Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-24
RUSH AT THE POST OFFICE
Oldest Employe Cannot Remember
Such Busy Time.
EVERY oNEwORK1NG CHEER1LY
Unusually Heavy Business Of the
Express Companies-obliged to
Hire Many Extra Wagons.


mail as now The rush began two
days earlier than usual this year and
has continued without cessation. The
work has gone on ceaselessly the entire
week. When it is recalled that the entire
force numbers more than a thousand men
and women, and that 1t has been aug
mented by fifty-one. substitute clerks and
substitute letter carriers some
idea may be gained of the vast army
engaged in sending on their way the let
ters. post cards and parcels containing
gifts. The mechanical inventions which
have recently been installed in the office
are running continuously, saving tired
clerks many steps in the tWenty-four
hours and doing the duty of almost an
army themselves.
Half Million Packages.
In the mailing division, from which
outgoing malls are sept. $4,000 parcels,
300, COO letters and 5000 books were dis
patched in the past twentyfour hours, In
FROM 800 to $500 sacks and pouches. This
does not include the immense newspaper
mail, which must also be sent out. OF
postal cards alone there were $4,000 on
hand this morning when the first day
Two canceiing machines, whose ca
pacity has never been tested, cancel the
thousands of letters gathered in at the
drops. the stations and from the city let
ter boxes. The men work in three shifts
to the twenty-four hours Of the day.
Eight men alone are employed In facing
up the letters to run through the can
ceiling machines. The remaining nineteen,
of the force of twenty-seven men to the
shift. are employed in asserting, pouching
and dispatching
Supt. Springer reports that everything
has moved like an immense well-oiled ma
chine, without friction or stop: and 1.-The
best of ALL" he added. lis that the men
are working cheerily and contentedly, ca CHI
anxious to Guido his fellow for the good
of the Washington public
On the delivery side stands Supt. w. n.
Haycock, overseeing the task of gathering
and sending out incoming mail
for delivery. AS in the mailing division
the men are divided into three shifts Of
eight hours each.
Mountains of Mail Received.
During the past twentyfour hours"
he said, "225O 900 parcels and pieces of sec
ond and fourth-class matter have been re-
ceived; $4,000 books and other printed
matter not newspapers, and upward OF
100000 letters and post cards.
IMuCu VI Tic AL
crease in the number of fourth-class
pieces, containing Christmas gifts. to the
agitation by Postmaster General Meyer
for the parcels post system for rural
routes. People are beginning to see the
value Of the postal service for parcel de-
livery within the city limits. One hundred
and two carriers and seventeen extras are
digging like beavers into this mountain
Of mail, and before dark on Christmas we
will have every piece of mail matter in
the Office delivered to the person address
ed The wonderful volume of outgoing
post cards handled by Supt. Springer's
force has been duplicated by our men.
mo wonder the report got out that all
the one-cent stamps were exhausted, for
though not entirely true some stations
ran entirely out of them last night. Our
record of incoming sacks for the past
twenty-four hours has approximated
1 400, aggregating not far from three
quarters of million Of pieces of all
kinds.
Have you noticed our carriers is they
leave the main office on their trips! NO!
Well, Santa Claus in his proudest days
couldn't begin to touch them. l wonder
if the good people of the city really APP
preciate the faithful service Of those boys
who tramp through wind and snow and
rain and slush in all sorts of weather. al
ways on time, with their pack-mule loads
of mail for delivery. There isn't better
force in the world
Valuable Mail Registered.
Superintendent Granville Hunt in the
registered mail division is also having a
merry time. I'VE have sent out about
100 registered pouches and sacks within
the last twenty-four hours" he said
containing quite 10000 pieces of valuable
mail matter. and our incoming mail nearly
reaches that number. Our force Of
Gig ty-nine men, including nine additional
helpers for the Christmas holidays, is
worked in two shifts of non1inally twelve
hours each. but the Shift that just went
off put in fourteen and one-ha.f hours as
its share, and there wasn't a murrnur
from the men. I never knew the force as
d whole to work with such splendid
spirit under trying circumstances before
I'm proud OF the boys, every one of them. .
Three windows have been kept open
to receive valuable letters and
parcels for registration, and two
clerks are constantly engaged in deliv-
erns registered mail to the public.
I'VE have nine men simply recording
pieces for delivery by carrier. 1t must
not be forgotten" said Mr.. Hunt, that
we run our registry division on bank
ing principles. Each shift balances up
everything completely before it goes
been done by each and that every reg
fstered article has been properly dis
posed of.
There is a hand-to-hand system of re-
ceipting throughout the entire registry
division for every article handled, and
should one be lost or stolen we could
locate the man responsible in five min
utes; but we don't have to. We don't
have losses or carelessness In this neck of
the woods
"Splendidly Handled"
Postmaster Barnes said that the mail
throughout the holiday season is being
splendidly handled. Stations that hereto
fore have sent in one sack a trip are now
in between four and six: this will
give some idea of the increase of business
from the station standpoint.
Cashier Merritt says that the daily
stamp sales last year amounted to about
7,OG0, while this year they are about
$1,000. Stations are making acquisitions
'or nearly double the amount of stamps
hey ordinarily use, and many of the de-
run pretty low at times
Special delivery letters are coming in
1t the rate of about 600 day
Snow Hampers Express Delivery.
Local express companies say that they
never before experienced such a busy sea-
son. The manager of one Office in the
business section said today that yester-
days business exceeded by more than 300
D. cka"es the business on the correspond
ing day of last year.
Ordinarily the companies would be able
to cope with even this huge Increase in
their express landings, but Tuesdays
put an unusual and unfOre-