The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-06-27


money, the people OF the United States
pay more than ii costs to handle their
mall Deductlng the amount OF free mat
ter which was sent out under franks and
penalty envelopes it was found that the
postal service received 100000 more for
/ carrying the paid mail than it cost to car
ny IT, In other words, had Uncle sam
paid the ordinary postal rates for his
ranked and penalty matter, there would
have been a surplus of 100000 in the
postal revenues instead Of deficit of Sl6-
10000.
Heretofore there has been but a vague
l idea Of the amount of mail sent out by
the government every year. But the re
cent report, whose preparation was called
for by congress. and which is based on
/ the weighing and counting Of all classes OF
| mail for six months, reveals some inter
| esting data about Uncle Sam as a user OF
the mails. The weighing and counting
took place during the last six months of
1907, the dullest half of the dulest year
the country has had in a long period, as
measured by the quantity Of free matter
going out. Congress was not in session,
and the free seeds and government docu-
ments had been distributed during the
| other half of the year. Nor was there a
| political campaign on in which tons OF
| franked speeches would have been dlstTlb-
| uted through the mails-yes. carloads Of
| them. Yet even in this dull half year
! there were more than A000,O0Q pounds OF
| government mail turned loose on the ma
] ton, which was at the rate OF Z9,vJJ tons q
/ year. It is probable that the average year
would show Uncle Sam sending out 40,0G
| tons of mail matter, with more than that
/ in election years.
The figures show that during the sis
months there were handled 2,Z77 900 pounds
/ Of frauked Understanding with con-
/ gress; there We're 2663,000 pounds of pen
I atty matter-Originatin with the depart
/ ments. Any one who knows what great
/ volumes Of mail congress sends out in the
( course of a year knows to a certainty that
! it is vastly more than One-tenth as much
lac L.
| one takes cogniZanCe Of the vast amount
/ Of free seeds, free hOrse-bOoks, free msp-
/ and free everything else which congress
| distributes through the mails, including
| the millions of free speeches sent out fer
| home consumption. it viii be perfectly
! apparent that the national legislature wa
not in its stride when this test between
/ ranked and penalty mail was made.
/ During seven days the postal service
] handled 4441 900 pieces of penalty mail
| which is at the rate of I41-0O0 pieces for
/ very working day, or 221,0O0.O00 pieces d
/ YEAR Add to this the quantity congress
/ sends out during an average year. and II
/ will begin to appear what liberal patron
| Of the mails Uncle Sam really is. He has
| every other nation completely surpass I'd
! i'm this respect. Perhaps none of the
| other nations sends half as much govern
/ 0ent matter through the mails as the
/ J-0ited States.
/ Washington is the great center Of gov
/ eminent mail distribution. While congress
/ is in session there is more franked stuff
! sent out from the capital than from ali
/ the rest Of the country put together.
/ When congress goes away other places
] handle the greater bulk of the ranked
I mail With penalty il is different. While
/ = per cent of all the mail handled by the
/ Washington pOStOffiCe is either for the
| government or from the government, yet
! the vast amount of penalty business. orig
| mating wherever there is government
/ business to be transacted. makes that
portion of it originating in Washington
| seem Ike a small quantity.
/ Although government mail travels free
/ and private mail has to pay its way, gov
/ eminent mail travels farthest. The data
| gathered by the postal service shows that
/ the average pound Of government mail
/ travels about 165 miles farther than the
| average pound of paid matter. The lat
/ ter is carried $50 miles, while the average
/ pound Of franked matter goes 80 miles
| and penalty matter 1S2 miles.
/ About 50 per cent Of the registered mail
! business of the city of Washington is
/ government mail All the postage stamps
! sent out are sent this way, and the same
/ is true Of internal revenue stamps, TO say
/ nothing of the vast quantity Of other
| matter which is registered. Most of this
/ goes in closed pouches. Years ago 1t was
! the custom for all registered matter to
1 be handled loose. it being passed from
/ hand to hand to its destination, each mail
| clerk through whose hands 1t passed re-
| ceipting for it TO the man before him.
] As registered mail matter began to travel
I
| quantity, it became necessary for some
/ method to be devised so that many pieces
/ could be grouped together. This resulted
/ in the invention Of a registering clock In
/ il is a rotary register. like a bicycle cy-
! ClOmeter. Every time that lock IS
| opened the register moves up one number.
( Two men fill z pouch with registered mat
! ter Each checks il off and ceTtf1eS TO
l its contents keeping one copy of this for
| their record and enclosing another in the
| pouch. Then they fasten the pouch with
/ the lock, having placed the number OF
| the lock and its rotary number on the GER
| tificate of contents. When this pouch ar
/ rives at its destination the clerks who
| receive il first look to see If the rotary
| number corresponds with what 1t was
when it was locked at the beginning Of
| its journey. If it does, all is well; If it
/ does not they know that someone had
| opened it who had no right to do So II
they find the contents all right voucher
/ to that effect is sent to the men who
filled thet pouch, and this is filed with
the original statement of contents. 1t IS
/ through this method that nearly all the
/ stamps sent to pOstmasters and the reve-
nue. stamps we buy are distributed by the
| postoffice and treasury departments, re-
/ spectvely.
me last count Of pieces Of mail received
| by senators and representatives, showed
/ an average of from 1900 to 10000 letters
/ a day. and about twenty bushels OF news
| paper and circular mail. Since that time
/ there has been a falling off in the mail
/ received by the average senator and rep
| resentative. Two things have been prin-
Ecipally responsible for thistle decrease
| in pension correspondence, and the civil
I service laws. 1t used to be that every
constituent who thought he had a chance
| for a government job got after his rep
resentative. bombarding him with en-
/ dorsements and other things designed to
| help him to the place. The civil service
rules have changed this. and the appii-
cants for pensions write TO the bureau
/ instead of to their members Of congress
If one could look over the mail of the
| average senator and representative he
would find il full of human interest sto-
ries and mirth-prOvoking messages Not
long ago Uncle Joe" Cannon received a
letter from a Virginia correspondent Syho
signed himself "Ex-State Senator Joseph
o. Covode" The letter set forth that in
asmuch as the writer thereof was the man
who had found the bones Of Pocahontas
his requests ought to receive particular
attention. The request was that when
Congressman RiXey gets up DIS bill TO
improve Lower Machodoc creek let her
60 through. Uncle joe let her 50
through Uncle joe endorsed on the
back. Respectfully referred TO Hon.
John F. RiXev for his information But
Lower Machodoc creek failed TO get the
appropriation, so Uncle joe has never
let her go through
Perhaps there never was cndnge in
administration in which there was such
a remarkable change in the volume and