The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-11-20
SETTLEMENT OF BETHESDA
here are a few which will help a lit

here are few which will help a lit
| tie.
Beginning the first week of the COM
mittees active work 16,976,975 'docu-
ments," consisting of 272,995.450 stand
ard" pages were handled. and the last
of the shipping was done in ample
time to get all the documents" ac-
tually in the hands of the voters.
There was no surplus of millions of
pages as there often has been: there
was no burning of them to get rid OF
them, and no perfunctorY and useless
eleventh hour distribution In the high
ways and byways where no one would
read them.
Inventor of the "stnndard" Page.
There was no haphazard work.
Contracts that insured prompt de-
livery with the express and trans
portation companies employed We're
entered into beforehand, the leagues
shipping force was perfectly or
ganized, and the various print
shops, where the presswork was done,
were brought completely into line.
Economy to a remarkable degree was
insured by the adoption of the stan
dard' page.
In a way the standard" page is a
Wakeman invention. It's adoption
meant two things. First, that there
would be no waste in trimming the big
sheets OF paper, after the printing as
there must be If the pages were of
various sizes; and second, that there
would be no waste of packing cases.
without the adoption of the STAN
dard" pages there would have been
both. OF course, packing cases of
standard sizes were used also; this
made 1t certain that 10000 pages, for
instance, of any document whatever,
a Of certain
size, leaving no empty space to be
filed with waste paper.
Mr.. Wakeman himself has made no
move TO secure the postmastership.
He left New York on the day after
election to go to New Orleans by
steamer. From New Orleans he will
go to st. Louis. after a rest of week
or two. He will not reach New York
again until some time early in Decem-
Der.
An Inadequate Building.
No one who has not given some at
tention to it can understand how very
great is the business of the postoffice
here, nor how utterly inadequate to
its purpose is the queer old building
in which it is housed.
1t is overcrowde, foul and stuffy
beyond description. The architects
who planned it seem to have striven
with all their might to make 1t as
inconvenient as possible. With the
light of heaven on every one OF its
three sides, there are parts of the
ground floor that must be lighted arti-
ficially even on the clearest, most
sunshiny day. In no part Of the base
ment, where hundreds of men are
employed, is ii possible to work at
any time by natural light. The ventl-
lation-well, there is practically no
ventilation, and in the hot days of
summer the temperature In that base
ment is always some degrees higher
than 1t is outside.
A Wretched Arrangement.
The large main office, at the bottom
OF a triangular inside court on the
same level as the street, has no out
side windows; they are shut off by
the corridors which are given to the
public, and between the corridors and
the big triangular apartment are the
individual mail boxes.
The room is rooted with glass, and
II was believed, originally, that this
would make 1t amply light. II was
found soon after the force moved into
the building, however, that while the
glass roof would let the light in all
right, 1t would not keep the rain out,
and so a second roof was put on. Be-
tween the two there are now such vast
accumulations Of dust and dirt that
the light is weak even at noonday,
unless the day is very bright, and both
earlier and later in the day, when the
suns rays are partially shut out by the
walls which form the sides of the
court, the gas has always TO be light
ed. Moreover, despite the second
glass roof, there Is never q heavy rain
that the water does not come down In
streams In some part of the big main
room.
The printing ofice-for the New
York postoffice does all it's own print
ing-is In the basement, where there
Is never any light at all, and where
from lack of ventilation, the air is
always so foul that the air in the new
subway is purity itself In comparison.
The Two Proposed Branches.
Much relief will be possible when
the two big branch postoffices TO be
opened In the huge stations projected
by the New York Central and the
Pennsylvania Railroads shall be
opened, but this will not come to pass
for some years.
What should be done would be 70
remove all the Federal offices, except
the postofiice, from the building which
is now shared by various branches Of
local bureaus OF the United States
government. Until some such steps
are taken no postmaster can hope 20
conduct the affairs of the office in a
perfectly satisfactory manner.
Though the postmastership OF New
York Is sometimes spoken OF as a
likely stepping stone 70 higher politi-
cal place, II has proved 80 in only
one instance in recent years. Thomas
T. James. who was postmaster when
the present building was first occu-
pied, was later made Postmaster Gem
er9l by President Garfield. His SON
in-law. Henry @. Pearson. succeeded
10 the place and held II until his
death bust OF Mr.. Pearson, with a
tablet, Is about the only artistic deco
ration IN the whole building. Former
Postmaster James n now the president
OF one Of the big towns best known
banks. His administration OF the post
Office was marked by great improve
ment IN New York's postal service.
Many Posfomces I'm New York.
Vast AZ the business OF the New
York postofiico now A. Il would ba