The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1906-09-13
Postal Authorities Will Do Away
With Practice of Back Stamp
ing Letters in City Offices
PROMISE QUICKER DELIVERY
Offices Could be Maintained With
Smaller Number of Clerks With
out Any Loss in Efficiency
in Governments Service

| If an experiment now being made
in the postoffices at Chicago, New
York, and Jersey City proves success
full an important reform, designed to
expedite the delivery Of mail in
cities, will shortly be introduced in
the postal service. The reform is
nothing more or less than PROPOSE
! ton that theiback stamping of letters,
which is donestosindicate the hour of
receipt, shall be eliminated in the
future. 1t is estimated by First AS
sistant Postmaster General Hitch
cock, under whose orders the experi-
ment III question has been under
| taken, that ba ok stamping serves no
useful end that caA not be attained in
/! other ways, and that if tits eliminated
! it will result in mail being delivered
from twentyssminutes to two hours
earlier in every city that enjoys the
| delivery service. That the public is
not particularly interested IN its mail
being back stamped is shown in Chi
| cago, where the practice has been in
| operation for six months, and not a
single complaint has been made
against it. tit In fact, the chances are
that the people of Chicago are not yet
aware that letters deposited in their
mail boxes or handed to them by the
carrier at thisssstime do not have on
their backsRnotice of the time of ar
rival at the postoffice.
/ The idea of abolishing the back
stamp was borroWedlby First Assist
ant Postmaster general Hitchcock
from the railwaysmail Eservice. 1t is
/ the custom at number of points in
the country, notably at Milwaukee,
Chicago, New York, Boston, St. Paul,
Minneapolis, sDetroit, and in fact
nearly all cities sfof first class, for
clerks on mail trains to distribute and
route, ready for the carriers part of
the MAIL destined for those commune
ties. Thesmail is not stamped. First
Assistant Hitchcock, who has juris-
diction over the personnel in city
postoffces, came to the conclusion
that if the failure to put the back
! stamp on mail distributed on cars
resulted inSbetters service for some of
the people living in cities that it
would be asgood idea to discontinue
the use of the back stamp altogether,
thus insuring a more expeditions
handling Of all the people in cities.
While the discontinuance of the
back is sed.Sprimarily for the
purpose of effecting earlier deliver
les, elements Of economy enter it.
Under the present practice certain
classes of snai1, letter mail, that is
sent from city to city, is stamped at
the Office wheres it Originates, and
back stamped on arrival at the post
Office fromswhich it is to be delivered
to the addressee. This work is done
both by hand land by canceling ma
chimes. The spost-ofice at Chicago
has reported Ito 1.-THE Washington au-
thorities that the discontinuance of
the back stamp in this Office was
equivalent to an allowance of thirty
clerks. And in this connection it
should be borne IN mind that for some
years 80 per cent of the mail destined
for Chicago has been distributed on
cars, and as stated above, delivered
without the back stamp.
At the present time cancelling ma
chimes are used IN all first and second
class pest Offices. For the rental of
these machines and to secure the
power to run them'congress makes an
annual appropriation Of $780, 900.
assert, is inadequate.
First Assistant Hitchcock wishes
to make it clear that the idea Of
doing away with the back stamp was
not conceived as money saver. His
purpose is to deliver the mail to the
people as soon as possible after it is
received. If the back stamp is done
away with altogether, it will not
mean that the forces in any Of the
post-offices will.bes reduced, but that
they will not grow IN the proportion
that they have in the past. This,
AOWCsV1, lS elAdllCA " SCCOLludIy
consideration. 1t is the aim Of the
present administration of the post
office department to eliminate time
and distance with view to giving
the people the best possible mail SER
vice. With that aim in view automo-
biles will soon be in use on rural free
delivery rontes, and for the collection
of mail in large cities.
The back stamp on letters was first
put into operation in 1879 as check on
careless clerks. Other means will be
devised to see to it that there is no 6e-
lay in getting mail into the hands Of
carriers.
ONE FARE FOR RoHuD TRIP