Evening star., 1916-08-06

where there is on duty one of the two
squads of messengers, ffty-fve in all.
uniformed in bicycle dress. ready to ride
in various directions to make the Spe-
cia1 delivery.
There is another class of letter 10 be
disposed of, the registered letter. This
is handled by a special class of men,
who have to be very particular about
the work, for each is held responsible
for every parcel and letter coming into
his possession. Once he receives a let
ter he must be prepared to show one or
two things, the letter or a receipt for 1t.
The postal clerk in the substation who
first receives it gives receipt to the
man that mails it; the clerk, when he
delivers it to the carrier, takes re-
ceipt; the carrier receives one from the
the railroad clerk, if 1t is outgoing; if it
is local, the clerk includes it, by its
number, in a list and gives the lot to
the carrier of registered mail, who de-
livers it only upon receipt, and when
the carrier returns to the post office he
must have a receipt for every letter or
parcel which he received from the
clerk.
within the office the registered mail
is carried from the registering section
to the carriers section in a conveyor
within a heavy wire mesh. but instead
of the usual open basket, the carrier is
a locked metal box. Just exactly how
any one. even If so inclined, unless he
had an aeroplane, would be able to
reach the contents of that carrier is
not evident. but the men who are re-
sponsible for the safe handling of reg
istered matter are imbued with the
idea that it is unwise to take a chance
anywhere along the line. and the GER
tainty with which registered matter is
carried all through the United States
is we'll earned Endorsement of the in
tegrity of the men and the efficiency
of the service.
Magazines. packages. photographs
and the like are managed in much the
same way as letters, but yield prece-
dence always to first-class matter.
I'VE have in Washington one class of
work different from that of any other
office in the country-the receipt and
dispatching of the free or govern
mental mail. When I say that this
amounts to over 36.Ooo.o00 pounds a
year dispatched as against 12,500.000
pounds of paid matter, one will see
that we have our hands full in this Of
flee. However, we have no RESPONSE
bility for the collection of this mail.
as each department sends its own to
this office, and when 1t comes here in
that way it is segregated and sorted
by special men.
greatest dunouiI' puI =" I'm ny -, n,io'''
ease and convenience to both offices.
An endless conveyor running past each
of the four floors of the printers Of
fee leaves the basement of that build
ing, passes under North Capitol street
through a tunnel, thence into the base
ment and up to the third floor of the
post office. where automatically day
and night it carries and drops mail
sacks laden with printed government
documents bound for all parts of the
nation"
Mr. Schooley led the way to great
structure in one corner of the main
room and opened the heavy door lead
ing into it A rush of air brought a
chilly sensation not unpleasant at first
in these hot days. but soon found to be
too cold for comfort. This was the cold
storage for post parcels marked per
ishable." Nothing will perish from the
heat in that room.
Light parcels are taken out by the