“These charges appear to have been made on the 28th of February last. Lucius D. Smith, postmaster at New Lebanon, Oneida county, New York, the individual referred to, was removed from office on the 21st of January last, and the appointment of his successor was officially announced in the ‘Globe’ on the 1st of February last. He had, therefore, been removed more than a month when these charges were uttered on the floor of the House.”
In another portion of this work we have alluded to the fact of the postal department being made a political one. It is one of those institutions that is allied to the general interest of all parties; and for the maintenance of that interest its political influence should not extend throughout all its ramifications. It is true, the heads of the department in many instances, being mere ciphers, might be with propriety politically disposed of; but the workers in the office—the active business-men—should not step out from their duties to take part in the active workings of the party at the expense of the postal interest. And yet, under the present system, these men must labor in their “political vocation” or lose their position. Their presence at ward-meetings, their being elected delegates, their lost time at the polls, are all for their chances of retaining place for four years. Then they pass away into other business, forgotten by those who used them as their tools while in office. What are such men, when subject to a system like this, but political paupers? We do not say that men in the post-office should not be the friends and supporters of the party in power: on the contrary, they are expected to be. But cannot a man be the friend and supporter of the government under any administration apart from his political bias, more particularly if he is placed in a position of honor and trust not easily supplied by another, without being subject to instant dismissal? Previous to 1860 this should have been a governmental axiom; but the rebellion changed the whole system, because there arose a divided sentiment in relation to the union of States, originating the treasonable idea that secession was a constitutional principle. Men who advocated this doctrine were not considered worthy of a place of trust: hence, in the different post-offices throughout the loyal States, the oath of allegiance was administered to the employees,—a most important movement; for a disloyal clerk would have been a powerful auxiliary to the rebel cause. Although during the rebellion—nay, even up to its very close—portions of the press were favorably disposed towards traitors, the post-office made no distinction in its distribution of newspapers: unlike the South in its days of slavish triumph and during the incipient stages of the rebellion, it exercised no espionage even over the Copperhead presses of the North,—an oversight on the part of our government for which it has dearly paid; for it led to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, by furnishing to the South the information of its having friends in the North. His death, however, only accelerated the downfall of all their plans and the final surrender of all their armies.
And here, although perhaps out of place in a work like this, we ask how an editor, dipping his pen in the black blood of treason and tracing the dark lines of crime along the columns of his paper, could claim postal protection while aiming to destroy the very power under which he claimed the right to publish his incendiary sheet?
That press should cease to be considered a part and portion of an institution when its columns maintain the right not only to utter treason, but to claim on constitutional grounds, according to its idea, the privilege of expressing sentiments calculated to destroy the union of the States.[40]
We have alluded to the frequent changes that are made in our post-offices: we annex parallel passages from the English post-office administration and that of our own:—
ELEMENTS OF THE BRITISH SYSTEM.
In the English postal system there are potential elements which render it a success, while in ours it is a failure.
One of these elements is that the personnel of their postal administration is more permanent, and the establishment is placed purely on a business footing. It is administered by experienced men. Once thoroughly instructed in the laws, the regulations, and their duties, the department measures their claims to office by their continued fidelity and attention to its interests. In some branches of the service, candidates are admitted upon both a physical and mental examination of their qualifications. A medical officer examines the aspirants for clerkships and for the places of carriers and laborers. Post-office savings-banks are connected with the establishment. Provision for life-assurance, the premiums being deducted from weekly or monthly wages, is also a part of their system. They thus combine nearly all interests to procure a permanent and faithful devotion to duty.
ELEMENTS OF THE AMERICAN POST-OFFICE.