The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-24
STATEN ISLAND AND GUAM.
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Aehe win me tgtu'iess FIsres "
WhIcH dltlanats Ntte Taaey NAMES.

4 .pifit n ptntcst I~rcauss tha uuveFn-
n.ni hts established rural ffer mail delivery
,u rlo Island ~ Oiam tpfote providing
~ n ~ tho writer lslnn MI, Wellington
,l.lll lr tnli. declares tho correspondent.
vNn haI ~ walk tp he tott onicv ~ mail
ns I.'irr that charity ousht TO hrRin ~
nHuu and Furthermore, ho wants to know
vny % dcuiInn ~ tho greatest city In the
,0ru'ry' shuuhin't have tho sans POSTAL
Z, rI'io- that our fellow citizens of Guam
lt,n
M Guam ~ only about s,nOo or n,nOo
mIH away, and nobody really knows how
IN - staten leland may 10 after embark
ing uu 4 municipal 'rfryhoat.
Secondly. ne the Government would pu'
tho protecting correspondent " not u
dmuilou ~ tho greatest city In tho country
a. al 50 far ~ his rating In The Post once
Department NJ Washington In concerned.
Tho consolidation Of the five boroughs
into the Greater city 81 New York has not
boon recognized 10y tho Government In it's
mail affairs At all, The only New York
Cty post office IL the general Office and It's
various suh-stations on Manhattan Island.
The general post office has no more
jurisdiction over the post Offices In the
other horoughs than II has over the post
Offices Of New jersey or the rural delivery
couriers If the far Isle of Guam.
Or Staten Island there are twenty-five
separate post Offices. all independent Of each
other and rated by the Government as
distinct stations.
The largest five ~ these Staten Island
post offices. those at R~osebank. Stapleton,
Tompkinsville, New Brighton and Port
Richmond, provide free delivery and collec-
ton at the houses and letter boxes within
their several jurisdictions. For a community
to get that privilege it must have a popu-
lation OF at least 1000 or its post office
must do $40, 900 worth OF annual business
in stamps, postal cards, money orders and
registered mail. So the rest OF Staten Island
must thioken its population to get town
delivery. In the meantime the Government
may see its way clear to provide rural de-
livery for the farm section.
A special committee Of three Is now at
work on the whole Staten Island problem,
The real trouble with Staten Island, say
the postal experts, Is that it gives the Gov
eminent such a headache that the Govern
ment can't think clearly about the islands
two post offices down there, there are about
1900 places. Everybody who leases a house
on the island for the summer wants to give
It a name, something new and original, like
Hlilly Hill or Oak Grove. II a man hires his
house In March before the spring thaws
are. over and there Is a puddle In front Of it
he Is apt to call the place Sylvan Lake and
tells all his friends to address their letters
accordingly. Then the puddle dries up in
May and Just because the United States
can't find the spot where the water formed
the delivery Of the letter is delayed and the
leading citizen Of Sylvan Lake makes a
fass and wants to know where the island OF
When a ground mole makes two inch
ridges in a seven by nine front yard the
owner Of the place dubs 1t Green Terrace
or The bikes and expects the Post Office
Department to deliver his mail at that adj
dress before breakfast.
OF course there are 80 many Sea Views
and Ocean Breezes and bursts OF one
kind or another that every MOSQUITO on the
island can ave one all to himself to bite in.
ter to one Of those places would be to put it
In q bottle, throw the bottle overheard In
the Narrows and let 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 post office at st.
George and the place isn't on the Postal
DEPARTMENTS map. Some OF the people who
live in the area called by that name get their
mail, from Tompkinsville, some from New
Brighton. This woman wouldn't yield
to the Government and insisted on having
all her mail addressed to st. George. She
belonged to about all the women's clubs
as they were organized, so she had many
notices Of meetings which We're delayed
more or less by the fact that they were
not properly directed. So the woman could
would hear on Tuesday that she had been
expected to elevate the stage on Monday
and on Wednesday she'd get the notice
that she should have taught the mothers OF
the tenements how to make guimpes on
Finally she wrote to Washington, and the
Government was 40 impressed by her sor-
rows that it appointed the special commit
tee. The woman wasn't game, however; she
moved to Manhattan recently, 80 as not to
miss any more meetings and the chance
to Join new things. The m has not
yet made its first report.
Victor j. Bradley, superintendent OF the
railway mail service for The Middle Atlantic
tee for the consideration Of Staten Islands
troubles. He told yesterday Of the embar-
rassment caused by. the great number OF
place names not on the postal lists:
yard, said Mr.. Bradley, she ought not to
find fault because the Government CANT
find him at The Oaks as readily as II he
told his friends to send their letters to
stapleton or Port Richmond or some other
office on the department list.
THE islanders car do a great deal them
selves toward getting better service by
having their correspondents address their
letters properly. There's a place, for in
stance, called Erastina, something tackled
on by the late Erastus Wiman, but there's
no such post office. Neither does the
department officially know the location
Of Arbutus Lake or Prohibition Park. |
Even the War Departments Fort Wads-
worth is not on the post office list, for the
army post there gets its mai through
Rosebank, and there is no post office at
Sailors Snug Harbor, 30 how can we be ex-
pecedto keep the run Of all the place m
that are born every summer and are never
heard OF except by the man who invents
them and his letter writing friends?
@We haven't reached the question OF
rural free delivery on the island yet; but,
as It u.s.. every one OF the twenty-five post
Offices down there gets from two to five
mails a day. Communities in which rural
delivery has been established get but
mail a day.
THE matter has been complicated some
what by the city taking over the ferry
%eervioe. Under the old arrangement the
government sent the island mails over on
me f%erryboats at a total cost Of 5000 a year;
when the city assumed control i asked