Seattle’s Post Office Was a Public Nuisance

The United States Postoffice Department, in its endeavor to save money and make a good showing in expenditures, has been so crippled in the West that complaints are loud and earnest in all parts. In Portland the service is poor; in New Tacoma the public is not half served; and in this city the delays and inconveniences arising from the postal facilities are well-nigh intolerable.

Stamps are not procurable at all times, because the Department will not furnish the number called for on requisitions, and the several offices are compelled to trade with one another to keep enough on hand to supply the daily demand. This is absurd. There could be no such difficulty in procuring postage stamps. The Government requires that postage shall be prepaid. It is clearly its duty to see that the stamps which it demands shall be placed on mail matter prior to transmission, and that they shall be procurable at its offices. The public must write letters. In fact, with telegraphic communication closed, there is no other way of carrying on business. If the star route expenses are responsible for this absurd method of economy, it would be better to put Dorsey et al. in charge of the Postoffice Department.

Again, attention has been called repeatedly to the insufficiency of the force in the postoffice in this and other growing cities in this Territory. It is not an uncommon thing for letters to lie over twenty-four hours in the postoffice here before being attainable by parties to whom addressed, simply and solely because the force is insufficient to properly handle the large business of this postoffice. The clerks, of whom there are not more than half enough, are compelled to work more hours than is reasonable or just, and the postmaster himself is a slave to the public, with—after paying for his help—the munificent compensation of from $85 to $90 per month for support of his family. If he were to employ as many clerks as are really necessary to do the business of the office properly and satisfactorily, he would be forced to make the Government a monthly present of about $200. Our postmaster is a public-spirited citizen, but hardly to that extent.

The delivery system is sadly inefficient. From morning till night, day after day, a long line of weary men and women stand waiting to get in front of the cozy little square orifice through which only can they get their letters. It is impossible for a working man, one who is employed ten hours per day, to get his mail unless he leaves his work to do so. The supply of boxes is insufficient, the room is too small, the force is inadequate, and the whole thing is simply a public nuisance, instead of being what it should be, a public convenience.

This is pretty strong language, but the facts warrant it. The very circumstance that people are gladly paying half a dollar per month to get their mail by means of private parties who go into the postoffice and aid the postmaster and his clerks in assorting, is proof that the service is totally insufficient. This money is not paid so much for delivery of the mail matter as for the privilege of getting it out of the office the same day or within twenty-four hours of its arrival, and especially to avoid the weary wait at the general delivery window.

Probably this article will not change the policy of the Postoffice Department, nor spur its management to an act of tardy justice toward the helpless citizens of a portion of the country which, having no vote for President and no Senators or Congressmen, is thought unworthy of attention by the political magnates who have temporary control of Uncle Sam’s postoffices. We don’t expect it will stir them up one whit. It would take a ton of dynamite to do that. But it is sometimes a satisfaction to express the truth fervently. It does one good to growl, and we are sure that in what has been said herein the city of Seattle and the whole Northwest will unanimously join, without distinction as to race, color or previous condition.