Evening star., 1935-12-01
MAIL INSPECTORS
TRAIL PRESIDENT
Service Established by Ben
jamin Franklin Sees
He Gets Mail.

0pTlIlSS, tIle pOSIdl 1iispCSt1Oh1 oSANASS
will breathe a little easier.
Headquarters officials will write an
other Job down as finished and drop
back into the routine business of see
ing that the presidential mail is de-
nvered promptly and safely to the
White House.
When the President travels, the in
spection service has to send men
along, too, Just as does the secret
service. The one sees that the Pres
ident gets his mail. The other sees
that he is alive to read it.
Ever since Benjamin Franklin did
some work along the mail inspection
line back in 1887, the postal inspec-
tors have been functioning. They call
their division the Oldest civilian de-
lection service in the Government.
Webster Was Inspector.
Noah Webster, who catalogued all
the words into a book that had no
plot, was another postal inspector.
There are many other names written
down into the files of the service. too.
Under President Lincoln, Allan
Pinkerton left the postal inspection
service to organize the secret service
which guards the President and
catches counterfeiters.
Elmer L. Trey organized the intel
ligence unit Of the Bureau of Inter-
nal Revenue, known in the movies
as "T-men."
r. C. Bannerman left the service to
organize an intelligence unit for the
State Department in 1920, and a few
years later Joseph Garland, present
assistant chief inspector, was loaned"
to the Intelligence Department, to
organize its intelligence unit.
Although only small percentage
Of the employees Of the Post once
Department sail into the teeth Of legal
winds. purely service Investigations
occupy 10 per cent Of inspectors time.
The remainder is devoted to the
things for which they are known by
the public-tracking down mail rob-
bers, extortionists, confidence men,
bogus stock statesmen and patent med
1cine peddlers.
Also Look for Weakness.
"Almost every criminal case we
touch has service background" an
official explained. while we track
down the criminal we look also for
the weakness In the postal service
which made his crime possible.
"The two are interviewer. Thus, in
a post Office burglary. we must check
the amount lost, study the character
OF the postal employees, determine who
was responsible and seek changes In
the system to prevent another bur-
glary."
Thus New York's famous ferry boat
mail robbery" led the inspectors to a
postal worker. A mail truck, loaded
with six sacks Of mail, was sent from
Jersey City to New York across the
ferry. When the guard unlocked the
truck In New York four pouches were
gone.
Inspectors found that, during the
crossing, the driver and guard had
left the truck to warm themselves in
the boats cabin. They decided the
robbery must have occurred on the
ferry. Their only clue was a peddler's
wagon, drawn by white horse, which
had crossed on the same ferry.
When the first diamond out of the
loot turned up in a pawn shop, they
traced it back to the law
OF a postal worker The worker had
not reported for duty on the day of
the robbery. They found q white
horse and peddler's wagon In the
vicinity Of his home whose owners
said ha been rented to him on the
day Of the robbery.
They set up pawn shop and passed
out the word through underworld con-
nections that they would take any,
thing. A few days later the agent
for the robbers showed up with the
rest of the loot, and they obtained a
confession. The postal worker had
stolen an impression Of the key to the
mail truck.
Workers In the service never know
when they are being watched. From
runways high above sorting rooms
inspectors can look down upon the
clerks. They check post Office books
and the postmaster never knows when
they will come.
Their work covers the whole range
Of postal activities. They check air.
mail and ocean mail contracts. They
turned postman and moved S2,50o,-
100000 Of gold from San Francisco
TO Denver, handing the Treasury a
postage bill of $550,000 for the Job.
Once Ran Post Office.
Chief Inspector Aldrich once ran
the Chicago Post Office. Others have
operated the post Offices at Pitts
burgh, Atlantic City, Akron, Ohio, and
elsewhere.
Because of the variety of their du-
ties, they must know every branch
OF the service. All Of them come
from the ranks Of postal workers.
OF the 555 inspectors, 64 per cent
have been in the inspection service
from 10 to 80 years.
After an inspector has proved his
ability and has been assigned to a ter
ritory, he has complete freedom of ac-
tion IN proceeding to catch his man.
II ne Is In Boston and thinks his man
Is in Chicago he goes after the man.
riding free on anything that car
Sies the mail.
Some inspectors are specialists, but
they are always ready to tackle any
assignment. Chief Inspector Aldrich
put it this way:
The inspector must be able to meet
the suave sharper in Wall Street or
the hill-billy In the sticks with equal
ease. for he never knows what his
next assignment may be-"