Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-06-29

Ne far Isle of Guam.
Staten Island there are twenty
4 &separate postofices, all indepen-
II of each other and rated by the
5vernment as distinct stations.
z The largest five of these Staten Is
land postofices, those at Rosebank,
Stapleton, Tompkinsville, New Brigh-
ton and Port Richmond, provide free
delivery and collection at the houses
and letter boxes within their several
jurisdictions. For a community to
get that privilege it must have a pop
ulation of at least 10000, or its post
office must do 100000 worth of an
nual business in stamps, postal cards,
money orders and registered mail.
So the rest of Staten Island must
thicken it's population to town deliv-
cry. In the meantime the govern
ment may see it's way clear to pro-
vide rural delivery for the farm sec
ton.
A special committee of three is
now at work on the whole Staten
Island problem, and 1t is a tough one.
The real trouble with Staten Is
land, say the postal experts, is that
1t gives the government such a head
ache that the government can't think
clearly about the islands problems.
While there are only twenty-five post
offices down there, there are about
2,20O places. Everybody who leases
a house on the island for the summer
wants to give it a name, something
new and original, like Hilly Hill or
Oak Grove. If a man hires his house
in March before the spring thaws are
over and there is a puddle in front of
1t he is apt to call the place Sylvan
Lake and tells all his friends to adj
dress their letters accordingly. Then
the puddle dries up in May, and just
because the United States can't find
the spot where the formed the deliv-
cry of the letter is delayed and the
leading citizen of Sylvan Lake makes
a fuss and wants to know where the
island of Guam is anyhow.
When a ground mole makes two
inch ridges in a seven by nine front
yard the owner of the place dubs it
Green Terrace or The bikes, and *
poets the p~ostoffice department to de-
liver his mail at that address before
breakfast.
OF course there are so many Sea
Views and Ocean Breezes and
"hursts" of one kind or another that
every mosquito on the island a have
one all to himself to bite in, and
about the surest way to deliver a let
ter to one of those places would be to
put 1t in a bottle. throw the bottle
overheard in the Narrows ana Yet the
ocean currents and the tides do the
rest.
The troubles of Richmond were
first brought to the attention of the
government about two years ago by
a woman who lived at st. George.
There is no postofice at st. George
and the place isn't on the postal de-
partment's map. Some of the people
who live in the area called by that
name get their mail from Tompkins-
Vile, some from New Brighton. This
woman wouldn't yield to the govern
ment and insisted on having all her.
mail addressed to st. George. She
belong to about all the women's
clubs there were Joined the new ones
as fast as they were organized, so she
had many notices of meetings which
were delayed more or less by the fact
that they were not properly directed.
So the woman could never keep up
with her meetings. She would hear
on Tuesday that she had been expect
ed to elevate the stage on Monday,
and on Wednesday she'd get the no
tice that she should have taught the
mothers of the tenements how to
make guimpes on Tuesday; and so
on through the week.
Finally she wrote to Washington,
and the government was so Impress
ed by her sorrows that it appointed
the special committee. The woman
wasn't game, however; she moved
to Manhattan recently so as not to
miss any more meetings and the
chance to join new things. The com
mittee has not yet made it's first e
port.
Victor J. Bradley, superintendent
of the railway mail service for the
Middle Atlantic States. is chairman
Of this special committee for the con-
siderat5on OF Staten Islands troubles.