Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-12-26

Il
postal The sheets are first printed
on an ordinary large cylinder LOB" print
! ing press, there being in the factory two
Hoe presses and one Taylor. The impress
! sion is taken on a plate containing forty
card faces with stamp, the monogram US,
| the scroll and words 'spostal card" and the
untruthful line, Nothing but the address
can be placed on this side.'' Thus when a
sheet of cardboard is run through tho
press it comes out with forty postal-cards
completely printed, ready to be cut up into
the 1-cent mjssives with which the public
is familiar. Any two of the presses are
sufficient to supply the demand without
being rushed.
From the presses the printed sheets are
taken to cutting machine, where they are
rapidly cut into strips containing ten
cards each. They are fed between rollers.
on which there are four circular blades.
The cutting intn -, ~ i done as fast as a
| tolerably active hoy can pass IL the sheets.
From the first .u5;lu.-- machine the sheets
are taken to second cutter, where they
| are fed throu2h rollers with circular blades,
set as far apart rs the with of a postal
| card. Thus ten cards are produced ready
for use from every strip that is run through
the cutter. They drop into ten pockets
made of tin, and constructed on shaft.
The boy who feeds the strips into the cut
ter passes twenty five through and calls out
tally" Three girls remove the cards from
the tin pockets, pack them in stacks of
twenty-five each, and wrap each package
about with the paper band with which
everybody is familiar who buys his cards
in quantities of twenty five and upward.
In addition to emptying the pockets and
banding the cards, one of the girls has to
| turn the pocket shaft every time the feeder
calls tally and another has to
count the cards in any one pocket,
so as to see that the count of
| the boy who feeds in the strips is correct.
Every twenty-five strips produces $50 cards,
delivered equally in ten packets. If any
one pack contains twenty-five cards, each
| of the other nine must contain a like num-
Der. In order to equalize the labor among
the three girls, the one who counts the
contents of one of the pockets empty and
pack up each three pockets. The third
| girl is therefore required to empty and
pack up the contents of four pockets, with
nothing else to do. The yellow paper band
that is wrapped about each package of
| twenty-five cards is ready gummed, so that
| with alacrity, as it is evident that they
must do in order to stack up all the postal
| cards used in the United States. The
packages of twenty Ave each are placed in
piles of ten each. and two Of these piles are
packed into strawboGrl box. each box
! thus containi::g sec IDS. Tie strawboard
boxes are made r'pidlT Oh TIE spot by an
ingenious nac,.i1>. ~ w.io,e machinery
Co. a.
board is recei:cG lion the paper-mill.c
be operated IN a room thirty feet square.
This, of course, would not be sufficient for
storing material and stock.
This force produces and packs an aver
age of about 1,25O,OOO postal cards each
working day. The total product last year
was $50, 600, 600, and, as the cards are all
made at the Castleton factory, the pro-
duct measures the number of cards used
in the country. If the demand at the fac
tory averages 100000 day, it follows
that only an average of one and quarter
card is used daily by every fifty people in
the country. This shows a less general
use of postal cards than many might esti-
mate without something like definite data.
This rate of increase in the use of cards
during the year ending June 80, 1879, over
previous years was 1872 per cent. For the
year ending June 80, 1880, the increase was
% per cent, and for the last fiscal year it
was about the same. The increase is be-
lieved to be mostly in business quarter,
where they are used for advertiti Jag. For
private correspondence the cards do not
seem to be as popular as they we're when
they we're first authorized in this country.
The cost of postal cards to the govern
ment under the present contract, as COM
pared with the cost under former contracts,
is something remarkable, when it is OBJ
served that the size and quality are
either the same or better. The contract
price for four years prior to July /, 1877,
was 81 39% per thousand. For the four
years ending June 80, 1881, it was 1886
cents per thousand. bet under the present
contract it is only 54.43 cents per thou
sand. Being sold a. $40 thousand to the
public, the government receives 50 45h a
thousand for carrying them broadcast
through the mails. A thousand postal
cards weigh six pounds and 4 quarter, &C
cording to the government contract with
Aessrs. Woolworsh & Graham. The cost
of the agency for salary of agents and
assistants was, for the year ending June
80, 1881, $1,000.
| All orders for cards are sent by the local
postmasters to the postofice department
in Washington. Each days orders are
there made up into schedule containing
the name of the postoffice. the name OF
the postmaster who makes the order, the
number of cards wanted and several other
entries of "red-tape'' nature. One copy
Of the schedule is sent to Agent Tanner at
Castleton, and another is kept at the de-
partment. The orders are filed at once.
All amounts under 1000 are sent in mail
sacks. Orders for 1000 or more are sent
in wooden cases under the protection of
the postof6ce registry system. The pack
ing cases are graduated in size to contain
2,OO0, 1000, 5000, 5000, 10000,
10000, 10000, and $4,000, cards