RED TAPE.
The Post-office is no stranger to the taunt that it is swathed from head
to foot in red tape; or, at any rate, that its operations are so
trammelled with routine that no inquiry into irregularities can be made
with anything like due expedition. Such accusations as these often come
from unreflecting persons, or from those whose business operations are
of a small kind, and who have no idea of the methods necessary for
carrying on a huge administration.
An ordinary shopkeeper, for example, has under his own eye the whole
sphere of his daily business; he has a personal knowledge of all
purchases from the wholesale houses, and knows exactly the particulars
of his daily sales; he has, moreover, the behaviour of his servants
constantly under observation with a view to discipline; in fact, he is
ever present in his own business world, the whole scope of which is
within his individual purview. If a person of this class were asked a
question in regard to his affairs, it would probably be in his power to
afford an answer at once; and when he addresses an inquiry to the
Post-office he expects a reply with like rapidity. Not receiving an
answer with the looked-for despatch, as might very likely happen, the
cause would be assumed to be needless routine--otherwise red tape.
Now it is proper here to observe, that between business or trade in the
ordinary sense, and the administration of a department like the
Post-office, there exists a gulf which forbids all comparison, and
establishes a contrast of the most striking kind. A stranger, were he
taken through the Secretariat of the Post-office at St
Martin's-le-Grand, the brain of the whole Department, could not fail to
be struck by the method which reigns throughout, and the way in which
various subjects coming up for consideration are disposed of in
different branches. In one quarter he would find inquiry going on into
the characters and antecedents of candidates for appointments throughout
the country, and preparations being made for their examination by the
Civil Service Commissioners. In another room would be found officers
exercising judicial functions in regard to cases of misbehaviour
reported from the country-- meting out arrest of pay or dismissal in
accordance with the gravity of the offence in each instance. Then in
other rooms questions as to new buildings, their fittings and furniture,
and the increase of staff when demanded by provincial offices, are
undergoing close examination. Inquiries for missing letters take up
attention in one branch; various other kinds of irregularities are dealt
with in another. The foreign mails branch, the home mails and
parcel-post branch, the telegraph branch, with all their subdivisions of
work, occupy separate rooms, and claim the attention of officers
specially trained to their several duties.
And how does all the correspondence for the Secretary at headquarters
find its way to its proper quarter for treatment? There is a branch
called the Registry, in which every letter or communication of any
importance is registered on receipt--that is, it receives a number, the
name of the writer is indexed, and the subject of his letter recorded.
The number of officers employed in the Registry is 73; and the original
papers passing through the branch in the way stated exceed 320,000
annually. From this branch every morning the papers for treatment are
distributed over the Secretariat, each officer receiving the papers
proper to his duty. Nor does the business of the Registry end here, for
every _case_--each separate set of papers on a subject is called a
_case_--is recorded again whenever sent elsewhere, so that its
destination can be traced. Were this not done, laggard postmasters, or
persons acting from base or interested motives, might find it convenient
not to return the papers, and so by silence _end them_. Sometimes a
single case will go backwards and forwards thirty or forty times, yet
its whole history of travel is recorded. This is the routine which some
people call _red tape_.
In dealing in this way with large masses of correspondence, each atom of
which has to receive its due share of brain-attention, there is
necessarily some degree of retardation; and it may be remarked that,
between this process and the law in mechanics, under which, other things
being equal, a gain of power is accompanied by a loss of speed, there
exists a strong analogy. But by this classification and division of
labour it is possible to bring about results which could not be achieved
by a much larger staff under any plan of desultory working.
We will mention one thing which, perhaps more than any other, excites
the public to use the taunt of _red tape_. It is a printed reply to a
complaint, commonly spoken of as the "stereotyped reply." The public do
not know how carefully and conscientiously delays and reported losses of
letters are investigated in the Post-office. Inquiries are made in every
office through which the letters would pass in transit, and records
made, lest an explanation should afterwards be forthcoming; but after
all, in the eyes of some persons, the printed reply spoils all. These
persons forget, however, that the printed letter conveys all that is to
be said on the subject, and that it is used in the interests of economy.
It may be admitted of the Post-office, that of all its characteristics,
the most prominent is that of its method, routine, or red-tapeism, in
the limited sense of what is necessary for the furtherance of the public
service; but there is, perhaps, no concern of like magnitude in the
world in which there is less of the musty fusty red tape of antiquity
that has outlived its time, and no longer serves any useful purpose.
[Illustration: Red tape]
PRINTED BY NEILL AND COMPANY, EDINBURGH.
THE ROYAL MAIL:
ITS CURIOSITIES AND ROMANCE.
BY JAMES WILSON HYDE,
SUPERINTENDENT IN THE GENERAL POST-OFFICE, EDINBURGH.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
=The Times.=--"The author of 'The Royal Mail' has served five-and-twenty
years in the Post-office, and had it been his fortune to turn novelist,
like his confrere Anthony Trollope, he would never have been so lavish
of invaluable materials. The merest glance through his pages might
suggest subjects or incidents for half a score of sensational romances.
But the whole of the volume is so full of fascination that once taken up
it is difficult to lay it down."
=Saturday Review.=--'Mr Hyde's work certainly shows that, even at the
present time, the business conducted by the Post-office is not
unfrequently enlivened by romantic incidents; while in antiquarian
interest it is rich beyond the average."
=Pall Mall Gazette.=--"This volume is a storehouse of amusing
anecdotes."
=The Echo.=--"The curiosities and romance of the Post-office have
furnished Mr J. Wilson Hyde, Superintendent in the General Post-office,
Edinburgh, with a subject for one of the most entertaining books of the
year. The book is well written, well arranged, and thoroughly deserves
success."
=Graphic.=--"Contains a vast number of well-arranged facts, some
valuable, some curious, about what is pre-eminently 'the people's
institution.'"
=St James's Gazette.=--"The result is a work that is sure to be widely
read. The author treats of the old coaching days in a cheery spirit; and
if some of his excellent anecdotes lack the gloss of novelty, that was
only to be expected. But by far the most interesting pages in his
interesting book are those in which he deals with the working of the
present system.... An extremely readable and meritorious book."
=Whitehall Review.=--"'The Royal Mail' is not a book to be put down
unfinished, for what is told in it is well worth knowing, and the
admirable way it is related makes it all the more enjoyable."
=The Literary World.=--"This book is free from the least suspicion of
dulness, and is replete with the liveliest anecdotes we have seen for
many a day. There is a good story on almost every page."
=Daily News.=--"A book which is an interesting addition to Post-office
literature, and it will be read with pleasure by thousands who know
nothing of the internal working of the postal service."
=Scotsman.=--"A book of singular interest, and excellence.... The
carelessness with which in some cases the mails were conveyed, the means
taken to preserve them from robbers, the length of time occupied in
their transmission from one place to another, the difficulty in dealing
with particular portions of them,--all these are described in the
earlier chapters of Mr Hyde's book, and are described with singular
power and ease of narrative. The book, in short, is far more interesting
than most of the modern novels, and it will enable the country to
understand better than it could otherwise understand the vast and
complicated machinery by which one of the most ordinary and yet
imperative requirements of modern life is carried out. Mr Hyde must have
hearty commendation for the manner in which he has done his work."
=Glasgow Weekly Citizen.=--"Positively the most interesting book I have
seen for an age. It is certain to have an immediate and very wide
popularity. It reads like a novel, and shows in many cases how true is
the old maxim, that 'Truth is stranger than fiction.' To everybody this
volume will be of the greatest interest. And many subjects of great and
universal interest are treated in the most lively and entertaining
manner. The volume abounds in capital stories."
=North British Daily Mail.=--"It is brimful of the most curious
out-of-the-way facts illustrative of the early struggles of the postal
service, and also contains some very amusing and romantic stories of the
old stage-coach days. The work is written in such an easy unpretentious
chatty style, and is so admirably arranged, that when taken up few will
lay it down until they have read it through to the end. It is, moreover,
capitally illustrated."
=Newcastle Daily Journal.=--"This is a thoroughly instructive and
amusing book. Mr Hyde approaches his subject in the character of a
chronicler. The book is a most entertaining one."
=Liverpool Daily Post.=--"His volume is replete with interesting facts,
anecdotes, and illustrations, and it is written on a subject which has
an interest for every one.... His pages will repay perusal."
=Dundee Advertiser.=--"A perusal of Mr Hyde's clever book will show the
difference between the postal service of a century ago and that of the
present time. To the credit of the author be it said, that he succeeds
in doing this without being tiresome, a consummation not always achieved
by those who undertake such a mission."
=Aberdeen Journal.=--"Every page is full of interest, and the whole book
shows the man accustomed to put the greatest amount of information in
the fewest and most appropriate words. From beginning to end of the book
the reader finds himself in the company of one that speaks what he
knows."
=Bristol Times and Mirror.=--"In this work, Mr J. Wilson Hyde has
gathered together a perfect budget of information pertaining to our
postal service both in the past and present days. The book is neatly
bound, and is decidedly a valuable addition to the literature of the
season."
=Manchester Examiner and Times.=--"'The Royal Mail' is singularly
interesting. The writer has unearthed from ancient documents, old
newspapers, and official reports, a curious collection of incidents and
facts which give a vivid idea of the difficulties of the postal service
in its youth, and of the immense improvements which have been made in
recent years. The book is both entertaining and instructive. The reader
will find a good deal that is strange and even romantic in the account."
=Quiz.=--"A delightful book, by the Superintendent of the Edinburgh
General Post-office.... A book, full of contemporary curiosities and
old-world romances, which, while it gives an entertaining account of the
inner workings of the Post-office of to-day, transports you to the grand
idyllic epoch of sleepy Britain, the times of pack-horses and postboys,
of wayside inns and county hostelries, of masked cavaliers, and great
snows and impracticable roads. A glance at the contents of Mr Hyde's
volume is sufficient to indicate the extent and variety of the materials
he has gathered together."
=Birmingham Daily Mail.=--"A book which may be looked upon in the light
of a historical work.... Its aim, while historic, seems to be to deal
with the lighter features of the great department of the State, the
Post-office. 'The Royal Mail' ... will be found very entertaining, and
sometimes very strange and romantic reading."
=Practical Teacher.=--"A book which, albeit not a novel, has all the
charm and interest of the most exciting romance. Altogether it would be
difficult to speak too highly of Mr Hyde's delightful volume."
=Yorkshire Post.=--"Mr J. W. Hyde of Edinburgh has collected and
arranged an altogether admirable array of historical and illustrative
matter bearing on our postal system."
=Courant.=--"He has made a wonderfully good book. By some curious
instinct he has divined what is most interesting in the subject he
writes about, and there is not a dull page from the first to the last.
No previous writer on the Post-office has given us so graphic a picture
of its daily life, and of the adventures it undergoes from hour to hour.
He has in truth written a romance of the Post-office abounding in truths
stranger than fiction."
Transcriber's Notes:
(1) Obvious punctuation and typographical errors have been rectified.
(2) Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equals=.
(3) Where there are slight differences of print style in facsimiles of
actual documents, they have not been altered (e.g. "postboy",
"Post-Office", etc.).
(4) In chapter XI, the table has been restructured to fit the available
space and some abbreviations have been adjusted and defined.