The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 19, July 1915 - April, 1916 Page: 115
452 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Problems of the Confederate Post Office Department 115
In addition to the work of organization, and inseparably con-
nected with it, there were practical problems of administration
which needed to, be attacked at the earliest moment possible.
Advertisement had to be made for all kinds of postal supplies;
facts had to be procured upon which to base estimates of revenues
and expenditures, first on a peace basis, and next on a war basis;
the work was greatly augmented by the addition of the last four
states to enter the Confederacy; and the delay occasioned by the
removal of the capital to Richmond added no inconsiderable bur-
den to the already overtaxed shoulders of the young department.
All these things had to, be undertaken with a, view to assuming
control of the postal service on the first of June"1
The department did formally assume control of the postal serv-
ice on the date announced; and so little did the people appreciate
the difficulty of inaugurating such a sweeping change that com-
plaints of irregularities of service appeared as early as June 18,
some of them coming from so disrupted a portion of the country
as that near Bull Run.12 But while the general public was find-
ing the faulty service a source of much irritation, the department
was struggling with difficulties not generally comprehended until
some time later. As a Texas newspaper expressed it:
When Mr. Reagan took the office of Postmaster-General, he had
to make it up out of nothing. What information he could get
from the General Post Office at Washington had to be got by
stealth. This, of course, was necessarily meager, and unsatisfac-
tory. . . . The Post Office Department is very justly said to
be an institution that no one feels but in its failures. Is it to be
wondered at that our Postmaster-General did not perfect a, vast
and intricate business in a day? Is it to be wondered at that it
is not yet perfect? Has he not in fact accomplished wonders in
bringing as much order as he has out of chaos ?13
Reagan's own statements of his difficulties are no less interest-
ing. The United States Congress failed to appropriate any funds
for the last half of the fiscal year ending June 1, 1861, for the
Southern contractors, and, accordingly, the contractors went un-
"1See Semi-Weekly Richmond Enquirer, April 6, 1861; Report, April
29, 1861, pp. 9-12, Nov. 27, 1861, p. 4.
12Semi-Weekly Richmond Enquirer, June 18, 1861.
18The Houston Tri-Weekly Telegraph, Jan. 6, 1862.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 19, July 1915 - April, 1916, periodical, 1916; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101067/m1/130/: accessed May 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.