Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-07-29
ro0V STAGE TO CAR.
,~D PROGREss OF THE
RISE ~ yAY MAIL SERVICE.

MT 0O4 - the Railway Mail Service,
lntenaeu' y. loaned back in his chair and
'nliep Of the difference between the
'h0usu s distribute the mails now ana the
sal las dome before the war.
IS! laid ne. .'things seem to have
'ls9, since the days when the mail
'Asussv 5 ~ he received into one corner
oas IN baggage car at Washington ana
Of w ". , ort by the baggage master at Bal
NOV ' or New York, just as he received
AinV'r ,hoso days the railway car that
il IL ,be mail was not a railway post
'arrleU IN 'I ifs staff of busy clerks, as IL
p1lee' The railroad did nothing but
is nov, the bags from one city TO an
trapsPO No official of the post once went
7IDtl' ,,tb4r TO guard and protect them or
llgus ~, IN handle them on the way.
N sAl "..iiutjou then used to be done at
lhe user, narv office, and it WAS very slow
asta'' .'-,. now there is comparatively lit
EOlA w.. o work OF distribution done at
We u '5 otfiees-there is no time for
!he ie'Trb e letters and packages Of all
lhSt 40 thrown In mass into the mail
soIS chile they are flying along the
ears %u mH speed on the way between the
isus ~ and the addressee. At present
selu'. ave- about 4. 300 or 4, 400 railway pos
way 5' Oh, In the United States always on
lal . ,"ad and busy at this work."
sa ~ 3Vr have been familiar with the work
- the Railway Mail Service for a
oag time -. .,,~oo.,,,l NTH - 7
,rsey since the beginning. The rail-
~~I ,,ost office has grown up within the
s @a5 twenty years, and ! was on the road
H. mara than twelve of them. 1t was
twenty Years ago that the railway post
49, tax the place of the old distribut-
(1g of5ees. You know certain post offices,
de.igpsted for the purpose, use to receive
ami collect the mails both in large par
cels and separate packages from various
roints for particular regions OF country,
nd then distribute them to the various
nseas to which they were addressed.
These we're called distributing offices, and
serypd as land marks to guide the course
n the mails to distant points. They re-
,siyed them in bulk from the mail offices,
Ind. alter asserting them with regard to
thqir respective destinations, dispatched
hem by rail in charge Of the baggage
master. This system of asserting in the
sationary Office was slow process.
While the work WAS moving slowly on
time was slowly flying, and so were the
railroad cars. but the mail was standing
still in the same place. Twenty years
aqo il occurred to somebody that the
work Of final distribution could be done
On the railroad car while it was flying
along to its destination, and then the
work was removed from the distributing
Offices Railway postal clerks or, as
they were then called, route agents, took
their places. At first the number Of
hands was comparatively small; during
lbe first year or two their number was not
above 800 or 400 for the whole country,
but now there are more than ten times
that number constantly engaged. Some
lines there are as many as sixteen
clerks aboard a single tram going from
New York city.
ION lN average railway postal clerk
works about fourteen hours a night for
six consecutive nights: then he has six
nights of. You see as soon as the mail is
received in the post office it is transferred
% the mail car, and the railway clerks
IRE there distributing and working with
heir sleeves rolled up, sometimes hours be-
ore the train starts. The men who go
rom Washington to New York tonight
gill return with the mail train from New
YORK to Washington tomorrow night,
and will keep on going between the two
Giles night after night; then they rest for
Iae next six. On the through mail to st.
Louis one setOf men work from Baltimore
% Grafton, where they are relieved by
mother set, who proceed to Cincinnati,
Ana a third relay take up the work there
and 20 on to st. Louis. This is how all
ne through lines are managed. One set
men always travel between the same
two points.
"for long time the accommodation in
le mall cars WAS totally inadequate, and
WA The facilities it was impossible to do
az NE work Of distribution satisfactorily
ana with sufficient dispatch, so that fire.
tuenuy portions OF the mail, and especial
= 'he newspapers, had to be left behind;
". now every mail car on every railroad
~ sne country is a veritable post office,
= II y called, and affords accOmmOda-
M lOE asuinclent force of clerks 10 keep
r'e MoIA up straight along. Isn't 1t sur
t.-s'As lnar considering the tons of let
~ T.s anu packages to be got through, and
~ opeeu al which the work must be done
y heep up with the speed of the tram.
~ 80 SHOULD only be one mistake in dis
. aiDluug 600 pieces, which was the pro-
P~tl"n last Year,"
carrying the mails is not the fun it
~ ~ 70 pc IN the old coaching days?"
az 9i mere was no room for a staff of
vWsIlDutlng clerks on the old stages.
sal 49, sometimes there wasn't even room
s s.1sn lOr the mails. When people be-
,aa 20 be numerous ard the number Of
be ~ ro,l Increased and especially when
baiya. ",apapers began to spread them
MN 'ue mails began TO be formidable
mssr a. si1e and Weight-fOrmidable
the r',. ,yI a tW0-horse stage. You know
be ,l1 ,.s were none too good, and when
ants, "a 'u'chlne got stuck in a hole it was
aaisi W. custom u heave the mails, es-
tya,,1 W., newspapers, which were
|szan} VI thlrty times the weight and
es,.o...s'Il e letters. overheard, so that the
|1tagsssrs might have room, and the
on p ,'.a Its lighter burden might trudge
Hllu,i ,.' 'ue stages were independent in
ya, aa.' IL was only at their own con-
M ~ lhey would take the mail.
with ~. 'uey mad a good deal 10 do
woult ,e hatler. You know the stage
NUM- ,', 10y lake the letters until "A sufficient
eyr 1'g, 81 them had accumulated 10 paw
pos, o ,,sss, ana ana often they might lie in a
w0ull ' ,' ioF weeks before MIR. STACEY
tro1Di. ' ,iIi.lh the quantity sufficient To
M, -ys., "urn the railroads came into use
iQr speei 'Ro they were very little better
BEAT iea r W, - snla1ty; in fact. the stages
last ya.r. oaas itr some time. In the
know. G. ..' me Coaching period, YOU
and N,a. uNtance between PHILADELPHIA
be.a.' t" YORK was covered in six bonrs
wba. o., ,he ratio OF fifteen miles an hour
ras5s a' u.s. i'f the tlrsiyea or so tho rail
ho9r' v Soia plnned mat eleven miles nm
Asa m",. uo much D. ask for the money.
man. e1et OF Net the stages knpt The
on a xxx 'o' RAILROADS tor good while
A.L.|'' ~ speed However, H. ,vna mn