River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1880-03-04
POSTAL CARDS.
Three Hundred Million Year-HoW
rneY Are Made at lIOly0ke

1hG kllIIEbt city vi INV Oii tAiN
Connecticut river and on the line ofthe
railroad bearing the name OF that slug
gish stream, is nov the scene of pro-
duction OF millions of postal cards which
are annually consumed in the country.
The mandatory is an unpretentious
! edihce, and utterly insignificant in di-
! mansions and otherwise, when COM
pared with the towering paper and 9th
er mills that surround it. The business
is carried on by the American Photo
type Company of New York, who have
q contract for year from next July.
| Originally, the manufacturing was done
in New York, but the papery atmos-
| phere of Holyoke was probably more
copgenial to their calling, and short
| time since the whole business was
| transferred to that point. The interior
of the building is seemingly as inconse-
| quential as 1t is outwardly, bat the firm
ness with which general or special yisi
| tors are denied admission seems 10 inn
press one with the fact that the concern
| is of more than ordinary account. The
/ governments represented on the prem
ises by Especial agent or superintendent
| who sees to if that all the cards printed
| GlG DIODCltO iDGN ONNl W MINI hiillC
all the other business is under tine con-
tractors. About forty hands are en-
! ployed altogether, and, during working
| hours they are as industriously kept
! from all intercourse with the out
side world as if they were under the
| care of Warden Chamberlain of Con-
cord. The cardboard is manufactured
in the immediate vicinity by the Parsons
Paper Company, and is furnished in
packages of 5000 sheets each. The
work of transforming one ofthese pack
ages Into postal cards, counted, packed
and ready for shipment is only momen-
tary when the concern is driven to its
| full capacity. as is at present the case.
| Three of Hoes super-royal presses are
kept in operation both day and night
and each sheet bears the impression of
exactly forty cards. a register attached
to each press keeping faithful record
Of each printed, Having become prop
erly seasoned or dried, the sheets are
slit up by machinery into strips of ten
cards each, and then i'll immediate sue
cession sort of rotary hopper, with
ten compartments, receives the cards
as fast as cut, and when each compart-
ment contains twenty five cards, the
hopper revolves and empties them on a
table. Here they are received by girls,
who quickly detect and throw out all
! damaged or imperfect specimens.
Boxing is next in order and then the
cards are ready Ior shipment TO any
desired part of the country. They are
placed in seamless pasteboard boxes
each box containing twenty packs or
500 cards. Lots of less than 1000 are
forwarded in these boxes, strongly
wrapped in heavy paper, and large
| quantities are sent in strong iron-bound
! wooden cases. AS before intimated
! every process of manufacture is indus
triously guarded by the vigilant agent
of the government. The mechanism
of the registers on the presses is secured
| by padlocks, to which none but this
agent has key. They are examined
at night and the number of sheets
printed is noted. Again, in the morn
ing, they are examined to see that
they have not been tempered
with before the days work
commences. A strict record is
kept Of all damaged or imperfect cards,
also of all blank cardboard given out,
and as all has tc be accounted for, to the
smallest fraction, undetected piIfering
is rendered simply impossible. In for
warding the cards every package or
box is registered and hence loss in this
respect is positively guarded against.
| In fact, it is true that not single card
| has ever been lost in the factory or in
| transit since their introduction into the
postal system of the country.
THE POPULARITY OF THE CARD.
The growing popularity Of the postal
card as means of correspondence is
something wonderful. The entire
number manufactured and used during
the first year of the introduction was
| 100, COO, 500. and during the year which
mas Just closed, the aggregate number
sent out 246 ,063, $50. This latter num-
| Der is an increase over the number is
sued in 1873 of sc, $4,000. 1t would
probably be an error to attribute this
marked increase in the postal card SER
vice to the late or current business
boom, for it would seem that in periods
of depression the public would be more
! likely to avail itself of cheap postage
rather than in more prosperous times
The trIe explanation, evidently is the
growing favor which the card finds in the
community as it becomes more famil-
Jar as is manifested by the steadiness
of the increased demand during the
half-dozen years it has been before the
community The orders from different
post offices differ in amount very great
Iy, of course, and they do not in any
degree represent the population or
general business done at the several
points. 1t may be stated, as an in
teresting fact, that New York has lately
taken nearly one-tenth of the cards is
sued, consuming upward of half mil
lion week. All the large cities use
more than the actual business of the
post office indicates; but this discrepan-
CIV is accounted for from the fact that
many country manufacturers and
traders have their advertising circulars
printed on the backs of postal cards, and
the city printers who do the work buy
their cards in the city where the print
ing office is located. Many small post
offices surrounding large cities like Bos-
ton and New York also purchase from
the nearest metropolitan point, instead
Of applying through the proper channel
to the post Office department. The
proper way is for postmaster to send
his order to Washington. which in turn
is sent to Holyoke, and from this point
the cards are forwarded direct to their
destination.
TWO MILLION A DAY.
The capacity of the concern is about
two million per day, though until lately
not more than million has been the
average. 1t is intended to keep about
twenty-five million cards on hand, and
for this purpose special fire-proof vault
has been provided. Beside the increas-
ed demand for the domestic cards, there
has also come sudden call for the new
international cards. Upward Of two
million have been furnished during the
brief period of their introduction. While
it may be true that England has taken
the lead in the postal card blessing in
point of priority of date, it is question
able if the system has been so generally
adopted by all classes of the commune
ty. This inference is drawn from the
presence of couple of commissioners
of the French government at Il Hol
yoke mandatory short time since
who were sent over specially to investi
gate the working of the postal card
branch Of the mail service in the United
States previous 10 its adoption in