The evening times., 1900-02-09

"The Postoffce Department is making
progress in every direction" said a high
official of the PostofIice today, both in de-
! liyering and collecting mail. One of the
! great drawbacks to the department has
been the manner in which the mails are
collected. The system now in vogue is
time consuming and costly one.
1T takes a man great deal of time to
cover long route and open and shut every
| letter box on ii and then it takes him some
! time TO return to the Office. The letter
boxes are a temptation to mail ROBBERS
and it is exceedingly difficult TO catch
man in the act, although when one Is
caught robbing a letter box the penalty is
/ the same as if he entered a Government
/ Postoffice. From what / have said it is
readily seen that the letter box system of
| collecting should be superseded by some
! quicker method.
! This fact has been known to the depart
ment for many years and numerous RENE
dies have been suggested, but until recent
ly none of them have proved feasible.
Strange to say the system which when gen
EARLY used will be of such great service
! to both the users and handlers of mail was
thought of some fifteen years ago by an
attache of the Postofice Department at
that time.
Owing 10 the scarcity OF rapid transit
street cars it could not then be used. How
ever, the plan was not relegated to the
dusty shelf and there lost sight of for the
postal authorities realized the value of such
an idea and it was carefully put away TO
be used when practicable.
THE system is this. A letter box is 10
be placed on each car The boxes which
are of the ordinary type found on street
corners are placed just inside the yestibule
by the controller stand an opening being
made in the side of the car large enough
TO slip letters through. The side of the
box from which carriers remove the mail
is next the vestibue door enabling collec-
tions 10 be made without entering the car.
The street car companies Will issue di-
rections 10 their employees stating that
while they are not required to stop at all
street corners for the deposit of letters in
the boxes. where there are no passengers
who wish 10 get on or off. they are en-
pected TO do so if they can maintain their
schedule time.
Every courtesy is to be shown the peo-
PIC III Autli uSt- i uC bOAtS aiN ~ NC lpNiN-
ed every night by an official Of the Postof-
fee and the postal authorities will ar
range to make collections from every box
on each trip at its nearest point TO the
pOstofiice.
I'VE have been experimenting with this
! system new for about TWO years and dur
| ing that period the time, money, and la
| Dor saved by this method has been more
! than satisfactory. At first the railway
{ oo,,,vaytsac 81 rua5 fifflp or NOT hing for
use of their cars. for having a mail box
attached to each car was a great protection
10 their property ilI cas- of a strike.
"As vet no rate has been agreed to which
! is satisfactory to the street car companies
and the. Postoflce Department though it is
! thought that an agreement will soon be
! made The companies VIII be paid for
/ their aid in eypediting the collection Of
mails as the Government does not expect
! or receive gratuitous service from any
! corporation. The streetsrailway companies
are paid for running mail car trailers.
# cannot say definitely when this sys-
| TEN will be inaugurated in Washington,
but the time is not far distant Here as
! in other large cities most of the car lines
! run within a couple squares of the Post
| office, and that is why this innovation is
so convenient. cheap. and rapid 1t will
| be as easy to make the collections in wet
| as well as in dry weather, and the out
! lying districts of Washington as well as
| other cities will be greatly benefited by
| this plan. BY this method 1t takes about
! 80 per cent less time than with the old
system.
The collection wagons and automobiles
! used in the collection of mail in the busi-
! ness portion of the city has been Of great
! help to the department, but the routes
| covered by these wagons are necessarily
| limited, while route covered by the cars
| is much larger and is done almost as
| quickly.
THE business man has great many
| advantages in the collection and delivery
| of mail and with a letter box on each
car we can extend these advantages to the
citizens whose homes are far away from
the Postoffice and the business centre Of
the CITY"
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