The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-11-24

With the sailing Of the Colon from
New York for Panama a few days ago.
another great Improvement in the hand
ling Of the United States mails destined
for ocean ports Was inagurated. for on
that ship was begun the first Of the ocean
post service between the United States
and Panama. as well as South America.
The ocean post service bears the same
relation 70 steamships that the railway
mail service bears TO trains. for on the
lines operating under the act providing
FOR an ocean post. the mail clerks work
just as they do in the big mail cars. SORT
ing mail so that when the boat arrives at
its destination, the packages may be made
up ready TO be dispatched at once to their
ultimate points Of delivery.
The most important branch Of the serv-
ice. Of course. is that between New York
and European ports. because, naturally,
the business there is much greater than
on any other routes. and Is increasing
in volume every year 10 such an extent
that an appropriation Of more than $780, c0,
as provided now, viii have 70 be made at
some time in the near future. AS an indi-
cation Of this. the North German Lloyd
and the Hamburg American lines. two OF
four lines operating in the service. last
month gave notice that the service would
be discontinued at the expiration Of six
months The reason given b. the Ger
man lines for their desire 70 withdraw
from the service was that the increased
amount Of mail. and the correspondingly
increased number OF clerks. could not be
handled at the old rate Of $4,000 per year.
The companies declared they could sell
the same amount Of space 70 passengers
or 10 shippers for more than was being
paid them by the government
Get 100000 More a Year.
This notice from the companies was
called 70 the attention of the Postmas-
ter General, and he Immediately instruct
ed Second Assistant Postmaster General
McCIeary 10 go 70 Germany and take
up the matter with the steamship COM
panies. Mr.. McCleary was highly sue
cessful in efecting a compromise by
which the companies viii continue the
service 40 a rate OF about $1,000 per year.
From Berlin Mr.. McCleary went %
Paris. where he took up with the French
lines this question OF an ocean post ser
vice. This had been tried before. but
the French government and the steam
ship companies would not at first enter
tain the proposition. Mr. McCleary,
however. succeeded in getting the gov
eminent 70 take the matter up, and a
/ tentative agreement was drawn up in
Paris 1t was revised by the Paris au-
/ thorities and finally sent back 10 this
! country for such other changes as this
I government might desire 70 make. Ger
/ tain changes were made, and the docu-
ment is now in Paris, where il is be
lieved it viii be signed by the govern
ment and the steamship lines, with the
result that the French ships soon may
! be carrying mail, TO be properly assorted
/ en- route between Havre and New York
/ Government Makes n Profit.
The Post-ofice Department figures that
on the bulk steamer mails which are
/ not distributed. the government makes
a profit Of about So cents a pound The
basis on which this profit is estimated
/ is that the cents postage is on each
| ounce Very few Of the letters weigh
an ounce, so It is figured that the gov
eminent gets not lesy than 81 per pound
I instead Of 50 cents, which would be the
/ case II each letter weighed a full ounce
I The price paid for Transporting the mails
I is s. cents per pound for hrst-class mat
ter. On all other than first-class mat
/ ter the government pays Az cents d
pound. and it is doubtful whether a profit
I is made on this. It Is estimated that
/ the profit the government makes on its
} ocean mails will average $1,000 per trip,
/ but this profit is readily eaten Up By the
/ expense Of handling the mail bound for
/ the interior
/ The life Of an ocean mail clerk is not
! all drudgery, although there are scme
/ unpleasant features about il and Oc-
/ casional hard work At present this gov
| eminent employees thirty-twO OF these
! clerks. taken principally from the rail-
! way mail service One-haf OF these
| clerks receive $3.50 per annum and the
other half are paid Sl.590. Their actual
( expenses while in Germany or England.
\ Of course, are paid BY the government
\ The average mail which these clerks
must handle is I,S00 sacks, though the
/ record holiday business is 1000 sacks.
/ The largest number OF clerks TO a ship
under normal conditions is seven.
Clerks Round Of Duty
While at sea, the clerks go on duty at
I S a m, and continue al work so long
as it is necessary TO distribute the mails.
/ The reports show that in emergencies
/ they have worked as long as eighteen
hours in single day. while during the
/ Christmas holiday season thirteen to six
/ teen hours a day is not unusual. The
mail handled by these men is sorted By
I them so that when the steamer arrives
at Southampton or Bremen, the sacks
/ for each Of the large towns are made up
and ready TO be put on board the trains
/ On the return trip to this country the
/ pieces are sorted down 10 the last one
{ Of the thirty-twO substatiOnS in New
/ York, so that the mail can be rushed
/ from the boat 10 the substations with
| out Living 10 go through the general
/ post-Ofiee. and as a result the business
/ man in New York gets his mail almost
| twenty-four hours earlier than he did
under the old order Of things. In fact.
when the ship with the ocean pOst-offce
! reaches New York harbOr, all the mail
/ has been sorted so that il can be rushed
by the first trains out to all the larger
| cities Of the United States direct from
| shipboard.
In the matter Of the Panama service
! the government is at no expense. ex-
! eept for clerk hire. as the steamships
! Alliance, Colon, Panama. Finance. and
Advance. plying between the United
/ States and Panama. are owned BY the
Panama Railroad. which in turn is own
| ed by the American government The
! clerks on these ships viii also sort NAH
for the west coast Of Central and South
America, and on the north-bOund trips.
mail from all these points will reach
/ New York distributed and sorted ca as