Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1893-12-25

ton and the central offices in this
country from which they come ana
the weight of the entire mail, and when
it is verified and properly checked on
the European side it is the only re-
ceipt which the Office has for the mail
that had passed through the depart
ment. The length of time allotted for
this important is, at the outside, tif-
teen minutes.
The letters from this country to Eu-
rope are of course carried to other
countries under contracts made by the
Government, and the report of the Of
fee at New York is the basis upon
which payment is made. This is true
of all mail handled at this port with
the exception of the mail from Can
ada, which merely passes through the
Office in transit.
In all calculations the Foreign De-
partment uses the gramme as the
standard of weight and the centime as
the standard of value, and the con-
venience OF this system, especially
where weight is sconcerned, may readily
be seen from the fact that each letter
is supposed to weigh ten grammes, so
if the amount of weekly mail was, as
it happened to be one week during
this month, 6.237, ITO grammes, the
number of letters would be 623, III.
This thumb rule is used only for rough
estimates, for the United States mail
is as accurately accounted for as though
each letter were fortune in itself, and
the letter bill which accompanies the
mail OF the outgoing steamer is let
tered, numbered and marked in such
way as to indicate the exact number of
bags, newspapers, letters and regis
tered letters. The latter are inscribed
''red bags" and before any part of
this mail can be removed from the of
fetal who has charge its exact detail
must be verified and approved
To facilitate the immediate delivery
such as Naples, which is en- route to
the general delivery of Modena-Turin,
the Naples mail is placed in a sack
within n sack and at the proper station
is thrown on the platform while the
main mail goes to the central point of
the distribution.
To prevent the loss of the mail bag
every possible precaution is taken and
each tag thst bears the address is in
duplicate. These tags are printed on
the stoutest linen and are so tied that
if the outer address becomes torn off
or lost there will still be on the inside
bag its counterpart giving the neces-
sary information. The corps of the
foreign department is more stable and
changes less. frequently than any other
of the postal service, and this is largely
due to the fact that without experience
it would be utterly impossible to
master the intricacies of business
which presents as difficulties not only
an infinite amount of technical detail
and the reading of foreign tongues.
but knowledge of exigencies which
may arise at any moment and are de-
termined solely by the condition Of
winds and waves.
A vast number of letters is distri-
buted on the steamers themselves by
employees who are known as "sea p.
O.'s." This experiment has proved
complete success, and ON each of the
boats there are two clerks and an as
sistant How large an amount of
matter is thus made ready for imme-
diate transition may be inferred from
the fact that they frequently work dur
ing the entire passage from sixteen 20
eighteen hours per day. New York
Herald.