The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-02-06
Complaints of Business Men About the
Ineficiency Of the Postal Service.
Caused Large Losses-Merchants No
Longer Regard the Mails as Reliable.
Postoffice Authorities Say the Trouble
Is Due to Inadequate Assistance.
Still. the Cash Receipts of the Indianapolis
Office are Over 100000 in Excess Of
the Expenses Charged to 1t.

It may be that the indianapolis postofice.
we'll as other branches of the service. needs
strene thering in lis clerical force. but since the
new administration took hold of postofice
affairs, continual complaints Of delayed delivery.
miscarriage ce letterN and other short conings
suggest that there must De something wrong
aside from requiring extra amount OF work
from limited number of employees Some of
the mistakes recorded in this city are such as to
impress ono with the opinion that no force, even
with full complement of clerks and carriers
to insure promptnsss and accuracy. unless they
wore ft for the work. could do any better. tits
believed by many business men that efficiency
could have been maintained even with the pres
ent limited number of clerks had the postofice
authorities exercised greater care in supplanting
men of long experience with those who had in
telligence and aptness to be trained to the bust
mess. But the leaven of rewarding persons for
their political service has about done it's worstin
the railway msil-servics. for instance, in pro-
ducing results like that of which A.
Burdsal of South Meridian street, complains.
He thinks this service is largely responsible for
the trouble, but what criticism applies there is
no DOUBT applicable to the postoffcs proper. The
burden OF his complaint is that the Cincinnati
mail for this city the Big Four is often car
1t frequently occurs that the Eastern mail for
Indianapolis, coming over the Panhandle. is
conveyed to ST. Louis and then brought back.
Thine was" he said, when could take the
time tables and count the time required to
put mail through to the desired point But it is
not so now. We must allow from twenty-four
to forty eight hours more than formerly. But
little attention seems to be given papers
printed matter. A letter and expense account
mailed to one of sales do not 60 together.
Any man who would conduct his business as the
Postofice Department is conducted would be
bankrupt in a very short time"
Daniel Stewart, Of South Meridian street, has
about the same view of the difficulty in relating
his grievance. In his mail there Is daily delay
of several hours. and, although he has COM
planned to the local postofics authorities he
says no good came from it.
But, as a special instance one related by
Schnul u Kras will serve for illustration.
There was addressed to the firm, recently an
order for immediate shipment from Martins
vile customer, but il required two days for the
letter to come that short distance. On the 23d
ult. the firm mailed a letter to New York cor
respondents. Five days afterward they had not
received it. have Schnnl & Krag as yet re-
ceived the telegram they expected in response
think the service ought to have grown better
after the new administration had become famil-
lar with it's workings. But it is their expert
ence that it ID worse as it required three days
for of their letters to reach Toledo, O.
There is another feature of inefficiency, aside
from the Ions distance mails. The mail for one
of the South Meridian street firms from the
towns in the State is complained of as being
alarmingly slow. large draft, which should
have been received in few hours after it
mailed. carried to Chicago and then re-
tkxv,fC onr1f0 han Hyrn Uhar fhA
name of the proper parties was distinctly witten
the envelope
A postal-card sent by an Indianapolis firm to
Charlottesville. Nov, 20. was returned just TWO
months afterward 1t is kept a curiosity, it
being the first postal-card ever returned to that
firm.
Moore & Coughlen sen, a letter on the oath of
January, marked plainly Isaac Brattam,
Vivalia, Ind" 1t was returned to them on the
27tn. A letter mailed on Tuesday at Morgan
town did not reach them until Thursday after
Griffith Bros think the mail service is the
worst the city has ever had. Their mail they
say, is constantly delayed by miscarriages and
other causes unknown. They gave personal
attention to that a letter would reach Vim
Thursday afternoon On Friday
morning they received a telegram stating that
the letter had not been received An important
letter, mailed to them Monday at New York,
reached them the following Saturday. One of
their men waited in Dayton, 0 for more than
two DAYS for a delayed letter, and the telegraph
was finally called into service for the urgent
reSpoDdence
Merchants also complain that mail from
town Greenfield has not reached it's
destination until three days after it was due.
Custome RS expect orders filled at once. and de-
layed orders occasion loss both to the merchants
aud their customers.
Geo. K. Share 81 Co. say they have made
special trips to the postofice to get mail to
out town point by O'Clock on the same day. In
two instances the letters have not reached their
destination until four days afterward.
Holiday Wyon send many of their receipts
Sfol air hot fha
Office officials have been very careless in hand
ling them. The firm has frequent complaints
from customers that they lave not received
their receipts. In such instances duplicates
were sent out, but they, too were often de-
layed.
Mckee e Branham say their salesmen often
come in ahead of orders mailed by them two
three days before. Another firm letter
with check inclosed addressed to person in
Greencas'le. 1t was lost A letter from the
same firm addressed to the Central National
Bank. Greencastie. has never been heard of
since it was deposited IN the office here Mail
addressed to Granville, Ind. has been sent to
Granville, H.. and returned.
A letter of this kind was started by the firm
again, and the postofice clerks sent it to Gran
vile, O. 1t came back to the firm after many
days. 1t was then Enclosed in official envel-
ope. and finally reached it's proper destination.
Henry Syerup & Son say the j.. NJ. & l. mail
is often not delivered until next day after it
ought to have arrived. An important letter ad-
dressed TO Frankfort. and mailed on the 18th of
January, had not reached there the oath inst.
Three letters addressed to Harrlstown, Ind,
were returned to this firm. Across the fourth
envelope was written, '.Herrstown is in Wash
ington county. Indiana, and on the L.. ~ a &
C. railway. Please do lot return this, as it is
important"
A travelling man of this city was detained
from Monday morning until Thursday because
draft mailed to him from Cincinnati on Satur-
day afternoon did not reach this city until
Wednesday afternoon. 1t was addressed with a
typewriter with street and number. but had
been to Milwaukee and returned.
r. L. Scarlett, of Chipley, Fla, gays that it
requires about two weeks for the Indianapolis
papers TO reach his Office. A letter mailed to
him from New York, in October, did not reach
him unit. December
Several days letter addressed TO A. l..
Brown, No. 290 Lincoln avenue. according
the postoffice stamp, was not delivered until af-
te- three days.
person at briageport Ten miIes out. sent In