Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-10

~HE Post Office Department of
the United States government
| is by far the largest postal in
stitution in the world. Its 30O.
| coo employees handle more than
| Is, coo 600 900 pieces of mail each year,
which is one-third Of the aggregate postal
business of all the civilized nations. The
American post office handles more than
| $4,000 letters every hour of the twenty
| four. every day in the year: 1t issues and
redeems daily more than 10000 money
orders; 1t registers daily more than u.s.
900 letters and parcels, and IT, handles
| thousands of tons of second and third and
| fourth class matter every hour.
| For many years there has been deficit
of from $1OOOO,OOO to $4,000 in the
operation of the postal service, and 1t re-
manned for Postmaster General Frank III.
| Hitchcock of President Tafts cabinet
entirely to eliminate this deficit and to
make the postal service not only self
| supporting, but a paying institution. In
doing so his main effort was to stop up
| the little leaks without adversely affecting
the service in any way. He continued
the application of the new divisor in the
readjustment of pay to the railroads on
| the weights of mails carried until the ef-
feet had been felt throughout the entire
service He recommended to Congress
change with respect to the rates payable
| for service on Immigrant roads, Whlcn
Congress enacted into law. the WIN
| drawal of empty equipment from the
mails and it's transportation by treighl
| was extended throughout the weighing
sections. So
In the money order business, un-
| til recently, the handling OF the 40
| nestle advice slips, when were III
| every instance required to De malleu
| by the issuing to the paying once, COS.
| the government about 5000 900 year
| A new form of order has been mtro-
duced in which the advice slip forms d
| part of the order itself. and Is present
ed at the paying office by the holder OF
| the money order. This radical chanse
| has resulted in the entire elimination
| Of the six-hundred- thousand-dollar ex-
| pense incident to the handling OF the
| advice slips under the former metnoo-
| 1t formerly was the custom TO Iurnlsh
| a return receipt card, showing delivery
| for every domestic registered letter OF
| parcel handled in the mails rms re-
| auired the handling OF more than oo,-
| 600, 900 such cards year BY the au-
| thority of Congress these cards are
| now furnished only when requested
| and this resulted in the saving OF ap-
proximately $4,000 year. Economies
| in the purchase of supplies also cut
down the total expenditure of the post
| al service. The annuel supply Dill
amounts to about $4,00O.000. The twlne
| used by the service in tying packages
| of letters costs 100000 year, nearly
| a billion yards Of 1t being used. This
| amount of Irvine would go around the
| earth twenty times. The Post once
| Department long sought a substitute
for Irvine, but has given up the quest.
In addition to the four assistant
postmasters general. who are the AIDS
| of the Postmaster General In com
manding the postal army, the Post OI-
| flee Department has US own IegaI slan
| sentatives or inspectors. The assistant
4 attorney general for the Post ONCE
| Department has charge OF the ENFORCE
ment of the law against iot.eIy
men who use the mails. More than
| 5000 persons and firms have been de-
| MED the use of the mails on fraud
| orders"
| The growth of the mail business of
| the United States has been one of the
marvels of American progress. In 1887
| the average citizen spent az cents
year for postage. Now he SPENDS SZ:Zs.
| The receipts of the Chicago post office
| today are larger than those of the en-
| tire country at the beginning OF the
| civil war. The receipts of the post Of
fees vary from 80 a year at the small,
/ est office in Alabama, to more than
| s23, 10000 a year at the largest, New
| York city.
| The railway postal service, with its
IT 900 employees. constitutes the back
bone of the American postal system.
The transportation of the mails on
railways costs s50000,000 a year. and
the pay of the clerks $20.000,000 more.
| Each clerk must be familiar with the
location of from 5000 to 10000 post
offices. and is required to be able to
| tell instantly on what railroad each
post office is located, through what
junction points a letter dispatched by