The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-11-27
what the postoffice ought to Do for Us.

Sydney Smith once knew a man mean
enough to speak disparagingly of the
equator. In much the same spirit Amer
leans of an earlier era regarded crit
icism of their own postoflice; it seemed
like casting reflections on the flag, or the
nation, or the capacity of the all of us
to do the business Of the all Of us. But
times are changing, and a larger number
Of our pepole are beginning to measure
what they get from the postoflice by
what they have a right to expect. Here
the line is clear:
If you can start from your home in
Somerville, take a trolley to Sullivan
square, and the elevated TO the South
station, and the train to Worcester, and
there change cars for Princeton, and from
the station ride in the bus to the center
Of the town, the time which it takes YOU
to make that trip ought approximately
to satisfy the postoffice department for
conveying a letter between Somerville
and Princeton Every other business on
earth, because of skill obtained in spe-
cializing, does better than the outside in
dividual. Pneumatic tubes, for example,
carry letters across a city much faster
than the individual can make the CORE
spending journey. But without allow
ance for such possible advantages, the
postoffice ought, by and large, to equal in
speed the individual on foot, or depend
ent on public conveyanees. Does it do 80 2
Watch for yourself and see, and look
out for the post dating, or the marking
Of a later hour on your envelope than the
time when the letter was actually en-
trusted to postal custody. Send letter
from any suburb of Boston, four miles
out to any other one Of corresponding
distance in slightly different direction,
and see how long it takes the missive to
make the trip. 1t will do well If it gets
there, under first-class postage, in "a
hours. 1t win 20 to Washington and
find delivery in the heart Of the city in
just about double the time that it will
take you to 60 there on the same trains
| It used to be necessary to have a letter
in the Washington postoffice at about
noon for 1t to reach Boston the next
morning, although you had till five
o'clock to do SO; but conditions have de-
teriorated till the time consumed is far
greater. Between here and New York
thousands of people take a midnight
train and reach appointments in that
city on the opening of business the next
morning. When do you have to post a
letter to get it there at that time ?
Pretty early in the day! This very dis
parity led to the night letter business of
the Western Union. Those messenger
boys who carried the kilograms on the
trains were accomplishing exactly what
the postofiice ought to have found way
to do, and would have found with any
ordinary efficiency. And it would have
rendered the Western Unions night let
ter unnecessary.
We believe the American people have
right to ask, in the name of public con-
venience and business necessity, for the
same time as the individual can make
the trip by public conveyance, Any pri-
vate agency that ran the postoffice would,
through inevitable improvements and in
Iventions, cut the time in two; but we
have no right to ask that Of the govern
ment. We should ask for equality, and
w~ or~t not to be satisfied till we get it.
Boston Herald.