The Republican., 1925-12-03

ers now carry about 100000 pounds of
cargo, approximately 100000 letters
not to speak of papers and parcel post
packages.
Trucks Wait at Pier.
The whistle blows, ropes are urr-
lOOsed and off the President goes, with
the giant ship not far behind. Before
the first passenger has landed from
( the Berengaria mail bags by the hun
! dred are dropping from electric con-
| veyOrs to the floor of Pier 70. Word
= of the mail GOat's approach has been
sent in advance, SO that the trucks
| stand ready in line Mt the platform
side
The leather-trimmed bags of the
( diplomatic and air mails are held until
! the first truck is loaded, then stuffed
| in at the back, ready to be taken of
first. Truck after truck is filled and
scoOts off to the general post office
with city letter mail, to Varlck street
with bags to be reshlpped, to the
Pennsylvania station with mail for
the South and to the Grand Central
with ma for the East. Western mall
Is loaded in box cars and shipped d.
rectly from the pier.
Soon the President is empty again
and ready to answer another call Not
infrequently she fills the day and the
night with trips to Quarantine. One
day this fall fifteen ships came in,
twelve of them carrying mails, and the
mall fleet had Its hands full The
President goes at any time and in any
kind Of weather to meet an incoming
ship, whether it carries a single sack
of mail or 10000 bags. If the liner
| arrives after o'clock at night, when
the health station is closed, and thus
is detained until morning, the mail
boats prove particularly serviceable.
The mail may be delivered in Boston
or get us far west as Cleveland before
the liner docks.
In winter work piles up heavily at
times for the little mail fleet, and
winter, of course, brings the worst so
ing. The President has gone down the
boat failed to appear, a rare happen
ing. 1t has taken mail off ships strand
ed for two days in fog.
Solving the Chute Problem.
A tossing storm sometimes threatens
to crush the mail boat against the
side Of some great vessel. Occasion
ally 1t has had to yield in the middle
of its work and come back to port to
take off the remainder of the mail In
the worst of winds and billiards.,
though, the mail has not suffered. Only
twice in the Presidents five-year
career has it heard the cry Bag over
board!" One of these bags was i'm
mediately fished up with a hook the
other a lifebOat brought back.
When the mail-boat service was re-
inaugurated after the war the matter
Of chutes was a problem. The 2S-foOt
wooden trOughs used previously inter-
fered with navigation or endangered
the superstructure. Canvas chutes
wore out at a single using. Later rope
line canvas chuteS were tried and
proved satisfactory. Such chutes, of
varying lengths, are carried rolled up
in the hold.
Unloading a ship one month may be
quite unlike unloading her another, as
now she may ride high and again low,
according to the size Of the cargo
Conditions may vary, too, at single
unloading, even in perfect weather
The other day the France dropped
anchor with Il list to port. The Presi-
dent hooked up and started to unload
the mail; then ship bound for Ber
muda sent over a considerable wash,
and when she had passed, the France
listed the other way. The change made
eight feet difference in the necessary
length of the chute.
Sometimes when a ship gets in at II
o'clock in the morning at Quarantine,
mail from 1t may reach the financial
district that afternoon. The sea post
service shares the credit with the mail
boats On lines with this service,
clerks are busy all through the voyage
to speed up delivery on the other side.
They sort and resort the mail, tying
it up according to postal routes, so
that it can go directly from the pier to
the carrier at local station. Accord
ing to w. J. Treloar, in charge Of the
sea post and mail boat service, four
clerks working at sea will save an
hours work of 400 men at the general
post office.
The President and Its work Is point
ed to by r. p. Williams, superinten-
dent of railway mails for the New
York section, as Exhibit A of his de-
partment. Last year 1856 ships were
met at Quarantine, and in every In
stance from six hours to a day or more
were saved in delivery Of the mails.
The mail boats carried almost a mil
lion bags, enough, end to end, to
stretch from here to Chicago, or to fill
a line of mail trucks twice the length
of Manhattan.-New York Times.