Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1913-09-12
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Just how much the telephone wv - ~
and the typewriter have done toward swelling
the vast postal activity of today, but that they
have outranked all other influences in this direc-
ton cannot DO gainsaid.
What is capable Of being traced is the bulk
of the first class mail, which has grown since
these two instruments of latter day intercourse
have come into widespread use, and the figures
astonishing In period of three years the
railways supplied the post Office with increase
in mileage of nearly IL per cent, this indepen-
IDENTIFY of the volume of the postal matter car
ried, and the figures have been mounting stead
fly since these were taken for comparison in
1910 In 1907 the railways furnished the post
Office 3S7557,165 miles of transportation and in
1910 the total reached mileage Of 426,923 109.
This Is a pretty fair indication Of the part the
trunk lines play in getting letters to their desti
nations and incidentally emphasizes the need OF
more rapid means of transportation for letters
and registered parcels going beyond the limits
of the city. Compared with the telephone service
and the letter-producing typewriter, the limited
trains as agency of intercourse trail over the
landscape, relatively speaking, as If weighted
with leaden heels
Before 1t is possible to appreciate what is COM
ing in the future to make postal intercourse
quicker between business centers of the country
It is necessary to consider the germ of revolu-
ton 1t is developing within the urban limits Of
big cities. Perhaps you know that there is a
mail tube service here in Manhattan which has
been doing enectlve but restricted DUTY Tor some
years. This is an installation extending from
the main office downtown to Harlem.
This tube Is only eight inches in diameter, and
mail despatched to the uppermost limits of the
route must be relayed a number of times before
reaching Its destination. The eight-inch tube Dis
too small to take pouch of the regulation size
and the letters must be packed in the container
and taken out and again packed for forwarding
In passing on from station to station. The i'm
pulse is compressed air, and the tube is utilized
only to supplant the most leisurely transfer by
wagons, etc. The horse-drawn vehicle is the pre-
CailinS mode of getting the mail moved from
eont to point. Fortunately motor vehicles will
room supplant these horse-drawn affairs and to
that extent there will be marked Improvement.
But this change is not the needed most.
Some months ago Postmaster Morgan and
commission appointed by the federal postal
thorities took up the question of bringing the
postal facilities here up to date, and they pro-
posed the installation of double mail tube
Ice which should connect the branch post offices
at the two great railway terminals the Grand
Central and the PENNSYLVANIA stations. together
with a supplemental line reaching down to the
main post office in the heart of the business
ton of New York. The proposed tubes to be
% inches in diameter and capable Of handling
the regulation mail bags. This would do away
with the preseLt loss of time in repouching and
would immensely increase the hourly mail trans
porting capacity.
Today between the Grand Central and Penn
sylvania stations the wagons run nearly the full
twentyfour hours in order to carry the 1000 or
more pouches of mail involved. II is estimated
that these bags have average weight of 100
pounds and this that 200 tons OF postal
matter must thus be handled and disposed Of
this route every day. This of course does
not represent the total of the city's service by
any means and does not include the Transports
ton Of mail from downtown to and from these
railway centers OF shipment
The new line would do this work speedily.
would not be liable TO interference by reason of
blocked streets weather conditions and the
bags would be despatched from point to point at
rate ranging anywhere from twenty-five to sew
enty-fve miles hour. as occasion might re-
quire. The problem before the local authorities
is TO decide which system of number submitted
is the one best es.sd to meet Manhattan's
needs.
Bids have been submitted already and the
schemes either pneumatic electrical in
their method OF propulsion All OF them have
been tested either practically or experiraentally
and apart from their individual merits each aims
90 do away with existing surface wagons and to