The Dickinson press., 1897-04-17

increase OF population, 1t Is estimated
thatthe contractor whose bid is accept
ed will be called on to supply 100000 or
6O0. 1000 before 1901, says the New York
Tribune. The boxes in ordinary use are
made of cheap quality Of iron. There
are three sizes. 1t may not be gen
orally known that letter box is
patent affair. That is the fact; so. too.
some OF the improvements recently
made are covered by separate Datcnts.
In such a case the patentee, or tho
owner Of the patent, assigns his rights
to the government for the time the
contract is to run. In addition to the
bids received for iron boxes, some pro-
posals for steel boxes were put In, and
1t Is said that steel boxes can now be
obtained at lower price than was paid
for iron ones under the contract soon
to terminate. The advantages Of the
former. 1t is asserted, are that they
would prove more durable, and that
Vt would be less easy for thieves to
break them open. When Mr.. Wana-
maker was at the head of the post
ONCE department he was favorably i'm
pressed with the idea Of using steel
boxes but when a new contract was to
be made, near the close of his term, he
did not think he would be justified in
imposing the additional expense on the
incoming administration. In connec-
tion with this matter an interesting
story is told by a man in this city, who
has had for some time business rela-
tion with the postof1ce department.
The incident took place in the time of
q former postmaster-general, and in
his office. This Is the way the tale
runs, as narrated by the New Yorker:
Il was in the office of the postmaster
general, as was also another man who
had some interest in the then existing
contract for letter boxes, and in urging
the advantages of using steel for that
purpose told them that it was an
exceedingly easy thing to open the
boxes in use and extract the mail.
Why. said I. I can open one of those
boxes and take everything out of 1t
In four minutes by the watch OF
course, they were incredulous, and the
other man offered to bet 500 that it
couldn't be done. refused to bet, but
1t was arranged that the trial should
be made right in the Office. I went
downstairs to make my preparations.
They consisted in getting fairly heavy
piece of iron and block of pine wood,
both Of which could easily carry in
my coat pockets without attracting at
tention. In the meantime they fixed
up box, put lot of stuff in it and
put on a lock. Then they went out of
the room and locked the door. At the
end Of four minutes they came in with
a triumphant air. was sitting in the
postmaster-general's chair, quietly
whistling. The box lay on the floor
and alongside Of it lay all the mali
they had put in it. The head of the
department looked dumfounded. The
other man fairly turned pale. How
did you do it, they asked as soon as
they recovered from their astonish-
ment. I waited long enough for them
to become impatient. Then lifted the
box and turned it over, showing the
back had been broken in. As soon
as they went out of the room took
the box on my lap. laying the front
down. Then I took out my block and
piece Of iron and, with a single blow,
which did not make noise enough for
them to hear 1t in the next room. broke
open the box and removed the contents.
The whole operation did not take half
the time had asked for. The post
master-general was convinced after
that that 1t was not worth while to
spend large sums Of money in provid-
ing letter boxes with expensive locks.
when they could be so easily broken
into II one wished to get at their con-
tents. OF course. it may be said that
no thief would undertake such a Job
on the streets Of q city, with the chance
that a policeman might hear the blow.
But a man with a pal might easily
avoid the danger Of detection at an
early hour in the morning, for only
light blow is required, the back of
the letter box being very thin-hardly
thicker than sheet iron." Inquiry at
the postohice showed that no attention
had been given to the question of steel
letter boxes and that the matter had
never been brought to the notice of
the officials by the Washington author
tiles. Several years ago there were a
number Of boxes on the extreme west
side of the city robbed by being broken
but such things are rare. The official
giving the information said that, in
his opinion. few thieves would take
the risk Of the noise involved in this
operation when there was no certainty
that anything Of value would be found
in the box; at least, this would be the
case in the settled parts Of the city,
while in the outskirts the chances Of
letters Of value being found would be
exceedingly slim. AS matter Of fact,
some postmasters instruct their mail
collectors that, II lock 10 out of or
der and box cannot be opened in the
regular way, it 10 the mans duty to