Olympia's Postmaster Paid to Keep the Mail Coming — and Waited Years for Repayment
A relief bill in Congress aimed to repay A. P. Glover $3,468 he spent on rent, fuel, light and clerks while running the Olympia post office during the first Cleveland administration.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Washington City, Jan. 27.—Special.—Representative Doolittle has introduced a bill for the relief of A. P. Glover, who was postmaster at Olympia during the first Cleveland administration. Mr. Glover paid out of his own pocket for rent, fuel, light and clerk hire during his term of office the sum of $3,468, for which he has never been reimbursed by the government. Vouchers sent by him to the postoffice department have not been allowed because at that time there was no authority under the law for any allowances for such purposes at the Olympia office. The claim seems to be, however, wholly a just one, and every effort will be made to get Congress to reimburse Mr. Glover.
“Mr. Glover paid out of his own pocket for rent, fuel, light and clerk hire ... the sum of $3,468, for which he has never been reimbursed by the government.”
Then as now, public servants could be left covering the overhead of doing the public’s business. Glover’s long fight for reimbursement is a reminder that government efficiency often lands on the person at the counter — and that Congress has always been asked to clean up the bill.
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