New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-11-15
~r,r.yORK'S POOR POSTAL SER'Io

NETWORKS POOR POSTAL "H"
,c,,, nronosa, TO use horseless wagons lor 'iic
20 ,,,oiI in this city, following closely
'o",N o.,aoossfr, Introduction Of the collecting
o'' Wv themselves. will inspire New-lorKe
"aso ~, hono that at last some effort Will DE
m,da To give them an adequate pos'"i 'o' ~
While the Postoflice of this GU! cam
money for the Postoffice Department 'ii'h '''"'
90 onv other city in the Union, its service 's'
IN many respects. little better IMAM 'n"' "a
-, town The trouble is not with the fos'-
-. or HE staff of assistants. They 90 the
-. ,ho, CON under the circumstances, anu
some of them we believe, are overworkeu' no
~. =. ,hot Congress- has never done justice 10
New-York in making appropriations ior 's po'
toI service The point has been iost s'sh' %
that in q sense, the New-iork Postohce ID '"e
..rnro, nostofiIce for the whole country, anu
e.. ,ho.oforo every improvement In its SER
vice is beneficial to the people OF inc coun'i! III
.,,oro, jealousy of the financial and COM
mercial supremacy Of this city mas 700 oi'e.
swayed the votes Of congressman anu in''e"u
or roaming any benefit from its enormous
profits the New-York Postoffice Is seriously Grip
r,od for tho lack of funds TO do It's work prop
er,v. while it's profits help to make good the
losses OF the Department in other places.
Whom we come to compare our postal service
Itch thot NJ rho great cities Of Europe, we see
M once how far behindhand New-1orK Is III us
postal facilities There are more IMAM Twice
as many mail deliveries in London as there are
In this city. a letter in London reaches us oes-
tination In less time than 1t does In New-1orh
and the deliveries in the English metropolis are
more regular than in this city. AS result
pcople can tell almost to the minute when
letter will reach the person TO whom 1t Is ad-
dressed. This certainty as to the time or de-
livery must add largely to the business OF the
London postofficc; for correspondents can trust
the postOfiice to carry out for them Important
social or business engagements. On the other
hand, the New-YOrk P0stOffice loses great
deal Of business because OF the slowness ana
uncertainty of its deliveries. There are proba-
bly, few NEWCOMERS who have not learned
from personal experience that the mails cannot
be trusted in making engagements, unless
margin of several hours is allowed. A decent
and adequate postal service In this city, such
as we ought in justice to have, would doubt
less be costly, but not nearly as much so rs at
first sight would appear; for the increased ef-
ficiency In the service would largely increase
the business Of the Office. and consequently Its
profits
II is hardly to the credit OF Americans that
they are so SLOW in introducing the pneumatic
service In the postof1ces Of the larger cities
This service Is entirely feasible for sending
mail to branch stations: and II would not only
much expedite the delivery of letters but In the
end result in n great saving Of money. There
is another possible application Of the pneumatic
service, which no one as yet seems to have
thought Of, but which. with some improvement