OCR Text |
Show HANDLING THE CHINESE MAIL. What Seems Complicated Process U Very Simple, After All. , Many persons have asked the quotbm: "How is the Chinese mail handled iu the New York postoffice?". It is a question which has excited considerable discus-rfon discus-rfon at different times and one which everybody should understand. It is generally gen-erally supposed, however, that a Chinese interpreter is employed in the postoffice expresslv to handle the Chinese mail. But that is not the case, tho government never having found it a necessity to employ em-ploy such a person. A reporter called on Mr. Ed Morgan, general superintendent of city delivery of New York, for the purpose of finding out the exact method employed in handling hand-ling that class of mail matter. "How is the Chinese mail handled? Well, I'll tell you. As far as we are concerned, con-cerned, the maimer doesn't vary from that emploved in handling domestic; mails, but there is a point connected with it before we get tho mail which mav be interesting. " When a Chinaman wishes to send a letter to his native country he must employ em-ploy the services of an interpreter unless he can write English himself. He writes, seals and directs the envelope in his own language. He then goes to a Chinese interpreter, who writes the address in English on another part of the envelope. The letter is then ready for the mail. For this service the fee is a nominal pno. "Guy Maine has become famous among the Chinese of New York for this business. busi-ness. Mr. Maine is a highly educated na- tive of China, having graduated irorn one of the best colleges in that country. He is now editor of The Chinese Evangelist, Evangel-ist, a paper devoted exclusively to the religious re-ligious Chinamen of this city. "Chu Chung is another Celestial who earns a livelihood with his brain. He, with J. Stewart Happer, has been conducting con-ducting the interpretations during famous fa-mous Chinese trials in the city court. These men have a reputation for honesty aud reliability, characteristics which the majority of their class brag of, the most of them being cunning and deceitful. "But to return to tho letter. It goes through the New York postoffice and then takes a journey across the country to San Francisco. A China bound steamer steam-er conveys it across the ocean to its destination, des-tination, where, after going through the China postoffice, it is delivered to the person to whom addressed. "The incoming mails are handled very much the same way. An interpreter in the Chinese postoffice writes the address in English on all mails directed to this country. When a letter reaches the post-office post-office here the clerks never pay any attention at-tention to the name, and not one time in ten thousand ,do they know whether a letter is for a Chinaman or somebody else. They look only for the street and number. The mail is sorted and is then delivered by the carrier. So what seems a very complicated process-is indeed a very simple sim-ple one, causing no inconvenience whatever what-ever on our part." !few York World. |