The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-03-26
OUR POSTAL SERVICE.
Interesting Facts About Il Told
in q New Book.
WHAT Mr.. wANAAAAkER HAS DONE
Yo0rth Assistant Ro0tmastoP 0onoPnl
Now Swings the Ar Improve.
ment In Foreign Malls.

4fS2r@ATf<S& Nh NCnSA a. w 0noAuoACAp
3y$SS0 fA Marshall Cushing. is
NNkMNA a member of the
NHAJ Wanamaker excur.
WsAk sion party. now en-
n SENM route to Seattle, at
Z which point the trav.
elers viii turn their faces homeward. Mr..
Cushing is well-known newspaper man.
and has recently published "The Story Of
Our Postoffice," which relates, of course.
to the greatest government department.
The telling Of the story is unique. The
book contains thousand pages. and yet
no unnecessary word is used. Five
hundred fine haif-tone engravings appear,
one on every second page. on the average,
and these are mostly made from original
photographs taken in Washington City
under the personal supervision of the
author and reproduced in New York with
similar care by the most artistic and
efficient process.
Mr.. Cushing's special facilities for know
ing the ms and outs of the department,
for knowing what there is entertaining
about it, and for knowing Postmaster
General Wanamaker's ideas about it, can
readily DO seen to have been exceptional.
There is hardly person IN the country
who does not know some one connected
with the postal service, and surely very
few who do not use the mails; SO that in
two directions will hundreds of thousands
of progressive Americans take a personal
interest in 1.-The Story of Our Postoffice.
The different branches of the depart
ment are described and illustrated in de-
tail. But many of the chapters, such as
those about the Louisiana lottery and the
''green-goods" swindles. and the general
the mail, to say nothing Of tho chapters
relating to robberies and smuggling and
obscene literature. form not only topics Of
SURPRISING interest, but also safeguards for
all the people. Here again does the special
personal interest appeal to every man,
woman and child in America.
Each one of the go, 900 men and women
connected with the service may feel, too,
that 1.-THE Story of Our Postoffice" is
written by an authority. Mr.. Cushing
has gone over these proofs most carefully
in consultation with the best postal au-
thorities OF this country, and this fact,
combined with the touch of popular treat
ment which he has given this work, make
it a historic as we'll as popular book. and
it will take permanent place in Ameri-
can literature.
erals Office. says Mr.. Cushing, which has
charge of the transportation OF all the
mails disburses annually some $25, 600, 600
for the pay OF railroads alone, and its total
disbursements to all classes of contractors
is over SO, GOO ,000 The pay of postmasters
and clerks and of mail contractors is regu-
lated by the laws of congress. A dissatis-
n Is ~ g.
matter how much or how Justly he may
be dissatisfied, finds himself confronted, if
he visits the department or writes to some
officer of the department to complain,
with certain laws and regulations which
cannot be overridden. In numerous
cases, no doubt. these laws and regula-
tons work injustice. but generally they
are good and necessary. A common
trouble with them is that they do not
provide enough for the employment and
pay, from time to time, of new agents.
Changes in the laws and regulations
that would be wise are repeatedly brought
TO the attention of congress by pOstmasters
general or by members of one of the
branches of congress. and unwise and i'm
possible changes are much more numer-
ously presented to the law-making body
by demagogues (who are not unpatriotic
enough to expect the measures to go for
ward into actual legislation) and by I'M
speakable cranks and lobbyists who know
nothing about their subject, or who make
it their invisible business to grind axes tor
Others.
The bureau of the railway mail service,
the largest and most important i'm the
office of the second assistant postmaster
general, has charge of the movement of
mails over all railroad routes, determines
what trains shall carry the mails, directs
the dispatch, distribution and separation
of mail matter in railway postoffices and
the principal postoffices, conducts the
Weighing of mails when ordered, prepares
the orders for appointment, removal. pro-
motion and reduction of postal clerks, has
supervision of the discipline of the en-
ployes of that branch Of the service, and
conducts the correspondents relating to
these matters. This branch of the depart
ment has . general superintendent In i'm.
mediate charge who. with the assistant
general superintendent. has his headduar.
tiers in the department.; but in order to
supervise the innumerable details of such
an extended service 1t Is necessary to have
division superintendents, each in charge
of a certain quarter of the country. At
present there are eleven division superiu.
tendents.
There are about 6,4oo railway postal
clerks in the country all told. This nun.
Der includes the men who do the actual
distributing In ms cars, ana also men de-
tailed at important points throughout the
country. as division clerks. etc. Of the
total number there are 240 detailed to
offices and 260 detailed to transfer DUTY:
and almost $500 are actually EMPLOYED in
distributions on railway lines The fifty
employed similarly on steamboat lines
have regular quarters and distribute mails
just as on the railroad cars.
These last are peculiar in construction.
A railroad company. when il contracts to
carry mails, contracts also for suitable
room with proper equipment, such
as letter cases, paper cases, stor-
age room, etc, for the proper treat
ment of the mails. When. however.
the department requires an entire car the
company is entitled TO extra compensation
above the regular pay for Transportation.
The department pays for forty-foot rail-
way postal cars at the rate of SIS per mile
per annum; that is. If the line over which
the car runs is aO miles long, the company
would be entitled To 5000 a year.
The railway mali service has daily
paper. L, is the Daily Bulletin, and is
circulation is a!Inos, l, l0l IL Is printed
in the basement OF the postotfice depart-
ment; and printers set over 4.oO0. 90
ems of matter for II In wear At this de-
par,mental printing Office work for the
third division of the railway mail is also
done. like the seTnl-weekly issue Of the
general orders" about changes in the
service of that division. and the facing
slips" OF which about 90. go are printed
yearly Each OF the other divisions has a
small ssprinting office OF its own. The