The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-12-23

mas by Registry
Departments than
he Wilmington Of
ks Have to he We'll
alton OF Offices and
dules to Dispatch the
1y-Their Ability is
Utmost at this Time.
Day afternoon as the mail
made up for the evening
preventative of The Messen-
into the postoffice for a few
nd saw a little of goes
the scenes. The scene was a
the clerks standing in front
cases sticking letters with light
Ike rapidity and Postmaster Wal
hoving to and fro looking after,
us matters. Some of the clerks
placing letters in the pOstoffice
[es, all were busy, and every one
5 working with clock work ergular-
Little does the person who sits in his
yor her home realize the magnitude of
the postal service when a letter is hand
ed them by the postman. They have
a faint idea of how the letter reached
them, but in it's reaching it's destination
iron monster that speeds from state to
state at the speed of fifty miles or even
more per hour and entirely lose sight
of the fact thai if it were not for the
accurately trained mind of the clerks
employed in the postal service that their
mail could not possibly reach them so
quickly. A error of a clerk IN dis
patching a letter might cause it to lose
time enough to have travelled a thou
sand miles ere it is delivered, so to the
postal clerk more than the sixty mile
an hour train must be given credit for
getting mail promptly, and at the
quickest mOmen possible.
There is possibly no office in the state
with a postmaster better fitted for the
position and a more competent corps Of
clerks, than the Wilmington office.
POSTMASTER Wallace knows what the
duties of a postmaster are and he in
every way fills the bill. He is a mar
hat is not afraid to put bis shoulder to
the wheel and can more frequently be
found in the main office where the mail
is being distributed han sitting in a
comfortable chair in his private office.
Before becoming postmaster he was as
sistant postmaster for four years and
became thoroughly drilled in p~ostofice
work.
A postal clerk, to become a success,
must be endowed with a good memory
and absent minded people had best
steer clear of the job for it is no place
for them. When the public walks intt
the Wilmington office and sees the
clerks through the general delivery
window hurrying back and forth, the
general idea is that the mail that is put
in the Wilmington office is dumped into
4 few sacks and hurried off to the train
and most of it worked by the railway
POSTAL clerks. And there are still others
nc think a clerk has to know a little
something, but not much. Poor, ignor-
ant people, how far from right. Every
clerk in a postoffice is compelled TO
know the offices in his own state and Is
supposed to know them in the adjoining
states. In North Carolina there are
about 5000 offices and to learn the
Quickest route to send a letter TO any
une of those offices is no small task
but there ire many clerks who put W
the exam nation and make only two
or three errors and there are instances
where clerks have been knOwn to pu
up examinations, the offices aggreSat-
ing $4,000, and not make an error. Ii
is men with such minds as this ano
accurately trained for their work, thai
give the people of Wilmington thell
mail at the earliest possible moment
Outgoing mail is made up in many
ways. Mail going to the large cities IND
10 the important towns in the state /:
always made up into separate packages
that is where the number of letters i:
large enough TO AXE into a package
The letters going to the small office:
are tied into bundles, labeled for tn
train that viii deliver them mos
promptly. For instance. letters going t.
points between Wilmington and char
lesion are marked VIII and Charle'
and the postal clerk has TO opel
+de packages and asso~t them. Their
are certain mail routes on railroads a
we'll established and known the sam,
as postoffices. Such as the Ham ant
Jack r. P. o., Colds and Green r. P. o
and hundreds of others.
One of the most difficult positions II
a postofice at this season is that o
stamp clerk. 1t is the duty OF tn
stamp clerk to weigh any small pack
age that is going to be sent throug
the mail and the clerk has to know a
% The ola SSiicatinn and he able tn tel