The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-09-04
POST OFFICE AT CAV1TE.
UNCLE sAzpS POSTMASTER Rr1nv
FOR BUSINESS.

I'll -. OANNo 10 Hi IuI ODAEONNnnH
IL is only q branch Of the San Francisco oSpoa
= puti ~ le as busy In a way as the head ooncern
t The is Mr.. f., w. VaIl vho =. -
inspector In the railroad Post ofBoe. yIth
. h~eadquartersat Portland. Ore. He onme doHn
: on the China with ten clerks and A safe fnIl ~
goo tnlnes IN the way OF stamps ana sup-
, plies, registry books. money-order torro. -
/, ell that a w~elLreRulated Post Onana ahonis
, have, for this Is going to be a big of1oe. Whon
tt IL establishedIin Manila with the hns,ns.. -
10000 soldiers TO look after, "a we'll ns that ~
the city, It will have a lot to do. The 20 900
soldiers will provide almost as much work
for Il as a town the size Of Omaha.
Mr.. Vail had . notion all the way over thnA
his outfit would be the FIRST thing landed from
the ship. But he was disappointed. There
are other things moro important TO an army
in tho field than q Post ONCE. There IA the
debarkation Of troops. and that requires ali
the cascos that, might be used for taking a safe
full OF postage stamps ashore. After the men
are all in camp their stores must follow. and
as the stores are always loaded hit and mIss
In q troopship. 90 that they must be handled
two or three times in order to get out what h
wanted. IL takes q lot Of time to get the army
things out and be ready at last to handle the
Postmasteris safe. Then. too. the Postmaster
wants an ONCE. he must have IL. Now the
buildings I'm an army post are In the custody
OF tie Qnartermaster. and tho Quartermaster
L IubJ uOWl inc Oubloay man IN the lot. He In
In chargesof o few, hundred other things'as well
as the buildings and all of them require i'm.
mediate attention. He is the big boss OF the
heet OF cascos and the tug misnamed Rapido,
ana he JUS has to make ice cream" all the
time. with no chance whatever to look after
Ithe selection Of Post ONCE buildinga
Besides, mail is q matter OF secondary or
tertiary Importance to an army in the field.
II Is q fine thing to get o lot Of letters, espe-
cially letters from Polly" but the heads Of
affairs are old grayheaded men: who ceased. to
be troubled by considerations OF Polly" long
ago. and are more intent on getting army
work done than they are on getting letters or
writing them. Which. undoubtedly, is good
for the army. however the spruce young West
Pointers and their numerous 'Pollies" may
feel about IL.
So'you see how,naturally Mr.. Vail was mis-.
taken. But troops and stores were finally put
on shore. and the Quartermaster found time
to pick out a building for the Post:OhRce and a
casco to bring the safe ashore. In the mean
time there had been two mails by the trans
ports City OF Sydney and Australia, but every
fellow had to take his own chance of catching
them. There was no Post ONCE to help him.
The building given to Mr.. Vail was a brick
storehouse chat stands on the south side Of
the plaza in front Of Gen. Anderson's head.
and is only a few yards from the
headquarters building. There was a lot Of
work to do in fitting It up. and all of It is not
done yet but the office was formally opened
for business yesterday afternoon. There
was q hoor to be put In, mail box racks to be
built. and a rack for the mail sacks. IL takes
q native carpenter a long time to get ANYTHING
done. particularly when he is working uith
teak. for the wood is 80 hard that it ruins or
binary tools. and nails bend and crumple up
Wnen one tries to drive them throueh IL.
thorough skfrmdsh through Cavite brought To
light three or four old sets OF piReonholed
shelves which do fairly we'll for box racks, and
IN an abandoned schoolhouse was found a form
with Its bench. which serves admirably for ~
general public desk, which is a NECESSARY ad-
unct Of any well-regulated United States PoaA
Office.
Tn Philippine station now consists of two
ooms and a hall. The hall is in the centre
the building. and the main door. IN
the only door. opens into Il. On
me side. to the left as you enter. a low
aiming ana a screen separate the distributing
pom from the public hall. In the distribute
ne room are the mail sack rack. Mr.. YaiI,a
ersonal office. the letter boxes, and Mr.. yaiI,a
ed. Tn drop Dox hangs on the railing. and
ne general delivery window is to be placed
eside 1t. Across the hall. to the right as Won
inter- are the money order. registry and
lamp departments. all in one. with a single
lnooW. Ihere the big safe with its precious
S oAa tLAOIO ING CWO GIAFkA
onway and Kelly. hold forth and have their
1t is an albright Post ONCE. and tba
OOPS are mighty glad to have It.
But the dearest thing about the pbiIinp,n.
ation ID outside the door. It Ia the tbfns
hich most of all gives 1t a homelike air, ana
kes a fellow back to the land where he
lsnes ne could be right now. It is a board
lnGing on the wall. with a long strip of paper
on It bearing the list OF unclaimed
In the Ofhna atI- "a n
aokboard. and there yesterday morninS
me one wrote. Overland mail Sopr div.
70" We thought the other transports Ger
lniy would be In yesterday. hut when late In
Q afternoon nothing had been heard Of them
Q notice on the blackboard was changed
overland mail five days late" The black-
also announced that the mail for home
ls sent to all the ships and to Camn nawaU
lib morning the mail viii be collected md
ought over to the Post ONCE. n ooes
alRht through to San Francisco nv tbe CITY
FekinG, which has been released NV tbs
w from her charter.
zen rom different regiments have been de-.
ied as clerks In the Post ONCE. and the
10 . .ne commands In camp will be made
separately and sent directly to the re0i.
ntai or company Postmasters.
he Ban Francisco Post ONCE did n hr,.
u thing with the mail that was to come ont
the third expedition. It was all nut ON
nd the Morgan City. the slowest of The Ave
osports, Two days after the Morgan CITY
SanrFrancisco. the Newport sailed with
l. Merritt The Newport has been here
days. and the transports are still coming
have the mail for those two DAYS. and we
.ht as Wen have had the other mail, But
. we get two bites at the.eherry.
no new Post ONCE is a great relief n
loied minds. 1t settles the mucb.vareS
ston OF sending soldiers letters nm.
nped; The First Brigade left Ban Francisco Z
as tne Post Once Department issued
noCce OF Its intention about
= letters. and the boys got an idea thai