The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-12
Postal Figures Show Astonishing
 Growth of Advertiser.
In Five Years the Amount of Paper Sent througI, the Mails Has More Than TripIed.--some Figures From Postmaster Buck
 ley'E Books.
By wnn T. sheehan.

the most convincing figures which send home the appreciation of Montgomery's wonderful growth and development are shut in between the covers of the off, oial books of Postmaster c. w. Buckley, in the Federal building. For instance these official figures, these figures made for the Post-office Department of the Federal government, show that in ;he period of five years the busiress of the Montgomery post-officc has in- creased In the neighborhood of B 1-S per cent. The official books, as well as the official reports on file at Wash ington, show this splendid advance.
 The official figures are here given exactly. Fer the year which ended Dec. 31, 1900. the total receipts of the Just five years later or for the year which ended Dec. 31, 1905, the total re- ceipts, as shown by Postmaster Buck ley's figures were s104,796.99. A little subtraction shows that the total in- crease for five years foots up to the as- enormity of the increase, when one con- siders and compares post-office re- ceipts. can not at first be fully appre- ciated
 A Magnificent Advance.
 To send this advance in post-office re- ceipts hcme and to give full force to it as illustrating the magnificent ad- vance of the city If Montgomery in the past five years of unparalleled prosperity, some comparisons are neces- gary To do this the figures in the offijcal report of the post-office Depart meat for the year 1904 are taken as that Is the latest report published Now with the 1904 figures taken as a basis. the Increase in the Montgomery post office business Is mere than the total business done at the Selma post-office. This increase Is mere than the com bined business done by the post-offlces at Anniston, Opelika, Dothan, Troy and New Decatur comDired-that is the in. crease. not the total business of tho Montgomery office. It is more than tho total business done in the three cities of Talladega. Decatur and Huntsville
 dneSe facts. 1t would seem. would pear eloquently upon the rapid advance which Montgomery Is making in these early years of the Twentieth Century
 They go beyond the mere change in pronounced in the congested business section of the city. For this appear anee of the heart of the city, as many and improved les than that of any other CT portion of the city. They bear up- on. do these postofice figures, of the great building activity in every suburb @ fact tM466agomsTy f6agf They bear upon the densely populated city in the South. or all facts about this city, this one iact the montgomery man should not forget. that Montgomery has more peo-
 pie to the acre than any other city of
 the South. Carefully secured and offi- cial statistics have established the
 truth of this statement And these
 figures bear upon the condition which
 obtains generally throughout Mont
 gomery-the ornamentation Of nearly
 every lot. vacant five years ago, with
 modern and attractive residence
 The old Time Belt.
 Tn the years which followed the war
 belt of negro houses grew up around
 the city. The city was circumscribed
 by this belt of negro houses. Tn a way 1t shut in the business section and
 the white residential portion of the city as though it were closed in with
 a sort of Chinese wall. It was for
 awhile. this belt of negro houses. a detriment to the city. It was a handi- cap and a repression.
 But growing. thriving city could
 not be continually so repressed. Mont gomery overleaped the restraining
 bonds. The growing city went beyond
 the unprepossessing belt. Suburbs sprang up on the other side. In every quarter nf the city suburbs began to
 grow beyond the confining belt. And | now in due time the belt Is all but ob- liberated In some places 1t is totally IL IS OHly IL or | time before it will be only a memory. Other Eloquent Figures.
 Eloquently Illustrative of this are | other figures on Postmaster BuckIey's books and in the reports on file at the Postofflce Department in Washington. ! For one thing the number of clerks necessary to handle the business of the Montgomery postoffice has been nearly doubled in the past five years. At the [ AN. 70 ( Nx .Ix clerks employed at the Montgomery postofflce amounted to only eleven all told. In the good year of 1905 which has just passed into history there were employed in the of2ce twenty clerks. They were necessary for the amplified and expanded business. In the item of carriers the same sort of big increase Is noted. There were employed five years ago only thirteen carriers But in the year just closed the Montgomery postoffice had at work eighteen carriers and three substitutes.
 In discussing the business done at the Montgomery postoftice yesterday Assistant Postmaster Henry Irwin said: There is not a department of the of- flee which has not shown a marked and a substantial advance. The figures given are sufficiently convincing of this. But perhaps a still better evil dence of the growth of the city could be had if went bhIck Tor eight years and took the total business done 1 during the year of S97 as basis. In that year the total receipts of the
 Montgomery postofice only amounted to $57,000. Now compare this amount with the total of the business done in
 the past year which amounts to $104,- 796 99 to be exact. It will be seen that the Montgomery postoffice in the com paratively short time of eight years has all but doubled it's total business. The Improved service.
 But proof upon proof could be piled up as Illustrating the increased service that the Montgomery postofflce has put on under Postmaster Buckley to keep
 pace with the growth and development of Alabama's capital city. There were no sub-stations to the Montgomery
 postoffice five years ago. Now there
 are two ono at Highland Park and one
 at West End. There was no system of rural free delivery five years ago. In that period the system has been es- abolished and five carriers make daily
 trips out of the Montgomery postodice. Each of these carriers serve 300 pat rons and each daily makes trip of
 twenty-one miles. - .,
 In the gathering or inese figures or
 information was moved to ask; "Bv the way, how much have the .tst t,,I. of 'Tbe Advertiser increaS-