every few years man takes
hold of this enormous department,
absolutely without the. necessary
training and experience. It is handed
to him as gift for political work
done and the people must pay for his
education, also his plumbers, great
and small.
Economy in a false sense Is one of
the gravest errors. The Postofiice de-
partment should be self sustaining
and no more should be asked. As It Is
now the postoflice and the railway
mail service earn a yearly surplus OF
more thar $30.000,000 and 1t is not
the fault of either that this is largely
lost by the rural free delivery
service.
But, why ask more, and why be-
gin with the low salary man to
economy?
Matter Of Policies.
If true economy is desired, take the
Postoffice department out of politics
entirely. As an example of the waste
of public money, take our own post
Office, it is a sample of them all.
Joseph Woodward is postmaster in
every respect except in name, yet
Charles flaming accepts $4,000 per
year for whatf Certainly not for his
service a postmaster. ! do not
blame Tanning. blame the system,
yet any thoughtful man knows that
Robert Cowell, who refused the post
mastership few years ago, had
conscience educated beyond the point,
where he could accept $4,000 per year
without earning it. Lord, give us
more of the Robert Cowell sense of
honesty. Take the Postof1ice depart
ment out of politics, place it under
a director or general OF posts of
known ability and experience, who
is appointed for a long term at least,
with an appropriate salary. cut out the
extravaganza and waste of public
money. Apply the cure to the great
ills and all the little ones will dis
appear. MAIL CLERK.