The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-04-16
FEW UNDERSTAND
WORK OF SERVICE
Railway Mail Branch Of Postoffice 10
Very Important, But is the
Least Understood
Of Any.
NO CONCEPTION OF IT
Public Seems In the Dark in This
Matter-New System 10
Very Efficient
One.
NO CONCEPTION OF IT

The railway mail service is prob.
ably the least understood Of any 9TH
er department of the federal govern
ment, and yet it is one Of the most
important.
The average person knows how and
Where to buy stamps and how to drop
letters in the mail box or at the post
Office. They also know that the men
inside the postoffice distribute and
sort the mail and they know that the
mail carriers deliver the mail to their
homes.
What they do not know is what be-
comes of letter between the time it
leaves the local postofiice and arrives
/ at its destination. They have no con.
ception Of the vast amount of hand
ling and transferring and weighing
and stamping that goes on while the
letter is in transit
That is where the workings of the
railway mail service come in. On
each regular mail train there are
mail clerks who sort and distribute
every piece of mail in the mail car.
Each clerk handles on an average Of
5000 pounds Of mail two or three
times each trip. From this may be
seen the large amount of work done.
Supersedes Old System.
The railway mail service was IN
stalled about 1864 and 1t superseded
dispatch OF mail in enclosed pouches.
Prior to this time all mail from New
York city for the towns and cities
west of Chicago would be placed In
closed pouches and sent direct to Chi
cago. In the Chicago postoffice this
mail was all sorted and placed in
closed pouches. The difference be
tween a closed pouch and mail sack
| is that the pouch is securely locked
/ and the sack is not.
! Under this system many long de-
lays We're necessary to handle the
large amount of correspondence, al
4 Though the Chicago office handled n
as swiftly as possible.
i Mail going to the larger cities west
of Chicago was sorted in New York
first and then put in closed pouches
and forwarded direct to the destina-
ton, thus saving many hours delay
at Chicago. But even this took too
much time and at intervals the two
Offices were literally swamped with
pound after pound Of mail.
New System Efficient.
| The new system, the railway mail
service, was then inaugurated and the
mail was sorted and separated on the
trains and dropped off at each station
as the train progressed By the time
the train reached Chicago the mall
would all be sorted and separated,
ready to transfer direct to the next
trains leaving the city. All mail for
cities lying along one railroad is put
in one pouch, and that lying along
another railroad Is put IN another
pouch and so on. Then when the
first train reaches Chicago the differ
emit pouches are all ready and are i'm
mediately transferred to their respec-
tive trains, thus doing away with
many hours delay at Chicago for
merly taken to do the same work
done on the trains today.
| As an efficiency Improvement it Is
one OF the greatest the government
has ever made.
| Fifteen Divisions.
! Alex n, Stevens is at present the
general superintendent Of the railway
mail service, which is branch OF the
postoffice department. His headquar-
tiers are in Washington. d. G. A. B.
| Hanger has charge Of the work out
Of Dubuque. and E. L. West, Chicago,
| is the division superintendent Dubu-
oue is in the sixth division, which
comprises the states OF Illinois and
Iowa.
There are fifteen divisions Of the
| service in the United States and ap-
| proximately $4,000 railway mail
clerks are employed all the time.