Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-12-04
JOHN A. THORNTON
IN Delivery Of Christmas Mall


TT THERE is a public official in philad"I-
L phia who deserves the title Of Santa
Claus" to the people living hero it is Post
master John \. Thornton. The great or
Ganizntion under his direction handles tho
millions Of letters. Christmas postcards and
parcel post package gifts that are placed in
the mails by trusting public. MI must
he delivered before Christmas time Post
master Thornton is preparing to do it.
1--WE handle 9.5oO,0A0 pieces Of mail
day now" Mr.. Thornton said. no on"
knows what the volume will be by the time
Christmas is here. That is something the
hardest veteran in the service could not
forct"ll. Each year it becomes greater than
the year before.
Last Christmas time we handled 400
sacks Of parcel post matter n day. Think
Of that; pHrccl-pnSt matter alone. not to
mention the letter mni. The peak is reached
about December % and it falls way of by
December u.
GLOW do we get away with il? We'll.
I'll tell you. II is = question Of man power
pure and simple. We CHuuOt train up IN
expert ease man in day or in month.
All we can hope to do every Christmas is
and put them to work. W" depend upon
their native intelligence to max" them "tti-
cicut cinul"yCS for the purpose ut hand
After Christmas. Of COURSE W" let thrs"
extra men go agNin. They com" here with
that understanding.
INC way III Is Done
'Ilrrr is the way we do it, just about
this time we notify the principals and preri
dents of schools and colleges here that we
will be abb" to us" extra men and pay them
sixty cents an hour for their time. The men
and boy students come her" and are regis
tired. When they are needed we send for
them.
"'rhe plan works ont very well. we find.
OutSid" in tn" corridors at this time Of the
year on" will notice. no doubt. long lines
of young men. They ar" the students !
have referred to. OF rourS", this extra en-
! plOymcnt Is not confined to students ulonr.
| 1t is from the student class that we get the
| most applicants. We tax" on about 1000
| Of these extra men each Christmas time. We
| try to make their hours Of work fit in with
conditions. Some work four hours day
or night some six and some eight 1t all
| depends upon how much time they can give
| Us and tit" demands made upon them by
| their studies or their business We have
1000 regular employees and l50O substitutes
| With the new men We viii have about 1000
men at work during III" huliduy rush.
| '"Ihcn, too, We 20 out and contract for
| the use Of motortrurkS W" have 80 cars
| Of our own and viii hire about 10 more
| This will be enough to handle the increase
in business over III" holidays.
1--WE have thirty y-siN carrier stations.
Also, ut Twenty second and Market streets,
we have Il station handling parcel post rX-
| rluSivcIy, aud every piece of parcel post
incoming goes t" that station, and there is
sorted and sent to various carrier stations in
| this city or out of the state.
"ConccrniHg letter mail. The six stations
| west Of the SrhuNlkill river, also Stn-
tionS ID. ut Eighteenth and Christian
streets j, at Nineteenth aud North streets :
| &. ut Nineteenth and Oxford streets and
the North Philadclphia station all send
their letter mail into the Penn Square sta
ton under the elevated structure at Broad
Street Station. All other stations send thrir
collections into this main office at Ninth and
Market streets.
Sort the Mail Received
'"Ihc Penn Square station and this CEN
trul station sort the mail they receive. SurL
| it up in bags and send the lo"al mail to II,
proper carrier station TO be distributed
| The automobiles referred to are for tbi,
work. They run on a regular schedule
This first or primary sorting of the mail
| IS easily learned by the extra men we mn
| on at Christmas time. SO it may be seen tho,
do very valuable work, At the carrier sin
tiOns the mail as it arrives is divided up int,
routes for the carriers.
IAN outside mail is sent to the mailip,
| division ut central station or the prnI
Suuare station. 1t Is then sorted ont Il,
states and turned over to the railway mui
service. BY them it is delivered to IN,
proper distributing point for the state I,
which the mail Is addressed. We have ON
of these stations for the New England states
one for New York state, one for New Jor
sey, each being in its respective state O
group of states,
1--WE have another proposition facing u
| that il almost as great as the Christina
| rush. That is the coming here of the Scars