New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-07

STEEL OR IRON LETTER BOXES
REASONS WHY THOSE or STEEL ARE
CONSIDERED SUPERIOR.

A DEMONSTRATION THAT WAS CONVINCING To
FORMER POSTMASTER -GENERAL-IRoN
BOXES NOT OFTEN BROKEN. HOWEVER,
P,ds were recently opened by the Postmaster
General for supplying street letter-poHes io' w.
coming four years. and the awaro VI .'e
will be made before March T. The number OF oo*eS
| in Use n, close to 100000. With the loss from
breakase and those demanded by natural increase
OF population. It is estimated that the CONTRACTOR
whose bid Is accepted will be called on 10 s"pp'y
400 900 or 100000 before 1901. The boxes In ordinary
use are made OF a cheap quality Of iron There are
three sizes. II may not be generally known that a
letter-box Is patent affair. That Is the fact: So
too some OF the improvements recently made are
covered by separate patents. In such case the
patentee or the owner OF the patent assigns his
rights TO the Government for the time the contract
Is TO
In addition to the bids received for iron boxes.
some PROPOSALS for steel boxes put in. and 1t
Is said that steel boxes can now be obtained at
lower price than paid for Iron ones under the
contract soon to terminate. The advantages OF the
former 1t II asserted, are that they would prove
more durable, and that II would be less easy FOR
thieves TO break them open. When Mr.. Wanna
maker was at the head Of the Postofice Depart
ment he was favorably impressed with the Idea OF
using steel boxes, but when new contract was 70
be made the close OF his term. he did not thinK
he would be justified I'm imposing the additional ex-
pense the incoming Administration.
In connection with this matter. an interesting
story is told by in this city. who has had Tor
some time business relations with the Postofiice
Department. The incident took place In the time OF
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 urg-
Ing the advantages OF using steel for that purpose,
told them that 1t was exceedingly easy thing
TO open the boxes in use and extract the mail
Why said l. I open one OF those boxes and
take everything out OF II in four minutes by the
watch or course they were incredulous. and the
other offered to bet 800 that IT couldn't be
done refused to bet but 1t arranged that
the trial should be made right In the office.
II went downstairs to make my preparations.
They consisted In getting a fairly heavy piece Of
iron and block of pine wood, both OF which
could easily carry In my coat pockets without at
tracing attention. In the mean time they fixed UP
a box put a lot of stuff I'm 1t and put on a lock.
Then they went out of the and locked the
door. At the end Of four minutes they came in with
triumphant air. was sitting in the Postmaster
oor and aonsslds Of lay all the mail they
The head OF the Department looked dumfounded.
II? they asked as soon as they rad recovered from
their establishment. | waited long enough for them
to become impatient. Then lifted the box and
turned IL over, showing the back had been broken
In. As soon they went out OF the room / took
the box on my lap, laying the front down. Then
took out my block and piece OF iron. and. with
them TO hear 1t In the room, broke open the
box and removed the contents. The whole opera
ton did not take half the time had asked for.
The Postmasttr-Ge7eral convinced after
that that IL was not worth while to spend large
sums Of MONEY In providing letter-boxes with ex-
pensive locks, when they could be easily broken
into II one wished 10 get at their contents. OF
course II may be- said that 10 thief would under
take such job I'm rho streets OF city, with the
chances that n policeman might hear the blow.
But man with pal might easily avoid danger
only light blow is required the back of n letter.
box being very thn-hardy thicker than sheet
IRON. Inquiry ut the Postofce In this city showed
that no attention had been given to the question OF
steel lcttcr-boXes. and that the matter had never
been brought TO the notice OF the officials by the
Washington authorities. Several years ago there
n number of boxes the extreme west side
Of the city robbed by being broken but such things
are rare. The official giving the information said
risk of the noise involved in this opera ton when
there was certainty that anything OF value
would be found in the box; ct 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.
A. matter OF fact. some postn aSters instruct
their mail collectors that. II lock Is out of order
and box cannot be opened in the regular way. II
Is the mans duty 10 get hammer a paving
TO report the fact to the station at so that the
broken box can be replaced. II is obvious that
steel box would be less amenable to this process
than iron