The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1900-09-26

the 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
men and women than any other gov
ernment or corporation. The immonse
size OF the country, the lack Of concen
tration Of the inhabitants in a few
large cities, all help to make the Post
Office service OF the first magnitude
and, as q matter OF fact, only one cor,
poration, com bination OF railways
earns and disburses as much as the
Post Office Department. Probably nc
branch OF the government service
comes into as close contact with the
average citizen as the Post Office. The
postal service is pre-eminently one Of
detail, and 1T may, perhaps, be In
| teresting to take the report of the
PostmasterG @ General and analyze some
OF the figures.
Some idea of the wonderful perfec
tiOD and system which makes the
service possible may be obtained when
1t is stated that d letter can be senl
from Florida 20 the klondike, d dis
tance OF over I 900 miles for two cents,
thirty days being consumed in Its
transmission. Ii it were carried by
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 the
service so interesting, for, of course,
on this hypothetic trip OF the letter,
its delivery in the gold fields costs
much more than was received for Its
transmission, but the government
makes handsome profit on much OF
the tirst-class matter enough, in fact,
almost to make good the deficit caused
by transporting inferior classes Of mat.
ter.
According to the report OF the
Second Assistant Postmaster G General
for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1899
there were 81 29S routes OF domestic
mail service in operation upon that
date. The total length OF these routes
was 496,94S miles, or more than @
round trip between the earth and the
moon. The number of miles travelled
per annum Is 445, 744 SIS miles, or more
than two round trips to the sun. The
annual rate OF expenditure for the
transportation of the mail is S53 076, Alb.
The rate OF cost per mile OF length Of
the route is $l0G so. The rate of cost
per mile Travelled is ll.90 cents the
average number OF trips per week is
S62.
| Inc inland service can be divided
into ten classes. BY "slar route" is
meant route w here the means OF trans
portation is other than railway, steam
| boat, street car, or pneumatic tub be.
There are % IS2 star routes and their
length is 2G9 452 miles. TDc annual
travel is l32 O6S, ,S07 miles. The daily
travel for 365 days is 36l $50 miles, or
seventeen times around the world. IL
is upon the star routes that much Of
the romance OF the Post Otlice Depart
ment rests, and many OF the carriers
! have performed heroic deeds.
Noxt comes tho railway service,
which amounts to l76, 726 miles. divid.
ed among 2.617 routes. The annual
rate Of expenditure for carrying the
mails on the railroads is $3l 9i2, 150
This does not include the salaries OF
s 3SS railway post Office clerks, who re.
celye the sum OF $S,GlO,73 The an
nual travel anon the railroads OF '16,-
1872, 27O miles. Dividing this total by
the number OF days we obtain the daily
travel on railroads, which amounts TO
Sl3 600 miles, or thirty-one trips
arolal the world. There were hand
led Dy railway postal clerks during the
year 7,llS, ,422 $40 pic ces OF tirst-class
matter, and G,233, 5G0,885 OF all other
classes OF matter, making total OF
| 1851 992 725 pieces, which includes
| in railway post offices. In addition
| there were handled by the railway
postal clerks II, ,537 ,05S packages, cas es
and pouches OF registered mail. With
,3l2. 3SS errors made by the clerks in
distributing this matter, there were
over lC coo correctly forwarded pieces
| Of mall to every error made, constitute.
| ing u remarkable record. There we're
| 709 casualties during the year to rail
way postal employees, and of this mum
| Der & were killed ard 80 seriously in.
| jured.
The number OF routes OF steamboa.
mail carriers is ITS, and the length is
81 ,169 miles. The annual travel
amounts TO 4 1887 OPS miles and the an
nual rate of expenditure Is $3.50, 454
The street car service amounts to / 926
miles and includes 267 routes. Tho
annual travel is 4 979, l30 miles and the
rate OF expenditure ia $275, ,44S. Toe
pneumatic tube service Is only S05
miles in length. The pneumatic tube
service cost 1922, 2G6, and it Is confined
to the cities of Boston, New York,
| Brooklyn and Philadelphia. The
service has pro 7ed highly fiicient and
has done away with many thousands
OF miles OF wagon service. Letters for
| branch offices can be forwarded at once
| by the pneumatic tube instead OF being
| held, as formerly, for the next reg
| ulariy scheduled wagon or car trip.
| The labor Of closing, recording. and
verifying pouches Is also done away
! with. There are sCv .ral minor means OF
| transportation known a5 special OIL &c
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 sealed or other.
wise close d 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
revenue. Second-class matter in.
cludes all newspapers, periodicals, and
all matter exclusively in print and re.
yularly issued ct stated intervals, ae
frequently as four times year. This
forms the bulk OF all mail matter
carried and furnishes only a small per
centage OF the revenue. "Third-clas
matter includes printed books, pamph.
lets, circulars, etc, and does not form
a very large portion OF tho weight