Evening star., 1914-10-18
HANDLING OF MAIL
MADE MORE RAPID
Bridge Between City Post Of
flee and Union Station Will
Be Available Tonight.
SAVES LABOR AND Time
IN THE DISTRIBUTION
Automobile Collection, Delivery and
Dispatch Service Also Expected
to Facilitate Business.

The bridge between the new city post
office and Union station, sometimes
called the Bridge of Sighs." the pos
sible utilization of which to expedite
the mails was one of the principal ar
guments used for the placing of the
new city post Office in its present loca-
tion, will be opened for the transporta-
tion of mail tonight.
Mail will be carried by one operation
from the post Office to the trains and
vice versa. Mail will be taken out. the
post office officials announce, from
thirty minutes to one hour after trains
arrive. as against an hour and a quar-
ter to an hour and a half after trains
arrived under the system in force at
the old city post office.
Tonight. also, the post Office officials
announce. the new automobile collection,
delivery and dispatch service will be
put In operation.
tions and deliveries in several sections
of the city. all of them for the better,
according to post office officials.
Statement of the Changes.
A statement was issued last night at
the post office giving all the changes.
1t Is as follows:
The final step for a complete utiliza-
tion of the time and facilities afforded
by the new Washington city post Office
will be taken at 1901 am Monday
morning. when the bridge between the
city post Office and the Union station
will be opened for the transportation of
mail. and when at the same time the
new automobile collection, delivery and
nf ri
Will be put into operation.
BY the opening Of this bridge, and
the carrying by one operation Of the
mail from the various conveyors in the
post office to the trains direct. the
postal authorities will be enabled to
close the mails for outgoing trains be-
tween twenty and thirty minutes be-
fore train departure, as against one
vania avenue. In the same way, mail
will be taken out by the carriers from
trains arriving from thirty minutes to
one hour before the carrier goes on his
route, as against one and a quarter to
one and a half hours at the old post
office.
This will insure the delivery of
some mail on the day of reception
which heretofore has remained over
until the following day. Another saw
ing in time that will be made will con-
sist in carrying the carriers by auto
mobiles to their routes in the outlying
sections, instead of by street cars, as
heretofore.
Automobile Service.
1.-THE automobiles which are to be
used in the Washington service begin
ming Monday morning were inspected
Saturday afternoon by Postmaster
Praeger. Superintendent of Finance
Corridor and Superintendent of Mails
Haycock. Five Of the machines are
three-quarter-ton trucks. the bodies of
which were built in Washington; the
sixth is one e-and-one-half-ton truck.
The three-quarter-ton trucks will each
take out nine carriers and their mail
and the ton-and-a half truck will take
thirteen and their mail.
They will leave the office on their
first trip Monday morning at o'clock.
and while the deliveries will be made
at the same hours as heretofore. the
carriers will bring mail from later
arriving trains than heretofore.
Equally great will be the gain in the
matter of downtown collections and
dispatch of mail to outgoing trains.
Mail for outward dispatch will be taken
from station c. at 1419 G street north
west (after November 80. 1914, to be
located at 1919 New York avenue
northwest). comprising box collections
from points in the locality of that sta
tion. by auto-vehicle to the main office,
at $40. $40. 10:40. 1885 and 1850 am.
lS.oV' A.1o' I.f9' S.1o, o.4V, f.So' oUV, o.4o,
6:25. 7:05, s:45 and 1910 pm. Time OF
transit to main Office, fifteen minutes.
Mail received for dispatch up to the mo-
ment of closing.
From station G, at 3th and F streets
northwest. dispatches will likewise be
made to the main Office at $3.50. 9:20,
1880 and AS am. IL noon, 100, 80,
1855. 2:2o, $3.50. 4:35, $40, 5:55, 6:35.
7:15, 1855 and 1920 pm. Time Of
transit to the main Office, ten minutes
Closes at the main Office will be made
thirty minutes before train departure
Deliveries to Business Section.
"A change has been made in the de-
livery of mail in the business section.
SO that mail for delivery leaves this
office at noon. instead of 12:45 pm.
This will advance the delivery time
forty-five minutes of mail from the
central western section coming on
train No. 10 Baltimore and Ohio; also
southern mail generally, coming in on
Atlantic Coast Line train No. 81: mail
from the northern central section as
far west as Michigan and Buffalo. con-
nection from New England and New
York coming in on Pennsylvania train
No. sos; mail from the same localities,
coming on Pennsylvania train No. 315,
and mail from New York and New
| England. coming on Pennsylvania train
| No. 5.
"A recent count of mail shows that
about $4,000 letters are received on
the foregoing trains between $3.50 and
! II 40 am, which Is now being delivered
three-quarters of an hour sooner than
heretofore. In the market and COM
mission merchant district the third de-
livery of mail has been advanced to
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