, 1884-05-03
ON THE P~OSTAL-CAR.
An Insight into the Operations of
the Railway Postofaca.
The Lively Clerical Work Required
--How Errors Are Rreorded---
Long HoHrs OF LAber--Teas
sf ,saii Matter.

nearly d nfetme To master all OF its branches.
The recent Developments in this line OF serv-
ice has brought the subject anew before the
public, and in view Of the newlyInauxurated
rapid transit in the west, additional interest
Is attached. The same general system Is EN-.
ployed on all the various branches, and it Il
the purpose OF the present article to give q
rough outline OF the workings II the depart
ment A Tribune reporter VIII accompanied
the first fast mail between Chicago and
Minneapolis was afforded an opportunity OF
studying the practical operations of tho rail-
An Illustration.
WORK
The train leaves here at a. u, and the
postal clerks begin work at the depot at 5
O'Clock the previous afternoon, their car
being stationed in the yard. The Last mail
from Chicago Is taken to them about $50 a.
M, and the mail from the eastern train, ar
rlVlng mere at l2:5O a. m, is generally placed
on board the train for the northwest Just q
few minutes before its departure. The New
York train usually brings from four to I've
carloads OF mail, q portion OF which is sorted
on the road and the remainder at the Union
depot WHARF, 1t Is separated for the western
and northw estern lines. As tue eastern mail
Is frequently late. q large amount Of heavy
work is necessary in order to make the con-
necuon. Then at the last minute, rher the
letters, etc, have teen safely stored away.
The daily papers are rushed u the train Il
now wants but a few minutes of } O'Clock.
and in order that the train may leave on time
ione lively work has to be done. The Chicago
& Minneapolis railway pcstofics supplies all
of Wisconsin and connections, and connects
with nearly all of Minnesota and the larger
PORTION of Dakota and all OF the territories
applied by the Northern Pacific railroad
When this mail reaches the car leaving here
It ) a. m. 1t has been divided into states by
he Chicago office, and mail Lines csntering
here, the pouches being marked Chicago 4
Minneapolis r P. o.
CLERICAL KNowLsDaE.
This is only a very small beginning Of tbs
.ork, the clerks on the postal-car being
obliged to make a complete distribution.
Each clerk must know every connection at
every junction throughout the stats which
he is handling, 50 that he can get each letter
and paper To its destination In the quickest
possible time. II there are two railroads
passing the same town he must be able to as
certain which line will get there the quickest,
II 1t is only ten minutes, as all mails are dis
tributed by time.
All Of tho mail for Wisconsin must 10 dis
tributed before the train reaches Milwaukee.
as most of the Wisconsin connections center
there. II the Chicago & Minneapolis rail-
way postofhcs is behind time, and any ons
connection Is missed, the clerks must be sufB-
cisntly well posted to take advantage Of the
best connection, aud for this purpose the
superintendent of the division publishes
monthly a time schedule giving the time OF
each railway postoffice, and also express
trains throughout tho entire division ut every
junction which 1t passes
To keep posted on all these connections re-
Iuifes constant study on the part Of the clerk,
ls he must keep In his memory over l5O con-
~nections subject to changes constantly.
rosrAL-cARs.
The postal-cars are. fitted up like miniature
postofices, each one on this division contain
ing about 600 boxes and a paper and pouch
rack, upon which are hung at least 200 ito
sacks and letter-pouches. As fast as a pigeon
iole becomes full the package Is tied up,
properly labeled either for a railway post
office or a city, and thrown into It's pouch
The same Is done with all the states. Whom
the destinations of the pouches are reached
they are taken out of the racks, closed, =
printed pouch-lsbel placed In the label-
holder, the pouch locked and thrown
of the car. While this is going on it
must be borne in mind that the work does
not stop upon the receipt of the mail at
Chicago, but at each stopping station
more is taken on. so that the supply is stead
lily on the increase. Places where stops are
not made are called Acatch stations the
mail being thrown OF and taken ON from
cranes erected ut the side Of thu track. Ths
engineer signals the approach to . catch
station by whistling, and the clerk whose
duty 1t is to exchange the mail must be
promptly at the door when the station II
reached. Where stops are made 1t Is only fof
a minute or two. It frequently happens that
the clerks are behind time when a junction
is reached, especially when the mail is very
heavy. In that case the mail Is carried by,
and advantage Is taken Of the tlrst return
train with which connections can be made.
WORK IN HI Jar.
Every package of letters made up by the
clerks must bear = label-slip giving plainly
the address OF the postofice or railway post
office to which 1t Is to be forwarded II It IL
q railway postoffico which is to be reached at
a certain junction the label-slip must be
marked North" South, y "Eastn or WEST
as che case may be. This slip must also bear
the name of the clerk who made up the pack
age, initials showing the direction In which
he was running, and the imprint of his post
marking stamp. II any missent letter L. found
in one of these packages. y note Is made on
the back Of the labsl-slip, the clerk signs his
name aud stamps on his imprint. All of
these slips IRE Forwarded daily to the office of
the superintendent Of the railway mail serv-
ice, carefully examined, and q complete
record kept of all errors mAde by each clark
IL q mans record becomes bad he IL called In
for examination, aud II he fails after q short
trial TO improve he is removed or reduced
The number of errors depends altogether
upon the line on which a clerk runs. On
some lines men make only from two to dys
errors per month, and on the heavy runs
where q clerk is obliged TO strain every
muscle from sixteen to twenty hours at Q
stretch the number win reach as high as 100
or more. or course these things are all
taken into consideration.
TONS OF HAIL.
To give an Intelligent idea of the tous Of
mail that are daily sent over the country by
tho different railway postofficss would b q
difficult matter, aud the nearest approach that
can be made TO it 10 TO present the numbsr
pieces that are handled In any cixan tina