Evening star., 1923-04-27
SALARY OF $1,000
FOR POSTMASTER
IND c. IS SOUGHT
Present Pay of $4,000 Un-
just, Is View of Friends
of Official.
PAY BASED ON VOLUME
OF BUSINESS IN YEAR
But Local Office Handles Vastly
More Franked Than
Paid Matter.

Congress will be asked next fail 10
raise the salary of the postmaster Of
Washington from $4,000 TO $4,000 ;,
year. as matter of simple justice
me change cf postmasters to take
place here May /. when William
NJ Mooney succeeds Merritt O.
Chance. brings forcibIy to the atten-
ton Of Post Office Department Off
Gals what is considered an injustice
in the existing situation.
The Washington city post Office. II
all the free government mail matter
We're paid for at existing postage
rates. would show yearly receints OF
not less than $4,000. 600. which would
entitie the local postmaster to the
same salary now enjoyed by the post
master of New York, Chicago and
other leading cities.
ii is not generally known that tho
actual receipts of the Washington
c'ty post office for the last year were
Of the post offices Of GH Bridsepdrr fseTan'e
Conn: Utica, \. y: Portland, Nc.
and Norfolk. Va. and vet the post
masters Of each one Of these cities
receives $1,000 a year. the same sal
airy as that received by the Wash
lngton city postmaster.
L. 8, Mail Goes Free.
In addition. the washington civ,
post office every year handles a mas.
or government mail which does not
pay a cent. which would approNj-
matety jump its receipts. if the sa i'll
free matter were paid for. from 81
Io". .3.24 TO the aforementioned $l3.-
100000 Il year.
III Is To remedy this condition that :,
move will be made when Congress
convenes next fall TO haze existin@
law changed so that the Washinetn,,
city postmaster may be entitled t.
IS 600
\ city post Office does not enter tho
SS.0Oo-a-year class of salary for IT,
postmaster until it does $1,000. .0"n
business a YEAR AS matter of fact
the post office a t the National Capitsf
is handling mail far in excess of tina,
amount without cost to the govern
ment
But il is handled. just the same.
Of the Post Office Department point out
to Congress.
Six Paid $1,000.
New York. Chicago Boston. Phira-
delphia. 81. Louis and Kansas CITY
NO. are today the only cities in ihc
United States whose postmasterS .rn
paid the maximum salary of SS.oo1 Il
year.
The receipts for Boston last year
were S13.061, 455. Those for St Louis
i s1o.2S1.610. 1t is believed by postal
ojcials here that if all the matte,
passing through the Washington city
! post Office were paid for the loca
receipts would equal those of Boston.
and far exceed those Of St. Louis. II
is believed that Washington would
show receipts nearly double those Of
Kansas City.
Law Provides Scale.
1t was provided in the act reclassi
fying the salaries of postmasters AMI
. postal employees. approved June >.
| 1920, that the salaries of poStma terS
shall be graded in even hundreds of
dollars and based on the gross postal
receipts. Offices of the first class
range from receipts of 100000, with a
salary of $4,000. to S7,000.000 and IN
ward. with a salary of $4,000. The
law provides that Offices having gross
receipts of 100000 per annum. bIIt
| less than $I.006.000 shall have post
master at $4,000 year salary.
The tremendous jump between the
receipts ii takes to get into the S6.00h
class and the receipts it takes to get
out of IT, is one matter. The mat
ter of handling the entire great gov
ernment mail. giving it the same
serv ce as is given paid matter, and
receiving no credit for il, is de-
cidedly another. ii is held.
The quantity of mail handled here
that is nos revenue is
much greater than the quantity Of
mail on which postage is paid. il is
pointed out. and any calculation
based upon postal receipts. therefore
is not a just way of arriving at the
salary of the local postmaster or the
supervisory officials
Handles Vast Mail.
Not only does the local office han
die the official correspondence and
printed matter of the government.
but il also transports supplies. such
! as internal revenue stamps, postage
stamps and stamped envelopes. draw
ings. maps and great quantities OF
matter sent out by members of Con-
gress under the franking privilege.
Recognizing the wrong of basinG
the salary Of the Washington city
postmaster on the gross receipts of
an office where the majority of the
work does not count in the records.
Congress enacted a special law in
1893 fixing the salary Of the post
master here at $4,000. 1t had been
but $4,000.
In 1900. when the receipts of the
office-that is. those that count in the
record-reached a sufficient size. the
salary of the postmaster became
Sc. 900 a year. And there it will re-
main unless something is done about
it, until the receipts. minus govern
ment mail. total $7.000,000.