The record-union., 1894-01-20
How They are Handled in the
New York POStofflce.
An Intricate Service-Great Skill Re-
quired of the Well-Trained Clerks
Sixty Men Employed in That De-
partment Alone-Thousands of Let
ters Received and Dispatched Every
Day fu the Week.


daylight there twinkle thousands of cleo
you will come to stairway which leads
you to the northern end OF the building,
and there, in cramped, insufficient quar-
ters, corps of sixty men receive and dis
tribute each week from Europe alone an
average of one hundred thousand foreign
letters to residents of this city, and three
hundred and fifty thousand additional
letters, addressed to out-of-town people
by each of the incoming mail carriers.
Just how long it takes letter dropped
by friend in London to reach resident
of this city depends largely upon the
speed made by the ocean greyhound
which happens to carry the mail bag.
But within twenty-five minutes after the
black hull OF the steamer has been made
fast at the dock the ten wagons employed
for the purpose have hauled to their deS
tinatiOn the entire mail, and in one hour
and half from its arrival $50 pairs of
hands have sorted and prepared the city
letters, and carriers are on their way to
deliver them. The regular force espe-
clally designated to take charge OF this
department is composed OF it's sixty reg
uIar men, and their hours of duty or
tours" as they are called, are from II
NJ. to 9 z. NJ. and from in the morning
till in the afternoon, and from in the
afternoon till 2 the next morning. The
overlapping of hours is designed 10 pro-
vide against the possibility Of being
short-handed on the unexpected arrival
Of q large mail.
HOW THE WORK Is DIVIDED.
Beside this regular force there are
twelve additional employees, "hoaters,"
so called, not in the sense that this word
is used in connection with Indiana poll
tics, but because their hours OF occupa-
ton depend upon the tides and winds.
They may report at s and work until 8,
or they may be called upon at midnight
to work until the distribution is COM
pleted. Opposite their names in the at
tendance book, which contains COM
plete record OF every man employed in
the department, is a cross, and if they
were not known as 'tloaters" they would
be known as emergency men."
The number OF ports from which the
mail Is received in this city is 100 and the
number of languages represented in the
addresses is 100 multiplied by the various
dialects spoken or written Dy people the
round world over, and in the decipher-
ment Of this multiplicity OF tongues there
is rarely a serious mistake, although
there is no one person specially COM
department.
The "hards," as the illegible or out
landish addresses are called in the slang
of the Office, are sent to the blind
reader' (which seems a misnomer) and
his assistants, and by means of directo-
ries and the forty years Of experience of
the head OF the department the most ILL
directed letter seldom fails to find its
proper owner. OF all the foreign coun-
ri ! GiY lar "a Ch
furnish the best-addressed letters and
Russia and Italy the worst. With refer
ence to the latter country, 1t is curious
fact that correspondents writing to their
friends on this side almost invariably
neglect to prepay the postage, and the
carrier who delivers the mail in the
Italian quarter always carries a small
hand satchel to bring back to the office
the money due for the collect letters"
In adopting this course the writer's take
advantage of the law, which enables any
one to send a letter to any point COM
prised within the postal union.
DIsPATCHING THE MAILS.
In connection with the arrival of the
boats carrying the mails to any part of
the world the Government issues it's
weekly bulletin, in which each ship re-
ceiyes an initial letter beginning with A
and continuing through the alphabet
This letter is used to designate the mail
that came by that particular boat. The
same table contains in another column
the exact time of the arrival of the mail
at quarantine and at New York, and the
initial letter is used to trace any bit of
matter that is either delayed or lost. The
bulletin is, as a rule, dry reading, but a
recent issue contained the interesting
statement that live bees might be shipped
to the Philippine Islands under the classi-
flcatlOn OF SAMPLES"
The outgoing mails from this city are
under two classifications-'cl close" and
"open'-a ''close" mail being one that is
made up for direct transportation to some
particular point. as, for example, from
here to Bombay, while the "open' mail
is via London or some other point. In
the preparation of the bags for shipment
the letters are assorted with reference to
this distinction. Every business man in
New FORK is aware OF the fact that any
letter intended for foreign port must be
placed in the postoffice thirty minutes be-
fore the closing of the mall and the aver
age mum ber of letters received in the last
moments is from six to eight thousand.
This apparently unmanageable mass of
mail is handled by eight people.
Passing from the drop where it is re-
ceived, the letter goes to the cancelling
machine, which can by the aid OF single
man cancel, stamp, and stack $4,000 let
ters an hour. From this machine the
letters are given TO the separators. who
distribute them first with reference to the
country to which they are addressed, and.
second. according as they are for open or
close mail. AT the last moment the way
bill must be made out and in duplicate.
This way bill contains an accurate and
detailed statement of the number OF let
ters, points of destination and the central
offices in this country from which they
nd ho Of hc
and when it is verified and properly
checked on the European side it is the
only receipt which the office has for the
mail that had passed through the depart
ment. The length OF time allowed for this
important task is, at the outside fifteen
minutes.
The letters from this country to Europe
are of course carried to other countries
under contracts made Dy the Govern
ment, and the report Of the Office 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 Canada, which merely passes
through the office in transit
MEASURED BY WEIGHT.
In all calculations the Foreign Depart
ment uses the gramme as the standard of
weight and the centime as the standard of
value and the convenience of this sys-
tenn, especially where weight is CON
cerned, 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, ,170 grammes,
the number of letters would be 623.7I7.
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 it.
self, and the letter bill which accom-
panies the mail of the outgoing steamer is
lettered, numbered and marked in such
a way as to indicate the exact number of
bags, newspapers, letters and registered
letters. The latter are inscribed red
bags" and before any part of this mail
oa N ho rro,,, ha off3oi oil who bo.