Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-12-13
MAIL SERVICE
IS THE LEADER
U. S. Postoffice Declared the
Biggest Business lnstitu-
ton in the World

iucHt Vi the I6ueEdI government Thai
touches more people than any other
and touches them oftener. The letter
carrier in the city, the rural route car.
rier in the country, the postmaster in
the yillage-they are our familiar
friends and 1t is through them that
we see most of our governments
workings. Nz
The United States postoffice is the
biggest business institution in the
world. It employs more men than any
other business enterprise on earth.
1t collects and expends more money
than any other single organization
known to mankind. Other nations are.
as big, and some of them have postal
systems that are more thorough, but
no other people uses the mails to the
extent that Americans use them. Now
that the postal savings banks are or
ganized and the parcel post is being
developed, the American postofficel
soon will be as thorough as 1t Is al
ready extensive.
Handles Third Of Worlds Mail.
The United States has one-eigh,
Iteenth Of the population Of the world
and about the same proportion of the,
worlds land area Yet 1t handles one,
third of all the mail matter of all the.
postal systems in the world. And this
was the case before the parcel post
was established in the United States,
although such systems prevailed in
other countries and a great proportion.
lof the mail of other countries consist
| ed OF parcels. When the parcel post
is fully developed here It is probable.
| that the American postoffice viii
handle nearly one-half OF all the mail
matter of the world.
The public Is so familiar with its
mail service that il seldom pauses to
think of it's extent. 1t knows, in q
general way, that it is service that
now demands onefourth of all the an.
lIual expenditures Of the United States
government, and that it annually
handles some 1 I ,0O0, 900 900 pieces Of
mail But the real meaning Of the ex-
penditure of $3.50 ,000. 900 is too diff
| cult to grasp and the handling Of IL.
900 .O00. 900 pieces of mail too large q
task to be pictured. An American dol
liar bin is q little over six inches long.
Iyet the annual expenditures Of the
Ipostoffice department would make
nearly nine belts of bills around the
learth. A rapid counter can count 100
| bills minute. At this rate 1t would
take an army Of $500 people working
| - hours :. day and 313 DAYS q year to
count the pieces of mail handled an
lnually by the postal service. And
when one recalls the number Of hand
lljnas that each piece OF. mail requires
varying from three times to g dozen.
| the immensely of the task begins to-
appear.
No Substitute for Stamps.
II there is any individual in any.
part of the world who has any better
method of collecting the postal reve-
Inues than through the use Of the pos
ltage stamp, that person would be re-.
lceiyed with open arms by the post.
toff1ce department. The department il.
1.-The recipient Of many suggestions as.
Ito substitutes for postage stamps, but
| 1t reports that to date nothing has
lbeen developed which embodies all Of
1.-THE advantages of the stamp. II re-.
lquires approximately 1900, 000, 900
stamps and pieces of stamped paper
to serve the postal needs OF the peo-
| pie of the country, and they come IN
varieties and denominations. The /.
land 2-cent stamps represent 10 out
of every Is issued by the government
Including postal cards and newspaper
wrappers.
One of the striking Developments In
/ the postal service Of the United States
has been the increase In the salaries
tpaid to- those who handle the mails.
They increased S23. 100000 In four
years, while the numhef OF employees
Increased by 1900. The pay of the
leverage clerk IN post office has IN
Icreased $114. the average letter car.
rier receives 81 more, the average
railway postal clerk $94 more and the
1ayerage rural carrier $193 more than
formerly.
country Has 5000 Fostoffiees.
I There are approximately $4,000 post,
lcffices in the United States where the
nations mail Is received and dispatch
ed OF these all but about 5000 are
fourth class postoffices, where the
tpostmasters receive a percentage Of
tine face value OF the stamps they
cancel as their compensation In lieu
CT salary. Where the CANCELLATION OF
stamps does not exceed $50 per quar-.
tel. the postmaster gets the full face
value, and 1t Is estimated that nearly
$4,000 postmasters are working for the
government for 5000 year or less.
The average compensation of the
| fourth class poStmasters of the United
States, of whom there are nearly So.
0Go, is less than S24 month, and out
of this they must furnish their own
quarters and equipment 1t is little
| wonder that one of the principal Of
fences against the postal laws is that
Of postmasters who pad their receipts
by claiming to have cancelled stamps
that they did not cancel.
The postal service has been going
forward at marvellous rate in recent
years. In only Is years the number of
pieces of mail handled and the mum.