Show i I 1 THE GOVERNMENT MAIL BY FREDERIC J HASKIN Uncle Sam is ia the th champion letter writer of the world If It he be were to pay regular rates of postage on OD all the mall handled by the th postal service for tor him his poste post te Mil but would amount to a year He Ht Hei Heis Iii is i always prone to refer to the postal ser service serice serice ice vice as being operated at a deficit But Butu Butera era u a II matter of fact in spite of ot rural free dt livery delivery and other Improvements which call tali i all for the expenditure of ot vast sums of money the people of the United States pay more than it costs costa co ts to handle their malt maiL Deducting the amount of free mat matter matter matter ter which was sent out under franks and penalty envelopes it was found that t the theP postal P service received more for fur carrying the paid matt man than It cost oost to car oar carry carry ry It In other words had Uncle Sam paid the ordinary postal rates for his hili franked Ind penalty matter there would have haye been a surplus of ot In the theP postal P revenues instead of a deficit of 16 H Heretofore there has been but a vague idea of the amount of mall mail sent out by bythe bythe the government every year yeu But the re recent 1 recent cent report whose preparation was called for by congress and which is based b sed on the weighing and counting of all classes clas 88 of ot mail maU for six months reveals some Inter Interesting interesting esting e data about Uncle Sam as a user of the malls The weighing and counting took place during the last la t six lx months of 1901 the dullest halt half of the dullest year the country has had in a long period as a measured by the quantity of free matter going out Congress was not In session on and the free seeds made and government docu documents documents ments had been distributed during the theother theother other half of the year Nor was there a apolitical apolitical political campaign on in which tons of I franked speeches Peeches would have been distributed distributed i through the malls yes roads carloads a of I Ithem them Yet even in this dull half year there were more than pounds of government mall mail turned loose loos on the na nation nation nation tion which was at the rate of 2600 tons a year It Is It probable that the th average year r would show Uncle Sam sending out tons tone of mall matter with more than that in election years yean The figures fl rea show how that during the si eh x months there were handled pounds of franked matter originating with con congress congress gress there were wen pounds of ot p n nalty natty alty atty matter originating with the depart departments departments ments Any Anyone one who knows what great n Jt volumes of or mall mail congress sends send II out in t 11 course coune of a year Tear knows to a certainty that It Is vastly more mort than as roue mue roueas is as is sent out by b the departments tK hl me n nf takes takee cognizance of the vast amour t I of free seeds s free frel free map and free everything else which congre distributes through h the malls mails the millions of free speeches tent sent out nut for home consumption It will be perfect y apparent that the national legislature m wa n 1 not in Its stride when this test teet er Cr franked and penalty mail mall was made mad During seven days day tie the po postal tal i handled bandied pieces of lof penalty mail mall which Ie is at the rate on or oft nieces ule s for very working day or pieces a 1 I year rear Add to this the quantity congress congre I ends OOs out during an average year and i It I will begin b n to appear what a liberal of the malls mails Uncle Sa really Is lie Fie ha ba I every other nation completely surpassed surP surpass s sIn d din In this respect i pest Perhaps none of the theother theother I other ther nations nation sends half halt as 8 much government govern government ment Int matter through the malls as the United Tilted States Washington a Is l the great enter center of gov government government mail mall distribution dl While congress Is In session there is more franked stuff vent sent out from the capital than from all the rest re t of the country put together When n congress goes away way a other places handle the greater bulk of the franked mall With penalty it is different While 77 per cent C nt of all an lh th the mall handled by the Washington Is either for the government or from the government yet the vast amount of penalty business bu originating origInating origInating wherever there is government business to be transacted makes that portion of ot It originating orl in Washington seem like a small quantity Although h government mall mail travels free and private mall has to pay pa Its way gov goy government government mail mall travels farthest The data gathered by the postal service shows that the average pound of government mall mail travels about Iii miles farther than the average pound of paid matter The lat hat latter latter i ter is carried OO GO miles while the average pound of franked matter goes 0 miles and penalty matter matlEr 72 miles I About 80 per r cent of the registered mail mall business baneN of the city of Washington is government mail mall All AH the postage stamps sent out are sent this way and the same samela la Is true tru of internal revenue stamps to say nothing of the vast quantity of other matter which Is la registered Most of this goes in closed pouches Years ago It was the custom for all registered matter to tot tobe tobe be t e handled loose 1 it being passed p from hand to hand to Its destination each mail clerk through whose hands bands It passed re receipting receipting for it to the man before him himAs himAs himAs As registered mail mall matter began to travel farther and farther and to multiply in to quantity it became necessary for some method to be devised ed so that many m ny pieces could be grouped together This resulted in the invention of a Ii registering clock In It Is a rotary register like a Ii bicycle cy cyclometer C cyclometer dometer Every time that lock is opened the register moves move up one number Two men fill a pouch with registered mat matter matter matter ter Each checks It off and certifies to Its contents contenta l keeping one copy of this for their record and enclosing another In the pouch x ucb Then they fasten the pouch with the he lock having placed the number of the he lock and Its rotary number on the certificate certificate certificate of contents When this pouch ar at arrives arrives rives at its destination the clerks who receive It first look to p eee see If the rotary number corresponds corre with what it was I when it was locked at the beginning of ts Its Its Journey If it does all Is to well if it does not they know that someone had bad opened it who had no right to do so If they find the contents all right a Ii voucher to o that effect Is ts sent lent to the men who filled titled the pouch ch and this Is 15 filed flied with he the original original statement statement of ot contents It Is through this method that nearly all the stamps sent to postmasters and the reve revenue revenue revenue nue stamps we buy are distributed by the theP postoffice P and treasury departments re respectively respectively The last lut count of pieces of mail mall received by senators and representatives rep showed an average of from to letters letten a day and about twenty bushels of news newspaper newspaper paper paP and circular mall Since that time there here has been a falling failing off in the mail mall received by the average senator and rep representative representative representative Two things have luIe been prin principally responsible re pon for this th the decrease in n pension pen lon correspondence and the civil service laws It used u ed to be that every I constituent who thought he had a chance for a government job gut t after his rep representative representative I bombarding rt bombarding him with en endorsements I and other things designed de to help leip him to the place The civil elvil service I rules ruiN have bave changed this and the appi i Cants tants nta for lor pensions write to the bureau I instead of to their members of congress I If one could look over the mail mall of the average a senator m tor and representative he would find it full of human interest storks sto ato stories I ries and messages message Not long ong ago Uncle Joe Carnon received a aletter aletter letter etter from a Virginia correspondent corre he signed himself Senator Joseph JosephO J eph ephO O 0 Covode The letter set get forth that inasmuch in inasmuch as the writer write thereof was the man who had bad found the bones of Pocahontas Ida his requests ought to receive particular attention The request reque t was that when Rixey gets up nis lira bill bOl to Improve Lower iia la bodoc creek let her herge hergo ge go through Uncle Joe let her go I through Uncle Undo Joe endorsed on the beck ack Respectfully R referred to Hon Honl I IJohn John ohn F P Rixey RIx for his Information But Lower Lowe Machodoc creek failed to get th tb the I appropriation so 80 Uncle Joe has hils never let Jet her go through Perhaps there thele sever never was wana a in administration In which there was waa such sucha a remarkable change chAb in the volume and andt t tenor nor enor of the Howse Ho correspondence deuce succeeded Roots Roose Roosevelt R as ther then was when Tan Taft t velt welt There never neTer was waa a president dent who I maintained th the large lam personal corr pon ponnee dence nee nt that was WUl kept up by Mr Roosevelt Rot In every subject under th tit thun the walk of life sun un lun with ith friends in every anti id in n every f ery quarter of the globe the minute he ba h assumed a the reins rebUl of govern government II rr ment nt th the White hIte House staff saw RAW that here th were INIe going to be strenuous years yean head ahead He wrote almost twice as many personal le letters leters ter as or any other ther predecessor nr r The same condition with ith his official mail man Under Underlie 1 the lie Taft regimo conditions have come hal hark ac k al atou ut to tn what they were during durl g the theM thet M t Nin v an Iceland administrations M Th T Tan Taft ft hut hot comparatively few ot or orth oft th t letters re pel ei ft at it the th White House HOUe HouseA A sm of G rul r has hd been framed for forthe forthe the guidance of th executive clerical staff Those letters which can best be answered by the departments are sent there even een before Mr Carpenter secretary to the president set see them Others go to Mr Carpenter and out of these tb he selects me tn t e comparatively few which need to be brought to the attention of the president prel pr dent himself if Mr Taft gave gaye his hie entire correspondence corre personal attention he would be busy every hour of the twenty four and would still be unable to read nad all his hili letters letten When Shaw came to the treasury treasur department he had that notion to country bankers that he must I give Ms hlll attention to every little detail of the treasury work So vast is the I amount to be done donI there that thata x one ne man could not look after the thousandth part of the details much less do it all and the important things besides But Mr Shaw was up by bj the break of day and In his office by bj the time Washington was wa at breakfast There he wrote and wrote Hotl He Hr also elso insisted that he should sign ev ec everything everything that went out so far as it was wall possible But he be soon had as rone t ne a case cue of writers cramp as IlS was ever the lot of man and thereafter he found the trea treas tn treasury a aUf ury wheels would not stop revolving just because his writing hand was out of commission The postoffice department departments is the great greatest greatest greatest est producer of government mail the ag department next and then the treasury department Tw T e treasury trea ury de df department department alone receives from 2000 to 5 51 is letters a day d y One word worn saved saed in every enry letter mailed by br the government would lay layoff off enough stenographers stenographer to man the theoffice office of a company doing a business of a year Copyright 1906 by Frederic J Haskin Tomorrow Scientific Library Work |