Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-11-11
MAKING POSTAL CARDS
HOW THE Pce.llAR LITTLE MESSAGE
BEARERS ARE PUT UP.


Reducing k&Ss 10 Cards and Tsea Frs.s-
Ing Th~m-A Little Ts.a whers fhis
4. p..<-r~u~n.~ Increase In the De-
ns.ai for Postal Cards
American POSTAL cards made tseaf apprar-
aucs in May. 1873. sltis-. which tame the sais
hs, grown 50 rapidly that over Ldo, aam0
have row To lie manufactured every year
Ten t.liIe~ tessw this CITY. GA the cast bank
Of the Hasssoa river, = essttefon, pretty
little country village, overlooking the risrf-
In a ravine. back Il the all on which tas
village srar,sis Is cluster % brsck eaittn<~
In these buildings are manufactures all the
postal carts used by tae government and
from here they are ssnt 10 every eify, Village
and naiflet in the Unitssi States. 20 he esed
BY the patllil. aud sent by them 10 all parts
Of the civilized gsosse-
raE LITTLE RAILROAD
During the year i,>s. considerably ever
billion carts were turned out and sent over
the country. For each thousand Of these nj
tie rniseives the government pass nity-four
cents and for them II rt-,etyes the sum OF slv
In the little rayine are live buildings The
factory where the pe-tass are raaae Is hong
one story structure. about three times as long
a il rs wble la this building all the cards
are printed and cut from the sheets. counted
by machinery, put up IN packages Ok twenty
dye each and packed in pisteboafsi boxes
really for shipment. A large fire proof vault,
built expressly and holding n-0Douo cards,
which are always kept In reserve, Is located
in this building In the south room Is the
government office, where Is located the Chief
clerk ana nine assistants, who are kept con-
stantiy busy recording the acquisitions from
pastmasters and the time of filing them.
The ma-hinery used in making the postal
cards is the usual kind of paper making ma
chinery. and there are sept constantly Ia
motion three washing engines, four beaters
and two SETS of rollers. One set Is used en-
tirelv for postal card work. and one for tbs
finer grade n book paper work for the gov
eminent Each day from four TO seven tons
OF rags are used, besides a large quantity OF
wood pulp, The postal cards are male al
most entirely from rags The rags are car
risd from Cllstletnn on the smallest railroad
in the United States. 1t is a little single
track road connecting with the Hudson River
railroad, and it runs around the hills 10 the
mill One locomotive one passenger car and
postal car constitute the equipment OF the
miniature road The cars are but little larger
than street cars. No operators or station
agents are required to manage its affairs
and no fares are charged passengers or
freight rates collected The little train starts
from Castleton, or the mills, whenever there
are shipments or passengers to go, and re-
turns when any one in authority gives the
word. 1t Is only "A hilli mile from Castleton
all fivst
ride, a they do not care to walk where they
have special train al their disposal.
FROM RAGS TO CARDS.
This little train of cars carries away daily
from the works two car loads OF printed
postal cards, all Of which are brought to this
city and thence distributed. according to the
destination marked upol tacn, all over tile
country, in every postotiice over which I'm
Gle Sam has jurisdiction. To load a car re-
quires between 2.0o0,000 and 100000 of the
little cards, according 10 how they are plc-i-
ed Three million cards max a large Loaf,
as box containing 5000 cards weighs lG1
pounds A thousand cart,s weigh about 81
pounds. or. to he more exact. i,0J0,0Oo carts
weigh 5,:..25 pounds
Climbing up the hill To the largest building
one can easily follow the process by which
postal cards are ma,le. In Il back room OF
the building can be seen a dozen girls il,tse
sole duty is to sort the rags that come i'll
from the collectors. The girls cut OF all
buttons and buckles on discarded garment,
and sort the rass into piles according to
quality, The sortel RAJ are put into hugs
choppinz machine. which rut them into
small pirrS. II then filT- tlieni into a dt!='
machine, where they ar shaken .li cleaned
d..