Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-22
How It is Received and Dis
tributed.
SPEED AND ACCURACY
ABOUT $4,000 A DAY COMES TO
THE BUREAU.
It is Claimed That Methods Employed
Are Not Excelled in Any Large
Commercial House in Country.

Commissioner Frederick I. Allen OF tho
patent Office recently made an inspection OF
the mail division of the patent Office in
order to get acquainted with its workings
and to find out just what measures were
taken to insure the safe delivery of the
enormous amount of money sent through
the mail to the Office and by express orders.
The office receives on an average thou
sand pieces Of mail a day, containing about
$1,000 Through the mail department also
come the express packages containing
drawings, plats. plans, etc, relating to
patents and claims against patents Mr..
Allen had not had time to famliarize him
self with the details of this work before. but
on seeing the methods of the division for
the first time and realizing the immense
amount of work involved. he expressed
himself as much pleased with the system
and highly complimented with the clerks
in charge.
Receiving the Mail.
The mail for the patent office is delivered
there twice a day. The first delivery is at
| about half-past and the second delivery
| about half-past II o'clock. 1t is forwarded
by the Washington post office in large
leather pouches which are securely locked.
the post office retaining one key and the
patent Office the other. The pouches con-
tanning the mail are never opened except in
the presence of the chief clerk his per-
sonal representative in charge of the mail
and express room. After the pouches are
opened the contents are taken from them.
| assorted and examined by the chief of the
room, who selects the personal mail of the
commissioner of patents, which he delivers
to him In person. Frequently letters and
packages that are marked personal are
found to be purely official They are re-
tp he red for IN,
the regular course of business
The letters and packages are all opened at
one large round table, where eight clerks
are kept very actively employed, particu-
| larly in the morning hours. in the work Of
| dispatching with all possible speed COM
| pat1ble with accuracy, this branch Of the
Datent Office business
The envelopes containing the letters and
the wrappers of other packages comprising
| this mail are opened by one Individual and
then passed along to other clerks at the
same table, who take out the contents and
assign the papers to the proper divisions.
| III the letters or packages contain money
checks or postage stamps a special record
Is Immediately made of the Enclosure.
There are seven other clerks in the mail
room whose duty 1t is to brief the letters
and distribute them to the various divisions
of the office. 1t is often desirable to know
what particular clerk opened a certain let
| ter or package and. in order to be able to
| do this. different colored pencils are used
by the several individuals engaged in this
work. by which the papers handled by them
can be readily identified.
Reception of Money.
1t is estimated that about one thousand
pieces of mail are received daily in the mall
room. that contain. on average, amounts
which aggregate 5000 day The num-
Der of papers and drawings received that
require the Office stamp is enormous-from
four to five thousand pieces each day. In
cluded in the 5000 above mentioned. It is
estimated that $50 day is received in spe-
Gle and currency. in amounts varying from
cents up to 800. special record is made
Of all money Enclosures before the papers
leave the large central table above referred
to. Since the present method of transact
ing the business in the mail and express
room was introduced 1t is believed that
every cent of money received at the Office
has been properly accounted for. and IL Is
| rare indeed that any papers filed there arc
lost or even mslaid 1t may be Interesting
to know that Of the eight clerks who open
and examine the mail and express pack
ages six are women. They perform tho
duties connected with this particular WORT
with greater dexterity than men and with
equal accuracy
| The chief of the mail and express room
| must necessarily be officer of a high or
der of intelligence. unQuestioned integrity
and quick reasoning faculties to be able to
| supervise this work expeditiously and sat
isfactorily. His assistants are picked
qualifications for this work
Despite the fact that the rules. circulars
and office letters state that postage stamps
are not receivable for Office fees, large
quantities of stamps continue to be sent
through the mails to the patent office.
These are regularly returned to the corre-
spondents. who again informed that
they cannot be received and are advised
that money should be sent by registered
mail. certified check post office money
order. The registered mail usually brings
from thirty to forty pieces of United States
and foreign mail each day.
Pieces Of Irregular Matter.
A great number of pieces containing ir-
regular matter received in every mail.
| the consideration of which consumes double
the time the regular pieces require and
calls for the exercise of discriminating
judgment in order that they may be prop.
erly attended to. They comprise checks
with amounts insufficient to pay all tho
fees necessary for the filing of the papers
which accompany them, checks unsigned.
fees and packages without any letter II
advice, unsealed letters, unseaIed pack
ages which sometimes do not contain what
the correspondents allege should be found
therein; sealed letters stating that inclos-
ures sent when the writer has mad
vertently omitted to place the Enclosure in
| the envelope-the Enclosure usually comes
along in the following MALL; packages mu-
tllateQ IN transit, iii OF THESE tne ONCE na9
to make a special note of. After the
tents of the envelopes are Distributed. the
envelopes OF each day are flsd away sep
arately and kept for six weeks or mere
1t Is sometimes desirable to refer to these
envelopes for certain information.
Mondays and those days which follow 1e-
gal holidays are the heavy working days in
the mail room. but the force there has
proven itself equal to every occasion OF
this kind The clerks often come to work
before the appointed hour OF and ne
auently stay until after the closing hour OF
f. particularly on the periods mentioned.
From this statement it may be seen that
Uncle Sans patent Office mail is looked
after by capable. faithful employees sup
plemented by safe methods in manner
not excelled by that of any big commercial
establishment in the United States.
Health Conditions in Cuba