Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-07-03

according to what is called general
Ischeme"-tnat is. the mail for points
in all these states and territories is
distributed in the local office accord
ing tc the individual postotfices. and
with the utmost detail
There is ore clerk at the postofgice
who is called dispatcher His bust
ness is to see that all mail gets to the
train for which it is intended. Thirty
minutes before a particular train is 10
leave he calls out: Tie out for the
Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council
Bluffs No. - or whatever it may be-
The clerks who are distributing mail
/ intended for the territory through
| which this train rms Immediately quit
distributing and begin taking the mail
from the case in front of them, tying
it into packages. When it fas beer
tied out it is dumped into pouch.
All mail is hauled 10 the railway
stations in street railway mail cars.
| The only men the street railway
mail car are the conductor and the
gripman. The mail dispatcher at the
i postotfice gives the conductor y way
bill for the mail placed in his charge
a duplicate of which the dispatcher
! keeps. When the conductor reaches
| the station with his lead ne delivers
the pouches and the way bill 20 a
transfer clerk. If pouches and way bill
tally. the conductors work is done; if
| they. do not, the dispatcher is imme-
diately informed of the fact BY tele-
phone
Besides the mali from the Kansas
| City office which the transfer clerk at
the station receives, there are dozens
of pouches from connecting trains
which must pass through his hands
also. At the terminals the mali clerks
begin work from two to four hours be-
fore their trains are to leave the sta
ton. AS already stated. the mail
which they receive from the postoffice
is divided into one, two or three sec
tions. While waiting for their trains
to start they distribute the mail that
has been tied out for the places along
their lines that are nearest to Kansas
City. Tire force of railway mail train
consists of q clerk in charge. two of the
grade next lower. two of the grade next
lower still and as many helpers as may
be needed.
BY the time the train starts. all the
mail intended for points on the first
half of the run has been distributed.
the only thing the clerks have TO do
for this part of the run, after this, is
to distribute the mail for points along
it which is received after starting. The
time that they have left they employ
in distributing the mail for points
along the second division of the run.
ail tor CT nd fifie c havnnH their
run is handled in way very similar to
that in which mail of tie same kind is
distributed in the postoffice. The con-
slant effort is to so distribute as to put
the least possible work on the men who
will have to handle the mail again, and
to get it to its intended destination in
the shortest possible time. The clerks
must have knowledge Of towns. rail-
WAYS, junction points and connections,
especially along their own routes, 50
extensive and accurate that it seems
absolutely marvellous to other persons.
The mail with which the clerl, sta''s
is, of course, only a part Of WHIT he has
to handle At every station additional
pouches are received. and III. rou, hes
which have been made up have to be
delivered. This receipt and delivery is |
al W
but the fast mail trains go rushing rast
many stations without slowing up. At
these points the pouches INTENDED for
the train are placed upon proiecti:e
i. n arm upon a p6'e on 4 level with
the car door, and as the train whizzcs
past the clerk jerks off the pouch in
tended for his train and at the same
time throws upon the depot Platform
the one intended for the place tn" train
is passing through. The clerks become |
very expert in this work. Occasionally |
a pouch is torn in jerking it of. or one
thrown is drawn under the wheels OF
the train by suction. but such accidents |
occur very infrequently.
While the work on the local case is |
going forward other clerks are ma. irg |
a distribution by states. for instance. |
and another takes the mail intended |
for adjoining states or states which the |
train is to run through. and redistrlb- |
utes It by cities, towns and even city |
or rural delivery routes.
Registered letters go through a |
somewhat different process from or
binary letters. When they are deliver
ed at the postoffice a receipt is given |
fer them Mail Of this kind is kept |
separate from other kinds. Every per
son through whose hands it passes |
gives a receipt for it on receiving 1T, |
and receives one when it passes into
another's hands. Registered mail is |
supposed never to be out of the sight
of some employe of the government |
from the time it is received until II IS
delivered.