Evening star., 1901-12-24
SENT BY EXPRESSES
People Who Forward Christmas To-
kens by That Method.
EXPERIENCE OF LOCAL AGENCIES
Night and Day Occupied in Max
ing the Deliveries.
EXTRA WAGONS IN USE
EXPERIENCE OF LOCAL AGENCIES
EXTRA WAGONS IN USE

"OuI OF tSSU packages WHICH L TeceNeu
yesterday In the course Of a few hours,
only six were not prepaid. I think all six
exceptions were billed to merchants and
were not Christmas gifts. So practically
the whole number of bundles sent out as
holiday greetings, while l was at the desk,
were sent without any cost to the recipients
"a happening without any precedent in my
experience
+ The speaker was the agent of the Adams
Express Company on duty at the Pennsyi-
vania avenue Office. He stood with both
hands resting on high piles Of Christmas
gifts consigned to nearby cities or sent a
day late by delinquent Christmas shoppers.
In and out of the office. as the agent talked,
streamed a heterogeneous throng of the
company's patrons-eager. good natured,
but a little impatient To the novice the
task of receiving, entering, weighing. check
ing and transmitting the array of bundles
already on the counters looked big enough
to keep the clerks busy a month, without
considering the installment in the hands of
those who were pushing their way through
the doors. But the express company's en-
pi0yeS were not discouraged.
by noon tomorrow we hope to have de-
iFered every package which may come into
our hands Christmas morning. Our men
will get out Of the way by midnight every
come before II o'clock tonight, and thus
leave the way clear for the arrivals of
Christmas day. The drivers and helpers
will have to work tomorrow, of course, and
in order to keep them busy the clerks and
shipping agents have to work also. But
We don't mind it very much. We have
grown used to it. 1t is our contribution to
the spirit of the holidays, and the rush
comes only once year.
But the work Is much easier for the
men than any other flood of business would
be, because almost everything shipped now
Is prepaid. That is the Importance of that
average l have given you and the reason
why watched so closely to learn just what
proportion of the holiday shipments were
being 'p-p'd,' as We term the payment of
express charges in advance. You see,
when the men have to stop and enter the
payment of a charge, perhaps make
change, and certainly take out their change
bags and unite them, 1t takes about three
times as long to deliver a package as It
does when they have only to obtain the ad-
dressee's signature. Such general prepay.
ment makes the work of the men very
much easier.
Extra Wagons i'm Use.
Another help in disposing of the Christ
mas rush is the use of about thirty extra
wagons hired from the various transfer
companies Of the city From one firm we
have obtained eight big three-horse drays
one of which will about half empty a car
All these extra wagons are used either in
transferring packages to delivery points In
the several sections of the city or for de-
livery purposes direct, and manned with
employees of the company. In the ordinary
season We have fifteen wagons, which cover
the city by sections, one wagon to Sec
tion. and they are easily sufficient. At
Christmas that number Is usually doubled.
/ can't remember that ever before We have
employed SO many wagons as we have on
the streets today.
THE shipping work is about done. The
little furry of this morning Will end it.
Sunday and Monday were the busy days.
Our warehouses could have filled cars as
fast as they could have found places on
the tracks. Most of the packages shipped
then will reach their destinations by
Thursday at noon. None of them will be
more than half day late, and a good many
will be delivered a day too soon.
''Washington's Christmas offerings to
other cities were the most generous in the
history of American express companies. At
first We hardly anticipated such a rush,
but yesterday cleared our minds. The
warehousemen worked until 8 O'Clock this
morning clearing their platforms. ~
The other side of our work is assuming
the same proportions. Every single train
which has come to the city since Sunday
excepting the suburban trains. Of course,
has brought at least one car filed with ex-
press packages. and the expresses have
steamed In with three or four cars each.
The rush In delivering those packages has
already begun. 1t will reach its height to-
morrow morning, but We shall have it out
OF the way by noon. / am confident
The almost unfailing accuracy with
which this years packages have been
directed and the name and address Of the
sender written in the corner has interested
me greatly In nfnety-nine cases out of
100, l guess. the whole story Of the ship
nent Is told clearly by its directions. Half
the shippers this month have even written
the value of the contents on the wrapper,
and 50 have saved the receiving clerk the
trouble or asking questions. There are al
ways some inaccurate addresses and we
shall always have to ask questions Of some
shippers but this year We have been saved
trouble OF that sort as never before"
Venture No Estimate,
With the conservatism Of such matters
common to all railroad men, express agents
and similar officials, none Of the District of
Columbia expressmen would venture this
morning any estimate OF the whole number
os packages transmitted to Washington ad-
dresses during Christmas week. One of
them did go 50 far. however as to Indicate
mode of calculation more or less likely to
be accurate. wagon will hold approxi-
mately 200 packets. he said. Each wagon
can make ten trips in day Of eighteen
hours. Accordingly each wagon can deliv-
er something like 1000 packages TODAY.
With forty-fve wagons at work that one
company expects to deliver today, there
FORE about $4,000 packages. II the other
company does as well Washington's Christ
mas greeting from other cities will reach a
total of not less than 100000 gifts con-
signed to probably half as raany persons
A view of the express company ware
houses this morning was sight to remem-
Der. AS fast as men could work packages
We're tossed out of express cars to receiving
clerks on the platforms and distributed to
various sections Of the warehouses appor-
toned to the different sections of the city.
This system. however, was not manifest to
the bystander. The constantly growing
piles all about the fioor the men running
about like mad and the shifting and ship
ping of cars on the tracks outside were ap-
parentiy enough to confuse the clearest
head in the world. The sorting was done
very much as mall is sorted in the post
office: At first the packages Were appor-
toned into rough divisions according to
the delivery point. This work was done
partly by the shipping office and partly by
the train clerks. On reaching the ware
house the packets were divided according
to the delivery sections Of the city The
wagon men then arranged them in order SO
the team could make a circle over the sec
ton assigned to 1t and empty fits load with
the least possible travel.