Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-06-20
DEOPLE WHO WRITE LETTERS OFTEN


l. complain of the trouble that is caused il
their preparation and sending. but their diff
culties are not to be compared to those who
handle the tons of written and other mail mat
ter that leaves the city post office daily for ali
parts of the world A visit to the Office would
only reveal a scene of hustling of the en-
ployes and for the moment would excite
more or less interest. To understand the
| systematic movements going on could not be
told in few words and to fully appreciate them
one would have to spend sufficient time to learn
| them.
In the Office can be seen men engaged in
various kinds of work, keenly intent and busy
after manner which comes of experience.
These men go to make up the history of let
ter or package intrusted to the governments
care for dispatch and delivery to the person adj
| dressed. Every man employed has his number
| and place and is responsible for the work in his
charge.
TRACING A LETTERS JoURNEYINa.
When person drops letter in a box upon a
| street corner lamp, his only thought is, will it
get to the person addressed and how soon? His
| work ends there; but it is taken up by letter
carrier. who brings it along with other letters to
| the main Office, where he separates the local
| mail from that for outside places. Az he does
this man in the mailing division gathers up
the outside mail and carries it to the
| stamping table, where the stampers cancel the
postage with stamps bearing the date of the
month and their own number. When Cancelled
the letters placed by him in a trough at
| taehed to the table. These letters are taken
away by men whose duties are to assert them
into cases. Each case bears the name of n state
or city. When the hour for closing the mail
arrives the .'stater, rs he is called. takes out
the letters from the cases and puts upon each
bundle slip. This slip has the name of
the state Or city upon it. also the name
| OF the post office, the postmark showing hour
and date OF dispatch, as also the clerks num-
ber When his work is finished another clerk
who is called the dispatcher, gathers up the
bundles OF letters and puts them in leather
pouches. Before locking up the pouches the
dispatcher" places his slip in a steel slide
the contents. and a slight error in this regard
would occasion much delay if a wrong slip was
used.
ANOTHER CLASS OF CLERKS.
There is another class OF clerks who handle
the mails whose duties are more difficult than
those of the .'stater." The latter simply puts
letters into boxes labeled with the places easily
understood. while the former asserts his mail
to differently labeled boxes. These men work
the east, west and south cases This means
That the states they have to send letters into
are TO BE- carefully worked by the post
offices in the same. This is no easy
task, as the various post offices in
the states worked have TO he memorized as
also the counties in which the offices are To-
Gated, the post Office routes and the hour for
dIspatchin5s the mails. ANY one desiring to
understand the difficulties to be overcome is
respectfully referred to the Postal Guide" and
asked to commit to memory the post offices To-
Gated In the states of Ohio, West Virginia and
Tennessee, to start with a. job to work on what
* called Tpoh her IpIig
and Texas as case number two, or Georgia
North and South Carolina as case number
three. These men have slips which differ from
the ''staters' III that they are sent to what is
called the railway post office. where the clerks
see that the letters SO addressed reach the
proper places.
THE RACK ROOM.
This is a mere outline af the handling Of the
letters, and as there are other things that go in
the mail some attention should be given to the
latter. Letters. as is well known, form what is
called frst-class matter. Newspapers and pc
riodicais are of the second class. Printed mat
ter, other than newspapers, and matter printed
at least four times per year, seeds, flowers,
bulbs. &c, form the third class while the
fourth class Is made up of everything
that Is called merchandise. All these
classes are assorted in what is called the rack
room" The scene presented here is novel to
the stranger who invariably feols,au interest in
what Is going on. Clerks throw with deXtrous
aim packages, books. heavy or light articles
into sacks which are securely fixed to iron
racks. Upon each sack is placed slip for the
state. city or railroad to which 1t is destined
The clerks have the same duties and responsible
tiles as those handling letters
To fully understand what has been stated
explanations will be in ORDER Very few know
that the Post Office Department looks with
great care upon very small things This is
necessary. the small things make up the
accuracy and sale delivery OF every article of
mail.
KNOWN BY HIS NUMBER.
Every clerk, before assuming his duties as
such, takes an oath to be true to the govern
ment, and he is also required to file bond
with two or more bondsmen. He is given
number and is never known by his name. The
reason is simple. The number Identifies him
when amy question about his work arises. II is
trap that keeps him confined at all times and
places any error committed by him upon
himself and affords no Ioophole for accusing a
fellow clerk. The ''stater' in placing a wrong
letter under his slip will soon hear of his mis-.
take as the post office clerk receiving the slip,
whether in Maine California or anywhere
else, Is bound to make known the error. The
slip, with error written on ii is returned to the
postmaster, who has the error made charged
to the unfortunate clerks. The number of err
rors made during the year seriously interferes
with the clerks raise in salary or continuance
In office. The full knowledge of the penalty
for negligence or carelessness awakens in every
clerk an anxiety to keep clear of errors. The
unhappy day for him is when he gets from the
proper official slip which sets forth the errors
he has made. His feelings are indescribable
and it is safe to say that he says thereafter
things that don't sound religious like The
sack man, too, gets his share of errors should
he sling package in the wrong sack There
Is no loophole for escape. and the only thing to
be done is to grin and bear the trouble or per-
chance kick ones self for doing what is thought
was not possibly done.
The errors made in the city Office, if taken
into consideration with the vast mail handled
are decimally small. This is not however,
overlooked, as the principle is ACCURACY" 1t
matters not how efficient the clerk is. he il not
expected to make an error. and he gets a repri-
mand equally severe as his fellow clerk.
whose ability may not DE nearly good as his
SO much, then. for the error made by the letter
handler.
THE sTAMPER'S RESPONSIBILITY
The stamper is an individual whose import
ance cannot be pnderestimated, aud his re-
sponsibilities are as much as those of his fellows
His postmark is expected to be clear and well
defined. The necessity for a good postmark
has often shown its value TO the government in
cases of suits at law brought into the courts, or
In the settlement of complaints with the pub
lie. He has to be very careful in STAMPING
SO that he does not cancel q washed stamp or
any other stamp than that legally authorized