The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1905-08-21

quickly the blndest OF addresses are the
prime qualifications Of a railway mail
clerk The night mail for New England
makes nine stops between here and Bos-
ton. and In addition 10 these mail is sort
ed for al bout 80 stations not on the Shore
Line 81 this route OF the New Haven
system is called For all the larger cities,
such as Providence. Newport and Boston
letters are tied into packages for tho car
riers' routes. all ready for delivery as
soon as they have been stamped at the
postoffice.
For Boston. the mail for each bank OF
hotel is bundled separately. I'm addition 10
the regular carriers packages. and special
parcels are made up for the principal pri-
vate postoffice boxes, while mail FOR
places beyond Boston. or off the main
line must be punched and transferred at
connecting points. Special delivery letters
are tied on the outside Of the packages.
go that they will he seen Immediately At
the postofficc that IL to deliver them and
can be sent out by special carriers with
out delay.
THE RIGHT OF WAY
Just as tho big vans that rumble
through the city streets have the right OF
way over ordinary vehicles, so the travel
Ing postofflce has precedence over all
other traffic Of the railway. The train
dispatcher manages TO give II clear
track. and Il Is seldom that an engineer
with letter-laden cars behind him secs
a red light blocking the road. When A
mail train does get behind its schedule
every effort is made 10 regain the lost
time.
Recently the newspaper train" leaving
at 2:l5 a. m. lost several minutes be
tween here and New Haven and after
an unusually large mail had been un-
loaded there started away with the as
sUrance OF clear track to make up the
precious time. In spite OF the slow
downs that the big engineering improve
mcnts now under way along the line ne
cessitated. the run OF 81 miles TO New
London was made I'm 46 minutes
The postoffce on wheels has made some
remarkable savings I'm time. Sixty years
ago. when the postoffice department
wanted 10 reduce tho time OF getting a
letter from New York 10 Seattle by q
hours. the railroads were called upon
10 cut eight house out of the run from
here 30 St Paul and make up the other
rs from 81. Paul 20 the coast. The sChed-
ule time from New York or Washington
10 Seattle 4. new ~ hours as against ~
In 1899.
NOT MUCH MONEY IN IT.
or course, as the speed Of the service m
creases the volume OF mail TO be carried
grows. While the average weight Of
mali from northwestern points going out
Of Chicago for - hours was less than
Il tons In 1856. IL has risen I'm ~ years
10 l25 tons In 1875 there were between
20 and 80 clerks employed on the through
mail trains Of the New Haven road: tho
number is now in the ncighborhood OF 30
and this one system alone has in service
q mail cars. 21 mail baggage or mail-ex-
press coaches. IL combination mail and
smoking cars. and many other cars with
small mail compartments No branch or
spur of the road is 20 little Travelled that
the mall does not make az least two
round trips a dag over ~. while there are
six mail trains daily between New oYrk
and Boston. beside four other which
carry some through mail
There is not much money in the mail
carrying business for the railroads nova
days Time was when some lines were
subsidized. but the postoffice department.
with It's yearly dcficit, has no more money
20 spend IN such ways The enterprise
OF the railroads themselves is counted on
To- offset the cost OF special equipment
and the extra expense always entailed I'm
the operation OF flyers"
The government nominaly pays so
much a -tna- -tar-the transportation OF tho
mails. but the price Is based on stand
ard set once IN four years by weighing
tho malls Tor n specified period. and 50
fast dues The volume ~ correspondence
Increase that ono standard IL really out
of 1sie long before the next Is estab-
ished.