Mohave County miner., 1888-12-29
OUR EXPRESS SYSTEM.
MARVELLOUS PERFECTION OF OUR
PUBLIC CARRYING SERVICE.


Primitive Methods sf Early Days--wou-
derfui Promptness aud Celebrity OF the
System OF Todsy-A Frequent Canse OF
Mistakes--The ''Old Hoss" Room.
Next to the mystery Of the postoffice, with
its thousands, and even millions, Of letters,
crossing and recrossing each others paths
daily, coming from everywhere and going
everywhere else, With comparatively few
miscarriages, the greet express systems in the
modern public carrying service are equally a
matter OF marvel 70 casual observers. In
primitive days, whsn Keziah Root passed
the door ON regular days of the week in his
farIa wagon on the way 20 market, and was
the common carrier for everything ''goin' to
town. 1t was not hard 60 understand how
the knibbed socks reached Uncle Ben sin
the first white house with g red barn beyond
the orthodox tneetin' house at the corners
or how Aunt Tabby got her pail Of butter,
for Far2er Root wes explicitly directed to
ago down the mash ros1" on his way from
Market, "apd turn In Tie lane next to So
phrony Thomas, she VINO was Sophrony
Pearce, Old 'Dca Pearcss daughter, whose
barn In the medder was burned last year and
lost all his pigs, end slsen 'twould be the
small white house with tde cobbling shop in
trout
Later, as the world grew and modern bush
ness methods aroee with the increase OF
trade the problem Of sending packages,
whether of merchandiseog OF private goods,
was still comparatively flsnple, for the driver
of the express, who took the parcels at the
door, was in the majority Of cases tho sarne
who delivered them at their several destina-
tions Even after the railroads were in
vented and put into common use, during
the first few years the express service did not
form any great sysfeal. kow, however, with
the greatest business csnters OF the world
within the country, and with these centers
ultimately connected with each other by in
Vulnerable ties, public ard private, CONNER
cial ard social the interchange OF goods and
packages has reached al enormous extent,
which is not found anywhere else in the
world. In no other coantry is such mar
yelous amount of businsss done nor such a
perfect running service found And it Is this
proniptEess and celebrity Of dispatch, consid-
cred with the number OF pieces handled and
the confusing variety u designations, which
makcs the wonder OF tt.
a man Is relieved of ell care in sending
parcels. Il is as easy to send package to O
friend In Arizona or a great box OF dry goods
20 q merchant in New Orleans as 70 send
letter to either party. All that Is necessary
after the parcel Is arranged Is to know tho
address of the party To whom one Is sending
the parcel. Instead OK getting postage
stamp ono simply hangs out flag. There
the consignors labor ends. Tho express
company's carrier appears, takes the parcel
In hand, gives a receipt for 1t, which repre-
sents it in value, and the company thereupon
takes full charge of it until it reaches its des-
tination. or until 1t Il handed over, at the
end of that particular company's Limit, into
TIE hands of some corresponding company,
which amounts to the same thing as far as
the sander is concerned. One does not need
10 know anything about the location In the
city IL the address is given, nor take the
trouble 70 find out how to get to the city,
whether 10 is in Maine or New Mexico. The
exprsss people do all that for him.
One OF the most frequent causes OF mistake
In sending parcels is absent mtndedness. "A
clerk will fill out way bill from box
marked for Portland, putting IN the name
and street address all right, and then, with
the name Portland before his eyes, write New
York on the bill. The New York messenger,
I'm the haste Of pressing business, simply
counts the way bills, sees that be has the sew.
enteen or twenty pieces marked New York,
and sends them on. The mistake Is not found
out until the delivery marking takes place In
Few York The same absent way OF writing
what enc does not think occurs with the con-
signors themselves. Very often they send a
box TO q friend ON Fifth avenue, New York,
whose name and number they know init
Inateiy, with an address to some small town
IN Massachusetts,. Another cause for great
deal of confusion is the old markings on dry
goods boxes which have been used before.
Jordan s, Marsh, or any similar large firm,
will sell some OF the packing cases in which
goods come TO them. When the boxes are
again used the address to Jordan 81 Marsh,
Boston, is left upon tho side. The new ad-
dress is put upon the top, indicating. we viii
say. some one in Pawtucket, II. l. Some
where along the line, in looking over the
stock, the messenger picks out all that which
Is going to Boston, among which he takes
the box with the name Of Jordan & Marsh
upon It. Then confusion arises, indeed.
There is a clrions feature in connection
with these losses which Is known in every
express Office as the ''old hoss" room. This
Is the room which holds all Of the unclaimed
wanderers, the tagless waits and ragged out
casts who are awaiting an owner. They are
goods "oD hand" and the letters 80. H." on
the slips which arc attached 10 them gave
rise to the equine appellation. These stray
parcels get into tho "old hoss" room from al
most as many causes as there are startling
varieties 10 their character. The consignee
couldn't be found, and the consignor, al
though duly notified, has never cared 10 re-
claim. One firm has sent goods TO some per-
son at his own order He returns them with
some complaint. The firm will not admit
the complaint, and send them back with
very pressing bill, or else to avoid being held
for receiving them back ut all, they viii not
touch them, but leave than in the store room
Of the express Office.
As neither party win have them, they
naturally go to the dead room. Some are
absolutely lost. No one Of the name indi-
Gated can be found at the address given, and
Tor some reason all trace Of the consignor
disappears. He has moved, or died, perhaps.
So they all drift into tho ''old hoss," and are
,hept year-unless Of a perishable nature
ID then sold at auction. The variety OF
these waits is both interesting and amusing.
There is hardly anything in the domestic
dictionary omitted, from packages OF hair
pins and sewing machines, laces, silks and
tewelry to cooking stoves, guns, tishing
tackle, pals Of tobacco and empty beer
bottles. A large general store could not do
better than to buy the whole stock at what
ever lump price they could buy them in, for
.tx,or+ o,-o,.,- .,r oaivahla thing which could