Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-03-23
Hundreds of Thousands of
Pieces Handled at Post Of
flee in Last Three Days.
EXTRA TIME FORCED
UPON employees
Parcel Post Packages Increase Bur-
den-Monday Deliveries Will
Be Unusually Heavy.

While Postmaster General Burleson, up
stairs in the great gray granite building
| that houses the Post Office Department,
has been under the strain of an aston
ishing increase in the number of his call
ers, Postmaster Merritt, on the ground
floor, has been establishing another postal
record for Washington.
The Easter mails this year have exceed
ed anything on record for the time of the
year in the past. In addition to the nor
NAL increase of letters post cards, pack
cts and other small gifts which have
heretofore made the postman's life a
weary one at Easter time, this year he
has had to bear the big burden of the
parcel post, and "be 1t said to his credit >
as an official of the post office said today.
"he has done wonderfully WELL"
All last week there was big Increase
in the mail generally and the force of
post Office clerks and carriers was taxed
severely. But toward the close of the
week the burden called for extra effort,
and at 3 o'clock Friday afternoon Post
master Merritt put the whole strength of
his official force to work. Yesterday he
had to add an extra four hours to their
labors, giving them what is called time
anda-half'' duty, or twelve hours day
instead of eight.
Record Of Incoming Mail.
The record of the incoming mail dur
ing the past three days shows 714,o00 let
ters handled, 100000 newspapers, 10000
circulars. 1888 parcel post packages and
37OO special delivery letters and pack
ages, 900 of them packages, with $4,000
post cards and Easter cards yesterday
alone.
Last nights mail, received after 3
o'clock by the night force, is said to have
been the heaviest of the week, and in con-
sequence the carriers and delivery wagons
Monday morning will be loaded to their
limit, IL extra deliveries and special force
are not necessary. Nine extra men We're
at work last night assisting the regular
night force of twenty-seven handling the
incoming mail for delivery.
But this is only one end of the problem
The outgoing mail. originating in this
city, has been tremendous. and this
means In every kind of mailable article,
letters, parcel post packages, special de-
livery matter and. congressional and de-
partment matter. heavier than ever be-
fore at this time of the year.
Backbone Of Rush Broken.
The rush of outgoing matter began last
Tuesday and increased by leaps and
the backbone of the rush seemed to be
broken. There was an increase of more
than 200 per cent in Easter and post
cards alone. Letter mail took a jump of
from 30 to 40 per cent, and in the parcel
post section, where before one man with
an occasional assistant had met all de-
mands, 1t was necessary to open three
windows and assign three what are
termed expert zone men" to receive the
mail and an assistant to route 1t.
Thursday and Friday nights between
400 and 1,j0O parcels were handled each
night between 4 o'clock and midnight,
while the packages received from stations
and collectors ran up to $500 each night.
Friday night $4,000 Easter and post cards
alone were received, equa1ing the record
Of Thursday night Strange to say, too,
there was an increase of more than 30
per cent in the congressional and official
mail Every wagon leaving the office for
the Union station, and each of them has a
capacity for 5000 pounds of mail, was
loaded to its limit.
Merchants Mail Heavy.
There were $1,000 pieces mailed by
merchants of the city who are sending
out their spring circulars on hand at
o'clock last night Friday night between
4 O'Clock and midnight 225,O00 pieces Of
mail matter by actual count passed
through the canceling machines. in ad-
dition to 10000 pieces Cancelled by hand
cancelers, being too bulky for the ma
chimes, and $1,000 pieces Of congressional
and departmental mail that did not have
to be Cancelled. At what is known as the
document rack go sacks, each containing
about 125 pounds of small-piece mall
were handled. The daily and weekly
newspapers contributed 800 sacks Fri
day night.
Even the special delivery mail took a
big Jump, and last night between ;
o'clock and II O'Clock approximately
on their way. although the average for
Saturday night runs only between 800
and 700, never over thousand.
Annoyances in Plenty.
But the proper handling of this great
amount of work was not disposed OF
without friction or annoyance Almost
every five minutes the foremen were an
uwering inquiries over the telephone.
some about inconsequential matters,
some by persons who had forgotten TO
stamp their mail, others who had omit
ted the address and still others who had
neglected to do one thing or another or
wished to give further instructions for
the disposition of this or that piece
which they did not want delayed or
broken or bruised or crushed under any
circumstances.
'"The postal employee hasn't a mldsum-
mer dream of happy idleness at this sea-
son of the year at least this year." said
one of the foremen in the big workroom
last night eve have had all this dread
ful rush while the mall weighings, both
by the railway mail service and our own
Office are in progress, to help fix the rate
of compensation for carrying the mails.
ooh. we've had our hands full. But
vet with all that the mails have been go
ing forward with the same regularity and
without delay, except where the senders
themselves have caused it by their own
shortcomings Every piece of mail in the
ONCE now would be delivered tomorrow
morning, If it were not Sunday. The law
forbids delivery on Sunday now.
but in addition to what has come In
this. evening we will have perhaps a big
rush tomorrow to add to what Will have
to be disposed of by the carriers Monday
morning Yet there will be some who VIII
complain We are supposed to be omnip-s
otent and infallible, and woe be to any
of us who slips up, If a chronic kicker
gets after us. Yet withal the people of
the city know we are giving them the
best mail service they have ever had
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