The patronage of the postoffice department is the most important of any of the departments, and it is very largely for this reason that the Postmaster-General is a member of the Cabinet. Crawford of South Carolina secured in 1820 the passage of an act limiting the term of office of postmasters to four years. The appointment of postmasters does not come under the Civil Service Act. It is the principal aim of civil service reformers, that postmasters should be appointed under its provisions. The most important questions of public policy concerning this department, are the reduction of postage rates on letters to one cent; the advisability of the establishment of a postal telegraph service; the extension of the free delivery system, and the relation of the department to the civil service regulations. _#The Department of Justice.#_--The office of the Attorney-General of the United States was established in 1789; the Department of Justice not until 1870. The Attorney-General gives advice upon legal points to the President and also, when requested to do so, to the heads of departments. He directs the cases of the United States and sometimes appears in them, especially in the Supreme Court. He supervises the United States Marshals and District Attorneys. His substitute and principal assistant is the Solicitor-General. There are two Assistant-Attorneys-General, the business of the one being connected with the Supreme Court, and of the other with the Court of Claims. There are also, as mentioned before, certain legal officers attached to the other departments. Additional counsel is frequently employed to assist in the argument of important cases. To the Attorney-General belongs the duty of recommending persons to the office of judges, etc., in the United States Circuit and District Courts.