The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10

running out Of Chicago and other cities
and towns, and in the six big railway
stations Of this city, and in other towns.
Some $50 men or more are busily engaged
in the gigantic task. and will be for about
fourteen weeks. The task was begun
Wednesday, February 60 at 1901 o'clock,
and il will ne be concluded until the
expiration of fifteen weeks, or 1O5 days.
Every four years this weighing process
takes place in order 10 fix the compensa-
ton the Government shall pay the rail-
roads for carrying the mails. says the
Chicago Chronicle. This compensation is
based on the amount of mail carried, and
In order 10 get al this amount an army
Of men is employed to weigh every letter,
paper. and package carried from initial
TO terminal points. This is d task Of big
proportions, and not only calls for a big
outlay of money. but for an army Of en-
ployes. These employees. by the way. are
allowed 50 per day for the work They
are obtained from each State in which
the work is carried on from civil ser
vice lists.
All the men. or nearly all of them,
have taken the civil service examinations
for railway postal work. After these lists
are exhausted. however. other men are
selected for the work. and this is where
Congressman are allowed 10 do good turns
10 some of their constituents, for they
have the privilege Of appointing some of
these weighers, and as the pay Is good.
there is usually a number OF applications
Tor such places.
Cost of Weighing Is Heavy.
The third contract section of the United
States comprises the States of Illinois.
Indiana. Iowa, Michigan. Wisconsin, Ohio,
Minnesota, and Missouri. Mails carried
IN trains in this big section of the Middle
West must be weighed during fifteen
weeks Chicago is the sixth division Of
the Railway Mail Service. The other
divisions are as follows: Boston, first;
New York, second: Washington third:
Atlanta, fourth; Cincinnati, NTH; Chicago.
sixth; St Louis. seventh San Francisco.
eighth; Cleveland, ninth; ST. Paul, tenth,
and Fort Worth eleventh
The United States is divided into four
contract sections, Of which Chicago is in
the third These sections are weighed
every four years. This year the third
section is being weighed. Next year sec
tiOu one which comprises the Southern
States will be weighed, and the following
year the first division, comprising the New
England States, viii be taken up. Last
year the fourth section. which comprises
the States west OF the Missouri River
was weighed. in this manner the differ
ent sections are weighed every four years
IN order that the government may know
how much mail the different railways are
carrying and the basis Of compensation
is learned.
The third section Is comprised IN the
area lying between the Missouri River
ana Buffalo and the Ohio River north TO
the Canada line. In this section there
are about 200 Weighers employed on all the
trains that traverse the vast section OF
country Each train is provided with
spring balance scales for weighing the
smaller pouches. and warehouse scales
for heavier packages. The men all ride IN
trains from initials 10 terminals as the
trains run. Some OF the long runs are
from Chicago 10 Council Bluffs. 5o1 miles
and Chicago TO Kansas CITY. 454 miles.
Every Pound Must Be weighed.
Every pound of mail that is taken Cd
or put of must be weighed. To facilitate
this Weighing sixty weighers are en-
ployed in the six big railway stations of
Chicago. One man is employed at the
scale beam and one man looks after the
tickets. for every truck load that is
weighed must be ticketed In order that
there shall be no mistakes there are gal
vanized pockets on every truck to con-
tain the tickets The trucks are weighed
carefully and their weight is steuciled in
white letters on all the trucks. The
weights are all placed on cards and cop
les of these are sent to Washington, to
the railway and to the tabulating office in
the Federal Building in Chicago.
Every card must be verified to insure
accuracy and that vertihcation is done
on the eleventh floor Of the Federal
building, where force of men are at
work under g. G. HungerfOTd who is the
chief clerk of the railway mail service Of
the sixth division. After the wcighers
have sent in their cards for the week the
grand totals are made i'm this tabulating
Office. All this work is done with add
ing machines and this insures accuracy |
as well as great speed. After a week
cards have been received they are spread
out where men read the figures to other
men AZ the adding machines The ma
chimes are so constructed that they are
In reality double and afford the figures for
both the mail taken on and put of.
Under the old method all these figures
were copied by hand on big. unwieldy /
sheets This took a great deal of time |
and there was great liability of mistakes !
Under the present system. which is in use
only in Chicago and i'm the third section. /
two men can do the work Of three and do /
it more accurately and with greater I
speed and efficiency Adding machines /
are in use in other sections. but not for 4
the tOtaling process. After the totals for /
each week have been tabulated there Is 4
final tabulatiOn. when the totals for 4
the whole fifteen weeks are found. and
thus the government is able 10 get at the
number of pounds per mile per day car
ried by each road.
How Figures Are Obtained.
The way the governments gets at the
number Of pounds per day per mile is by .
taking the number OF pounds taken on at /
n given station, multiplying it by the num- |
Der Of miles from that point TO the next
station and dividing it by the whole num- /
Der Of days. In this way accurate figures i
are obtained. Recently there was some
talk in Congress that the railroads were t
getting the best Of the argument. as the
Weighing goes on for los days while the .
division Is made on ninety working days. |
Under this plan it is easily to be seen 1
that railroads gain considerably The /
Post-office Department however, has |
ordered that the division shall be made
on the basis Of is working days
There are I'm Chicago eighty-three .
weighers and tabuIators at work at the
present time. On the hundreds of trains
that go out of the city every day there
are some 800 more weighers who are
busily engaged in seeing that every letter,
package, and paper is weighed
Mr. Hungerfords Office is also on the