The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1892-11-09
HOUSE POST OFFICES.

Postmaster General wanamaker's New
scheme for Public Convenience.
On December l, next, the manufacture of
letter.boxes for the private use OF house
holders all over the Union will begin The
contrivancos are to be introduced to all places
where there is free delivery and it is estima'
ted that 2,G1s,267 will be required.
The advantages of these boxes are mani
fold Let it be supposed that Mr.. A, who
owns a box, has written "a letter at his home
Having no stamp, he drops it with ? cents
into the collection compartment OF the box
ou the inside of his front door. The act OF
lifting the lid of this compartment to put in
the uissiye automatically raises into view
target on The outside of the door which bears
the word "maiw in big letters. Presently
the postman comes along, sees the target DIS
played. unlocEs the compartment from the
outside and takes out the letter and money.
Very likely he has letters to deliver in which
case he unlocks lower compartment in
tended for the reception of mail, and drops
them in.
Nothing appears on the outside of the
door but a slot and two keyholes The oc-
cupants of the dwelling has its own keys for
opening the compartments from within If
he wants to procure stamps or stamped en-
yolopes he encloses the money for them in an
envelope with an order indicating the mum
Der aud denominations required. He drops
this envelope into the collection compartment,
Al. vs. I,f a1- n
post office, where the order is filled. On his
next trip he delivers the stamps two 2-cent
stamps being retained and cancelled for the
service.
1t remains to be seen whether people will
be disposed to pay so much as 81 or 81 for the
privilege of having small post Offices in their
own dwellings IN perpetuity. The boxes vii will
last indefinitely inasmuch as they cannot get
out of order. Owing to the simplicity of
their construction, they will need no repairs.
Think what luxury such a contrivance will
be! No more going out in the rain with
letters, no more trouble to get stamps and
last, but not least, no more entrusting OF
precious missves to the untrustworthy pocket
of the man Of the house. To have the boxes
put in, two-thirds of the householders on a
route must agree to buy them, selecting th eli
own patterns
These letter boxes constitute an important
feature in Mr. Wanamaker's postal telegraph
scheme, by which every residence, factory,
and office in the nation will some day be
brought, as he believes, into electrical com
munication with every other residence,
factory, and Office His idea is that tele.
! grams should be conveyed to and from the
boxes by the regular letter carriers. For
example, Mr.. lives in San Francisco and
| his wife is visiting her mother in New York,
! He wishes to know by what train she will
return. Instead Of going to a telegraph
Office several blocks distant and sending a
message at the cost of dollar or two, he
writes postal telegraph letter and drops it
| into the box in his own house.
Not having a stamp, he deposits with the
letter two cents for postage, and sufficient
additional sum to cover the cost Of tele-
graphing low rates having been established
by the government, of which he is informed
by simple tariff sheet pasted inside his
letter box lid. The postman collects the
letter and delivers it to the operator at the
post office, who telegraphs it 10 the New
York post office, whence it is delivered by the
first carrier to the box ON Mrs. BIS mothers
door. Mrs. B writes a postal telegram in
reply and deposits it in her mothers box
Being a woman she isa triae more anxious
to make sure of speedy delivery at the other
end so she puts ten cents additional in the
box, which insures special delivery, as under
the present system. On the same day Mr.. B.
in San Francisco, finds the answer to his
letter in his box, and blesses the post Office
department, haying saved incidentally, per-
haps, dollar
A SINGLE trial of DR.. Henry BaXter's Man