The Savannah morning news., 1904-01-19
BIG GAINS
IN POSTOFFICE
ANNUAL REPORT SHOWS LARGE IN
GREASE IN BUSINESS OVER 1902.
SEVEN AND HALF MILLIONS
WAS THE NUMBER OF PIECES OF
MAIL HANDLED DURING 1908.

Efficiency of ONCE Force shown in
the small Percentage of Pieces
THAT went Astray-speciaI DeIiV-
cry Department Made Jump OF
Nearly 1000 Pieces over Former
Hear-MOney order Department
shows Tint Nearly $1,000 More
Was Paid Out III 1908 Than in
1902.
The report of the Savannah Post
office for the year ending Dec. 81 1903,
was completed yesterday afternoon at
. O'Clock Taking its figures as an
index of the business done in SaVan-
nah during that year it shows that the
city has been pushing forward at
very satisfactory rate for in every de-
partment of the office gains have been
made over the preceding year.
Some of these gains are not shown
In these figures, for in some branches
of the business one-third of the BUSH
ness is done by the branch stations,
of which there are six and these trans
actions are not, in every case, shown
in the report of the main Office.
general summary of the business for
1902, as compared with that of 1908,
shows the following figures;
1902. 1903
Sale of stamps,
etc. e.. .........$ 149.S15.51 $153,473.13
N. and P. postage 4,644.7S 4,960.12
Box rents ........ 2,O63. 60 2.196.3
Surplus Remittances
to New York =. 1874, 1860 154,21S.93
Remittances from
other postmasters. 56,765. IS 57,430. 20
This showing is the better when 1t
is remembered that in 1908 the Post
Office receipts fell off some $4,000 by
the merging of the Plant System with
the Atlantic Coast Line and the re-
moval of the general offices of the con-
soidated roads away from Savannah.
The postoffice will be even harder hit
during the present year. according to
reliable information received, which is
TO the effect that with the removal of
the Office of the president of the Cen
trail of Georgia to Macon all postal sup
plies are now bought in Macon instead
of Savannah, which means a loss of
$1,000 a year to the postofice.
special Delivery Department.
A most satisfactory growth has also
been shown in the special delivery bus
1ness and here, as in all other depart
increase of business, but that it is
being better taken care of, which
means that the efficiency of the de-
partment has materially improved
over former years. This is shown
alone in the lessened number of pieces
OF mail matter that have been I'M
delivered, and the very few errors,
compared with the number of pieces
of mail handled, that have been made.
The following is a. table of the special
delivery business:
Articles arriving from
other offices 2,47l 1896
Number deposited for local
delivery NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 25S 257
Number actually deliver
ed Observation-Disclosures. .45S 1851
Number falling of delivery. 276 &c
over Seven Million Pieces.
The average number of pieces of
mail delivered each day of the year
was 10000 pieces. or about 100000
pieces a year. The number of pieces
failing of delivery and falling to be
returned to writer was, during 1902,
1906: during 1908, 1241S. In 1903 one
machine cancelled 7236,225 pieces of
mail which. with the addition of l.,
500 056 pieces of second, third and
fourth class matter, made a total for
the year of 9045. Psi pieces. In the
handling of this immense amount of
work, only 1,347 errors of wrong dis
tribution were made, a percentage so
small as to make the handling of the
work almost perfect.
Registry Division Gains.
In the registry division the figures
which follow show only the pieces
actually registered at this office and
do not include matter handled through
this office or received from other Of
fees. The figures are:
1888 .s...s.s...s. .-'s.ss' ssss.-.. 5,lAo
1900 Observation-Disclosures. 1857
H911 ................ ............ lO.g3o
1902 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. ,513
1903 Observation-Disclosures. $40
Growth of Money Orders.
In the money order department. of
which the following table shows the
figures of only December, 1908, and
the corresponding month of the pre-
ceding year. it win be seen that not