Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1916-11-17
HANDLING OF MAIL
INTRICATE WORK
Each Letter Passes Through
Many Hands Before 1t
Reaches Destination.
SEPARATION IS BIGGEST Job
Assortment Is Made First by Large
Districts and Then by States and
Cities to Which Missives
Are Addressed.

Are Addressed.
Uncle Sans mail service is a great
hopper into which millions pour their
sorrows, joys and achievements in the
form of letters and postals. In order
to dispatch these promptly to their
various destinations they must first be
separated. In the larger post Offices
of the country, owing to the practice
of business houses mailing the bulk of
their mail at the close of the day,
great congestion would occur in the
mailing division in handling the vast
quantity of mail we're not some sys-
tematic method of separation in opera
tion. Experts of the post Office de-
part1nent are now and have been for
some time engaged in revising the sep
aration schemes at the larger offices,
with a view to lessening the handling
of the mail and bringing into use all
the latest and most up-tO-date meth
Ods. The banker has a coin-separating
device which mechanically sorts the
coins according to denomination; the
fruit grower has a device for separat-
Ing his fruit according to size, but up
to date the postal service must depend
on human hands to separate the mails.
Letter Starts on Way.
Deposit letter in box in any east
ern city for dispatch to a western city
for example, Seattle, Wash. The
mail collector on foot takes it with
other letters from TIE box to n central
storage collection box in which other
foot collectors deposit their mail.
An automobile collector on regu-
lar schedule and circuit takes the full
bags from the storage collection box,
leaves empty bags in their place, and
proceeds to the central cost office,
where the mail is transported by a
mechanical conveyor from the mail
platform to the facing" tables upon
which it is dumped in great heaps and
then "faced'-that is the addresses
and stamps are placed in the same
relative position in order properly tc
| feed them through a mechanical can
ceiling device at the rate of some SOC
a minute.
| From the canceling tables the let
ters are conveyed in trays over me
chanical eonveyor, similar to those
used in any modern department store
to what are known as the primary
separation" cases; usually each case
has from twenty to thirty separators
which, as the name indicates, is the
first separation given to the letters
Letters for Seattle are thrown into 6
box labeled western states"
Separated Again.
From the primary separation
cases the letters are again conveyed
mechanically to the final separation
cases, where a much larger force Of
clerks gives the letters their final sep
Rration for dispatch. Seattle letters
go to the western states" cases
where mail for that section of, th'
country is separated and tied in pack
ages; packages for the larger cite
being made up separately. AS fas
as the Seattle box of each clerk work
ing the western states cases is fillet
1t is enptied and the letters tied II
bundles bearing a slip showing tn
dispatching officer, date, hour of mail
Ing, and the name and number of dis
patching clerk. If any letter for cit
other than Seattle is found in tn
package when it reaches its destiaa
ton, the error is recorded on the sli
ana is eventually charged against tn
dispatching clerks record.
Bundles of letters for Seattle, !
sufficient in number, are placed in
locked pouch and labeled direct t
Seattle, otherwise they are placed wit
other bundles of letters for cities i
that state or locality in a pouch ls
beled to the proper railway post o1
f1ce-another tern. for mail cars-fo
another separation. Letters for th
smaller post Offices in the state {
Washington are tied in packages Ii
beled Washington state" and all sue
packages of letters are distributed o
the railway cars en- route, runnin
. west and northwest from Chicago, an
| dispatched to the proper connectin
mail trains for final delivery. Post;
clerks on mail trains, or railway po'
, Offices, entering large cities just prit
, or during delivery hours must be Fl
: miliar with the delivery systems {
l these large Cities so that all lettel
/; may be distributed to insure prom]
? delivery upon reaching the city po
: Office.
: Separated at Destination.
Undistributed packages of 1ette
for any city, on reaching the post @
t fee, are mechanically conveyed to Il
city primary separation cases, whe
not only these letters, but tho
i mailed for local delivery receive the
: first city separation to station di
q tricts prior to the final separation
+ other clerks to the various letter ca
e rier routes and general delivery b,
n sections of the Office. The letters a
then distributed by the pOstman
his pouch, and when he departs t
letters are arranged SO that the fiji
e letter for delivery is on the top of t
n package and the last letter for deli
e cry on the bottom.
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