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.