The evening times., 1899-01-18
WANT PNEUMA,TifG TUBE
MAIL SERVICE RETAINED
A PROTEST FROM NEW YORK
Views of William II. CorwiFe.
Representative of the Merchants
Association of That City.

Views of William II. CorwiRe. II
Representative of the Merchants'
Association of That City.
The Merchants Association Of New
York has protested against the action OF
the House Committee on Postofiices and
Postrcads in striking out of the postofflce
appropriation bill the item providing for
the continuance of the tubular system in
New York and Philadelphia. 1t has not
only protested against this, but against
the action of the committee in practical
ly denying TO other cities the benefit which
has been found to accrue from this i'm
provement in the postofice service. Its
representative here is William r. Cor
wine, who said to reporter:
"A special meeting of the Committee of
the House CT RepresentatiyessonsPc on sPcstohices
and Postroads has been called for next
Friday at which it is expected there will
be reconsideration of this subject. The
necessary signatures for this special meet
ing were obtained this afternoon. Fhe ac-s
ticn of this committee in striking out this
item is a very serious blow to the extern
son CT the Improvement Of the p0stofhce.
system of this country, as demonstrated by
the use of the tubular system in New ork7
and Philadelphia especially. 1t seems TO
u.s. as a business organization, that every
effort should be made to cut down the time
of the mail service between large centers
of this country, and that when the mail
reaches a large center its local delivery
should not be relegated back to the SLOW
service of distribution through wagons.
This is the case as it stands now. although,
of course, in some instances the trolley
cars are used to quicken the distribution
of mails in large centers The tubular sys-
TEN, however, is far quicker than the troll
ley car or any other method of transporta-
tion within the limits of a city, and yet,
Notwithstanding the utility of this i'm
provement, as shown by the testimony OF
those who have had to do with it. and by
the mercantile industries, the small
amount Of money necessary for its main
tenance and extension is not allowed in
the regular postoffice bill. The Postoffice
Department should not only adept every
method that is practical, but should extend
that method as rapidly as possible wher-
ever the demands CT postoffices require
speedy delivery.
The point was made in Congress that
so far the pneumatic tube service is op-
Grated at loss. This is denied by the
friends of the tube service, but whether
TINS be so or not, II seems absurd that
method that will add to the quickness of
the mail delivery and increase the service
should be cut off. New York earns about
81 eco, 600 net through the operations of its
postoffce. This amount goes TO the Post
office Department and not to the city. The
slow delivery of the mails consequent on
the lack of facilities for handling them
and an insufficient number of men 10 de-
liver them cuts down the earning powers
of the postofiices in large cities, forcing
people oftentimes to use the messenger,
the telegraph and the telephone. where, il
the conditions were as they ought TO be,
the mails would be rapid enough for all
practical purposes. 1t sometimes takes as
long for letter to so from the lower part
of New York city TO the upper part, or
from New York to Brooklyn. as il does for
a letter to travel 10 New York from Phil
adelphia. The condition is practically the
same in all large trade centres where the
facilities are not equal TO the demands OF
commerce. The result of this is that busi-
ness is hampered. Frequent and rapid de-
livery of mails from country districts and
large centres allows orders TO be filled
more promptly and more speedily. a
| postoffice like that of New York is nothing
more or less than large clearing house,
| and the channels of that clearing house
| should be opened as wide as possible"