Items of Interest December 2, 1905 Issue

Items of Interest

The Postmaster General has completed and forwarded to the Secretary of the Treasury the estimates for the Post Office Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1907. The estimates for the postal service at large—the field service—aggregate $193,000,000, an increase over last year's appropriation of about $12,000,000. This increase represents the normal growth of the service based upon what the postal authorities regard as the most careful and conservative estimates. The principal items in the increase are the rural delivery service, railway mail service, compensation to postmasters and their clerks, and the compensation of letter-carriers. For the maintenance of the rural delivery service and its proper extension nearly $30,000,000 will be required.

It is expected that sooner or later the Postal Savings Bank will be one of the well established institutions of this country. Under the British system one may open an account with the Government by attaching a penny postage-stamp to a card furnished by the post-office, and when twelve such stamps have been attached his account is opened and he will draw two and one-half per cent interest. The deposit of an individual during any one year is limited to $250, except that withdrawals during the year can be replaced up to that amount; while the total deposit cannot exceed $1,000 for any individual. In August, 1900, the deposits amounted to $700,000,000.

At the suggestion of Secretary Wilson the Keep Commission will make an investigation of the Department of Agriculture. This is an outcome of the cotton conspiracy cases and other scandals that cropped out in the Department last summer. The work in the Division of Statistics is still unsatisfactory and communications continue to be received questioning the accuracy of some of the crop reports turned out by the Department. The Bureau of Animal Industry, the Weather Bureau, and the Bureau of Plant Industry will be inquired into with great care, these branches of the service having been severely criticised in the cotton scandals.

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