The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-05-29

The mai egryscy ~ shs United States
N al 81 branches. II by far the nsoR per
feet and the moss rapad system IN the
world today. distance and a.fftcu.sy OF de-
livery oons!i~red." said Second Assistant
Postmaster General 6hafienberwsp yssses-
day.
The second asstssans po~smasfes 10 here
81 his private car on his annual tour Of
inxpecsion Of ne railway branch Of tho pes-
tai service. An else. ths star routes By
muiebzck or hor~snack. By boat or on
fort ard the regular steamship routes, are
1eft 10 hin sEbordinafes. but the r. p. o.
be looks after hirnesss. lie b a genial ges,-
SiAman, ready faihe1. because be has his
Information .: his hpgers' ends.
sTn comparing she mali service q the
United States Wits that Of other countries.
one shsng must be borne In mind. We
cover thousands of miles. over mountains
and across deserss. every day With our SER
Vice. while IN other countries the whole
1ntsrnas postal service II confined 20 what
q area IN this country would be but an
gie state. or two states at most" cont.n-
uod Mr. 6hAllenbcrxsr. When you stop
70 think that the newspapers OF
Chicago are IN Bo-ton or Washington. dis
trfbuted through the mails. IN time for
hseakfast the next morning. you viii agree
re Are not slow.
BnGReo0G
sThe paa war has probably seen the
greatest Increase IN speed IN the carrying
o. the maiis ever known. rnderatand. .hs
United States government aas no written
contract with any railroad guaranteeing
them she exclusive RICH, 10 carry the
mails between certain points. We make
no binding contracts. Once each year tho
mails are weighed zach day for thirty days
In certain Districts and the pay II based
on sfe average weight. II the weight OF
The mail. tncreasps, the pay decreases. for
No ray less and less An. the tons OF mail
D5le Up.
EVERY railroad having the contract 20
carry through mali from point 10 point.
euch al the Burlington, tina. carries the
mail from Chicago 70 Omaha. nos only
make 4he fastest time. but they must be
ready As any moment 10 take any amount
OF mail that n offered. and II n no unusual
thing fur them to have 20 run n special mail
train Should the Northwestern road have
. wnahout. for instance. We would throw
I'll The mali that slsouid 70 by that route
on the burlington. and. ~ ] said. the pay
deceasee In ratio ~ the weight OF mall
Increases
You can readily understand that the
fnsker the trims run the quicker must rs
sh~ work 81 the men inside the mai. cars
This applies more particularly 10 fast 10
cal runs where there are postoe2fces every
few miles, and where the mali hags are
cauR4, uf ard tossed In the car and toss-
ed out % II with the train going over mile
q minute. Ten or twelve miles when COW
cred In as many minutes leaves the rail-
wav mai clerk but little ttne to open
pouch and sort the Letters consigned from
one station 70 the next. but our boys man
are To DO n, and you would be surprised
20 md how Jew letters are ever carried by
o postofYice.
Clerks Seuss Ne Alert.
~Wlth through natl the men have moro
Hfrn~ az cxysrse but have much harder
work In the United States we have
Aweiler4 wesD hawc come 20 us from every
country on the face of the eurth. There
A. never a through mail that leaves the
East for the West that does not carry lei
tsrs addressed In eyery written. and some
unvrittsn. Language. TO every cline IN the
Occident and tho Orient.
'sasusoa Honolulu South America
Mexico. China Japan. Alaska. Greenland
f3rit.sh Columbia. the Philippines. Asia,
Africa and a hundred and one other ccun-
tries each day receive Its quota ~ mall.
The letters must so by the most direct
route. tho quickest way. II 10 China say,
the mall clerk must know whether the ies-
Ger will catch a steamer from Sssatsle or
from San Francisco first 20 Chinese ports
II II Ii vast and wonderful system and
get tho tens ~ thousands Of men who
harwf,e THE millions ~ letters packages
ard yapers each day make less errors than
r. mazda IN counting house by the ~
counsnrsfs w@ao hav. all their figures before
them
"As IN Hawaii. Csss~A Porto Rico asrl the
Philippines we have far IN no way In
terserest with the domestic arrangements
~ tho postal service. either In the pay az
Postage or manner ~ delivery, exc~r,,
where {: concerns tire delivery ~ mail 10
our own troops In TIL. our own rates ~
postage apply. and we attend TO the de-
livery. VIA. will he DOM In she ru.ure
cannot be even corseeturci az this time
Far iu the Future.
Tho cft-mc~re3 question Of the post.
cftace department ~ ihss government. taxi
NM tr1Ay ~ fa.fa