the standard of intelligence and progress, as shown by an increased
correspondence and literature. In no branch of the government service,
it can be safely said, have the tenets advanced by the advocates of the
civil-service reform been so nearly realized as in this bureau of the
Post-Office Department even at that period when the initiatory steps now
being applied to other departmental machinery were considered all but
Utopian,--a system consisting of a probationary period preceding
appointment, and promotion from grade to grade, based upon a practical
and thorough system of examination, had long since been developed up
through an experimental stage to a well-grounded success. The complexity
of the postal system, continually varying in detail, demanded a uniform
system of giving information, and a corresponding test of its operation.
The system of distribution for each State is compiled in tabulated form
in a book or sheet, known as a "scheme," for ready reference when on
duty, or study when off the road. In thickly-settled States, where
numerous railroads cross and re-cross each other in the same county, it
is necessary to have the names of the post-offices arranged
alphabetically; opposite the name of each office is given all its
methods of supply and also the hour the mail reaches that office. In
more sparsely-settled States the schemes are arranged by counties; this
is done where the majority of the offices in a county are supplied by
one or two lines, and the exceptions, which are only specified in detail
in the scheme, by other lines or a number of post-offices. In this case
the clerk memorizes the supply of the excepted post-offices
particularly, the disposition of the remaining post-offices in the
county being the same; it is of the first importance to be properly
informed in which county an office is located, and the line supplying
the principal part of that county. A name prefixed with "north" in one
county may have the prefix of "south" in another, or a similar name in a
remote county. These schemes are compiled at division headquarters, and