Carroll County democrat. (Huntingdon, Tenn.) 188?-1971, 1913-09-12

Just how much the telephone W ~ 10
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 be gainsaid,
What is capable Of being traced Is the bulk
.sof the first class mail, which has grown since
these two instruments of latter day intercourse
have come into widespread use, and the figures
are astonishing In a period of three years the
railways supplied the post Office with an 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
lily since these were taken for comparison in
1910. In 1907 the railways furnished the post
Office 387557,165 miles of transportation and In
1910 the total reached mileage Of 426.923,1O9.
This ia 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 letterproducing typewriter, the limited"
trains as an 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
1T is necessary to consider the germ of reYolu-
ton as 1t is developing within the urban limits Of
big cities Perhaps you know that there Is
mail tube service here in Manhattan which has
been doing effective but restricted duty for 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 number of times before
reaching its destination The eight-inch tube Is
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 horsedrawn vehicle Is the pre-
vailing mode OF getting the mail moved from
point to point Fortunately motor vehicles win
soon supplant these horse-drawn affairs and to
that extent there will be marked improvement
But this change Is not the one needed most.
Some months ago Postmaster Morgan and
commission appointed by the federal postal au-
thorities took up the question OF bringing the
postal facilities here up to date, and they pro
posed the installation of double mail tube serv-
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 sec
ton Of New York The proposed tubes are to be
"a inches in diameter and capable OF handling
the regulation mail bags This would do away
with the present 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
twenty-four hours in order to carry the 1000 or
more pouches of mail involved. It Is estimated
that these bags have an average weight Of 100
pounds and this means that 200 tons Of postal
matter must thus be handled and disposed Of
over this route every day. This Of course does
mot represent the total of the city's service by
any means and does not include the transporta-
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 or weather conditions, and the
bags would be despatched from point to point at
a rate ranging anywhere from twenty-five to sew
enty-lve miles an hour. as occasion might re-
uuire The problem before the local authorities
Is to decide which system OF a number submitted
is the one best fitted to meet Manhattan's
needs
Bids have been submitted already and the
schemes are either pneumatic or electrical in
their method Of propulsion All Of them have
been tested either practically or experimentally,
and apart from their individual merits each aims
20 do awny with existing surface wagons ana 70