Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-03-23
washfngton's Postal Service.

10 the Editor OF The Evening Star:
l beg to esk the use Of your columns to
make a protest against the inefficient pos
tai service that prevails in our city at the
present time. My business correspondent,
in New York city writes me: Il do not I'M
derstand how you Washington people can
stand such mail service as you have; II
is abominable."
This remark has been called forth by
rather serious losses accruing to me be-
cause my letters mailed here before !
o'clock in the evening, and which hither-
to would have been delivered in New York
by the early morning mail, reached there
at noon and were not delivered in Wall
street until 1 O'Clock.
At this end 1t is even worse. I am an
officer in a government department and
must be at my Office at 8 o'clock am. In
the twenty years that 1 have lived in
Washington have-rarely failed, up to this
year, to get my private mail before leav-
ing my home for my days work. Now it
Is delivered anywhere between 0 and 10
o'clock, and it Is only very rarely that can
read my morning home mail before or 6
O'Clock In the evening. In consequence /
have directed all important business let
tiers to be addressed to my office; but I
find that letters mailed after business hours
In New York are stamped here at o'clock
am. and delivered between IL and II
average of fifteen to eighteen hours from
the writer in New York to the reader in
Washington. 1t cannot be because the
train service Is deficient, for get my New
York morning paper between and $50
o'clock am. Of the day it is published
I have made repeated personal remon-
strances at the post office with regard to
morning delivery at my house, but with
out avail. One of my complaints has been
that my opposite neighbors in the block
their mail a
half hour before I do. Now, some years
ago "a progressive postmaster introduced a
new style Of letter boxes, by which the
delay in answering the ring of the mail
carrier might be obviated, and which fur
Their provided a system Of simultaneously
collecting letters for the mail and Of fur
nlshing postage stamps by the letter car
rier. AS l am always ready to encourage
improvements In the postal service and
realize that much waste Of time to mail
delivery undoubtedly resulted from the
sloWness of servants answering the bell,
had one of these "newfangled" letter boxes
put in by the postal authorities. Under
the present administration this is all vast
ed. do not begrudge the money, but my
door is disfigured beyond repair, and now /
lind that among my neighbors in the block
none of whom, far as l know incurred
this expense, all but six receive their mail
before I do, and 1 can see almost any
morning the mail carrier standing patient
ly at the door Of my opposite neighbor S
awaiting the leisure OF the hlred girl, then
disappearing to make a circuit in some
side street in the neighborhood before re-
turning to my side of the street. To my
repeated remonstrances at the new post
office, where the increased space and IA
cilities would be supposed to have pro-
duced an acceleration Of postal business
am informed that the reason for all this
is that the new postmaster has introduced
a system of redistricting the whole city.
This, however, would not account for the
decrease Of efficiency in our general postal
service over past years. CIVIS.