The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-07-19

Dr. Hubert WOrk, the new head
of the United States postoffice de-
partment, is mad because the south
has shown such progress as to war
rant the attention of the govern
ment in the matter of postofhce
buildings.
It has been long time since a
cabinet officer of a Republican
administration has taken the op-
portunity to array sections against
each other, particularly the north
and the south, and it has remained
for Mr.. Harding's new fedgling to
reopen the wound.
K. Foster Murray, Washington
correspondent for The News and
Courier thus tells the story:
Postmaster General Hubert
Work has just written letter to
Secretary Of the Treasury Mellon
calling attention to the fact that
congress has not been making suf-
fcient appropriations to keep the
buildings provided for postoffice
purposes abreast of the growth
and demands of the service.
"Dr. Work urges the secretary
Of the treasury yto memorable con-
gress for the appropriation of suf-
fcient money to enlarge the floor
space of about 500 Offices and to
improve facilities and equipment in
many of the buildings now occu-
pied.
'eBut in doing this DR.. Work does
something which his predecessor,
Mr.. Hays, carefully avoided-that
is, he sounds sectional note say
ing to Mr.. Mellon that during the
past ten years the southern group
Of states was apportioned So per
cent of the new postofice buildings,
although this group handles but
Is per cent of the entire postal
business of the country.
"Dr. Work further informs Mr..
Mellon that the increase of the
postal business in the southern
group of states has been merely
nominal by comparison during
this ten-year period" excluding the
increase due to war activities. !"
Just why the increase due to war
activities applies, any more to the
southern group Of states than to
the northern and: eastern group.
DR.. Work does not explain.
"The postmaster general has fail
ed to aninaadvert upon what would
appear to be much greater out
rage than the lack of proportion
in the number of federally-ewned
postoffice buildings to the gross
postal receipts by sectional divis-
ions. It is actually fact that there
are over $4,000 postofices in the
thirteen southern states with S62,-
100000 in gross annual receipts;
whereas there are. only $500 post
Offices in the eastern and New Eng
land states, whose gross receipts
last year were about s170,000,000.
If DR.. Work intends to revise the
postal facilities of the country by
sections on the basis of compar-
ative gross financial intakings, he
has ahead of him a large task in
which he is apt to find Secretary
Mellon too busy to assist.
"The population OF Colorado, DR..
Works own state, is $4,000, and
its gross postal receipts last year
were $685., 900. New York. States
population is 10,385, ,000, and its
gross postal receipts are s79,S5s,-
900. Colorado has eleven postof-
fees in federaliy-owned buildings,
and New York state has fifty
three. On the basis of compare
tive gross receipts New York ought
to have seventeen times as many
postoffice buildings as Colorado,
and on the basis of comparative
population, New York ought to
have eleven times as many. Who
has perpetrated this brutal" dis
elimination in favor Of Colorado?
cit is noted by the postmaster
general in his epistle to Secretary
Mellon, that the gain in gross pos
tai receipts in the south during the
past ten years has been nominal
in comparison with the country as
a whole In the same letter DR..
Work informs Mr.. Mellon that the
postal business now done in New
York city alone is equivalent to
that of the whole United States
twenty-five years ago. AS the pos
tai business of the southern states
is today greater than that of New
York city, the postal business vt
the southern states by the post
master generals own assertion is
therefore greater than the postal
business Of the whole country
twenty-five years ago. Eliminating
the postal progress Of the south
for the past ten years as merely
nominal" what prciiigious stunts
the sou t h m ust h ave per-
formed in the fifteen years from
1897 to 1912 to make it surpass
today the postal business of the en-
tire country III 1897! Evidently
there was never anything like that
progress in all history, and yet the
assertion may be ventured that
phenomenal progress was not rec
ognized by a corresponding pro-
portion of federal pestofice build
ings. The fact is that in 1912 the
south had about 20 per cent of the
postoff1ce buildings of the country.
Now. complains DR.. Work it has
81 per cent.
Here is another bit of statistics