Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-10-04

The Post Office Besieged for Hours by
Anxious Purchasers-The New Postal
Law Goes Into Effect and Two Cents
Now the Uniform Letter Charge.
-Ye,c York World, oct. 2.

Anxious Purchasers-The New Postal
Law Goes Into Effect and Two Cents
Now the Uniform Letter Charge.
Nelo York World, oct. 2.
The wholesale and retail stamp windows
of the post office were beSieged from sun
day at midnight until the closing hours
of business yesterday by an ever-increas-
ing crowd seeking to purchase the new
2-cent stamps. Nearly 100000 of the
2-cent and 100000 of the new issue of the
4-cent stamps had been received to supply
the demand, so that all callers were able
to secure them. From the time that the
German reporter snatched the first shin
plaster from the sticky hands Of the clerk
at midnight and made his way jubilantly
through the crush to the street until at 5
O'Clock only few hundreds had been dis
posed Of most of those gathered in the
corridors having evidently come as spec
tators. At the latter hour, however, long
lines reached to Broadway and Park row
and eight clerks were kept busy.
Between and 10 O'Clock at least 500. 900
of the new issue had been disposed of,
about 10000 having been purchased at the
retail windows. 4 man with a large roll
of bills in his hand forced his way as best
he could to one of the wholesale windows
and laid down 5000, for which he received
10000 of the new issue. The purchaser
was from the banking firm of Fisk &
Hatch. and it was the largest amount
bought by single individual during the
morning.
MONEY BY THE NALISEFUL.
About O'Clock Cashier Lounsberry en-
tered his office, followed by a messenger
bearing a yalise which evidently con-
tanned something of great weight. On
opening it about a dozen large packages
of bills were laid upon the table.
There are the proceeds of the first
fourteen hours sale of the 2-cent stamp"
said Mr.. Lounsberry. by far the greater
portion of the money was received after s
O'Clock this morning. This includes, how
ever, only the cash received at the whole
sale windows, and must be taken care Of
now in order to insure it's deposit in the
bank. Between s O'Clock this morning
and O'Clock this afternoon 100000
2-cent stamps were sold at the wholesale
windows, for which we received $4,000.
The sale OF 2-cent stamped envelopes dur
ing the same period amounted to $500.
There were also disposed of 100000 ones.
The purchase of the tours early in the
morning was undoubtedly in a great
measure due to the curiosity of the peo-
pie who We're anxious to see the new de-
sign and keep it as a mementO. The stock
is almost exhausted, while we cannot
scare up a 6-cent one for sale
in the building. During the
last week there seemed to be a great
rush for the latter stamp and 10000
We're disposed of, entirely eXhaustiEg the
stock. The figures | now give you do not
include the purchases made at the retail
windows. TO-day's sales are far beyond
my anticipatiOns. Four clerks and my
self have been kept busy this morning
counting the cash as it flowed in, and our
stamp clerks are already very much IA
tigued. Our sales for the next week or
ten days will be enormous, and then we
expect a falling off for time. 1t is lucky
that our stock of threes and skies are
nearly on entirely exhausted, otherwise the
government must necessarily have been
compelled to destroy them.
I'VE have to-day made a requisitiOn for
100000 2-cent stamps and a large guam
tlty of tours and stamped envelopes. The
contractors have about 35,000,000 of the
new 2-cent stamps in stock and about
20,000,000 are now being manufactured
weekly"
AN UNPRECEDENTED RUSH.
Assistant Postmaster Gaylord said that
he was agreeably surprised to see the
great rush which was made for the new
stamp. ut is even greater" said he,
ethan my highest anticipatiOns. Our
clerks are driven almost to death to
the private individual will write more
letters than when the Scent postage
law was in vogue, but / am satisfied that
business men will increase their mails
considerably. The greatest increase NAV
be expected from merchants, who are
anxious to place their advertising circu-
lars in the hands Of prospective
customers. Heretofore they have in
closed their circulars in unsealed envel-
Ct.o hfa ,sft 1 rAn =
the arlstocracy considered the re-
ceipt of these as a nuisance and ordered
their servants not to bring them to their
notice. Now the merchants can seal
their circulars with little extra eX-
penSe and are more certain to place the
advertisement of their wares in
the hands of people who, did
they not mistake them for real
letters, would refuse to receive them. j
do not anticipate that this rush will last
longer than week or ten days. 1t is
principally caused by the fact that mer-
chants and business men in general have
been holding off for the appearance of
cheaper stamp, and this accounts for
their large purchases to-day. / am of the
opinion that letter correspondence will
now be increased at the expense of postal
cards.
At the hour when business was practi-
cally closed $4,000 had been received
from the sale Of stamps and envelopes, as
follows: The amount received from the
sale of the 2-cent stamps was $32, 000
100000 of them being purchased; 100,-
600 Accent stamps brought $4,000; 800
600 2-cent request envelopes and $4,000
ordinary 2-cent envelopes brought
$1,000. The average daily sales amount
to $4,000, therefore Yesterdays sale
showed an increase of $22, 900. The aver
age daily sale at the retail windows is
$l50, while yesterday they reached 5000.
In Brooklyn there was great rivalry as
to who should be the first purchaser of
stamps. Long before the clerks were pre-
pared tor customers a large crowd
thronged the post office. The Rev. DR.
Frederick A. Farley, of No. 1870 Pacific
street, succeeded in gaining position at
the head of the line, and no sooner had the
stamp-wIndOw been opened than he laid
down S6, for which he received 100 2-cent
and 100 4cent stamps. Then a rush was
made for the window by the remainder of
the line and brisk sale continued through
out the day. By 10 O'Clock 10000 stamps
had been sold, and at the close of business
nearly 100000 had been disposed of.
Postmaster Morton thought that the
new postage law would have the effect of
lmpalring the governments revenue only
temporarily. He thought that the reduc-
ton would soon bring about enough of an
increase in the quantities of mail to coun-
terbalance the loss. He thought that the
2-cent postage would increase the letter
correspondence at the expense of postal
cards.
CHICAGO, Oct. Up to noon to-day
3oO,0OO new postage stamps had been sold
here.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 1.-BefOre O'Clock
this morning there was a long line of peo-
pie waiting to buy the new StamDs I'm
to y O'Clock 10000 had been sold.