The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-02-04


Next in Importance to the telegraph,
and perhaps first in Importance TO t1e
great mass of the people, is regular and
safe mail communication; and any m
provement in the present facilities fdr
tho transportation and speedy delivery 81
mail matter throughout the country Is
certainly boon to the general public.
To the credit of the Postoffice Depart
ment it may be said that advantage has
been taken of every Improvement In rail
road transportation of late years, and
the lines carrying mails have been held
TO q stricter performance of their con-
tracts than heretofore, The enormously
increased amount of mail matter within
the past four years, however, requires
still more extended facilities for trans
portation and distribution, and the adop-
ton of some time-saving method for the
nrenaration of letters for delivery, en-
route, to the place of destination A step
in the right direction has been made du-
ring the present winter in the inaugura-
ton of a railway postofice system, and
should be a source of qualification to the
business community to learn that this
system has been found to work so well
upon the roads tried, that it is intended
TO put it in general use upon all the I'M
portaut mail routes The postottice au-
tborities have entered into arrangements
for the construction and running of post
office cars upon all the principal roads OF
the North and East and to some extent
in the Northwest, and it is expected that
by the middle of the present month the
system will be in general operation
The distinctive feature of the new sys-
fem consists in the distribution of mail
matter while IN trdnsitu on the cars, and
thus delivering at each office ready Tor
Immediate issue the letters mailed at the
point of departure. mail agent and
clerks accompany each car, and dlstr1-
buttons are made not only for the term-
nus and principal points on each line
but also for the offices connected there
with, and thus for the entire postal dis
trict throughout which the lines runs
The first of the great through routes up
on which the system was tried, was that
from New York to Washington, which
was supplied with pOstoffice cars, some
months since, and has worked so well that
the routes from New York to Boston the
Hudson river between New York, Alba
nv and Troy, theNew York Central, New
York and Erie Pennsylvania Central and
Baltimore and Ohio, are to be immedi-
ately furnished with the same facilities
and put in operation. When the new
cars begin their trips upon the above
routes, such changes are to be required
i'm the timetables as will enable all post
office cars to he run in close connection;
the mails being distributed on board and
taken directly from the cars of one route
to that of the connecting one; thus for.
wardimg the mails with the same rapidity
of ordinary passenger travel This will
SuOlU lOulCo q gam VI oS'Ni"i
hours, and where the distance is one OF
several hundred miles, gain of day
besides securing regularity in the distri-
button of mail matter. The vast import
ancc of this new arrangement will be felt
by the business community as soon as 1t
has fairly gotten into operation.
In connection with the postal money
order system, which has been found, since
its introduction, of great convenience for
the remittance Of small sums of money
from point to point, the improved rail.
way postal system will be the source of
vastly increased revenue to the Depart
mrnt, and probably be the means OF the
introduction of reduced rate of postage.
When Il throughrail communication with
the North shall have been secured to our
city by the completion of the railroad
bridge across the Sasquehanna, and the
new mail system is put in thorough opera
ton, we may expect to derive great bene-
fit from its use, and not, as now, be cut
off from communication with the Eastern
and seaboard cities by an ice blockade OF
twenty four hours duration, and u cOnse-
uuent unsettled and irregular condition
of the mails fol- several days following.