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TTIE OMAITA SUNDAY BEE: JULY 9, 191t.
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(Copyright, 1911, by Fraak O. Carpenter
ASHINGTON, D. C. (Special Correspon
dence to The Bee.) He manages a bus
iness which costs more than $200,
000,000 a year. His corps ot employes
Is three times as many as the United
States army. His annual transactions
include the handling of fourteen thou
sand million articles, and his men go back and forth
over routes, which if placed end to end would reach
almost twice as far as from here to the moon. Their
travel in the space of one year in the United States
alone are five times as great as the distance between
the earth and the sun, and their communications
reach to every spot on the face of the globe
This man is unknown to many of you, but by
proxy he . calls at your front door every morning,
and for from 1 to 6 cents he will carry your words
to any place on this great round world. His name
is Frank Hitchcock; his title is postmaster general;
and his business is the management of Uncle Sam's
mails.
Suppose we. become better acquainted. We shall
call at the slate-colored Postofflce department which
stands on Pennsylvania avenue between the White
House and the capitol, for it is there he has his head
quarters. It is 6 o'clock in the evening and the rank
and file of the clerks have all left The big building
is quiet, except in the rooms of the chief, where the
work may go on far into the night. The postmaster
general is one ot the men who do things. He is
wrapped up in his great undertaking, and the hours
Psbs unheeded when he strives for results. Just now
he has big matters on hand and midnight will come
before his light will go out He Is a dynamo in
breeches and hie works like a dynamo. When the cur
rent is on the sparks fly and when off the machinery
stops, and the living dynamo goes to bed and sleeps
like a baby. During my talk with the' postmaster gen
eral today I asked him if he could leave his work in
the office. He replied that he never carried his
troubles outside. Said he:
"That is my only salvation. I do the thing that is
nearest me and I . always do the best that I can. I
try to be honest and I think I may say that I am not
afraid to do what to me seems to be right."
The above I believe to be the keynote of the life
of Frank Hitchcock, and backed by his business ability
it Is the secret of his success as postmaster general.
He is spoken of as a shrewd politician, but he objects
to this reputation, saying that he entered politics
only at the solicitation of his friends to accomplish
an end, and that when that end was obtained he left
It for good. His actions in the Postofflce department
ara a nroof of thia ttmnt fc - fvi v.
"marazines and th riiwv .n h. j
red flag of defiance at the mad bull of conjtress and
that solely for the good of the mails and the people.
Running Uncle Sam's Mails at a Profit
During my talk with the postmaster general I
referred to these fights and his-ef forts to cut down,
the deficit which has now been wiped out I then
asked as to whether he believed the Postofflce depart
ment could continue to be run at a profit
"I do not think we want to do that," replied Mr.
Hitchcock. "Uncle Sam's business is not to make
money, but to give back to the people in excellent
service the worth of every dollar they spend. That Is
what we hope for the postofflce. I would not- want
a surplus, except to extend the work of bettering the
mainland of increasing their value to all the people.
As the department pays better, we shall reduce our
postage, and give additional facilities of various kinds
to those we have now.
"As to running Uncle Sam s malls at a profit, how
ever, this is the first time it has been done within
several generations, and I believe we shall continue
to make the ends meet When this service was estab
lished it was self-supporting, and it continued so for
the first thirty years, or along to about the time of
John Quincy Adams. After that it began to be run
at a loss. Every year or so there was a deficit This
at first was only a few million dolars, and it attracted
but little attention. Lately, however, the loss has
" leaped to upward ot ten millions, and when we took
charge here in 1909 we found that the deficit was over
seventeen millions. Last year we cut that down
eleven millions, and along in December it was almost
wiped out. Since then we have been doing better and
' better, and we have now crossed the line; we have
(turned three millions into the treasury, -and are
t spending much less than we make."
Hopes to Avoid Backward Step.
"But will this last?" I asked.
"I hope so. The gain has been made notwithstand
ing that the business of the postoffices has been run
ling at a lower rate than in the past. If we should
j- lave a panic and a period of hard times, which I
to ot expect, there might be -such a falling off La
AT enc. to ThBe0.)He manages a bus- pa . , r U- k" ff 1 I kf ! AsFSTATES HAIL!
ff I lneas wnich cost more than $200,- 1 MS -',- f If i ( V fe- .ifjJirl
l?5l tnree times as many as the United Hk . ,f"" If ?f - 1? I H
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receipts as to put us behind. , But it not, I expect to
keep on paying our way."
"But has not this cutting down the expense cur
tailed the service 7"
"No, indeed," was the reply. "We have reduced
the deficit by extending the service, and that along
profitable lines. During the last two years we have
added more than 3,000 new postoffices, and have
established more than 2,000 new rural delivery routes,
of an aggregate distance of more than 50,000 miles,
or enough to reach twice around the world. We have
increased our force of employes by between 8,000
and 9,000 and have put on the railway service about
800 more men than we had in the past.
"We have extended the salary list and raised the
rate of compensation in many cases. The annual
amount paid for salaries has been increased by about
$12,000,000, and the average salary of the postofflce
clerk has gone up from $979 to $1,051. There has
been an Increase in the wages of the letter carriers,
and also of the rural delivery men.
"We have also Improved the city postoffices, and
have given them 1,800 more clerks, and at the same
time have put on 1,000 more letter carriers. You
cannot redu.ee the expenses of a business like this
by cutting down the force of employes. The post-
masters general of the past tried that and failed.
Th trouble ,B tte mmnt 7 le88 e force you
" r. "
become clogged, the malls pile up and complaints flow -in.
It takes a lot ot time to answer the complaints
and to so rearrange the service as to make it efficient
again. As a result the loss is greater than ever.
' Modern Business Methods for the Postofflce.
"No," continued the postmaster general. "The
wiping out of the deficit has been due more than
anything else to the Introduction of modern business
methods into the service. We have cut out the waste
wherever possible, have adopted all sorts of labor
saving devices and have tried to improve the efficiency
o( the clerks. - You see we have 325,000 employes.
and most of them are high-priced men. We have
many here who are receiving $1,000 and $1,200 and
upward a yean They are good men, but we have to
handle them properly to get their greatest efficiency.
"We have done this in the city postoffices by in
troducing traveling belts, overhead carriers and other
machines to carry the mail matter from place to place
in the offices. The letters are faced up by machinery
and the stamps canceled at the rate ot 30,000 an hour.
The m11 comes from the cars, and after it enters
the postofflce it goes almost without stopping to
the letter carrier who Is to deliver it.
"It Is the same with other things. We are saving
on freight by cutting down the weight of the mail bags.
We are saving in the rural delivery by studying the
country for ourselves and putting the routes where
they will serve the most people instead of allowing a
congressman to locate them for political . purposes.
When we establish a new carrier delivery we make
the town where it goes give us the best arrangements
for handling the mall. We insist on their improving
the streets, and-tbat every house shall, have its own
letter box for receiving its mall. In this way the
postman drops in his letters without stopping and
ringing the bell. I expect to see the time come when
that will be required in all of the cities.
. t Railway Mall Service Greatly Improved.
"We have also improved the railway mall service,"
continued Mr. Hitchcock. "It used to be a sort ot an,
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independent bureau, which did not work in harmony
with the rest of the service. We have made it .a
closer part of the whole organization, and the railway
mall clerks do what they can to aid the postoffices
and to hurry the malls. We have also better arrange
ments for getting the bags oft the cars."
Making Each Postmaster Help.
"You speak of the harmony of the service, Mr.'
Postmaster Oeneral, Is lt well organized?"
"It Is rapidly becoming so. We are unifying1 it
and getting better work out of the individual than
ever before. When I came into this office I wrote
thousands of letters to each of the city postmasters
announcing our plans for improving the service and
asking him to do all he could in the work of reform,
in cutting the expenses, and at the same time of im
proving the mails. I urged him to think for himself
and do what be could to help the department along.
As a result of this the letters began to come in by
the bushels. There were so many that they kept my
secretaries busy, and I could only look at the most
important of them. They brought about the saving
of a vast deal of money, and at the same time made
the men feel that they were a part of the government
and that it was their duty to do all they could to help
in the work. We have now a good esprit de corps
among our employes and I expect this to grow as time
goes on.
Civil Service for Postmasters.
"I should like to see the entire postal service be
taken out of politics," continued Mr. Hitchcock.
"This changing postmasters at every administration
disorganizes the business and causes the loss of mil
lions of dollars. We have to train the new post
masters, and, being appointed through political in
fluence, they do not feel their responsibility to the
department. They are often inefficient, and the prin
ciple is a bad one. I would have all the presidential
postmasters in the classified service, and would have
the only reason for changes be the good of the serv
ice. I would send the best postmasters to the more
responsible places, and would have a system by which
the postofflce clerks could rise from grade to grade
and finally become postmasters. I would not make
the selection altogether a matter of geography, as It
is now, but would put the men in the places where
their past work has shown they would do the most
good."
One-Cent Letter Postage.
"Will we ever be able to send letters at a 1-cent
rate, Mr. Postmaster General?" I asked.
"Yes. We could do that now if the advertising
parts of the magazines paid their share toward carry
ing the mails. We do not want to Increase the rate
on the literary features of the magazine, but we do
feel that the advertisements should pay as much as
other matter of the same commercial character. ' As
it is now, we are carrying these magazines at a
cost of more than 5 cents a pound, and we receive
from them only 1 cent a pound. We lost over $64,
000,000 on our magazine transportations last year.
This is all wrong. It was never Intended by those
who made the law that advertisements should be
carried at such rates and at such cost Indeed,' it
was specifically prohibited, but the abuse has grad
ually crept in and we are now annually handling
360,000 tons of such matter at this great loss. It con
stitutes 63 per cent of our home malL and yet it
brings in only 5 per cent of the revenue. The loss
exceed the profit on all other classee of maiL It is
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more than the amount we pay the railroads for mall
transportation."
"Now that you are running the department at a
profit, the magazines will claim that you can afford to
carry them at the old rates, will they not?"
"They may claim so," Bald the postmaster general,
'but that is no reason why Uncle Sam should do a
large losing business to fill the pockets of the pub
lishers. I think that they realize the unfairness of
their position and that we shall have an amicable
arrangement, which will result in the advertising sec
tions paying their share of the freight."
The Railways and the Mails.
"How about the railways, are they not greatly over
paid for mall transportation?"
"I would not say that," replied the postmaster
general. "The department demands a great deal of
the railroads. It must have special facilities, and the
government ought to pay for them. We are now
spending over $50,000,000 a year for that sort of
transportation, and I do not know that it is too much.
I believe, however, that we can cut down some of our
requirements and that by coming together with the
railroads we can make such new arangements as will
greatly reduce the cost of carrying the malls both to
the railroads and the department. In this way the
saving will be divided between the two, and the rail
ways need not lose on what they are now making
for mall transportation. In order to know Just what
the rate should be I have called upon the various rail
way companies to report fully as to the rates they
receive for the transportation of other, classes of goods
and also data as to their operation and expenditures.
I find an old law which provides that the postmaster
general has the right to do this; and a number of the
leading railroad managers have already come to see
me concerning it. There is no doubt in my mind but
that we shall come to an amicable settlement."
Parcels Post
- I here asked as to the parcels post which in Europe
has almost displaced the express companies. The post
master general replied: '
"The conditions in Europe are different from those
of the United States. There you have a vast population-crowded
inside narrow boundaries. Here we
have widely separated cities, and many regions where
there are almost no people whatever. The only way
we could have a parcels post would be by. dividing the
country up Into zones, and increasing the postage rate
according to the distance the article is to be carried.
It is a matter of study and experiment. We are going
to try the parcels post with certain rural delivery
routes, and you will be able to send packages weighing
UP to eleven pounds to and from the various postof
fices to which these routes belong. This is an experi
ment, and if successful It may lead to a general use
of the parcels post system. You see we can test this
without adding anything to the expense of the car
riage, as each rural delivery' man has his own vehicle
and there will be but little additional cost in handling
the parcels."
"Will you Introduce automobiles for the rural de
livery?" "Yee; we are already doing so, and we expect
to Increase that feature of the service. There are
many states, such as New Jersey, Delaware and parts
of New England where the roads are excellent There
and In other places where the country Is flat auto
mobiles raa be used to great advantage. With them
we can consolidate the routes and one man can cover
twice at much ground as he does now. He can de
liver the mail more expeditiously and in the end mora
economically." -
Running Down the Rascals, . .
"Tell me something of your crusade against the
fraudulent use of the mails?", .. . . '
"That is a big story in itself," replied the pott
master general. ' "In brief, we believe that we have
saved the people many millions of dollars by expos
ing the frauds which have been carried on through!
the malls and by detecting and punishing the swin
dlers. We have already sent many of these rascals
to the penitentiary and among them are some million
aires. We had a millionaire passing through. Wash
ington a few days ago on his way to the state prison
of Georgia where he is to serve for a term of three
years. We have an excellent man at the head of
this business and have already exposed more than
400 cases, representing swindling operations that have
filched from the pockets of unsuspecting people more
than $100,000,000. We intend to go on with this,
and we shall make it as dangerous as counterfeiting.
We are also punishing the men who have been trans
ferring stamps from one postofflce' to another to
pad the receipts and thereby raise the rank and pay
of the office."
i Postal Savings.
"What are you doing as to the postal savings
banks?" "
"We are organizing them now at the rate of fifty
a week, and I believe they will rapidly extend to
every part of the country. We have been moving
carefully in order to not excite hostility and to allow
the people and bankers to see that such savings will
be for the good of themselves and the country. At
the beginning we had an appropriation ot only $100,
000, and with that we started forty-eight banks. You
see it takes a good clerk to handle this business, and
I wrote to each postofflce where we Introduced the sys
tem to put the best man it had in charge and to have
him devote himself almost entirely to It. As a result
we have had.no trouble whatever. The 1st of last
December we had $75,000 on deposit, and we now
have $300,000.
The banks are taking especially well In the mining
towns of the far west; they are patronized largely by
the foreigners and they will keep millions of dollars
from going abroad; they will also bring many millions
that are now hoarded into circulation, and will do an
incalculable good to the country. We have some new
arrangements concerning them, which are not used
in Europe or anywhere else; one of these la the cer
tificate of deposit instead of the bank book, and oth
ers are things especially adapted to our needs."
. Mr. Hitchcock's Work as Pontmaster tieoeraL
In closing my interview I congratulated the post
master general on the wonderful success he has had
In this great office, where so many business men have
failed. In connection with this he Bald:
"I am proud of what has been done since I be
came postmaster general, but I can see that I have
had exceptional advantages over most of the men who
held this place in the past. You see, I came up, as
it were, from the ranks. I had been connected with
the machinery of the office when I was first assistant
postmaster general and had frequently taken charge
of the whole business as acting postmaster general.
During that time I had more leisure than now, and
I came to know the leaks and disadvantages of the
system and had an opportunity to make plans for Its
Improvement. After my appointment these plans
came into action. I did not try to change the system,
but only to cut out the red tape and to remedy such
parts of It as were possible, at the same time intro
ducing such business methods as would better it. I
feel that we have done something in that we have
wiped out the deficit, and in that we have improved
the service in many ways. But this Is only the be
ginning. There are many other things we might do
and you may look forward to better and better mails
tor Pie future." FRANK Gt CARPENTJEB,