The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1900-09-27
THE U. S. POSTAL, SERVICE,
THE GREATEST BUSINLSs CON.
GERM IN THE WORLD.

Showing Wonderful Perfection oi
tho System.
Scientific American.
The postal establishment OF the
United States Is the greatest business
concern in the world, handling more
pieces of mail, and employing more
mon and women than any other gov
ernment or corporation. The immense
size OF the country, the lack OF concen
tration OF the inhabitants in few
large cities, all help to make the Post
Office service OF the first magnitude
and, as a matter of fact, only one cor.
poratiOn, q combination Of railways,
earns and disburses as much as the
Post Otlce Department. Probably nc
branch OF the government service
comes into as close contact with the
average citizen rs tho Post Oilico. The
postal service is pre-eminently one Of
detail, and 1T may, perhaps, be in
teresting to take the report OF the
Postmaster G eneral and analyze some
OF the figures.
Some idea OF the wonderful perfec-
tioD and system which makes the
service possible may be obtained when
it Ia stated that u letter can be sent
from Florida to the Klondike, q dis
tance OF over 1000 miles for two cents,
thirty days being consumed in it's
courier the time would not be lessened
and the cost would be increased to
something like $500. 1t is this re-
markable cheapness which makes tho
service 30 interesting, for, of course,
on this hypothetical trip Of the letter,
It's delivery in the gold fields costs
much more than was received for it's
transmission, but the government
makes q handsome profit on much Of
the tirst-class matter enough, In fact,
almost to mako good the deficit caused
by transporting inferior classes Of mat
ter.
According to the report of the
Second Assistant Postmaster General
for the fiscal year ending June 80, 1899,
there were "a 29S routes OF domestic
date. The total length Of these routes
was 49G, 94S miles, Or more than
round trip between tho earth and the
moon. The number Of miles travelled
per annum Is 445, IA, Sl5 miles, or more
than two round trips to the sun. The
annual rate OF expenditure for the
transportation of the mail is S13, ,O76, Alb.
The rate OF cost per mile Of length OF
the route ia $l0G 80. The rate Of cost
per mile travelled is ll.90 cents the
average number OF trips per week is
S.62
The inland service can be divided
into ten classes. by "star route Is
meAnta route whore the means OF trans
portation is other than railway, steam
boat, street car, Or pneumatic tube.
There are %, 1872 star routes and their
length Ia 269, ASP miles. The annual
travel is 1872 OG9, ,S07 miles. The daily
travel for 3G5 days is 3Gl $50 miles, or
seventeen times around the world. 1t
is upon the star routes that much Of
the romance OF the Post Ollice Depart
ment rests, and many OF tho carriers
have performed heroic deeds.
Next comes the railway service,
which amounts to l76, I2G miles, divid-
ed among 2,G17 routes. The annual
rate Of expenditure for carrying the
mails on the railroads is $3I ,9i2, $50.
This does not include tho salaries OF
S,;}SS railway post Office clerks, who re-
ceive the sum OF $500, 1872. The an
nual travel upon the railroads OF 29G,-
1872, 270 miles. Dividing this total by
the number Of days we obtain the daily
travel on railroads, which amounts to
$4,000 miles, or thirty-one trips
aro Ial the world. There wcre hand
year 7,llS, ,422,S4O pieces Of h!st-class
matter, and G,233, ,5G9,SS5 Of all other
classes OF matter, making d total OF
1881, 1872. .725 pieces, which includes
5l9 $40, ,465 pieces OF city mail separated
in railway post offices. In addition
there were handled by the railway
postal clerks II, 537 ,058 packages, cas- es
and pouches OF registered mail. With
1872, 38S errors made by the clerks in
distributing this matter there were
over 10, 900 correctly forwarded pieces
OF mail to every error made, cOnstitut-
ing remarkable record. There we're
100 casualties during tho year to rail
way postal employees, and Of this num-
Der were killed and 80 seriously In
jured.
The number OF routes OF steamboat
mail carriers is l7S, and tho length Is
81, 1G0 miles. The annual travel
amounts TO 1887 ,02S miles and the an
nual rate Of expenditure is $500, ,l5l
The street car service amounts to 1926
miles and includes 2G7 routes. Tho
annual travel is 1 .978, 30 miles and the
rate OF expenditure is $275, ,4IS. The
pneumatic tube service is only S05
miles in length. The pneumatic tube
service cost 1922, 2GG, and it is confined
to the cities OF Boston, New York,
Brooklyn and Philadelphia. Tho
service has pro 7ed highly efficient and
has done away with many thousands
OF miles Of wagon service. Letters for
branch offices can be forwarded at once
by tho pneumatic tube instead Of being
held, as formerly, for tho next reg
ularly scheduled wagon or car trip.
The labor Of closing, recording, and
verifying pouches Is also done away
with. There are several minor means OF
transportation known as special Office
routes, mail messenger routes and
wagon routes in cities. While some
OF them are very extensive they do not
call for special attention.
The question OF weight naturally oc.
cupies the second place in interest.
Before discussing this, however, 1T Is
necessary to consider briefly the var
ious classes OF postal matter. " First.
class matter includes letters, postal
cards, and anything scaled or other.
wise closed against inspection. While
the weight OF first.class matter is not
very great, at the same time it fur
nishes the greater portion OF the postal
rcUanna Hopop6 -rlaooD ,,,tto, 4,