The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-11-18
THE CITY'S POSTAL NEEDS.
PROBLEMS RAISED mr. THE COM.
ING OF GREATER NEW YORK.

recent visit TO Europe he spoke with admiration
of the London Post Office and regretted the in.
feriority of tho New York office. The Post Of
nce must before long consider tho needs Of the
coming Greater New York. The London that
Postmaster Dayton had in mind has now apopu-
lation exceeding by more than a million the pop
ulation Of the Greater New York and an area OF
about 200 square miles less.
Assistant Postmaster Gnyler talked nj some
length the other day about the possibility OF
giving the Greater New York n postal service
equal TO that Of London. Mr.. Gayler makes no
attempt to give accurate estimates of the NUM-
her of employees needed TO accomplish this. ~.
does he compute the probable cost, because IL is
not known whether the free delivery system
would be accorded to the wholc district. New
York Is about the only great city of the coun-
try having free postal delivery over its whole
area. When Brooklyn took in n considerable
suburban area, part Of IL did not receive
free delivery. There Is another delicate and
interesting question as 20 postal arrangements
In the Greater New York. Shall the Post Offices
of the annexed cities and villages become sub
stations Of the New York onlcep That is what
happened when Harlem was taken I'm and when
the annexed district was added to the city. by
analogy the Post Office OF Brooklyn should be-
come n sub-station of the New York Office and
the Postmaster Of Brooklyn a deputy of the New
York Postmaster. Furthermore. under the pres
ent law there could be but one superintendent
Of city delivery for the Greater New York. and
that officer in this city Is already over
worked. The law would probably be amend-
ed 80 as TO make one w~ell.paid officer re-
sponsible for delivery throughout the whole
area, but also in such a manner as to provide for
him at least two we'll paid and competent depu-
ties who should take many Of the actual details
off his hands. Whatever the final adjustment
of powers and duties, the work Of administering
the. postal system of the Greater New York,
with u population Of more than 5000. 900 occu-
pying, an area of more than 300 square miles.
land to the most denseiy peopled square acre On
earth. will tax the skin and energy of the cx-
now included within, Il p0t the dis dist EEsn' 10 Eoi make R.n tSs
postal system Of tho. newly welded cities equal
70 that OF London will DO an expensive and la
Assistant Postmaster Gayler thinks that the
sgpsST siSTi yyo of the lII L %ni6Ir Post iS &c ONCE Nice over that
delivery Of mails in all parts Of London; There
are nearly IL 900 employers in the London Post
duty. There arc nearly. 1900 regular letter
carriers. not counting subs" The area that will
bly,. fewer than half that number of carriers; in
fact, hardly more than loo. London
have nine. COLLECTIONS In the busy parts off
partly because the smaller New York letter
boxes make frequent collections absolutely
busy hours down town every fifteen minutes,
and 4 they were made less frequently the boxes
sometimes more than they can put into their
One important consideration hears upon the
possibility Of giving as frequent free deliveries
to all parts OF the Greater New York as London
earns from $3.50 to SIS a week. With a Sight inr
earns from S'n $500 to s., 1000 a Year, and there isa
movement looking 10 a maximum of 81. 2Ooa
year ana u pension. Every Increase in the FREE
quency Of mail delivery in the crowded parts
for itself in the increased postage from local
letters, and Assistant Postmaster ,ihylcr be-
crease in the frequency Of deliveries much ~
the business now done by messenger Companies
Once Of This city carried last year %4iao,oo1oS
special delivery letter., bearing twelve chnt.
RISsrssS, f% ABOUT 'ns IS sP per- 3 cent aei a sGsr D sincs il WAS WAS
established; > II regular. deliveries were as
be small need in business houses to put
q special delivery. stamp on a letter;
parts Of the Greater New York would not he
profitable To the Post ONCE. This l. especially
districts part Of w esn.hn tsi'"e COUNTY mr. inc A ,sieIsHt
Postmaster Gayler is inclined Ia. think that
I minS, are Ire s s1ms E,ilaseS where Spec,ds dI.IN;Tn
Post Office when mail mgtter is to be dlstrinuted
transit is absolutely necessary To, make, the
pos postal S Systsm Of this city equal to that q Ign
livery. says That rapid transit is an immediate
necessity. What the Post ONCE seeks Is q sys-
tenn Of its own to connect the general Post ONCE
with the sub-stntions and the sub-stations with
one another, The elevated railways and ths
brooklyn Bridge cars are the nearest approach
to rapid transit for mails throughout n larger
part Of the area that will form The Greater
discussed pneumatic tube system AS impracti-
Gable for the despatch Of heavy packages. Tho
tubes connecting the general Office and the sub
stations, but these tubes are used not Tor the
exchange of messages touching postal business.
An inventor has recently visited the Post OGics
by pneumatic tube with the station Ia which IL
IS tributary. lie would arrange his device -
box would speed it on is WAY to the suh-siation.
This would do away with the labor Of coll"ct-
though il would hardly provide for col
packages. Mr.. Hayler i inclined To
be seriously thought Of. There was a company
sevcra! years since 10 build an electric
way Of The bridge, but nothing has been heard
Of the scheme for a long, time, Mr.. ,iayier be-
solve the problem. The thing has been tried
with some success t Boston, and there i a short
visited MIR. Gayicr To suggest The use of r tubu-
lar electric r3,lwag tor his purge nnd iGSlrfd
plans for the sch,mr. Without giving this par-
ticular scheme his approval, the Assistant Post
With such an clcctrl" railway mad" strong
enough tn carry large sacks Of mail matter u
hC possible 10 ~Cnu fiall matter from tlS
general Post once Ia Harlem in five or six
instead Of forty or ilttN minutes n now.
journey tO IN" BrOoklyn Post once would
be a tritc, and almost any -ub--tatI0r within
the area of the Greater New YORK could 10
in "A few minutes. 1t would vastly Ia
Cilitate the despatch uf outgoing mail, Ia the
great central station. and would solve the UE-
moving problem of slow delivery hetwera Ibis
and IirOOhlyn.
The Post ONCE f the Greater NcwNork will hs,
after London, the greatest city postal system in
the world. II VIII, however. fall tar suurt ~ tas
numlEr of employees IN the l.oud ~ ofi'r. Nir.
believes that the New Work 4ytlr" r1r-
aCcornplishus NOR, than bis lr''lUr Ca"rI,r
ia London. and every device for promoting
rapid transit rendcrs the carrie more cur,fIEs
here. There are outlying village, within iuJ
IireatFr New YORK area N here ON" may s''ll sea
the mail pouch carried by a woman ainnl nu-
tween the local Post Oricc and The lgr,rT Office
upon which II j., dependent. Many -nAil
Post Offices IN the region arr now practically
suh-stations - he New York office. hUt uut d-
rectly subject 10 the suthurity ~ the i~'u~tlnss-
and are admini-tt red IN "a sluyruly h>hiun