The Arizona daily orb., 1900-03-09
The Bisbee Postoffice'


 Very few of our citizens are aware of | the large amount of business passing through this postollice, or of the great amount of labor this business involves, still less do they understand that very considerable proportion of this business an consequent labor ia not taken into consideration by th2 postottice deoart' aent in establishing the remnnerative rating ot the office, nor can it be other wise under the laws regulating this de- partment of our government, since the rating of ostoffices and consequent pay of the postmasters is determined by the amount of business sent from the office through the United States mails. In the case of the Bisbee postotfice very much greater quantity of mail is received and distributed here than thst sent, the average of mail received here daily being about 450 pounds, while that sent is about 30 pounds only. This dispro-- portion is greater, doubtless, than in any other office of consequence m the United States. This being a terminal office re- ceives the mail for very extensive dis trict in northern Sonora, being in reali- ty the postoffice for Nacosarl, La Cana nea and numerous other points, while in return comparatively little mail is handled here from those points. This disproportion is readily unders ood when the fact is recalled that the bulk of the mail consists of newspapers, peri odicals and other printed matter. In Bisbee proper this also applies, as we'll as the fact that larg, quantity of fourth class matter, merchandise packages, etc., is received here, while almost none of this class of mall is sent from here. If the amount of mail sent from here was at all nearly in the ordinary pro- portion to that received, the Bisbee of. flee would long ago have been rated in the second class and we would have free mail delivery. In the postal order de- partment it is probable that Bisbee ex- ceeds in amount any other office in the territory and doubtless that of any other third class office in the United States. Since (and including) December l, there have been issded from this office up to yesterday 3,035 domestic oostal orders and 123 on foreign countries, the home orders aggregating $55,245.94. distrl- buted thus: In December, $21 ,635.76; 1; January, $l4,7l0.43; February, $15,S9,- 26; for the seven days in March, $2,021,- 49. Since the next seven days will in clude pay day there will doubtless be several thousands of dollars more issued, |, as the heaviest purchases of orders are naturally made on pay Jay and days immediately following it. For the months of December, 1908, and January and February, 1899, the aggregate of postal orders sold here was $46, ,723. Al while the corresponding months just past show az aggregate of 53,225. .45- an increase tor the three mon ths of $6,- 502.03 The pr5ss of Nashville, Tenn, publishes very omplacently the state ment from the postoffice of that city, that the office issued in January of this year postal orders aggregating $17, ,762.7 75 against $l6,42S.5l in 1S99-showing an increase of $l ,33424, and the postoffice department endorses the claim made by the Nashvillians of this showing being an evidence of the growing prosperity of that city. While by reference 10 the figures given above it will be seen that the postal order business of the Bisbee office for January of this year shows an increase of $2,207.4l over that of Janu- ary '99. The sum of the aggregate vol. ume of business being not greatly to the advantage of Nashville although the population of that city is many times that of Bisbee,