OCR Text |
Show Dealing In Postage Slivtnps. Making merchandise of postao stamps is ono of the numerous frauds perpetrated upon tlm department, and wo regret to learn that many of the country postmasters in this territory terri-tory aro guilty of tins violation of tho law. Threo oi'purh were reefi lly suspended fur this came, and Colonel Wickior, special mail aent, is on the direc! track which will lead to tho detection and consequent removal of others. Tho colonel swears or rather affirms that ho will cause tho official decapitation of every postmaster post-master detected in the illegal traffic. To such an extent is the practice indulged in-dulged in that some of our largo mercantile bouses, which use bun drtds of dollars worth ol stamps a year, rarely if over buy a stamp at tho Salt Lake pmloffiee. They obtain ob-tain them almost entirely iu exchange for goods to country postmasters, or through the hitters' agimcy. Uy this illegal practice not only is serious in justice done to tho honest post masters, mas-ters, but tho government is defrauded de-frauded to an alarming extent. Tho salary of a past master is rated according ac-cording to the number of stamps iold at hi-- office; thus a country officer can easily increase his salary by paying pay-ing his private bills in or disposing of stamps to be used in ;thcr offices than his own. It has been stated that government, tho present year, has been defrauded of upwards up-wards of $1,000,000 by this practice of fraudulently increasing salaries. The postal law in this respect is altogether wrong, as it bids for piahonesty, and , virtually places a premium on j wrongdoing; but a defect in the law is no excuso for committing a crime. Men who can be induced by the hope of gaiu to do a self-evident wrong aro uot fit to hold a government or other office. This is not saying that we havo not scores and hundreds of officers who are not only willing, but anxious to do wrong for money. Their number does not h.-oi-n the magnitude of the offense, and every ono found guilty of violating the law, whether it be an insignificant $12 postmaster or a president of the United States, should j be summarily removed and punished. Some of the postmasters in southern Utah, if they would continue in I office, should be more cautious about their violations of law in respect to' f trafficking in stamps. I |