New-York tribune., 1901-06-21
RETRoGREssION N VAL sERrICE.

No matter who may be responsible for it. the
| announced change III the mail service between
the New-York and Brooklyn offices must be
| regarded not only as deplorabe but as gravely
| detrimental and even disastrous TO the interests
of this city. 1t will not be irreparable disas-
ter. We shall continue TO live and carry on
business during the next four years. as we
should do il railroads and steamships and tele
graphs were abolished But tens OF thousands
OF people will he put 10 serious Inconvenience
and delay and actual loss because of this amaz-
ing act of retrogression in the postal service.
In these days Of speed, when in all depart
ments of communication and transportation
every effort is being made to reduce time To
the narrowest possible margin. ii is a humlliat-
ing anomaly that for any cause the time spent
i'm one of the most important processes Of COM
muncation between two of the most important
centres in the continent should be not decrea sed
but increased tenfOld
For years before the instalment of the pneu-
matte tube service between NewYork and
BROOKLYN the slowness of the mail service
between the two offices was notorious. 1t was
a matter of common remark that letter could
be sent from New York 70 Philadelphia and be
delivered there more quickly than il could be
sent TO and delivered in Brooklyn Extreme as
this saying seemed. il was we'll within the
literal truth. as demonstrated by innumera BILE
actual experiences. Legion is the name of
those who mailed letters i'm New-York in the
morning of one day only to have their delivery
i'm Brooklyn delayed until the morning or per
haps the afternoon of the next day Perhaps
such delay was inevitable. necessary and natu-
raj. We are not discussing that point The
fact is that there was then such delay And
the reasonable presumption is that with the
abandonment of t1p fube nd tha
TO wagon transportation such delay will again
prevail, probably in an increased and aggra-
waited degree. For the facilities for wagon
transportation are not now nearly as good as
they were, and the time Of transit is likely
10 be longer than IL was. The Introduction OF
trolley TO the bridge has made that road
way far more crowded than ii was. and prog
ress over it is consequently slower and more
subject to interruption and suspension. Actual
| blockades were formerly impossible. but now
| they are not unknown. 1t is therefore highly
| favorable estimate that puts the time of wagon
| transportation at thirty minutes from office TO
office instead of three minutes by tube To
some even such tenfold increase of time NAV
not seem TO be serious matter To those
accustomed 10 the prompt transmission of
recen. years, whose business arrangements and
| calculations are all based thereon il will be i'm
itself serious. because ii will necessitate a
| general REIMBURSEMENT of their affairs to meet
the changed conditions. But il will go further
| than that. The delaying of n single train on n
| railroad Is apt to delay the whole days sched-
| ule. SO this slowing down of mail transmits
| sion will cause corresponding changes for the
worse in other directions, and its evil effects
will he felt in all departments of the local
service.
New ork deserves better treatment than that
! Its postoffice is not merely local office 1t is
In peculiar sense a general office for the
| whole nation. II receives and dispatches nearly
all the foreign mails OF the whole country.
ana handles an enormous volume OF domes-
Tic mails in transit between other places
Moreover, il turns into the national treasury
each year millions of dollars of clear profits 10
pay the costs OF the service In other places.
There is no place in the land which does NOT
ENJOY better mail service because of New
YORK than il would without this city In sucb
circumstances not only justice but business
common sense dictates that New-York sbou,d
DC dealt with in generous and not n nippardl,.
manner, and that instead of being cut and
screwed and scrimped down 10 the narrowest
possible margin 1t should be provided with