New-York tribune., 1905-07-16
~ Wonderful Is Nev-Yorks Postal Service.

at the windows leave their signatures behind for
the numbers they take. From that moment.
until II leaves the postoffice in wagon bearing
an extra lock and guarded by the railway mail
clerk who is to have charge of it in transit
sEeFy man VINO has handled an article has left
MS signature for 1t in a file.
Every letter and parcel is inserted in an Off
clal envelope which bears a number This Is
noUt+ 20 70 project 1t from damage and save the
LII S@olitsItta should they chance to get loose. Coin
not lnfrequently will do this The envelopes are
Haue IN such way that it is practically impos-
sIpIS 10 JaInDer with them without detection
Ihey are triple sealed by three tongues which
underlap and overlap the flap one is stuck to
the under side and the other two are stuck
over over the HAP. The ends of the flap are notched
IKE a saw The nOtching is intended to deter
any any one from trying to steam the package open.
~ Inc gum would crack in the process because
OF the notches. The packages are opened at
thelr destinations by cutting across one end with
SILL g Hiilie; Inc end is not entirely detached.
d onouId there be complaint that the contents
were not intact the envelope in which II tray
elled could be examined to determine if it had
oeen damaged in such a way that any of the
contents could escape
The envelopes and all the records are pre-
served for periods ranging from four TO six
years, according to their character In a few
minutes registered piece mailed at any time
~lthln four years can be traced through the
hands or every person who handled II until il
reached the Dostof1ce of its destination The
records destroyed last year filed $50 sacks
IN order to prevent tampering with registered
uldn Whlle en- route the bags containing it are
fastened with locks which automatically change
their numbers every time they are opened
Should one be opened while in transit and then
closed again the number would fail to corre-
spOnd with the number of the lock given on the
advice tnclosed with the bag. This fact or the
absence OF the advice would be evidence that
the bag had been tampered with. Only the
large pOstoftices have keys for these locks The
Keys are all numbered and recorded on the
books of the PostOffice Department at Washing.
ton. Each postmaster is held responsible for
those placed in his care Should one be dam
aged he must send it to washington TO be re-
paired. The four in the possession of the New
York Postof1ce are fastened to the inside of
safe with chain The safe has no use except
the safekeeping of these keys and the locks for
opening which they are used. More than two
million letters and $4,000 packages were reg
istered and more than three million registered
letters We're received at the New-Yorz Post
Office last year.
The effectiveness of advertising in the daily
papers when q person wants anything is fndi-
Gated by the number of unclaimed letters sent to
newspaper offices in reply TO advertisements re-
turned to the postOffce. They number about
ten thousand each week. They are an evidence
that the advertiser has secured what he wanted
and has given up calling for letters replying 10
his advertisement.