Post Office Department

“ The success of the meeting from the first moment was beyond all expectation. If any had fears that the men would be too suspicious of attending a gathering of this kind within the precincts of the building, and under the shadow of the department, they were mistaken. Almost directly the despatches were finished, and the duty done with for the night, they swarmed in from every part. From every other branch in the building—for the General Post-Office is a nest of branches, like a Chinese puzzle-box—and from outside offices they swarmed up the stairs and through every means of entry. ”

“ The greatest business organization of the United States is the Post Office Department. Now more business is transacted each day than was handled in a year a century ago. Since this building was completed in 1899 until 1914, when removed to its new location, the Washington City Post Office occupied the first floor. The advent of the Parcel Post now taxes this immense nine story building to its capacity. ”

“ Under our system, where vacancies in Presidential appointments occur, by death or resignation, there is usually a deputy or some other officer who is authorized by law to perform temporarily the duties of the office. In the cases of post-offices where there are no deputy postmasters, the Post-Office Department is authorized to send special agents to take charge until the 591vacant postmastership can be filled. ”

“ England, France and Germany antedate us in the establishment of rural delivery, but the service there is bureaucratic, originating always with the post office officials and dominated by red tape requirements. Ours is democratic and cooperative. It is established upon petitions sent through Representatives in Congress, irrespective of party affiliation. However, any application received from a postmaster, or individual, showing reasonable warrant for the establishment of a rural route in any community will be given careful consideration by the Department. ”

“ Stop the supplies and every post office in the country will feel the effect very quickly. Nothing is too small or insignificant to be supplied by the Stores. If a department wants a packet of pins it applies to the Stores: if it requires a safe or a telegraph pole the Stores will supply the article. If an official requires a uniform the Stores will fit him as well as a West End tailor. The business done is colossal; the figures of the Stores Department are in some respects the most interesting in the Post Office. ”

“ Post Office servants often point with pride to what their Department has achieved, but the truth must be told, and it is that the credit cannot be claimed by the officials. We might almost say that, as far as the Department is concerned, the increase is mostly unearned increment. The increase in population, and especially the advance in the means of communication, are the two chief causes; it is the people who have made the Post Office, not the officials. ”

“ The large expenditure, it was maintained, might be fairly viewed in the same light as the amounts annually granted by the legislature for roads and bridges and for the support of common schools. "The mail carriage to all parts of the province secures to the travelling public conveyances which would not otherwise exist, and the very large amount of newspapers, etc., which passes through the post office affords strong evidence that the department may be considered a branch of our educational system." ”

“ A separate office or apartment, conveniently fitted up for the purpose, should be provided by the postmaster for conducting the business wherever the duties are sufficiently extensive or important to require such accommodation. The internal fittings of the office should vary according to the nature of the duties. ”

“ Postmasters and their assistants in the above matter, as well as in all their official intercourse with the public, are expected to afford every accommodation, and to treat every person having business at their offices with every courtesy.
Mail couriers to receive letters en route.
Mail couriers are bound to receive letters offered to them whilst on the road between one post office and another, provided that when a letter is so offered the distance from the nearest post office exceeds one mile. Such letters are termed Way Letters, and are subject to the ordinary rates of postage. ”

“ But nothing helps men in the Service except diligent attention to their duties. It was stated by an official witness before a parliamentary commission that there was nothing, except, perhaps, the intervention of a member of Parliament, to prevent a sorter rising to be chief of his Department. The road exists, and to walk along it requires only ability and perseverance. But the most that we can fairly say about such a matter is 273that the thing is possible, but the immense numbers who make up the Post Office staff render promotion into the higher ranks accessible only for the few. ”

“ Substantial contractors would in many instances have nothing to do with the Post Office, and the Department could not run the risk of employing16 irresponsible men who could not be held to their undertakings. ”

“ Martin's le Grand would be incomplete without some 51attempt to realise the human elements which went to make up its life during the years of its prime. The Post Office has always suffered in reputation both in the eyes of the public and of the Treasury from the accepted idea that its duties are mainly confined to sorting letters. Gentlemen high up in the Secretarial Department have sometimes been asked seriously by their friends whether they had noticed some particular letter in the course of its transmission through the post. ”

“ The duties of each of these heads are very clearly defined by Postmaster Morgan, and each head is held to strict responsibility for the faithful and efficient conduct of his division or department. The postmaster himself is ever ready to give advice and counsel, and is the most accessible of executives, not only to his staff, but to employees of all rank and to the public. He in turn requires of all of his aides not only a thorough knowledge of every detail of their work, but also that they shall be as accessible to those under them and to the public as he is himself. ”

“ The clerks throughout the department, in character, intelligence, and dependability, are above the average. Not only must postal clerks be familiar with the location of several thousand post-offices, but they must know on what railroad each post-office is located, through what junction points a letter despatched to that office must pass, and many other important details. The schedules of railroads affect the method of despatching mail, and these are constantly changing so that postal clerks must be up to the minute on all schedules, etc. ”

“ When the houses of assembly in Upper and Lower Canada denounced the post office as inefficient and unconstitutional, and proposed to take the management of it into their own hands, the governors and legislative councils in the two provinces took the side of Stayner, and while they urged upon him and the postmaster general the expediency of meeting the reasonable demands of the assemblies, they set their faces steadily against any revolutionary propositions respecting the control of the department. ”