Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-12-03
HORSELESS NAIL WAGONS.

1t was announced today at the post
Office that within a week or so the first
horseless mail wagons ever used in the
United States viii be put upon the
streets of this city. Superintendent of
Railway Mail Service Bradley, who has
special charge of transportation mat
tiers in this city, said:
L believe that the experiment will
be successful, and that their general
adoption will revolutionize our service.
The first wagon of this description is
now being built. Just when it will
arrive cannot yet say. Our. expert
ence with the collecting wagons now
in the service has demonstrated their
usefulness beyond all doubt, and l con-
slider them a pronounced success. They
are not intended so much to save time
in the transmission of mail from points
OF collection to receiving stations as
they are to expedite the handling of
the mails. This. they certainly do. AS
it is now, mail collected from street
boxes by one of these wagons is stamp
ed, assorted, separated and made ready
for Immediate shipment to points of
destination as soon as it reaches the
station. All the time it is in transit
is thus used to good advantage When
we have a sufficient supply of these
wagons we can take mail collected
from the street boxes to- postal-cars
direct, without sending it to the gem
eral office or to stations. at ALL This
will improve the service in all parts
of the city and save much time"
Horseless wagons were considered
by the authorities at the time the or
binary collecting wagons were intro
duced in this city a few weeks ago, and
since the experiment has proved sue
cessful, it is now proposed to extend
and improve the service as soon as
possible, so as TO relieve congestion at
the general office and at the substa-
lions. General G. Nelson, second as
sistant postmaster general, who has
given special study to the transporta-
ton problem connected with the mail
service of this city, believes thorough
ly in the use of collecting wagons for
the local service.
Concerning horseless wagons, he
says in his annual report received in
this city Tuesday: ct is hoped that
the experiment with the horseless wa
CONS, which will be tried during this
fall will be successful, and will en-
able the department to put these col
lection wagons in service at a greatly
reduced expense, the theory being that
the horseless wagon will be very much
less expensive to operate than the
horse wagon. This will be thoroughly
tested, and the information that is
needed gained in a very short time
The hOrseless wagon that is being con-
structed is built upon identically the
same plan as the horse wagon, and will
accomplish exactly the same result as
far as the service goes, the only diff
ference being in the mode of locomo-
ton
This matter is of more Importance
to the department than the casual OBJ
server would imagine, because should
such arrangements as are desirable
and quite possible be made in large
cities, especially the City of New York,
giving the department at least rea-
sonable pneumatic-tube service on
both sides of the island and making it
quite possible to establish through
system of cross-town collection wa
CONS, so that mail may be collected,
properly distributed in these wagons
and delivered to pneumatic-tube sta
tiOns the natural results will be that
a large number of wagons will be
needed. Of course such scheme prop
erly worked out would be as near the
perfection of mail service as it is likely
will be reached for some years to come.
but it is not impossible; in fact, it is
very probable that such arrangements
are within the reach of the department,
and every effort is being made to bring
about such result. 1t is hoped that
this will be accomplished without a
corresponding increase in expenses. 1t
may be that the present expenditures
will be sufficient to cover the require
ments of the department for some
years to come, which will be in reality
a reduction, as the present mode of
handling mails will naturally have to
be increased in the very near future
if continued on the old plan. New
York Evening Post.