mail sorting
Carriers sorting mail in the General Post Office.
With this distribution of the mails there goes a system of despatches. In respect to these it may be said that it is essential that various clerks engaged in the process as described shall know the time of departure of the many trains leaving New York for different points. They must know how much time in advance of departure is essential between "tying out" the packages of letters and the actual departure of the train from the station, and thereby allow sufficient time, but no more time than is absolutely necessary, to make the connection. Every detail of the work is plotted; nothing is left to chance. At a certain hour and at a certain minute every clerk engaged in the same distribution at the same station ties out for the same office or route, and likewise at the pouching rack the pouches are closed, locked, and despatched according to a fixed schedule. If the pouch has to be carried from the rack to the truck a given number of feet, a time allowance is made. At a set time the truck that conveys the pouches to the station whence the train is to depart must leave. The time for the vehicle to traverse the prescribed route is fixed; sufficient time for thisand not moreis allowed. Also the time for unloading the truck and loading the train is fixed. When it is understood that this course has to be followed by every one of the millions of letters handled, and that there are 50,000 offices in the United States to which mail is forwarded, and that in addition to this it is being distributed for practically every city, town, and hamlet in the world, the complexity of the task becomes apparent. From the General Post-office alone there are as many as 457 despatches of first-class mail daily, and forty-five despatches of second-, third-, and fourth-class matter.
Within the last few years the burden of the parcel post has been added to the duties of the post-office. It is estimated that 75,000 pieces of parcel-post matter are handled at the General Post-office daily, and that 65,000 additional pieces of this matter are received at the same point from the stations.
Parcel-post packages are commonly very bulky. Such may now be mailed for local delivery and for delivery in the first, second, and third zones, that is, within three hundred miles of the place of mailing, if they do not exceed seventy pounds in weight, while packages not in excess of fifty pounds may be mailed to any address in the United States. The handling of these packages necessitates the use of entirely different character of equipment. As far as it is practicable to do so, this matter is segregated from mail of the other classes. Many of the packages are too large to be inclosed readily in mail sacks, and are forwarded "outside." In the distribution of parcel-post matter, sack racks are used into which all parcels which are small enough to be sacked are separated. The distribution, as in the other classes, is made at primary and secondary racks.
A feature of the Mailing Division is the handling of such equipment, as pouches, sacks, etc., intended to be used for the transportation of the mails. Approximately 69,000 sacks and 18,000 pouches are shipped by the New York General office daily.
The Mailing Division—Incoming Foreign Section
In this section mails are handled which are received from foreign countries. These arrive chiefly on steamers that make New York their port of destination. Some of the foreign mails, however, reach New York via Boston, Philadelphia, Key West, New Orleans, Laredo, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver. The number of pieces of mail received from foreign countries weekly by this section approximates 3,639,000 letters and cards, 2,631,000 pieces of printed matter, 15,000 packages of parcel post, and 568,500 registered articles. These are forwarded to their destination after distribution. Many of the letters and cards are not prepaid, or are prepaid but partly, and the postage charged on such matter approximates $14,200 each week.
Carriers leaving the General Post Officeon an early morning delivery.
Owing to the unsettled conditions in Europe the rates> of postage in foreign countries are continually changing. As a result of the depreciation of Russian currency, letters coming from that country have recently been prepaid at the rate of 450,000 rubles per ounce or fraction thereof. Prior to the war a ruble was worth approximately 51.46 cents. The 450,000 rubles are now equivalent to fifty centimes of gold, or ten cents in United States currency.
Mail at the Post Office ready to beloaded onto trucks.
Many peculiarities are noted in the addresses of incoming foreign letters. Very frequently a letter will bear upon the envelop a copy of a business letter-head or bill-head. This is accounted for by the fact that some one in this country when writing to Europe will direct his correspondent to address the expected answer according to the address on the letter-head or bill-headhe uses, and the foreigner, not knowing what to select from whatever is printed, takes what he regards to be the safe course and copies all. A letter will sometimes be found to bear a full list of everything sold in a country store, including hardware, provisions, clothing, shoes, and periodicals and newspapers. In other cases the senders cut short the addresses and are satisfied if, in addition to their correspondent's name, they give "America" spelled in any way that suits them best, and the ways are legion.
Mailing Division—Motor Vehicle Service
The Motor Vehicle Service of the New York post-office is in charge of Mr. William M. Taggart. The fleet consists of 329 vehicles. All these are owned by the Government. The Government likewise makes its own repairs, employs its own chauffeurs and mechanics, painters, upholsterers, and various artisans incidental to the operation, repair, and maintenance of the vehicles. There are two garages, and in all 727 men are employed. The garages include fully equipped machine-shops, and stock-rooms in which are constantly kept duplicate parts for all the machines in use.
The magnitude of the service will be realized when it is known that during the last fiscal year the vehicles traveled 4,330,102 miles, or 174 times the distance around the world.
During the last fiscal year the motor vehicle service made 646,967 trips, according to predetermined schedules, and 67,053 trips which were not scheduled but of an emergency character. This gave a total of 713,020 trips. Of this vast number of trips, scheduled andemergency, there were but 747 which were but partly performed and but 1323 which failed.
Mail trucks loaded with parcel post matter to betransported to different stations in the city.
These trucks are maintained in a condition for operation at all hours of the day and night. No matter what weather conditions prevail, the mails must be moved, and the motor vehicles must be maintained in a condition of efficient repair to permit of their utilization in this work. Every detail of expenditure for the fleet is maintained on a strictly scientific cost accounting basis, the number of gallons of oil, the service of the tires, the cost of operation per mile, with and without chauffeur, are all a matter of record. The repairs made on each machine are carefully recorded, with the cost for the parts and the cost of the mechanical help figuredseparately, so that it is ascertainable from the records what was spent under this heading for each vehicle during each month and year.
Mailing Division—Transportation Section
The Transportation Section, under Assistant Superintendent of Mails John J. McKelvey, is closely coördinated with the motor vehicle section. The duty of this section is to effect the loading of the vehicles and to arrange the schedules so as effectively to move the mails from the point at which they are made up to their despatch by train, or delivery to some station or group of stations. How great is the volume of mail handled will be understood when it is said that from the General Post-office alone the average number of pouches received and despatched daily is approximately 16,000, while the average number of sacks received and despatched is approximately 80,000. The pouches contain first-class mail and the sacks contain mail of other classes. The average number of pieces received and despatched daily, too large to be inserted in either sacks or pouches, is approximately 15,000. At each of the great terminals there are very extensive platforms; the one at the City Hall Station is a block long; that at the General Post-office two blocks long, and these platforms are under the control of the transportation department. During the hours when the mails are being despatched they are among the busiest spots in the postal system. As many as 1200 trucks commonly receive and discharge mail from the General Post-office platform daily. Other platforms are correspondingly busy.
The Pneumatic Tubes
The pneumatic tube service has now been resumed between the General Post-office, the terminals, and certain of the principal stations of the New York postal system, which was discontinued June 30, 1918, owing to the antagonism to this method of transportation on the part of the then postmaster-general, Mr. Albert Burleson. Legislation has been enacted and departmental action taken within the last year to bring about the resumption of operation of this valuable system. The pneumatic tubes form what is practically a great loop running north in two branches from the City Hall. One branch goes up the east side of the city, east of Central Park, and the other up the west side, west of Central Park, the two lines being joined together at 125th Street by a line running east and west. This loop and its extensions link the General Post-office and the following named stations:A, C, D, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, N, O, P, U, V, W, Y, Grand Central, Madison Square, Times Square, Wall Street, City Hall, and Varick Street. The City Hall Station is also connected with the Brooklyn General Post-office. The pneumatic tubes are located four to six feet below the surface of the city's streets, and through these tubes cylindrical steel containers are forced by compressed air. The containers are approximately seven inches in diameter and twenty-one inches long, and the pressure of air is sufficient to impel them at the rate of about thirty miles per hour. Containers carry from 500 to 700 letters each, and can be despatched as frequently as one every eight or ten seconds. It will be seen, therefore, that by means of the pneumatic tubes a practically continuous flow ofthe mails can be maintained between stations. The pneumatic tubes are not owned by the Government, but the service is leased on a yearly rental basis. Under the terms of the lease the company that owns the tube system operates it, and the Government delivers to the despatching points within the different stations and terminals the mail to be transported. Upon arrival at its destination the mail is again delivered to the postal employees, who are ready to receive it.
There are approximately twenty-eight miles of double tubes, so that mail can be despatched in both directions at the same time. During the period the system was in operation before the tubes conveyed the mails with remarkable efficiency, and it is said that as to stoppages and breakdowns, etc., their operation was 99.79 per cent. perfect. In one day 27,243 containers were despatched through the tubes, with a total capacity of more than 10,000,000 letters. They averaged for a year, though not used to maximum capacity, 5,000,000 letters a day. One advantage of the pneumatic tubes is their freedom from interruption by inclement weather. As the tubes are below the surface of the street, conditions of ice, snow, and sleet, which are embarrassing to motor vehicles, do not interrupt operation. At different times in several of our cities vehicles conveying the mails have been "held up," but with the tubes, robbery is practically impossible. It is anticipated that with the tube system resumed a large percentage of the letter mail intended both for city delivery and for despatch to other points will be materially advanced in delivery.
The Foreign Station of the New York post-office stands out among the postal activities of the countryfor it is the station at which are made up all the mails intended for foreign countries, with few exceptions, such as Canada. The superintendent of the station is Mr. Thomas J. Walters, who has been connected with it for many years. It is a busy place, particularly just before the departure of a steamer, when every effort is exerted to despatch all mail that can be crowded in, up to the very last minute. This station has grown in a comparatively short time and from a very small beginning. In 1885 the average weekly number of sacks made up for all parts of the world was only 1200; by 1890 the number had grown to 1900; by 1900 it had reached about 4500; in 1910 the figures were 10,000, and at the present time the average is approximately 18,000 sacks weekly. Mail is forwarded to the Foreign Station from all parts of the United States, and is here distributed for the various foreign countries and cities for which it is intended. In this distribution expert knowledge of foreign geography and political divisions is required, for a large percentage of the mail received is indefinitely directed, and only an expert could determine for what points much of it is intended. The shifting map of Europe has added greatly to the difficulties, for many correspondents in this country are still ignorant of the new boundaries.
In the equipment of this station are hundreds of distribution cases, and many of the letters which the experts at these cases rapidly sort are actually so poorly written that the average man would not be able to decipher them without much study.
Exhibits used for educational work in postal improvement campaign.
One interesting feature of the Foreign Station is the parcel-post section. The United States now has parcel-post conventions with many foreign countries, and the volume of this business is growing very rapidly. The rate of postage is but twelve cents a pound, and for this small fee a package will be accepted, even in distant California or Oregon, transmitted across the continent, over the ocean, and to a destination in South America, Europe, or elsewhere. In the early days of the parcel-post it was used chiefly by the person who had friends or relatives in Europe and wished to send a present to them, but it is now being used very extensively in commercial transactions. By this means goods ordered from abroad are forwarded by the great mail-order houses, and the total volume of this business is large.
Much difficulty is experienced in inducing senders of mail matter to wrap it securely. A long campaign of education has been conducted, but there is still room for improvement, as evidenced by the fact that four clerks are engaged repacking, rewrapping, and repairing packages not properly and safely wrapped, and supplying addresses in the case of indefinite directions, etc.
With the increase in the volume of the mail there has been an increase in the number of ships carrying the mails, and so, while in August, 1873, there were but thirty-four vessels carrying mail that sailed from New York, during July, 1922, 180 such vessels sailed; on a single day twenty ships left this port carrying a total of 11,299 sacks. During the month of July, 1922, 97,000 sacks of mail were shipped, a quantity that would tax the capacity of a large warehouse.
A special feature of the service is the operation of post-offices on U. S. naval vessels. There are more than fifty such post-offices, serving the convenienceof the boys in blue. Whether the naval vessels are equipped with post-offices or not, the Foreign Station is kept posted as to their movements by the Navy Department, and special efforts are made to so forward all mail received as to reach the addressee at the first port of call.
During the war the Foreign Station experienced many trying times in its efforts to get American mail to destination. The sailing time of ships was seldom known much in advance of actual sailing, and the utmost secrecy was maintained as to vessel movements. The Navy Department advised the Foreign Station of the intended sailing of vessels by cipher, though such information was most jealously guarded. The utmost caution was taken in the making out of address tags, etc., to conceal the identity of the various units, the mail for which had to go out by the different ships, and throughout the war there was not a single leak. The service performed during this trying time by the employees of the Foreign Station were so conspicuously efficient as repeatedly to win approbation.
A recapitulation of the several classes of mail despatched from this station to foreign countries is shown below and indicates the rapidity of its growth:
The Registry Department
One of the most important departments of the New York post-office is the Registry Division, which is under the supervision of Mr. Joseph Willon. Mr. Willon has been long in the postal service, and for many years prior to his present assignment was superintendent of some of the larger stations of the city, including the one at Times Square.
In the Registry Division at the General Post-office 550 persons are employed; at the City Hall Station, 130; and at the Foreign Station there is a large force, assigned exclusively to the handling of the foreign registered mails.
The registered mails are the most important and the most valuable. Just how valuable they are no one knows, but millions of dollars in cash and securities are handled daily, and the banks as well as other financial and commercial interests of the country would be seriously affected if the registry system ceased to operate, even for a brief period. Some idea as to the enormous values handled by the registry department may be gained from the fact that during the last fiscal year 7546 packages containing diamonds only were received from abroad, the dutiable value of which approximated $150,000,000. In all, 73,000 packages were received that were regarded as dutiable. Notwithstanding the enormous values handled, the percentage of losses is exceedingly small.
According to the last report of the postmaster-general, throughout the United States the number of registered pieces amounted to 78,205,014. The New York post-office handled 41,592,423, or more than halfof the total. As stated, the percentage of losses is small, and in the case of first-class registered matter of domestic origin there is an indemnity up to fifty dollars, and for the matter of the third class an indemnity up to twenty-five dollars. Under the agreements that prevail with certain foreign countries provision is also made for indemnifying the owners under certain circumstances where foreign losses occur.
The handling of registered mail differs chiefly from the handling of ordinary mail in the extra care which is taken to safe-guard it. The aim is to record it at the time of receipt, and to thereafter require all persons handling it to account for it as it passes through their hands along its route. Receipts are required at all points, and the letters are forwarded in pouches secured by "rotary locks," provided with certain numbers running in sequence, controlled mechanically, the mechanism being such that the lock cannot be opened without raising the number at which the lock was set. If the lock is tampered with in transit, since record is made of the number set when it was despatched, the circumstance is apparent.
REGISTERED ARTICLES HANDLED ATNEW YORK, N. Y., YEAR ENDINGDECEMBER 31, 1921
The Division of Money-orders and the Postal Savings
The financial transactions of the New York post-office are of enormous volume. Through its Division of Money-orders it issues and pays money-orders of a value comparable with the business of the large banks of the city. The Postal Savings System also has on deposit a sum which is exceeded by the deposits of only nine savings-banks in Manhattan, and is operated as part of the organization of the Division of Money-orders.
This division is under the supervision of Mr. Albert Firmin, who has been connected with the postal system within a few months of forty years, and in point of service is dean among the division heads. It has been through Mr. Firmin's especial assistance that we have been able to obtain so complete a story of the New York post-office, although every office and every executive has coöperated in every possible way, for which extended courtesies we hereby make grateful acknowledgment.
The New York post-office issues more money-orders than any office in the United States. The volume of money-order business, domestic and international, for the last five years, is shown below:
DOMESTIC MONEY-ORDERS ISSUED
INTERNATIONAL MONEY-ORDERS ISSUED
DOMESTIC MONEY-ORDERS PAID
INTERNATIONAL MONEY-ORDERS PAID
During the fiscal year last past, 722,321 international money-orders, amounting to $9,583,425.62, were certified to foreign countries, and 112,292 such orders were certified from foreign countries to the United States, the total amount of these being $1,802,902.66.
Occasionally in excess of 100,000 money-orders are paid in a single day, and it is the rule that this volume of business must be balanced to a cent daily.
Postal Machines
Money order accounting machines in use at theNew York General Post Office.
The employees engaged in handling these millions of orders are held strictly accountable for the accuracy of their work, and if error occurs resulting in loss, it must be borne by the person at fault.
The most modern methods of accounting are in use, mechanical labor-aiding equipment being utilized wherever it is practicable. The method followed is to perforate a card by means of a small electric machine, so that the perforations show the various data upon the paid money-order that are required to record the payment, the amount, etc. These machines are operated by skilled women employees, trained in methods of accuracy and speed, and whose rating and advancement depend on their efficiency.
The cards are then fed into electrically-driven adding- and printing-machines, known as tabulators, which automatically print upon sheets, in columns, all the data shown by the perforations in the card. From this machine the cards are transferred to sorting machines, which operate at great speed and automatically set the cards up numerically according to the numbers of the offices which issued them. Thereupon other sheets are printed by the tabulators showing the orders in their new and correct numerical sequence, these sheets being used for searching purposes in the event of applications being made for duplicates, etc.
Various other mechanical devices are employed in other branches of the work, and the equipment is in all respects up to date, and minimizes clerical work to the greatest extent.
The Country's Foreign Exchange Clearing-House
In addition to the work which is usually done in a post-office in the issue and payment of money-orders, the New York post-office is the International Exchange Office for the United States, handling all money-orders passing between this country and Europe, South America, Africa, etc. The volume of this business has been materially reduced since the war, and is affected by the unsettled condition of the old world finances, but it is nevertheless large, as shown by the figures given below for the last fiscal year.
The duty of purchasing foreign exchange also falls upon the New York post-office, and the transactions in this are at times very heavy. The total financial transactions of the Division of Money-orders, exclusive of the postal savings, amounted last year to $235,133,669.03.
The Postal Savings
At practically all the stations of the New York office there are postal-savings depositories which are open to the public from 8 A.M. to 8 P.M. The rate of interest on postal savings is but two per cent., but the advantage of absolute safety which the system affords appeals to those who utilize it. Not more than $2500 is accepted from one depositor, but a deposit as small asone dollar is accepted, and this may even be accumulated by the purchase of ten-cent postal-savings stamps, which are obtainable at all stations.
New York has on deposit close to one third of all the postal-savings deposits in the United States. There are approximately 140,000 depositors in Manhattan and the Bronx, and they have to their credit in excess of $44,000,000. Thus it will be seen that the New York office is not only a colossus among post-offices, viewed from the standpoint of postal facilities and postal business, but that as a financial institution as well it is a giant.
Office of the Cashier
The cashier is the disbursing officer of the New York office, and he likewise receives all money derived from the sale of postage-stamps, stamped envelops, postal cards, and internal revenue stamps which are disposed of at the different stations and in all the third-and fourth-class post-offices in thirty-five counties in the State of New York. The cashier is Mr. E. P. Russell, and his financial responsibilities are great. The New York post-office is the depository for surplus postal funds from all first-and second-class post-offices in New York State, and it likewise provides hundreds of offices with treasury savings stamps and certificates, and accounts for the revenue received therefrom. How great is the volume of business of the cashier's office will be seen from the statistics given below, which are for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1922.
STAMPS
POSTAL CARDS
STAMPED ENVELOPS
TREASURY STAMPS AND CERTIFICATESSINCE DECEMBER 15, 1921
If the postage and revenue stamps shown above could be placed lengthwise, in one single line, it would reach a distance of 26,876 miles, more than enough to encircle the earth.
Pay-roll Worries of Magnitude
The cashier's office pays the salaries of the 15,000 employees of the New York office, which in the last fiscal year amounted to $23,594,824.60. It also pays many of the employees of the Railway Mail Service, this salary list for the year totaling $5,103,717.11; also all the rural delivery carriers in New York State, their earnings being $3,394,540.56 for the year.
A feature of the parcel-post system is the indemnity which is paid in the case of damage or loss to insured parcels. When applications for indemnities are received from the public they are investigated by the Inquiry Section, and when it is determined that payment should be made, the cashier's office makes the disbursement. Approximately 200 drafts are drawn daily to cover these cases.
Mention has been made of treasury savings certificates handled by the New York office, which in the month of July were sold to the value of about $600,000. These certificates, as the name indicates, while issued by the Treasury Department are handled largely by the Post-office Department as a convenience to the public and in the interest of the government to better promote the sales.
The large amount of one month's sales indicates the measure of service thus provided and the extent to which it is used.
Office of the Auditor
The auditor is the checking officer of all receipts and disbursements of the New York post-office. The position is held by Mr. Justus W. Salzmann, another postal veteran, and his corps audits the postal, money-order, and postal-savings accounts, prepares statements of these accounts for transmission to the comptroller of the Post-office Department, and verifies the money-order and postal accounts of mail clerks in charge of post-offices on naval vessels. He also audits the accounts of approximately 1400 post-offices in the State of New York known as "district offices," of which New York City is the Central Accounting office, and he corresponds with the postmasters of these offices in connection with the conduct of their offices.
The auditor also supervises the examination of financial accounts at the main office and at all stations, made by station examiners, corresponds with and prepares statements for the Commissioner of Pensions in connection with refunds under the Retirement Act, and with the United States Employees' Compensation Commission in connection with injuries sustained by employees while on duty. He has charge of contracts requiring expenditures, as well as correspondence relating to leases of post-office stations and to repairs and additional equipment required at these stations.
The organization of the auditor's office is divided into two sections, each under the supervision of a bookkeeper; one has charge of the general accounts of the New York office and the accounts of district post-offices; the other has charge of the auditing of the money-order and postal-savings accounts, the preparation and verification of pay-rolls, and second-class and permit-matter accounts.
The auditor has immediate charge of six station examiners who report on the financial accounts of all stations; they also investigate and report on the need for establishing and maintaining contract stations and attend to complaints received concerning the operation of such stations.
The auditor, as the checking officer of the New York post-office, audits receipts and disbursements totaling over $700,000,000 annually. The postal receipts for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1922, were $54,089,023.99, as compared with $52,292,433.91 for the previous fiscal year, a gain of $1,796,590.08.
The Appointment Section
The Appointment Section corresponds to a well-organized personnel bureau of a modern business establishment. This section is under the superintendency of Mr. Peter Putz. All appointees from the Civil Service list report to this section, and from here they are assigned to the various divisions and departments, according to the requirements. In a force of 15,000 men there are, of course, many changes daily, caused by deaths, resignations, promotions, and demotions. Whatever action is involved in the changes is taken by the Appointment Section. The efficiency records of all employees are filed here, and likewise the bonds covering their financial responsibility. From the day a person enters the service to the time he or she leaves it, a record is kept of all ratings, of qualifications as determined by his superior officers, and of all delinquencies.
The Drafting Section
How diversified the requirements of the postal service are is illustrated by the work of the Drafting Section, under the direction of Mr. John T. Rathbun, whose corps of draftsmen are constantly engaged in laying out new stations, replotting equipment in different units as various changes incident to the growth of the city necessitate, or as changes in the regulations affect the volume of business at different points. This section includes also a corps of mechanics engaged in the repair and maintenance of mail-handling apparatus and equipment.
The Supply Department
The Supply Department of the New York post-office corresponds to a well-equipped store and printing establishment. It is under the superintendency of Mr. William Gibson. By this division supplies are furnished not only to the New York office and its stations, including those on naval vessels, but to post-offices throughout New York State, as many as 2200 points in all being cared for. Among the items supplied are 5,000,000 penalty envelops and 1700 different varieties of forms and books, of which approximately 60,000,000 copies are used annually. This department furnishes 250 different items of stationery and of janitors' supplies, and innumerable repair parts for a great variety of mechanical contrivances used in the postal system. The aim of the official in charge of the department is to keep in touch with the latest labor-aiding mechanical devices that can be utilized in the service, and amongthe various bureaus and sections will be found more than 300 type-writers, eighty adding-machines, cancelling machines, check-writing, check-protecting, accounting, and duplicating machines. For these numerous repairs are required and parts have to be secured, all of which is attended to by this department.
A feature of this department is a well-equipped printing section, which prints a daily paper or bulletin containing instructions, orders, and information for the employees, as well as numerous forms, posters, placards, etc., utilizing in this work a monotype type-setting machine, two cylinder and five job presses. A detail in its workshop is the precancellation of postage-stamps, to meet the requirements of large mailers who desire to purchase them, of which the yearly output is approximately 250,000,000.
The Classification Section
In the Division of Classification all questions involving rates and conditions of mailing are passed upon. At the head of this section is Mr. Frederick G. Mulker, whose experience with these matters is probably unequaled.
All applications for the entry of publications as "second-class" matter are handled here, and to this bureau publishers come to arrange for the acceptance of their magazines and papers. After a publication is admitted to the mails at the second-class rate its columns are scrutinized to detect anything that infringes upon the regulations, and if anything is found, action is taken by this section. The law defines various classes of mail matter, and innumerable questions arise as tothe class in which certain articles belong, many of the questions being difficult of determination and involving numerous technicalities, but here, sooner or later, all questions are settled.
It is to this point, also, that the public comes for information as to the preparation of matter for the mails, how it should be wrapped, addressed, and posted; this section passes upon the mailability of matter under the lottery laws, which cover everything relating to prize schemes, contests, competitions, drawings, endless-chain schemes, etc. Many are the plans submitted, and while the law is rigid in respect to these matters, the field is alluring, and each day some novel proposition is submitted with the hope that it will not infringe the law, yet be attractive to the public through some subtle appeal to its gambling proclivity.
The Inquiry Department
This is one of the most interesting departments of any post-office. The one at New York is under the supervision of Mr. William T. Gutgsell, and its functions are many. It handles all inquiries for missing mail, and during the year ended June 30, 1922, this amounted to 243,457. The number of inquiries, however, by no means equals the number of letters and packages which are found to be undeliverable. Undeliverable mail is disposed of by the Inquiry Section, and the magnitude of its work may be appreciated from the fact that no fewer than 150,000 letters were mailed without postage during the year. Among the other items that loom large in the report of the Inquiry Department is the number of letters directed to hotels which were notclaimed by the addressees. Of these there were 1,200,000; 18,000 parcels of fourth-class matter were found without address, the delivery of which could not be effected, and 56,000 pieces of unaddressed matter were restored to the owners. In former years all letters and packages of value found to be undeliverable throughout the country and not provided with the cards of the senders were forwarded to the Division of Dead Letters at Washington, but on January 1, 1917, branch dead-letter offices were established at New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. The branch at New York is conducted by the Inquiry Section, and its work concerns Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York, 5074 offices being included. From this area last year there were received 3,518,604 pieces of undeliverable matter of domestic origin. A very large part of this mail had to be opened in order that restoration to the owners could be effected. Many of the letters, etc., were found to contain valuable enclosures, as indicated by this tabulation:
OPENED DEAD MAIL WITH VALUABLEENCLOSURES
Many letters found to contain drafts, checks, money-orders, etc., are restored to the owners, for if the contents do not themselves disclose the address of the owners, the banks upon which the checks are drawn are communicated with to secure the information desired.
The Inquiry Department includes the Indemnity Bureau, which reviews, adjusts, and pays claims involving loss or damage to insured or C. O. D. parcels. Of these claims 112,432 were filed during the last fiscal year, and the amount paid on the claims was $544,314.46.
Another bureau of this department is charged with the duty of examining all misdirected letters and parcels which cannot be distributed or delivered by the employees regularly engaged in sorting the mails. The carelessness of the public in the matter of addressing mail is apparent from the statistics of this bureau for the year just passed, which show that it handled 1,576,366 letters with the very creditable result that of this number it succeeded in correcting and forwarding 686,233, from which it is evident that the post-office took more pains than did the senders. Of the number handled it also restored to the senders approximately 424,000.
Order and Instruction Section
This department is under the supervision of Mr. Edward R. McAlarney and is maintained for the issuance of various bulletins of information, public announcements, news items, and the circulation through official publications of instructions, orders, and intelligence regarding postal matters. It is "the office of publication" to the post-office; it issues posters, bulletins, news of the service, notices announcing the change in rates and conditions, the sailing and arriving of ships, changes in time of despatch and routing of the mail, etc. It is a busy department and the magnitude of its service corresponds to the great volume of work that it performs.
The Examination Section
How the Employees are Trained
A survey of the post-office quickly illustrates the fact that it could only be successfully conducted by the agency of skilled employees, especially trained for the work. The distribution of the mail is dependent upon employees who certainly must closely apply themselves to the mastery of the schemes of separation, and we should imagine that these are rather tedious to study, for it seems to be largely a matter of "grind" and memory taxation regarding absolutely unrelated names and places, times of train departures, etc. It is a work to which men must devote a good part of their lives and must have constant practice in order to maintain speed, and the duty of standing eight hours a day in front of a case and boxing letters by the thousand, year in and year out, must sometimes be closely akin to drudgery. To add to the difficulties of these men there are constant changes in the list of post-offices, in the timetables, etc., so that a scheme of separation is no sooner mastered than it is necessary to memorize new changes.
A department devoted to the training of the employees engaged in this work is known as the "Examination Section," and is under the supervision of Mr. H. S. McLean. As soon as a substitute is appointed he is sent to this section, where he is drilled in the fundamentals, in the rules and regulations, and in proper methods of performing the duties ordinarily performed by new employees. Later the employees are graduated to practical work, and are assigned certain schemes to study on which they are examined from time to time and required to attain a certain standard ofproficiency to justify their retention and advancement in the service. In the examinations, which continue as long as the employees are engaged in the distribution of mail, they are tested not only as to accuracy but as to speed, and if an employee fails to maintain the required efficiency, demotion follows.
A feature of the work is the endeavor to impress upon the employee the importance of his employment, the necessity for devoting to it his best efforts and of not only maintaining but improving the standard.
The following statistics in a way show the extent of this work:
Welfare Work in New York
In the New York post-office there is a Welfare Council, which consists of representatives elected by the clerks, carriers, laborers, motor-vehicle employees, and supervisors. This council considers all matters pertaining to the welfare of the employees and makes recommendations in regard to them to the postmaster.
At the General Post-office there has been established a clinic of the Government Health Service. This clinic is equipped with an operating table, surgical instruments and supplies, two cots, and the other appurtenances of a first-class dispensary. Three doctors and three nurses are in attendance. The clinic is open throughout the twenty-four hours with the exception of a short interval at night. Approximately fifty patients are treated each day and without charge.
The employees also own and operate a coöperative store and cafeteria in the general office, and among the terminals and stations there are numerous other similar undertakings.
The employees also maintain numerous associations formed to better their conditions. Several of these include sick benefits, insurance features, etc. Some of these organizations are of national extent, others are local; every station and department has its own association or associations in addition to the major organizations of large membership.
At the newer stations well-equipped and well-lighted "swing rooms" are provided. These are utilized by the men during their lunch periods and by the employees who are awaiting the time to go on duty.
The Manufacturers Trust Company
Cordially invites the officials and employees of the United States Postal System, wherever located, to make use of its facilities and services, whenever their interests may thus be advanced.
This Company conducts eight banking offices, at convenient locations throughout the City of New York, and at each of these offices it cares for the needs of its customers in every department of commercial, investment, and thrift banking.
Our officers welcome opportunities to be of service, or to advise with you regarding your banking needs.
Nathan S. Jonas,President.