The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1897-10-19
POSTAL SERVICE.
There Are 1854 Railway Postal Lines.
Manned by 1854 Clerks.
There Are az Steamboat Lines With 81
Cierks-Grand Total of Miles Travelled
by All Glasses of Service 2S2 ,S3O,O31
Pneumatic Tube Mail Service.

WAsHIN GTON. Oct. 1s.-An abstract
of the annual report of the general SUI
perintendent of the railway mail serv-
ice follows:
At the close of the year there were
1, 164 railway post Office lines, manned
by 1854 clerks: 33 electric and cable
lines, with 102 clerks; AZ steamboat
lines, with 81 clerks, making total
number of lines 1929, and total num-
Der of clerks 7,013. In addition to
these there were 81 clerks assigned to
duty at important functions and depots,
and 23S detailed to clerical duty in the
various offices of the service, making a
grand total of 1862 clerks.
The miles of railroad covered by rail
way post office car service was 154, 225;
of electric and cable, 303, and of steam
boat lines, 7,459. The grand total of
miles travelled of all classes of service
was 282, S3O,O31. There were ga whole
cars in use and 173 in reserve, and = ,026
apartments in cars in use and $40 in re-
serve
The number of pieces of all classes
of mail matter distributed ON the cars
during the year was II, 571, $40, $50, ex-
elusive of registered matter and city
| mail Of registered matter there
were 16,256,663 pieces in all. The
amount of city mail distributed for
stations and carriers during the year
| aggregated 49,, 469, $40 pieces. The in
crease of ordinary mail handled over
| the previous year was 81 per cent. A
comparative table covering a period of
| 10 years shows that there has been an
increase in the amount of mail handled
| of 77.2 per cent and increase in the
working force of 1876 per cent.
There were $50 casualties during the
year, in which IA clerks lost their lives,
SO were seriously and rs slightly in
cured. This is a larger number of cas-
ualties and fatalities than has occurred
during any previous year since the or
ganization of the service. The passage
of bill for the relief of the families of
| clerks killed in the line of duty; of
clerks injured and untitled for service
permanently, or temporarily, and for
the retirement on partial pay of clerks
who have served so long as to be unfit
ted for service, has again been urged.
berger, second assistant postmaster
general made public Sunday night
gives an interesting review of the prin-
cipal developments in the entire postal
transportation service of the United
States and connecting foreign mails.
1t shows an aggregate of appropria-
tions for this large part of the postal
service for the current year of $51, 041, >
23S; the probable deficiency is $780,
900, making the estimated eXpendi
lures this year $51, 541 1888. This will
be 81 ,623, O45, or three and one quarter
per cent. more than for the fiscal year
just closed. The estimate for the fiscal
year, 1899, is $50, 337 ,26O, which is 81, 1885,
021 more than the estimated expendi-
ture for the current year. The an
nual rate for the inland mail service in
the year just closed was $40, S62, O74, and
for foreign mail service 81. 791, 10, after
deducting $25S, O29 for intermediary
service to foreign countries.
Last year there was only one pneu-
matte postal tube in operation in the
country, that in Philadelphia. Since
then four more contracts have been
executed in Philadelphia, New York,
Boston and between New York and
Brooklyn.
Concerning this new postal feature
Gen. Shallenberger reports: 1T is quite
possible to carry second, third and
fourth class matter as well as first,
when it can be made profitable. EX-
tensions to stations several miles
distant from the main office, event
ually, will save clerical force as
well as expedite delivery in distant
cities from II to "a hours. The most
important source of revenue to the
department will be the large increase
of local correspondence and special de-
livery letters. The extension of the
tubular system will be necessarily slow
and probably confined to populous
centerS.