Guide to House Records: Chapter 16
Records of the Post Office and Civil Service Committee and Its Predecessors
Committee records discussed in this chapter:
- Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads (1808-1946)
- Committee on Reform in the Civil Service (1893-1924)
- Committee on Civil Service (1924-1946)
- Committee on the Census (1901-1946)
- Committee on the Post Office and Civil Service (1947-1994)
History and Jurisdiction
16.1 This chapter describes the records of the modern Post Office and Civil Service Committee (created under the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946), and the records of its predecessors, the Committees on Post Office and Post Roads, Civil Service (established as the Committee on Reform in the Civil Service), and the Census. At the start of the 104th Congress in 1995 the Committee was largely absorbed by the Committee on Government Reform.
Committee on Post Office and Post Roads, 10th-79th Congresses (1808-1946)
History and Jurisdiction
16.2 A Select Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads was established in 1806 and made a standing committee in 1808. The early membership of the committee consisted of one Member from each state.
16.3 The jurisdiction of the committee extended to all proposed legislation relating to the carrying of the mails, both foreign and domestic. It included the determination of the location, construction, and maintenance of post offices and post roads; the acquisition, lease, or transfer of realty or facilities for postal purposes; and certain aspects of the employment and management of postal employees, such as the pay and leave of letter carriers, and the settlement of claims brought by employees or contractors. It included the regulation of the Postal Service, including postal rates, the franking privilege, and the printing of stamped envelopes. At various times the Railway Mail Service, ocean mail service, pneumatic tube service, postal savings banks, postal telegraphy, the Air Mail Service, and Rural Free Delivery were included in its jurisdiction.
16.4 As part of its responsibility the committee investigated the management of postal facilities, contracts for carrying the mail, and other subjects such as the forgery of postal money orders.
16.5 In 1885 the jurisdiction of the committee was expanded to include appropriation authority. The committee prepared Post Office appropriations bills from that time until 1920 when the authority was revoked under a rule change. The committee functioned until 1946 when its jurisdiction was included in that of the new Committee on Post Office and Civil Service.
Records of the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, 10th-79th Congresses (1808-1946)
16.6 The records of this committee provide a thorough coverage of the various activities that occupied its members during its 138-year existence. The minute books and docket books taken together cover much of the life of the committee. They record the petitions, memorials, bills, resolutions, and other documents that were referred to the committee and their disposition within the committee.
Letter from W. Van Benthuysen to the Honorable Henry H. Bingham, Chairman of the Post Offices and Post Roads Committee dated July 30, 1890 (HR51A-H17.10). RG 233, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, National Archives.
16.7 The bulk of the documents from the early years of the committee are petitions and memorials. Several topics dominate the files during each of the historical periods of the committee. The records from almost every Congress during the years before the Civil War, for example, contain requests for new or expanded post offices, post roads, or postal routes. Opposition to Sunday mail operations was the subject of a continuous stream of petitions and memorials during the early period. A variety of other issues, many of which involved the salaries of postmasters and other employees of the Post Office were considered by the committee during each Congress.
16.8 Claims petitions, usually submitted by Post Office employees or persons who contracted to carry the mails, appear in the records of every Congress before the Civil War. The claims often asked for reimbursement for unexpected expenses involved in the fulfillment of a contract, or for the performance of extraordinary duties. The situation described in the mid-century committee report below is typical of the claims before this committee:
- From the length and difficulties of this contract route, the hostile feelings of the Indians, through part of whose country it passes, and the exposure to robberies, the contractor must always send with the mail a strong escort of well armed men, employed at high wages. There is no prospect that this expense can be discontinued during the existence of the present contract, unless a military escort be allowed the mail, and such an escort will cost the government more than the entire sum proposed to be allowed to the contractor. (34A-D15.1, Claims, H.Rpt. 170 to accompany bill H.R. 385)
16.9 Throughout the century the committee confronted the issue of mail rates, fielding questions from the public concerning the right to use the franking privilege of free postage (31A-G14.3), the correct mailing costs for newspapers and periodicals (22A-G16.3), and the Post Office's use of cumbersome fractional rates (25A-G15.3). Other subjects that were brought before the committee included demands to reduce postage rates (22A-G16.3, 28A-G16.5, 29A-G14.4, 30A-G15.3, 49A-H18.4), and the use of stamped envelopes (39A-H19.6, 41A-H9.3, 42A-H11.4).
16.10 During the second half of the 19th century the committee continued to address many of the same issues that appeared in the earlier years. Petitions and memorials for this period, with several exceptions, are fewer in number than before. The frequency of petitions for post roads and for curtailment of the franking privilege gradually declined, while the volume of requests for more favorable hours and compensation for letter carriers increased greatly.
16.11 Pressures of the Civil War influenced the Post Office Committee to provide for the shipment of small parcels of clothing and other articles to soldiers (37A-G11.17), and, more importantly, to find a safe way for soldiers to send money home, a demand that eventually led to the adoption of postal money orders (33A-G16.7). Seeking further expansion of the banking functions of the Post Office, farmers and reformers representing recent immigrants petitioned for a postal savings system to aid rural areas and small depositors (41A-F19.1, 45A-H18.5, 47A-H18.1). The system was not finally adopted until 1910, and it lasted until 1966.
16.12 Moral crusaders pressured the committee and gained passage of the "Comstock Postal Laws" prohibiting the importation or mailing of immoral literature, art, or contraceptives (36A-G14.4). Anthony Comstock, founder of the Society for Suppression of Vice, and later a New York City Postal Inspector, along with allies such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union, flooded Congress with objections to the use of the mail for delivering obscene material (49A-H18.6, 51A-H17.9, 52A-H18.3), novels (55A-H21.7), and lotteries (51A-H17.10, 53A-H25.7). This in turn caused civil libertarians to mount petition drives to overthrow the Comstock legislation (46A-H19.1).
Letter from William L. James to the House Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads dated July 22, 1890 (HR51A-H17.10). RG 233, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, National Archives.
16.13 Newspapers and periodicals fought for mailing privileges and fought even harder for lower postage rates (22A-G16.3, 42A-H11.5, 53A-H25.1). Rural weekly newspapers traditionally had thrived due to free passage through the mails; and publishers of all types sought to avoid prepayment of books sent to libraries (39A-H19.3). Rural constituencies attempted to stem the outcry against fourth-class postmasters who served few but cost much (55A-H21.2). Largely successful in stopping any postal reorganization, farm communities sought free delivery service, something urban areas had been receiving since the Civil War had ended (52A-H18.7).
16.14 As the agrarian part of the country became more politically organized through the Grange and the Populist Party, and urban immigrants joined with socialistic minded reformers, the demand for government ownership of the telegraph system grew greater with each passing year. The high-point of public interest came in April 1888, when the House received an avalanche of petitions favoring public sector ownership of the telegraph (50A-H22, 22 ft.).
16.15 After the turn of the century, long standing issues still confronted the committee, such as compensation of postal employees (70A-H12.2), "Star Routes" (74A-H14.4), and the use of the mails for fraud (58A-F28.4). Mail trucks doomed the large city pneumatic-tube network, but petitioners still fought for retention or restoration of the system (55A-H21.1, 66A-H15.6, 74A-H14.6). Memorialists continued their opposition to Sunday mail transactions (60A-H29.4, 62A-H24.2), and petitioners requested issues of commemorative stamps to honor American heroes and achievers (72A-H12.1, 74A-H14.3).
16.16 World War I brought requests for free postage for the armed forces and censorship of "subversive" literature (65A-H14.2). The latter issue extended the scope of earlier demands to halt circulation of anarchist and other radical writings (60A-F41.8).
16.17 The committee papers for this committee, although not voluminous, contain documentation from every Congress between 1805 and the present. The committee papers from every Congress between 1821 and the Civil War contain records related to the claims referred to the committee. In most cases these consist only of the manuscript report that was printed in the Congressional Serial Set, but occasionally supporting papers are filed under this heading.
16.18 Petitioners demanded that the committee survey European postal systems and confront the issue of mail exchanges with foreign countries (33A-G16.2 and G16.35). An excellent overview of the issues and problems the Post Office Committee faced may be seen in a letter of Postmaster General Amos Kendall instructing special postal agent George Plitt to go to Europe and study the British and French postal systems to determine their methods of dealing with postal rates, the franking privilege, transmission of funds, contracts, accounting systems, post roads, rail and steamship transportation, kinds of mail bags, foreign mail dead letters, and a number of other issues (27A-D15.2).
16.19 The committee received correspondence on technological advances of possible use to the Post Office. In 1845 after he left the Post Office Department, Kendall wrote the committee as a representative of Samuel Morse's "Electro-magnetic Telegraph" proposing possible terms for Government use of the invention (29A-D15.2). Ten years later Tennessee petitioners presented a less realistic proposal when they recommended the adoption of Isham Walker's plan of "carrying the mails through the air at a speed of 300 miles per hour" by means of an "air vessel" to be constructed of wire and sheet copper (33A-G16.39). Suggestions about improvements in the use of envelopes (34A-G14.6) and new information about atmospheric pressure tubes to move the mails (34A-D15.5) also reached the committee.
16.20 The committee papers from the 24th Congress contain records related to the investigation of a fire that consumed the Washington, DC Post Office Building in 1836 (24A-D15.2). The records consist of the minute book of the investigating subcommittee as well as diagrams and testimony relating to the incident. The committee also investigated mail contract frauds (43A-F21.5), and envelope frauds in the Stamp Division of the Post Office Department (48A-F27.1).
16.21 The use of the mails to defraud consumers was brought to the committee's attention. Complaints about Doctor Richard, who conducted a mail-order business in "golden pills" (43A-F21.2), the "Sawdust Swindlers," who offered counterfeit money for sale (49A-F28.1), and many others, appear in the files. The distribution of advertisements for lotteries through the mails also drew outcries from the public (39A-F20.4). Although most such solicitations ceased in compliance with laws denying lotteries the use of the mails, Louisiana sponsored a particularly popular and defiant operation. As late as 1890, Postmaster General John Wanamaker notified President Benjamin Harrison of the Louisiana State Lottery Company's repeated violations of the law. According to Wanamaker, the company's national office in Washington, DC alone, received approximately 50,000 pieces of mail per month. Wanamaker asked Harrison to recommend to Congress that stronger legislation be passed and Harrison complied (46A-F26.8, 51A-F30.4). In September 1890, the Post Office Department stopped service to the company.
16.22 In general, the committee records from the Civil War to the turn of the century are sparse—especially for the period 1877-83. For several Congresses, however, the committee papers bulge with abstracts of bids and contracts for the delivery of the mails as well as reports of curtailment of expenses (40A-F19.1, 42A-F20.1).
16.23 Many of the problems that had confronted the committee as the new century began soon found solutions. Legislation was passed making rural free delivery a permanent service in 1902, establishing the postal savings banks in 1910, and a full scale parcel post system in 1913. Modification or enlargement of the existing service tended to dominate the agenda of the committee during this period. Second-class mail issues filled the committee papers, among which are exhibits from a 1911 Commission on Second-Class Mail Matter which include such controversial magazines as the Police Gazette (62A-F30.1). Transportation concerns changed as automobiles and airplanes began to replace trains and ships as the means of moving the mail. The committee papers for the 1920's and 1930's are filled with reports of the costs of air mail (72A-F25.1, 74A-F30.4), including over 100 photographs showing features of the mail transportation service (70A-F27.2).
16.24 The bill files generally consist of folders for each bill and resolution referred to the committee, with related correspondence, petitions and memorials, transcripts of hearings, and other documents. The earliest bill files (58A-D24) include transcripts of unprinted hearings for H.R. 11,371, a bill providing relief for William Anderson, Postmaster of Elkhart, IN, for funds he had deposited in a bank that had failed, and H.R. 11,143 a bill providing delayed compensation for the heirs of John Witter who had delivered mail between 1878 and 1880. Examples of legislation that drew a substantial volume of favorable correspondence or petitions and memorials include: H.R. 13,447, 60th Congress, to prohibit postmasters from furnishing lists of the names of persons receiving mail at their offices, and H.R. 4,549, 59th Congress, to consolidate 3d and 4th class mail. The file for H.J.Res. 368, 65th Congress, to provide for the continuance of government ownership of telephone and telegraph systems in the United States, contains correspondence and transcripts of hearings as well as scientific papers offered as exhibits at the hearings (65A-D17).
Committee on Reform in the Civil Service, 53rd-68th Congresses (1893-1924)
Committee on the Civil Service, 68th-79th Congresses (1924-1946)
History and Jurisdiction
16.25 The Committee on Reform in the Civil Service became a standing committee August 18, 1893, having been a select committee prior to that date. The committee's jurisdiction covered matters relating to "reform in the civil service," including the status, classification, and salaries of officers, clerks, and employees in the civil branches of Government; provisions for preference to sailors, soldiers, and marines seeking civil service employment; and the apportionment of civil service appointments among the States.
16.26 The committee had jurisdiction over matters relating to the Civil Service Commission, the Bureau of Efficiency, and alleged violations of civil service law, and it reported legislation relating to the repeal of the tenure of office act. In 1924 the name of the committee was shortened to Committee on the Civil Service, but the jurisdiction was not changed.
Records of the Committee on Reform in the Civil Service, 53rd-68th Congresses (1893-1924)
Committee on the Civil Service, 68th-79th Congresses (1924-1946)
16.27 Minute books and docket books document committee activities for most of the years of its existence. In general, the minutes contain brief entries for each meeting of the committee. The minutes from the 58th Congress (1904-5), however, also contain committee prints of testimony on a proposed Federal Government retirement and pension plan given by individuals representing such organizations as the Committee on Superannuation of the National Civil Service Reform League. The docket books record the receipt of documents by the committee and their referral to subcommittees.
16.28 Some of the early petitions and memorials touch upon the veterans preference issue (56A-H26.1, 57A-H23.1, 70A-H2), but most relate to reclassification or retirement of federal employees. Almost 11 inches of printed petitions contain the signatures of 16,086 District of Columbia Federal workers requesting a retirement law based on a contributory plan (61A-H31.1). The so-called "Luhlbach" retirement bill which called for a 2.5 per cent deduction from employees salaries (66A-H17.1) and re-classification of Civil Service pay for teachers in Washington DC and in Indian Service Schools (67A-H19.1) also prompted petitions.
16.29 Salary rates defined under the Classification Act of 1923 generated a large number of memorials (70A-H2.4, 6 in.). Other subjects of concern included legislation providing for a 5-day week for Federal workers (75A-H3.3), the creation of a Civil Service Court of Appeals (75A-H3.1), civil service retirement (76A-H5.3), and the hearing and settlement of employee grievances (76A-H5.2).
16.30 The committee papers are not extensive before the 77th Congress (1941-42), totaling less than 2 feet. The bulk of these records consists of printed copies of bills, resolutions, and hearings, and copies of the annual reports of the Civil Service Commission, with occasional correspondence interspersed. Documents such as recommendations of the Personnel Classification Board (69A-F5.1) and lists of Government employees and their compensation (68A-F5.1) are also found among the records.
16.31 The remainder of the committee papers consists of estimates of departmental personnel requirements during the war years (78A-F5.1, 79A-F4.1 and F4.2, 6 ft.) and records pertaining to the committee's investigation of civilian employment in the Federal Government (77th-79th Congresses, 20 ft.).
16.32 The Civil Service Committee's investigation of civilian employment in the Federal Government was initiated by H.Res. 550 in the 77th Congress (1942) and was continued through the 79th Congress. It was a response to demands that Congress put a halt to the confusion, duplication of effort, mass hiring, and waste of public funds prevalent in Federal agencies involved in the all-out war effort. The records relating to the committee's investigation consist of general correspondence (12 ft.), transcripts of testimony (8 in.), administrative records (2 ft.), and records relating to investigations of various agencies and activities (13 ft.). A finding aid is available for the records of this investigation.
16.33 The bill files for this committee are generally sparse, consisting mostly of printed copies of bills, resolutions, and hearings. The bill files of several Congresses between 1907 and 1946 also contain correspondence, petitions and memorials, and other documents related to specific pieces of legislation (60A-D32, 66A-D27, 69A-D4, 76A-D5, 78A-D4, 79A-D6). The records from the 66th Congress (1919-21) include a petition from citizens of Washington, DC in support of H.R. 3149, a bill concerning the retirement of employees of the classified civil service (66A-D27), and those from the 73d Congress (1933-34) contain thousands of mimeographed letters and post-card petitions favoring passage of H.R. 6844, a bill that placed the special delivery messengers of the Post Office under the classified civil service (73A-D2).
16.34 With the outbreak of World War II the workload of the committee reflected the increased size of Government employment. The bill files from the 80th Congress contain over 80 bills and resolutions, including a large file on H.Res. 16, a resolution authorizing the committee to investigate the activities of various agencies and departments. The records of the committee's investigative staff working under the resolution are filed under the bill file for H.Res. 16 (79A-D6).
Related Records
16.35 Select committees on reform in the civil service were appointed in every Congress from the end of the Civil War until the standing committee was established. There are records from the select committees for the 42d, 45th through 47th, and 49th through 52d Congresses.
Records of the Committee on the Census, 57th-79th Congresses (1901-1946)
History and Jurisdiction
16.36 The standing Committee on the Census was created in 1901 after having been a select committee for many years. The standing committee was established in anticipation of the creation of a permanent census office in 1902.1 Its jurisdiction included all proposed legislation concerning the census and the apportionment of Representatives.
16.37 The standing committee, and the select committees before it, reported bills providing for the collection of statistics concerning birth and deaths, marriage and divorce, farm mortgages, irrigation, and other subjects. It also reported legislation providing for the collection and publication of general statistics including those of the production of certain commodities such as cotton and grain. In 1946 the committee was abolished and its jurisdiction included in that of the new Post Office and Civil Service Committee.
Records of the Committee on the Census, 57th-79th Congresses (1901-1946)
16.38 There are few records for this committee. For most Congresses only a handful of petitions and memorials, and copies of a few printed bills, resolutions, reports, and hearings have been preserved. For many Congresses no unprinted material has been preserved.
16.39 The minute books and docket books reflect the small number of pieces of legislation referred to the committee, and the infrequent meetings of the committee. The minutes list the names of individuals who appeared before the committee and some of the volumes contain vote tally sheets. The minutes of the first meeting of the committee on January 6, 1902 record the committee decision to report favorably H.R. 198, a bill to establish a permanent census bureau.
16.40 Few petitions and memorials that have been preserved for the 45-year history of the committee. The records from the early years of the century (1903-9) include appeals from the National Live Stock Association and the Utah Wool Growers Association for a classified census of livestock every ten years (58A-H3.1); an appeal from Otis Hammond and 14 others asking for an appropriation to compile and print the names from the 1790 census (59A-H3.1); and petitions from the National Brotherhood of Bookbinders, the Easton Typographical Union, and the Allied Printing Trades Council, protesting legislation that would allow the census to be printed on non-government presses, possibly opening the way for work by firms that did not meet union standards (60A-H5.2).
16.41 Generally, the subjects included in the jurisdiction of the Census Committee did not inspire heated debate, but several subjects did generate rather strong public reaction. A large roll petition contains the signatures of 2,735 Slovak citizens from Cleveland, OH, who protested that they were classed as Hungarians in the 1910 Federal census (61A-H4.2). The largest number of petitions received by this committee protested a 1908 bill, H.R. 7597, which would have allowed census employees to be hired without taking a competitive examination (60A-H5.3).
16.42 The committee papers files throughout the period usually consist only of prints of bills, resolutions, reports, and hearings. Documents of particular include minutes from a 1902 meeting of the Republican caucus on Mr. Edgar D. Crumpacker's resolution to appoint a select committee to investigate the suffrage laws of the several states (57A-F39.1) and correspondence relating to a 1910 investigation of census-taking in Puerto Rico (61A-F4.1). The records filed in the bill files are similar to those in the committee papers files.
Related Records
16.43 There are records of select committees on the census, for the 41st, 43d, 45th through 52d, and 55th Congresses (1869-99 with gaps) before the standing committee was established.
Records of the Committee on the Post Office and Civil Service, 80th-99th Congresses (1947-1986)
- 80th-90th Congresses (1947-1968)
- 91st-99th Congresses (1969-1986)
History and Jurisdiction
16.44 The Post Office and Civil Service Committee was established on January 2, 1947 as part of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946. It combined the jurisdictions of the former committees on Post Offices and Post Roads, Civil Service, and Census. The jurisdiction over the National Archives, formerly under the Library Committee, was also included. The formal jurisdiction of the committee included matters relating to:
- a) Census and the collection of statistics generally. b) Federal Civil Service generally. c) National Archives. d) Postal-savings banks. e) Postal service generally, including the railway mail service, and measures relating to ocean mail and pneumatic-tube service; but excluding post roads. f) Status of officers and employees of the United States, including their compensation, classification, and retirement.2
Records of the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, 80th-90th Congresses (1947-1968)
16.45 Very few records of this committee are preserved at the National Archives. Almost half of the records shown on the table above consist of multiple copies of printed bills and resolutions (46 ft.).
16.46 Petitions and memorials have been preserved from only two Congresses during this period. The records from 1949-50 include a resolution from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts asking Congress to authorize the issue of a stamp commemorating the birth of George Peabody, the first great American philanthropist; a memorial from the American Legion of Oak Ridge, TN, protesting that veteran's preference rights had been ignored in the hiring for the Atomic Energy Commission facility at Oak Ridge; and numerous memorials protesting against an April 1950 order from the Postmaster General that would reduce mail delivery to two times per day for businesses and one daily delivery for residential areas (81A-H9.1). As postal services were reduced, some groups of citizens were affected more than others. The rural citizens of Jerusalem, AR, protested that the reductions would be a hardship on them:
- We are greatly opposed to bills S. 1103 and H.R. 2945 lowering the weight of parcel post. We being rural people could not get along without the present parcel post services, as we are 22 miles from the railroad, and have very little transportation out our way (81A-H9.1).
16.47 The 1967-68 records contain petitions requesting the issue of various commemorative stamps; memorials from the City of Elizabeth, NJ, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts proposing that the passage of legislation to allow postage free packages to be sent to servicemen and women serving in Vietnam; and a resolution from the Commander of the Vermont Disabled American Veterans proposing that disabled veterans employed in the civil service be granted administrative leave to attend physical examinations offered by the Veterans Administration.
16.48 The committee papers consist chiefly of copies of the committee calendar for each Congress, and the executive communications and Presidential messages that were referred to the committee. A majority of the executive communications referred to the committee for this period are Federal agency reviews of certain supergrade positions as required under section 1310 (d) of Public Law 82-253.
16.49 There are two series of "bill files" for this committee. A series that was retired along with the records of the individual Congresses consists only of copies of printed bills. Another, more complete series retired at a later time, contains the correspondence and other documents related to specific pieces of legislation.
Records of the Committee on Post and Office and Civil Service, 91st-99th Congresses (1969-1986)
16.50 The records of the Post Office and Civil Service Committee usually consist of a series of full committee legislative files and records from one or more subcommittees. The full committee legislative files are largely bill files, but they also include petitions and memorials that were referred to the committee, copies of printed committee hearings and prints, and transcripts of executive session meetings. The files of the Subcommittee on Manpower and the Civil Service have been extensive, and include large subject files on topics such as senior executive service, equal employment opportunity, whistleblower protection, reductions-in-force, and furloughs.
Notes
1 U.S. Congress, Hinds' and Cannon's Precedents of the House of Representatives, Volumes IV (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1907), p. 847.
2 U.S. Congress, House, Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and Rules of the House of Representatives of the United States, Ninetieth Congress, H. Doc. 529, 89th Cong., 2d sess., 1967, p. 350.
Bibliographic note: Web version based on Guide to the Records of the United States House of Representatives at the National Archives, 1789-1989: Bicentennial Edition (Doct. No. 100-245). By Charles E. Schamel, Mary Rephlo, Rodney Ross, David Kepley, Robert W. Coren, and James Gregory Bradsher. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1989.
This Web version is updated from time to time to include records processed since 1989.
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