The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1907-04-23
NEW YCRK'S GREAT
| POST OFFICE
IMMENSE VOLUME OF BUSINESS
TRANSACTED BY THAT lNsrl.
TUITION -- NEW POLICE REeu.
LATloNs AND RESULTS.

/ LNllQNS AM NESlL -
/ NEW YORK. April si,-pThe busiest
place In New York by night or day
Is the General Post oillce. which Is the
great International clearing house for
the mails of all the world Through
II pass the foreign mails from Europe
aud the East intended for the United
States, In ordinary times 1t comes IN
at the rate OF $500 bags week, In
rush seasons. Hike Christmas or the
Easter just past, there are 1000 or
1900 bags more. The bulk of the Can
adian foreign mail both outgoing and
incoming, also passes through the
New York post office In bags, Whom
Europeans write 10 Australia. most
OF their letters pass through New
York and are sent In bulk 10 san
Francisco. thence by steamer 10 the
Antipodes, These figures. however,
are Insignificant when compared With
the volume OF domestic service. Be-
tween l;S0 and 1880 r. NJ, no fewer
than 100000 letters are dropped into
| the boxes at the main post office or
/ brought IN by carriers, In the busy
season the total reaches $4,000 for
the three hours. and this does not In.
clude parcels newspapers, and bags
of magazines or circulars In bulk;
neither does Il Include the mail SER
vice of the boroughs os Brooklyn,
Queens and Richmond, where sepa-
rate offices are maintained, To handle
the outgoing mail alone, a force Of
$50 men is required In the General
Post Office, Last year the Office
handled /, 051,so6 pieces Of mail in
the mailing lewiston and t2sa,31TsS6
pieces In the delivery department. an
increase OF nearly 10 per cent over
the previous year. In the money or
der division siso.oOo.ooO was transferr-
cd In iO,10s.s00 transactions,
Ever since the first steps in the
direction OF police regulation were
taken by the city In 1854. the gentle
men OF the nignt-stick have been In
venting excuses for derelIctlon from
duty. II is not surprising. therefor,
that Deputy Commissioner Hanson,
who acts as trial Judge OF the force
sometimes has great difficulty In dis
truth from fiction on the
simple hypothesis that truth is the
stranger. Under such circumstances,
injustice Is sometimes done In spite
OF the best intentions, as In the case
OF the Irish patrolman who was fin-
ed ten days pay for being found off
post and In saloon, In spite Of the
solemn assertion that he nad fallen
asleep while pacing his beat and
Of a fine brood of chickens
at home, only to wake up and find
himself In an anomalous position. On
the other nand. the officer who ex-
cuses his absence from roll call with
the plea that he had been kept awake
all night by bran new baby, was
dismissed without as mucn as re-
while his brother officer was
fined one days pay for getting mar
ried without permission, under the
rule Of the department which requires
that all Changes in social conditions
must be reported promptly, and a
severe reprimand also fell to the lot
OF youngester on the force, who ex-
planned two hours absence by say
ing that he had been married only a
few months and found 1t extremely
difficult to say last goodbye to a
very affectionate wife, BraInstorm Is
the latest excuse invented from the
force that It is not likely to become
popular.