Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 November 1898 — INCREASE IN POSTOFFICES. [ARTICLE]

INCREASE IN POSTOFFICES.

Fourth Assistant Postmaster General Bristow Makes a Report. The annual report of Fourth Assistant Postmaster General Bristow shows that there were at the close of the fiscal year 73,550 postoflices in the United States, 3,816 presidential and (59,754 fourth class. The net increase in the number of postoffices for the fiscal year was 2,548. The largest number of presidential postoffices is in New York, with 330, followed by Pennsylvania with 284; Illinois, 257; lowa, 212, and Ohio, 208. The greatest number of fourth-class pOntoffices are in Pennsylvania, 4,871; New Jork, 3,394; Virginia, 3,297; Ohio, 3,175, and North Carolina. 2,898. In compensation Massachusetts heads the list, showing an average compensation for her fourth-class postmasters of $336 per annum, followed by Rhode Island, $319, and Connecticut, $283. In the amount expended per capiyi in the use of the mails by the people of the various States Massachusetts stands first, with $2.30 i>er capita, New York second, expending $2.27; District of Columbia third, $2.16; Colorado fourth, $1.93, and Connecticut fifth, SI.BO. Lowest in this table are South Carolina, 25 cents, and Mississippi, 34 cents. The total number of appointments made during the fiscal year was 25,653. Au interesting feature of the report relates to the postal facilities for Alaska. Inspectors were detailed to reorganize the mifil service in this territory, which resulted in the establishment of a line of postoffices from the Canadian borders to the Bering Sea, a distance of about 2,000 miles, and many other needed improvements were made in the mail service in Alaska upon the recommendation of these inspectors. Among the recommendations are that a severe penalty be provided for employes embezzling or destroying newspaper mail, covering the transmission of "green goods” and obscene matter through the mails, and that a special strong stamped 10-cent envelope of superior material be adopted in lieu of the present system ofl registered letters. Many losses occur in the mails because of the poor quality of the envelopes in which the articles are inclosed. It is also recommended that all money order offices be inspected annually, which would be a radical extension of the inspection system, and it is stated would doubtless be of great advantage to the service.