Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-11-26

Now that the remodeling and enlarge
ment of the st. Paul postofice. brief men
ton of which was made ,me months ago,
is rapidly approaching completion, a
more detailed description of the changes
made and the increased facilities added
for the transaction of the very large and
rapidly increasing postal business to be
accommodated, Will be of interest to
GLOBE readers.
1t is not necessary in this connection to
say anything of the necessity for this
remodeling and enlargement. That has
been emphasized in the most convincing
manner by the monthly reports for the
past five years, during which time
the business of the Office has
more than trebled. Acting upon
the lesson conveyed by these monthly
balances, and the steady encroachments of
the increasing business upon the limited
space of the Office, Postmaster Day some
three years ago began to urge upon the
postal authorities at Washington the ne
cessity of making some provision to meet
the growing demands OF the Office In
time this necessity was recognized by the
authorities. With this recognition Post
master Day and the authorities were cor
fronted with a troublesome problem. The
building, built OF granite and limestone, is
undoubtedly one of the most
SUBSTANTIAL STRUCTURES
OF the kind in the United States, and pop
ularly supposed at the time of its compile
ton to be over large TO accommodate the
postal business OF st. Paul for hundred or
more years to come. It could be en-
larged upon It's ground surface only by the
purchase of additional ground, and at
great expense in tearing down, building
up and remodeling the entire structure.
This plan was at once decided impractical
bic. Then chow to doIt'' became the ques-
ton. In due time number of govern
ment architects prepared plans for remod-
cling the interior, but no one Of them SEEM
ed to meet the urgent requirements
of the Office. Finally in June last
COL. 4. G. G. SMITH,
superintendent of construction of the
treasury department, Washington, a
veteran in the service, with a peculiar forte
for the business in hand, was sent here to
see what could be done. Col. Smith came,
saw the obstacles to be overcome, and in
due time prepared aad presented his plans
for accomplishing the desired result. The
plans were approved by Postmaster Day
and the department, and on the 25th of
har
menced, and has ever since been vigorously
prosecuted under the personal direction of
Col. Smith.
TRUE ECONO NJ.
And, right here, it should be stated. that
when the plans of Goldsmith were accepted
he was instructed to advertise for pro-
posals to do the work. In answer to the
advertisement two proposals were received
one for 1924, the other for $9.S53. Col
Smith recommended the rejection Of both
these bids, and that the work be done by
day labor under the direction of an agent
of the department. This suggestion
was adopted and Col. Smith
designated tc superintend the
work. AS as consequence, Col. Smith
boints to the fact that on the 10Th inst.
when the work was more than two-thirds
completed, and nearly all the material re-
quired paid for, he had not expended
$4,000, and that the work fully completed,
will show saving of from Is to 90 per
cent. upon the lowest bid-an item
of saving that may, perhaps, sug
gest to the minds of some
a wish that there were more Col. Smiths
in the government service. So much by
way of preface, and now to what has been
accomplished, or description of the
NEW POST OFFICE.
In way of explanation it should be stat
ed that all the business of the Office was
done on the first floor, while the basement.
was dark and dingy apartment 60x64 feet
goods, etc. Under the planes of Col. Smith
this apartment was sub-divided into
general mailing room, 2Sx6O feet, a gener-
al postal storage room twenty two feet
square, a bonded warehouse 24x6O, and an
appraisers room twenty two feet square,
the two appointments separated by hall
way ten feet wide, with brick division
walls the customs department by the ar
rangement securing more than double
the space allotted it before,
an increase fully warranted by the rap
idly increasing business. At the west en-
trance of this hallway, a large elevator has
been put in for lowering and hosting
heavy goods, room for it being made by
removing the old steps, which led straight
down. and running them alongside the
wall to the right, and blasting out the rock
and charging the area wall. This i'm
provement gives special satisfaction to
deputy Collector of Customs Richards
who thus sees one of the greatest anoyances
of his life-the handling of heavy packages
made an easy pastime.
THE MAILING DEPARTMENT.
As said above, the general mailing de-
partment, is to be in the basement OPP
posite the customs department in the
north. Abundance of light has been Sc
cured by charging the three small win
dows, by lowering them four feet. The
flooring is of maple, and the walls
and ceiling are plastered and white coated.
Connection with the room above is had by
an iron stairway in the northwest corner
of the room, while an elevator Axe, nearly
in the center of the room sand opposite