The Worthington advance., 1901-03-29
THE NATIO Ms MAIL.
+ Arrives Every Day .by the Ton
and Is Done Up in Bales.
Receipt ana Dispatch Of Governneal
CoFFesDondence Keeps . Huga .
]; Arny OF Clerks Busy All
| 4, = the Time. va 20
Especial washington L-etter.l

i
peculiar things about the post
Il Office of the national capital
One of them is that it's receipts are
vastly smaller in proportion to the
amount of business handled than those
of any other post Office in the country.
This is due to the fact that so much
free matter is handled here. About
70 per cent. of the total mail matter
that passes through the Office here is
free. All official communications with
the $4,000 post offices throughout the
union are, of course, free. There are
clerks in all Of the departments con.
stantly addressing letters, papers,
packages and books to various por-
tions of the union for which no postage
is paid.
Then there is the matter sent out
under the franks of the 457 senator's
and representatives. Much Of the mat
ter sent out is very heavy, being in the
form of books and other public docu-
ments. AS q result it is necessary to
employ the strongest men to sort the
mail at the Office here.
The postmaster in Washington is one
of the two postmasters in the cities of
the United States who are not paid ac-
cording to the receipts of their Offices.
He is paid more than the receipts of
the office would give him under the
general law, for the reason that so
much free matter is handled by the Of
fee that the receipts are no index to
the amount of business done. He re-
ceives $4,000 year. The receipts are
about $75o,ooo year, but if all the
matter handled by the Office were paid
matter the annual receipts would be
something like $2,250,O0O.
The other postmaster who is not
paid according to the receipts of his
office is the one in New York city. He
is taken out from the general law for
reason directly opposite to that
which leads to the exception of the
Washington Office, viz: That the re-
ceipts of the post Office in New York
are so large that he would be paid too
much.
And yet the post Office here does not
get justice. The postmaster, it is true,
is expected from the general law and is
paid a very good salary, but in the
matter Of allowances generally the of.
flee does not get enough. 1t seems i'm.
possible for congress to realize just
what work the Office does. 1t is so
much the habit of men to measure
things by the money receipts.
For very many years the post Office
was located in perhaps the dingiest,
oldest-looking and altogether least
pretentious building occupied by any
Office in city of this size in the Unit
ed States. A walk through the rooms
which it occupied would show small
and dimly-lighted rooms, low ceilings,
with the plastering off in many
places, and walls begrimed apparently
with smoke or dust. A narrow and
dark stairway led from the first floor
to the second, whereon were situated
the registry and money order offices
and the Offices of the postmaster and
some of his assistants.
The passages were narrow and al
most as dark as those of a cavern. The
plank floors were worn and uneven,
and an investigator who went through
them one day stepped on loose board
which fell back to it's place with a
rafting noise as the foot was raised
from it. None of the rooms were large
enough. and the whole interior of the
structure recalled that of a backwoods
county courthouse where the hogs
sleep regularly when court is not in
session.
But that is all now historic. It will
soon become reminiscent. In a few
years It will be entirely forgotten. The
people who patronize the local post Of
flee now pass in and out of an archi-
tectural credit to this national city; q
building erected especially for the use
of the post Office department-the main
floor being arranged for the city post
Office.
A movement is now on foot to erect
another home for the city post office,
because it takes up so much space that