CONTENTS Page 1 135 Hon. John J. Cochran, a Representative in Congress from Missouri__ 1 Vincent C. Burke, Deputy First Assistant Postmaster General__ K. P. Aldrich, chief post-office inspector__ E. A. Meeks, secretary and representative National League of Hon. Harry Sauthoff, a Representative in Congress from the State Walter E. Kelly, Assistant Solicitor Post Office Department_ Walter E. Kelly, assistant solicitor, Post Office Department-- dishonest fourth-class postmasters that I am after. The country is full of honest men and women serving as fourth-class postmasters, and I think that each one of them would endorse the passage of this bill. Mr. ASHBROOK. If they are honest. Mr. COCHRAN. The fourth-class postmaster is paid upon the basis of the amount of stamps that he cancels. I have found, at the outset, that there was a large number of fourth-class postmasters who were using various means to advance their earnings by shipping eggs, and other things, by parcel post, that they otherwise would not ship if it were not for the fact that they were reimbursed for the amount of the stamps used. I called it to the attention of the Post Office Department and they immediately turned it over to the post-office inspectors, and they have merely scratched the surface. So far they have required fourth-class postmasters, I understand, to return to the Government over $50,000, where they admitted that they had purposely used the mails in order to cancel the stamps and increase their earnings. There is a very interesting story about how they would ship oyster shells, bricks, and have men in their home town send groceries through the parcel post to some customer, and would not charge the grocer, but they would put the stamps on and cancel them. They ran across a man up north who would write a large letter on a board two or three times a week, and send it through the mail and cancel the stamps on the board. In that way, of course, his earnings increased. The Department advised me that they have just merely scratched the surface, as I say. They have by regulation attempted to stop this, but there was no law by which you can punish them. They can be dismissed, and the purpose of this bill is approved by the Department, which is to stop this practice, which, as I say, has developed into a racket. No doubt some representatives of the fourth-class postmasters will oppose the bill, but I repeat, there is absolutely no reflection upon the honesty of the postmaster or postmistress, and they will not oppose the bill. In fact, many of them have told me that they will not oppose the bill. I feel that it is good legislation, and the chief post-office inspector is here to tell you what they have encountered. Mr. Burke knows all about it, and I would like to see the bill get a favorable report. I think, after you hear the evidence, you would feel justified in making a favorable report. For instance, you take a man in Louisville, and he is shipping eggs into Washington by parcel post, and it costs about three times as much to ship the eggs here by parcel post as it would cost to send them by express or truck. I do not say that it is the Louisville postmaster, but an outlying postmaster in Kentucky. At the same time, you might look into the number of fourth-class postmasters we have in this country, thousands and thousands more than we need. I understand that Kentucky has more than any State in the Union. A man out in my State, in the middle of Missouri, shipped 10 cases of eggs, and he can send them into St. Louis for 25 cents a case, 35 cents or 50 cents by express. But what does he do? He ships the |