Chapter I: Part 1

The Postal System
of The United States
and
The New York
General Post Office

_Prepared and Issued by_
Manufacturers Trust Company
New York Brooklyn Queens

THE POSTAL SYSTEM
OF THE UNITED STATES
AND
THE NEW YORK
GENERAL POST OFFICE

BY

THOMAS C. JEFFERIES
ASSISTANT SECRETARY,
MANUFACTURERS TRUST COMPANY

Copyright, 1922, by
MANUFACTURERS TRUST COMPANY

HONORABLE HUBERT WORK, Postmaster-General, was a practising physician for many years in Colorado prior to entering government service, and was also President of the American Medical Association. He served as first assistant postmaster-general under Postmaster-General Will H. Hays, his predecessor, who, upon assuming management of the Post-office Department, practically dedicated it as an institution for service and not for politics or profit. Since that time all possible efforts have been made to humanize it.

The administration of Mr. Hays was ably assisted by Mr. Work who had direct supervision of the 52,000 post-offices and more than two-thirds of all postal workers. By persistent efforts to build up the spirit of the great army of postal workers and bring the public and the post-office into closer contact and more intimate relationship, the postal system has been placed at last on a footing of _service to the public_.

Mr. Work is an exponent of a business administration of the postal service, and representatives of the larger business organizations and Chambers of Commerce, from time to time, are called into conference, in order that the benefit of their suggestions and their experience may be obtained and their fullest co-operation enlisted in the campaign for postal improvement.

_"Messenger of Sympathy and Love
Servant of Parted Friends
Consoler of the Lonely
Bond of the Scattered Family
Enlarger of the Common Life
Carrier of News and Knowledge
Instruments of Trade and Industry
Promoter of Mutual Acquaintance
Of Peace and Good Will
Among Men and Nations."_

Inscription on Post Office Building
at Washington, D. C.

Statement Prepared for the
Manufacturers Trust Company
By HONORABLE HUBERT WORK, POSTMASTER-GENERAL

The need for a more general understanding of the purpose of the postal establishment, its internal workings and the problems of operation, is paramount if it is to afford the ultimate service which it is prepared to render.

The business man, whose success is definitely connected with its smooth operation, especially should be concerned with the directions for its use. The post-office functions automatically, so far as he is concerned, after he drops the letter into the slot; but before this stage is reached, a certain amount of preparation is necessary. He could scarcely expect to operate an intricate piece of machinery without first learning the various controls, and no more is it to be expected that he can secure the utmost benefit from such a diversified utility as the postal service without knowing how to use the parts at his disposal.

Accordingly our efforts have been directed to the circulation of essential postal information, and with the aid of the public press and the coöperation of persons and organizations using the service, the people throughout the country are now better informed on postal affairs than at any time in its history.

The recognition of the human element is a recent forward step in postal administration. Although the post-office has probably been the most powerful aid to the development of a social consciousness, the management until recently seems to have overlooked the relative value of the individual in the postal organism.

The individual postal worker is now considered to be the unit, and the effort to maintain the service at a high standard of efficiency is based upon the betterment of his physical environment and the encouragement of the spirit of partnership by enlisting his intelligent interest in the problems of management and recognizing his real value to the postal organization. Suggestions for improvement are invited and considered from those within the service as well as those without, and it is believed that a full measure of usefulness will not be attained until the American public, which in this sense includes the postal workers themselves, are convinced that the service belongs to them.

GENERAL OFFICERS OF THE
POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT

The postmaster-general is assisted in the administration of the Post-office Department by four assistant postmasters-general. The first assistant postmaster-general has supervision over the postmasters, post-office clerks, and city letter carriers at all post-offices, as well as the general management of the postal business of those offices, the collection, delivery, and preparation of mail for despatch. The second assistant postmaster-general is concerned entirely with the transportation of mail by rail (both steam and electric), by air, and by water. He supervises the railway mail, air mail, foreign mail services, and adjusts the pay for carrying the mail. The third assistant postmaster-general is the financial official of the department and has charge of the money-order and registry service, the distribution of postage-stamps, and the classification of mail matter. The fourth assistant postmaster-general directs the operation of the rural delivery service, the distribution of supplies, and the furnishing of equipment for the post-offices and railway mail service.

In addition to the four assistants there is a solicitor, or legal officer; a chief post-office inspector, who has jurisdiction over the traveling inspectors engaged in inspecting, tracing lost mail, and investigating mail depredations, or other misuse of the mail; a purchasing agent; a chief clerk, who supervises the clerical force at headquarters in Washington; and a controller, who audits the accounts of the 52,000 postmasters.

UNITED STATES POSTAL STATISTICS

Year Post- Extent of Gross Revenue Gross Expenditure
(Fiscal) offices Post-routes of Department of Department
(Number) (Miles)

1800 903 20,817 $ 280,806 $ 213,884
1850 18,417 178,672 5,499,985 5,212,953
1860 28,498 240,594 8,518,067 19,170,610
1870 28,492 231,232 19,772,221 23,998,837
1880 42,989 343,888 33,315,479 36,542,804
1890 62,401 427,990 60,882,098 66,259,548
1900 76,688 500,989 102,354,579 107,740,267
1910 59,580 447,998 224,128,658 229,977,224
1921 52,050 1,152,000 263,491,274 620,993,673

COMPARISON OF MONEY-ORDERS AND POSTAL NOTES ISSUED,
FISCAL YEARS 1865 to 1921, INCLUSIVE

No. of Domestic Money-orders Issued
Money-
Fiscal order
Year Offices Number Value

1865 419 74,277 $ 1,360,122.52
1870 1,694 1,671,253 34,054,184.71
1875 3,404 5,006,323 77,431,251.58
1880 4,829 7,240,537 100,352,818.83
1885 7,056 7,725,893 117,858,921.27
1890 9,382 10,624,727 114,362,757.12
1895 19,691 22,031,120 156,709,089.77
1900 29,649 32,060,983 238,921,009.67
1905 36,832 53,722,463 401,916,214.78
1910 51,791 77,585,321 558,178,028.35
1915 55,670 105,728,032 665,249,087.81
1920 54,395 149,091,944 1,342,267,597.43
1921 54,183 144,809,855 1,313,092,591.08
---------------------------------------------------------------
No. of International Money-orders Postal Notes Issued
Money- Issued in U. S.
Fiscal order
Year Offices Number Value Number Value

1865 419
1870 1,694 $ 22,189.70
1875 3,404 102,250 1,964,574.88
1880 4,829 221,372 3,463,862.83
1885 7,056 448,921 6,840,358.47 5,058,287 $9,996,274.37
1890 9,382 859,054 13,230,135.71 6,927,825 12,160,489.60
1895 19,691 909,278 12,906,485.67
1900 29,649 1,102,067 16,749,018.31
1905 36,832 2,163,098 42,503,246.57
1910 51,791 3,832,318 89,558,299.42
1915 55,670 2,399,836 51,662,120.65
1920 54,395 1,250,890 23,392,287.46
1921 54,183 876,541 16,675,752.16

_The Post-office of General Concern_

There is no governmental activity that comes so uniformly into intimate daily contact with different classes of this country's inhabitants, nor one the functioning of which touches practically the country's entire population, as does the United States postal system. Mr. Daniel G. Roper, in a volume highly regarded by postal executives, entitled "The United States Post-Office," called the postal service "the mightiest instrument of human democracy." This system, as we know it to-day, represents the growth, development, and improvement of over a century and a third. In the last seventy-five years this growth has been particularly marked; the total number of pieces of all kinds of mail matter handled in 1847, for instance, was 124,173,480; in 1913 it was estimated that 18,567,445,160 pieces were handled, and to-day about 1,500,000,000 letters are handled every hour in the postal service. In 1790 the gross postal revenues were $38,000 in round numbers and the expenditures $32,000. In 1840 the revenues were $4,543,500 and expenditures $4,718,200. In 1890 the revenues were $60,880,000 and the expenditures $66,260,000. In 1912 the revenues were $247,000,000 and the expenditures $248,500,000.

The revenue of the postal service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1921, including fees from money-orders and profits from postal-savings business, amounted to $463,491,274.70, an increase of $26,341,062.37 over the receipts for the preceding fiscal year, which were $437,150,212.33. The rate of increase in receipts for 1921 over 1920 was 6.02 per cent., as compared with an increase in 1920 over 1919 of 19.81 per cent.

The audited expenditures for the year were $620,993,673.65, an increase over the preceding year of $166,671,064.44, the rate of increase being 36.68 per cent. The audited expenditures for the fiscal year were therefore in excess of the revenues in the sum of $157,502,398.95, to which should be added losses of postal funds, by fire, burglary, and other causes, amounting to $15,289.16, making a total audited deficiency in postal revenues of $157,517,688.11. The material increase in the deficiency over that for 1920 was due to large increases of expenditures made necessary by reason of the re-classification act allowing increased compensation estimated at $41,855,000 to postal employees, and to increased allowances of more than $30,000,000 for railroad mail transportation resulting from orders of the Interstate Commerce Commission under authority of Congress.

The revenues of this department are accounted for to the Treasury of the United States and the postmaster-general submits to Congress itemized estimates of amounts necessary under different classifications; Congress, in turn, makes appropriations as it deems advisable.

In 1790 there were a total of 118 officers, postmasters, and employees of all kinds in the postal service. Postmaster-General Work to-day directs the activities of nearly 326,000 officers and employees. The number of post-offices in the United States in 1790 was seventy-five; in 1840 the number had increased to 13,468; in 1890 it was 62,401; and on January 1, 1922, there were 52,050. The greatest number of post-offices in existence at one time was 76,945, in 1901, but the extension of rural delivery since its establishment in 1896 has caused, and will probably continue to cause, a gradual decrease in the number of smaller post-offices.

_The Post-office in Colonial Times_

The first Colonial postmaster, Richard Fairbanks, conducted an office in a house in Boston in 1639 to receive letters from ships. In 1672 Governor Lovelace of New York arranged for a monthly post between New York and Boston, which appears to have been the first post-route officially established in America. Much of this route was through wilderness, and the postman blazed the trees on his way so that travelers might follow his path. This route, however, was soon abandoned.

In 1673 the Massachusetts General Court provided for certain payments to post messengers, although the first successful postal system established in any of the Colonies was that of William Penn, who, in 1683, appointed Henry Waldy to keep a post, supply passengers with horses, etc. In the following year Governor Dungan of New York revived the route that had been established by Governor Lovelace, and, in addition, he proposed post-offices along the Atlantic coast. In 1687 a post was started between certain points in Connecticut. The real beginning of postal service in America seems to date from February 17, 1691, when William and Mary granted to Thomas Neale authority to conduct offices for the receipt and despatch of letters. From that time until 1721 the postal system seems to have been under the direction of Andrew Hamilton and his associates. In the latter year John Lloyd was appointed postmaster-general, to be succeeded in 1730 by Alexander Spotsward. Head Lynch was postmaster-general from 1739 to 1743, and Elliott Berger from 1743 to 1753.

In July, 1775, the Continental Congress established its post-office with Benjamin Franklin as its first postmaster-general. Mr. Franklin had been appointed postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737. Samuel Osgood, of Massachusetts, however, was the first postmaster-general under the Constitution and Washington's administration. From Samuel Osgood to Hubert Work there have been forty-five postmasters-general, that official becoming a member of the President's cabinet in 1829.

_Fast Mails of Pioneer Days_

Post-riders and stage-coaches were the earliest means of transporting the mails, to be followed by steamboats, railway trains, and, in time, by airplanes.

In considering our modern mailing methods, no feature of the development of our postal system is more striking than the improvement that has been made in methods of mail transportation.

Up to a few decades ago, pony express riders sped across the western part of our country, and back, carrying the "fast mail" of the days when Indians and road-agents constituted a continual source of annoyance and danger to stage-coach passengers and drivers, and made the transportation of valuables extremely hazardous. The coaches carried baggage, express, and "slow mail," as well as passengers, while the "fast mail" was handled exclusively by pony riders.

The inimitable Mark Twain has given us a great word-picture of these pony express riders, from which we quote the following:

In a little while all interest
was taken up in stretching our necks and watching for
the "pony rider"--the fleet messenger who sped across
the continent from St. Joe to Sacramento, carrying
letters nineteen hundred miles in eight days! Think of
that for perishable horse and human flesh and blood to
do! The pony rider was usually a little bit of a man,
brimful of spirit and endurance. No matter what time
of the day or night his watch came on, and no matter
whether it was winter or summer, raining, snowing,
hailing, or sleeting, or whether his "beat" was a level
straight road or a crazy trail over mountain crags and
precipices, or whether it led through peaceful regions
or regions that swarmed with hostile Indians, he must
be always ready to leap into the saddle and be off
like the wind! There was no idling time for a pony
rider on duty. He rode fifty miles without stopping,
by daylight, moonlight, starlight, or through the
blackness of darkness--just as it happened. He rode a
splendid horse that was born for a racer and fed and
lodged like a gentleman; kept him at his utmost speed
for ten miles, and then, as he came crashing up to
the station where stood two men holding fast a fresh,
impatient steed, the transfer of rider and mail-bag
was made in the twinkling of an eye, and away flew
the eager pair and they were out of sight before the
spectator could get hardly the ghost of a look. The
postage on his literary freight was worth five dollars
a letter. He got but little frivolous correspondence
to carry--his bag had business letters in it, mostly.
His horse was stripped of all unnecessary weight, too.
He wore a little wafer of a racing-saddle, and no
visible blanket. He wore light shoes, or none at all.
The little flat mail-pockets strapped under the rider's
thighs would each hold about the bulk of a child's
primer. They held many and many an important business
chapter and newspaper letter, but these were written
on paper as airy and thin as gold-leaf, nearly, and
thus bulk and weight were economized. The stage-coach
travelled about a hundred to a hundred and twenty-five
miles a day (twenty-four hours), and the pony rider
about two hundred and fifty. There were about eighty
pony riders in the saddle all the time, night and
day, stretching in a long scattering procession from
Missouri to California, forty flying eastward, and
forty toward the west, and among them making four
hundred gallant horses earn a stirring livelihood and
see a deal of scenery every single day in the year.

We had had a consuming desire,
from the beginning, to see a pony rider, but somehow or
other all that passed us and all that we met managed
to streak by in the night, and so we heard only a whiz
and a hail, and the swift phantom of the desert was
gone before we could get our heads out of the windows.
But now we were expecting one along every moment, and
would see him in broad daylight. Presently the driver
exclaims:

"HERE HE COMES!"

Every neck is stretched further,
and every eye strained wider. Away across the endless
dead level of the prairie a black speck appears against
the sky, and it is plain that it moves. Well, I should
think so. In a second or two it becomes a horse and
rider, rising and falling, rising and falling--sweeping
toward us, nearer and nearer--growing more and more
distinct, more and more sharply defined, nearer and
still nearer, and the flutter of the hoofs comes
faintly to the ear--another instant and a whoop and a
hurrah from our upper deck, a wave of the rider's hand,
but no reply, and man and horse burst past our excited
faces, and go winging away like a belated fragment of a
storm!

So sudden is it all, and so like a flash of
unreal fancy, that but for the flake of white foam left
quivering and perishing on a mail-sack after the vision
had flashed by and disappeared, we might have doubted
whether we had seen anything at all, maybe.

_Mail Transportation To-day_

Mails are now carried over about 235,000 miles of railroads. Service on the railroads is authorized and paid for under a space basis system authorized by Congress and approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission.

The present post-office organization dates from about 1836, as the period that followed that year was one of transition from stage-coach to rail car for the transportation of mails. As railway mail service was increased and extended, sometimes railroad companies made arrangements with contractors to handle it. Occasionally contracts were transferred to the contractors at the same rates received by the railroads. Frequently the compensation was divided pro rata as far as the railroad covered the route. It was not uncommon for postmasters in large cities to make the arrangements for the department. Naturally such a lack of uniformity of procedure and control invited irregularities of one kind or another, although they were for the most part not serious ones, and were eventually corrected and a system of standards and of unified control put into effect.

_Origin of Mail Classes_

In 1845 any letter that weighed one half ounce or less was classified as a single letter without regard to the number of sheets it contained; a five-cent rate was charged for distances under three miles and ten cents for greater distances. In 1847 the postage-stamp was officially adopted and placed on sale July 1 of that year at New York. In the year 1848, 860,380 postage-stamps were sold; in 1890, 2,219,737,060 stamps were sold, and in 1921 there were issued to postmasters 14,000,000,000 adhesive stamps, 1,100,000,000 postal cards, 2,668,000,000 stamped envelopes, and 80,800,000 newspaper wrappers.

In 1850 the rates were reduced to three cents for any distance less than three hundred miles, if prepaid, and five cents if not prepaid, and, for a greater distance, six cents if prepaid and ten cents if not prepaid. The prepayment of postage was finally made compulsory in 1855. In 1863 a uniform rate of three cents for single letters not exceeding one half ounce in weight was adopted for all distances, and twenty years later, in 1883, the two-cent letter was adopted. In 1917 the rates of three cents on letters and two cents for postal cards were adopted, the extra cent in each case being for war revenue. On June 30, 1919, however, the three-cent letter rate and the two-cent postal-card rate expired by limitation, and the two-cent letter rate and one-cent postal-card rate returned.

When the parcel post was established in 1913, and the air mail service was inaugurated in 1918, special stamps were issued, although they were soon discontinued. Our friends who collect stamps may be glad to know that a philatelic stamp agency has been established under the third assistant postmaster-general at Washington, which sells to stamp-collectors at the face-value all stamps desired which are in stock and which may have special philatelic value to stamp-collectors.

_Emergency Measures During the War_

As a war measure, on July 31, 1918, by executive order issued in accordance with a Joint Resolution of the House and Senate, the telegraph and telephone systems of the United States were placed under the control of the postmaster-general, and on November 2, 1918, the marine cables were also placed under his control. These utilities were conducted by a wire control board, of which the postmaster-general was the head. The marine cables were returned to their owners May 2, 1919, and the telephone and telegraph lines were returned to their owners in accordance with an act of Congress on August 1, 1919, having been under government control just one year.

When the telegraph was invented, in 1847, the first line between Washington and Baltimore was built through an appropriation authorized by Congress. Then, as now, there were public men who advocated government ownership of the wire systems as a means of communication, the same as the postal service. It was placed in private control, however, one year after its inauguration, and has grown up under that control. The Government's operation during the war of both the wire and railroad systems seems to have cooled the ardor of even the most enthusiastic advocates of government ownership of such utilities.

Early in 1919 the Post-office Department used the wireless telegraph in connection with air mail service. A central station is located in the Post-office Department Building at Washington, and other stations are located in cities near the transcontinental air mail route from New York City to San Francisco. Experiments are being made with the wireless as a means of directing airplanes in flight, especially during foggy and stormy weather, and it is expected planes will ultimately be equipped with either wireless telegraph or telephone outfits. On April 22, 1921, the Post-office Department adopted the use of the wireless telephone in addition to the wireless telegraph service, and is now using both in the air mail service, and also for the purpose of broadcasting to farming communities governmental information such as market reports from the Agricultural Department and the big market centers. It is not contemplated, however, that the Post-office Department will maintain the wireless telegraph and telephone except as an aid in the development of the air mail service; only when not in use for this purpose is it utilized to broadcast the governmental information referred to for the benefit of farming communities and without expense to them.

_The Post-office in the War_

As may be imagined, the work of the Post-office Department consequent upon the war was enormous; it participated in and did war work for practically all other departments of the Government. Besides the great increase of ordinary mail as a result of the war, it assisted in the work of the draft, the Liberty Loans, the Red Cross service, food, fuel, and labor conservation, the enforcement of the Alien Enemy and Espionage laws, and nearly every war activity placed upon it some share of the burden. The Post-office Department, whose function is purely civil, with responsibility for a business service that must not be interrupted, kept open channels of communication upon which the vital activities of the Nation depended, and unquestionably made material contributions toward the successful prosecution of the war.

The department was of assistance to the Department of Justice, the Bureau of Intelligence of both the Army and the Navy; the Department of Labor, in collecting data relative to firms and classes of labor in the country; the Department of Agriculture, the Shipping Board, and various independent bureaus of the Government. Under proclamation of the President, postmasters of towns having populations of 5000 or less had the duty of registering enemy aliens. The department collected all the statistics and lists of aliens for the Department of Justice. A similar work was performed with respect to the duties of the Alien Property Custodian. Nine million questionnaires were distributed for the War Department, each being handled three times during the first draft; about thirteen million questionnaires were distributed in the second draft. The department distributed literature for the Liberty Loans and the Red Cross, and assisted in the sale of War Savings Stamps and Internal Revenue Stamps. New postal service was established for the soldiers at nearly a hundred cantonments in this country. When the American forces went abroad an independent postal service was established in France by the Post-office Department which was later turned over to the military authorities. That the United States postal service was the only one in the world that did not break down during the war might well be cause for pardonable pride.

_Beginning of Registered Mail, Postal Money-orders,
Savings, Free Delivery, Special Delivery,
Parcel Post, and Air Mail_

The registry service was established in 1855 and the money-order service was established in 1864. About $1,500,000,000 is transmitted by money-orders annually. Postal-savings service was established January 3, 1911, and during the first year the deposits reached a total of $677,145. The increase in this department has been continuous each year, and in a recent year the amount was over $150,000,000. The parcel-post system was established January 1, 1913, and now nearly three billion parcels are handled annually.

In 1863 the innovation of free delivery of mail in forty-nine cities was undertaken, for which 449 carriers were employed. In 1890, 454 cities enjoyed free delivery of mail and 9066 carriers did the work. In 1921 there were about 3000 city delivery post-offices and about 36,000 carriers. The Post-office Department owns and operates almost 4000 automobiles in the collection and delivery of mail in cities, but this is a small part of the number operating under contract. The regular use of the automobile in the postal service dates back only to 1907. The feature of special delivery of mail was inaugurated in 1885.

The first regular air mail route was inaugurated May 15, 1918, between Washington and New York, a distance of about 200 miles, the schedule being two hours, compared with about five hours for steam trains.

An air route between Cleveland and Chicago was inaugurated May 15, 1919, and between New York and Cleveland July 1, 1919. The Transcontinental Air Mail Route from New York to San Francisco, inaugurated September 8, 1920, is the only route at present in operation. This coast-to-coast route is 2629 miles in length, passing through Cleveland, Chicago, Omaha, Cheyenne, Salt Lake City, and Reno. Relays of planes are used, but, contrary to the general impression, mail is not carried all the way by air; instead, planes pick up mail which has missed trains and advance it to points where it will catch through trains.

Three rural routes, the first ones, were established in 1896 in West Virginia. By 1900 there were 1259; in 1906, 32,110; 1912, 42,199; on January 1, 1922, there were 44,007. Rural routes now in operation cover a total of 1,152,000 miles and the number of patrons served is about 30,000,000. The Rural Free Delivery Service brings in but about one fourth of its cost. There are also about 11,000 contract mail routes (star routes) serving communities not reached by rail or rural routes.

_Postal Business Increases_

In the five years from 1912 to 1917, the increase in the volume of business as reflected by the annual gross receipts of the post-office was 33.64 per cent., and in the ten-year period from 1912 to 1921, inclusive, it was 87.84 per cent. During this decade there was a decrease in postal receipts in but one year as compared with the previous year, and that was in 1915, when the percentage of decrease was 0.23 per cent. For the ten years mentioned the percentage of increase in receipts for each year over the previous year was as follows:

Percentage

1912 3.72
1913 8.65
1914 7.59
1915 .23[1]
1916 8.63
1917 5.66[2]
1918 4.47[3]
1919 5.91[4]
1920 19.81
1921 6.02

[1] Decrease.

[2] Additional revenue on account of increased postage rates incident to
the war not included.

[3] see Footnote 2.

[4] see Footnote 2.

_The Post-office and Good Roads_

The pony express riders, to whom reference has already been made, rode over trails and cow-paths made by herds of buffaloes, deer, or cattle. To-day, however, as part of our post-office appropriations, large sums are included for construction and keeping in repair public roads and routes used by different branches of our mail service. For the present year there was appropriated for carrying out the provisions of the Federal Highway Act the sum of $75,000,000 for what is known as Federal aid to the States in road construction, and $10,000,000 for forest roads for 1923. A comprehensive program has been adopted and, in order that the States may make adequate provisions to meet their share for the Federal appropriations, they know in advance just what Federal appropriation they can depend upon.

The total Federal aid funds which have been apportioned to the States from 1916 to 1921 amount to $339,875,000. On February 1, 1922, $213,947,790 had been paid on actual construction, leaving a balance for new construction of $125,927,214. Between February 1 and July 1 of this year about $40,927,000 more was put into construction.

_Washington Headquarters_

The main Post-office Department Building is located at 11th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. What is known as the City Post-Office Building is at North Capitol Street and Massachusetts Avenue in that city, and the mail equipment shops are located at 5th and W Streets, N.E. The total number of employees in the General Department is 2025.

The clerks throughout the department, in character, intelligence, and dependability, are above the average. Not only must postal clerks be familiar with the location of several thousand post-offices, but they must know on what railroad each post-office is located, through what junction points a letter despatched to that office must pass, and many other important details. The schedules of railroads affect the method of despatching mail, and these are constantly changing so that postal clerks must be up to the minute on all schedules, etc.

_Red Corpuscles for Our Postal Arteries_

A new post-office policy that is well expressed by the words "humanized service" has been inaugurated. The postal educational exhibits which have been conducted in many of the larger offices for the purposes of teaching the public how to mail and how not to mail letters, parcels, and valuables were but single manifestations of this new spirit. Some persons may think--and with good reason--that only recently have postal authorities indicated concern in what the public did; but that the present interest is genuine is evident to any one. The department is likewise interested in its workers and makes an effort to understand them. Says the head of the department in his latest report: "We are dependent on the nerve and the sense of loyalty of human beings for the punctual delivery of our mail regardless of the weather and everything else. To treat a postal employee as a mere commodity in the labor market is not only wicked from a humanitarian standpoint, but is foolish and short-sighted even from the standpoint of business. The postal employee who is regarded as a human being whose welfare is important to his fellows, high and low, in the national postal organization, is bound to do his work with a courage, a zest, and a thoroughness which no money value can ever buy. The security which he feels he passes on to the men and women he serves. Instead of a distrust of his Government, he radiates confidence in it. I want to make every man and woman in the postal service feel that he or she is a partner in this greatest of all business undertakings, whose individual judgment is valued, and whose welfare is of the utmost importance to the successful operation of the whole organization. We want every postal co-worker to feel that he has more than a job. A letter-carrier does a good deal more than bring a letter into a home when he calls. He ought to know the interest which his daily travels bring to the home. We have 326,000 men and women with the same objective, with the same hopes and aspirations, all working together for the same purpose, a mutual appreciation one for the other, serving an appreciative public. If we can improve the spirit and actual working conditions of these 326,000 men and women who do this job, that in itself is an accomplishment, and it is just as certain to bring a consequent improvement in the service as the coming of tomorrow's sun."

_Welfare Work_

Few people know that to-day a welfare department is in operation throughout the postal system which is directly interested in improving the working conditions of all the postal workers. The department was organized in June, 1921, by the appointment of a welfare director. Councils of employees meet regularly to consider matters affecting their welfare and to discuss plans for improving the postal service. The National Welfare Council has been formed of the following postal employee organizations:

National Federation of Post-office Clerks
The Railway Mail Association
United National Association of Post-office Clerks
National Rural Letter-Carriers Association
National Association of Letter-Carriers
National Federation of Rural Carriers
National Association of Supervisory Employees
National Federation of Federal Employees
National Association of Post-office Laborers

Mutual aid and benefit societies with insurance features are conducted, athletics are encouraged, sick benefits are provided, retirement pensions are in effect, and postal employees to-day can well believe that somebody cares about their comfort and welfare. Incidentally, savings aggregating many thousands of dollars annually have been effected through the suggestions and inventions of employees in the service.

One of the important divisions in the postal service is that which pertains to the inspection work, much of which does not attract outside attention and only comes to public notice when some one has gotten into trouble with the postal authorities. In a large measure, inspection work pertains to the apprehension of criminals and the investigation of depredations, but that is only a comparatively small part of the division's activities.

Post-office inspectors investigate and report upon matters affecting every branch of the postal service; they are traveling auditors and check up accounts and collect shortages; they decide where an office should be located, how it should be fitted up, and how many clerks or carriers may be needed.

The rural carriers, for instance, must be familiar with the regulations that cover the delivery of mail, registration of letters, taking applications for money-orders, sale of stamps, supplies, etc., but the inspector must also know all of these and also be able to determine when the establishment of a route is warranted, to lay out and fix the schedules and prepare a map and description of the route, also measure the routes if the length is in dispute, inspect the service, ascertain whether it is properly performed, and give necessary instructions to the carriers and postmasters.

Carriers must know their districts, understand regulations covering the delivery of mail, handling of registry, insurance and collection on delivery matter, collection of mail and handling of change of address and forwarding orders. The inspector, however, determines when conditions are such at an office that city delivery service may be installed, the number of carriers necessary, and the number of deliveries to be made. He lays out the routes, locates the collection boxes, and fixes the schedules. He is also called on to investigate the service when extensions are desired or when carriers are deemed necessary, and is concerned with clerks, supervisory officers, postmasters, new post-offices, railway mail service, contracts for transportation of mail and furnishing of supplies, as well as the enforcement of criminal statutes covering train robberies, post-office burglaries, money-order forgeries, lottery men, the transmission of obscene literature, mail-bag thieves, embezzlers, etc.

The following regular employees were in the Post-office Department and Postal Service on July 1, 1922:

Post-office Department proper 1,917
Post-office inspectors 485
Clerks at headquarters, post-office inspectors 115
Employees at United States Envelope Agency 10

First Assistant Postmasters:
First class 834
Second class 2,808
Third class 10,407
Fourth class 37,899
------
51,948

Assistant postmasters 2,730
Clerks, first and second class offices 56,003
City letter carriers 39,480
Village carriers 1,111
Watchmen, messengers, laborers, printers, etc., in
post offices 3,063
Substitute clerks, first and second class offices 11,283
Substitute letter carriers 10,765
Special delivery messengers (estimated) 3,500
Second Assistant:
Officers in Railway Mail Service 149
Railway postal clerks 19,659
Substitute railway postal clerks 2,419
Air mail employees 345
Fourth Assistant:
Rural carriers 44,086
Motor-vehicle employees 3,177
Substitute motor-vehicle employees 447
Government-operated star-route employees 64
--------
Total 252,756

The following classes or groups are indirectly connected with the Postal Service in most instances through contractual relationship, and take the oath of office, but are not employees of the Post-office Department or the Postal Service:

Clerks at third-class offices (estimated) 13,000
Clerks at fourth-class offices (estimated) 37,899
Mail messengers 13,128
Screen-wagon contractors 201
Carriers for offices having special supply 349
Clerks in charge of contract stations 4,869
Star-route contractors 10,766
Steamboat contractors 273
------
Total 80,485

THE POST-OFFICE IN NEW YORK

_List of New York City postmasters from 1687 to date_:

WILLIAM BOGARDUS
April 4, 1687
HENRY SHARPAS
April 4, 1692
RICHARD NICHOL
(Postmaster in 1732)
ALEXANDER COLDEN
(Postmaster in 1753-75)
EBENEZER HAZARD
October 5, 1775
WILLIAM BEDLOE
(Postmaster in 1785, appointed
after close of Revolutionary War)
SEBASTIAN BAUMAN
February 16, 1796
JOSIAS TEN EYCK
January 1, 1804
THEODORUS BAILEY
April 2, 1804
SAMUEL L. GOUVERNEUR
November 19, 1828
JONATHAN I. CODDINGTON
July 5, 1836
JOHN L. GRAHAM
March 14, 1842
ROBERT H. MORRIS
May 3, 1845
WILLIAM V. BRADY
May 14, 1849
ISAAC V. FOWLER
April 1, 1853
JOHN A. DIX
May 17, 1860
WILLIAM B. TAYLOR
January 16, 1861
ABRAM WAKEMAN
March 21, 1862
JAMES KELLY
September 19, 1864
PATRICK H. JONES
April 27, 1869
THOMAS L. JAMES
March 17, 1873
HENRY G. PEARSON
April 1, 1881
THOMAS L. JAMES (acting)
April 21, 1889
CORNELIUS VAN COTT
May 1, 1889
CHARLES W. DAYTON
July 1, 1893
CORNELIUS VAN COTT
May 23, 1897
EDWARD M. MORGAN (acting)
October 26, 1904
WILLIAM R. WILLCOX
January 1, 1905
EDWARD M. MORGAN (acting)
July 1, 1907
EDWARD M. MORGAN
September 1, 1907
EDWARD M. MORGAN
(reappointed)
December 14, 1911
ROBERT F. WAGNER
April 22, 1916. Declined
THOMAS G. PATTEN
March 16, 1917
EDWARD M. MORGAN
(reappointed)
July 1, 1921

_Early New York_

The first ships which arrived after the settlement of New York as New Amsterdam brought letters, and the first post-office, such as it was, began to function about the time the city was founded.

When vessels arrived, those letters relating to the cargoes were delivered to merchants; persons who welcomed the ships received their letters by hand. If a letter was unclaimed, it was left with a responsible private citizen until called for.

In time a system of voluntary distribution was developed, which became known as the "Coffee House Delivery." It was naturally popular and continued for over a century. At first this method of delivery was used by vessels and by people from distant points who left their mail for delivery at some well-known tavern. Here it reposed in a box accessible to all, or it was tacked to the surface of a smooth board with tape or brass-headed nails and placed in a conspicuous part of the tavern.

In the year 1710 the postmaster-general of Great Britain designated a "chief letter office" in the City of New York, Philadelphia having been the headquarters of the Colonial organization up to that time. In the following year arrangements were completed for the delivery of Boston mail twice a month, and a foot-post to Albany was proposed.

In 1740 a complete road was blazed from Paulus Hook, Jersey City, to Philadelphia, over which the mail was carried on horseback between Philadelphia and New York.

Alexander Colden was postmaster here at the time of the Revolution, but when the British troops took possession of New York, the office was abolished by the provost-marshal and for seven years little correspondence not connected with the movement of troops was handled.

William Bedloe, after whom Bedloe's Island was named, was the first postmaster after the war, but in 1786 Sebastian Bauman succeeded him.

_The New York General Post-office To-day_

The world's greatest post-office to-day is the New York General Post-office, located at Eighth Avenue and West 33d Street, but a short block from the West Side Office of the Manufacturers Trust Company, and we are glad to be able to include in this booklet a message to our readers from Hon. E. M. Morgan, Postmaster, who directs the activities of that great organization.

THE NEW YORK GENERAL POST-OFFICE OF
THE PAST, THE PRESENT, AND
THE FUTURE

BY E. M. MORGAN, POSTMASTER

The growth of business transacted by the New York post-office is illustrated by the following statement showing the postal revenues for the years mentioned. It appears that the first account of revenues of the New York post-office was published in the year 1786, and the first city directory was also published in that year, and contained 926 names.

Year Amount

1786 . . . . . . . . . . . $ 2,789.84
1873 (estimated) . . . . . 2,500,000.00
1922 . . . . . . . . . . . 54,109,050.61

According to a recent statement by Hon. Hubert Work, Postmaster-General, the postal business now done in New York City alone is equivalent to that of the United States twenty-five years ago, and is double that of the Dominion of Canada.

During my personal experience with the postal affairs of this great city, the service has been expanded from a post-office with eleven stations and 973 employees to an enormous establishment having a total of 362 stations, including fifty carrier and financial stations, 271 contract stations, and forty-one United States Warship Branches; requiring a total force of 15,600 post-office employees. The postmaster at New York is also the Central Accounting Postmaster for 1375 district post-offices (365 third-class and 1010 fourth-class post-offices) located in thirty-five counties of New York State.

The transactions of this important office are constantly increasing in volume as a result of the great expansion and growth of New York City, which is greatly influenced by the progress and growth of the entire country. New York City, as the metropolis of the United States, is taking her place at the head of the large cities of the world in population, finance, and commercial affairs.

If the progress made in the past fifty years by the United States and its possessions in the conduct of national and international business continues, the postal business here will, no doubt, make tremendous strides.

At the end of another fifty years, or in the year 1972, the postmaster at New York will be the head of a much greater establishment than the present office, which will be comparable to that organization of the future as the first post-office in New York City, located in the "Coffee House," Coenties Slip, in 1642, is comparable to the present post-office. The future postmaster of New York, in 1972, will probably be the head of a number of consolidated post-offices in the metropolitan area, and, no doubt, other public services will be placed under his supervision.

The further development and improvement of the aëroplane mail service will no doubt result in a greater use of that facility for the transportation of mails. The transportation of the mails through the streets of New York is a great problem. At present motor trucks are principally used for that purpose. It is anticipated that even with this service augmented by the re-establishment of the pneumatic tubes, future extensions to the underground method of transportation will be necessary. It is likely that before many years are passed a system of tunnels for the transportation of mails in pouches and sacks will be built and placed in operation.

Congress and the Post-office Department are now looking into the matter of providing the post-office at New York with a large amount of additional room in new buildings specially constructed for post-office purposes and it is the constant aim and purpose of all concerned in the operation of the New York post-office to furnish its patrons the best postal service.

E. M. MORGAN,
POSTMASTER.

_The New York Post-office_

Conceive, if you can, an organization that is incessantly and perpetually going at top speed; that knows not a moment of rest the year round, or generation after generation; which never sleeps, nor pauses, nor hesitates; that disposes each day of a mountain of 14,300,000 pieces of ordinary mail, or more than any other office in the world; that does a parcel-post business that makes the business of the express companies seem small in comparison; that handles in excess of 41,500,000 pieces of registered mail each year; that issues nearly four million money-orders annually, and pays over seventeen million more; that, as a mere side issue does a banking business which is exceeded by but a few banks in the whole State; that has in its safe custody the savings of approximately 140,000 depositors, amounting to more than $44,000,000; that employs an army of 15,000 men and women; that occupies one of the largest buildings in the city, two blocks in length, and then overflows into approximately fifty annexes, called "Classified Stations," and nearly 200 sub-annexes, called "Contract Stations"; that has receipts in excess of $52,000,000 per annum; that has doubled its business in ten years. Having conceived this, you will begin to get some idea of the New York post-office, the biggest thing of its kind in the world and still growing.

The average man's conception of a post-office includes little more than an impression of a letter-carrier in a gray uniform; a mail wagon recently dodged by a narrow margin; a post-office station somewhere in his neighborhood, and a hazy picture of a dingy place in which men sometimes post letters. Of the details of the organization aside from these things, the extent and complexities of the service, or how it accomplishes what it does, or of the executive experts operating the system, he knows practically nothing. He is aware, it is true, that letters are collected and that letters are delivered, and that continents and oceans may divide the sender and addressee; but by what mystic methods delivery is accomplished he has never stopped to think. Yet the organization that lies behind the words "New York post-office" is one of the most complex, efficient, and interesting in the world, and yet it operates with a simplicity and a smoothness that betoken master design and perfection of detail.

_The Postmaster_

At the head of this great organization and directing its every movement, watching its development, adjusting its activities, is one of the most experienced and efficient postal experts in America, in the person of Postmaster Edward M. Morgan, whose interesting statement is included at the head of this section.

Mr. Morgan entered the postal service in 1873 as a letter-carrier, at the foot of the ladder, and by an industry that was tireless and force of character he worked his way up, round after round, to the very top. In the course of his long public service he transferred from the carrier force to the clerical force, and then graduated from this to the supervisory ranks, discharging each successive grade with conspicuous ability. His several titles in the course of this career were: carrier, clerk, chief clerk, superintendent of stations, superintendant of delivery, assistant postmaster, acting postmaster, postmaster. He was first appointed postmaster by President Roosevelt, and reappointed by President Taft. For an interval during President Wilson's administration he was out of office, but was reappointed by President Harding. With such a record of progress and experience it is very evident that he must "know the game," but if one knows nothing of his history, and meets him for a few minutes, his grasp of detail and vision of opportunity for future development become at once apparent.

Postmaster Morgan has gathered around him as his heads of divisions a corps of enthusiastic aides who have grown up in the service under his tutelage, and each of whom has advanced step by step under the keenest competition, demonstrating his competency for the position he fills by the satisfactory manner in which he has discharged the duties of the position of lower rank. Among his aides there are no amateurs; all have been tried for a generation or more in positions of varying and increasing importance, and they have stood the test; they are recognized the country over as postal experts, and the work they are doing and the efficiency they are showing are proof that their reputations are well merited.

_The Organisation of the New York Post-office_

Next in rank to the postmaster are the assistant postmaster and the acting assistant postmaster, the first at the head of the financial divisions and miscellaneous executive departments, and the second at the head of various divisions engaged in handling the mails proper.

_Upper row (left to right)--Edward P. Russell, Postal Cashier; Arthur H. Harbinson, Secretary to the Postmaster; Joseph Willon, Superintendent of Registry; Albert B. Firmin, Superintendent of Money Orders; Justus W. Salzman, Auditor. Lower row (left to right)--Peter A. McGurty, Acting Superintendent of Mails; Thomas B. Randies, Acting Assistant Postmaster (Mails); Hon. Edward M. Morgan, Postmaster; John J. Kiely, Assistant Postmaster (Finance): Charles Lubin, Superintendent of Delivery._ ]

_The Assistant Postmaster_

The assistant postmaster is Mr. John J. Kiely, who has been in the service thirty-seven years, and, like the postmaster, has worked up from the ranks, advancing through the various grades as foreman, assistant superintendent, superintendent, division head, etc., to the title he now holds. For a number of years he was in charge first of one and then of another of the great terminal stations of the city, where the greatest volumes of mail are handled of any of the stations in this country, and later was made superintendent of mails, from which position he was recently promoted to the title he now holds.

_Patrons are entitled to and must receive prompt,
efficient and courteous service._

=If you think our methods or conduct can be improved, the
Postmaster wants to hear about it, personally.=

_EDWARD M. MORGAN, Postmaster_

_A new kind of sign in Government offices._

_The Acting Assistant Postmaster_ ]

The acting assistant postmaster is Mr. Thomas B. Randles, who is responsible for the movement of the mails, and who, for several years prior to his attaining his present rank, was assistant superintendent of mails; prior to that, he was superintendent of different stations in various parts of the city. He has seen twenty-eight years' service in various ranks.

_The Division Heads_

Next in rank to the officials mentioned there is a group of division heads, corresponding with the various major activities of the office, including the Division of Delivery, the Division of Mails, the Division of Registered Mails, and the Division of Money-Orders, followed by the cashier, the auditor, the classification division, etc.

The duties of each of these heads are very clearly defined by Postmaster Morgan, and each head is held to strict responsibility for the faithful and efficient conduct of his division or department. The postmaster himself is ever ready to give advice and counsel, and is the most accessible of executives, not only to his staff, but to employees of all rank and to the public. He in turn requires of all of his aides not only a thorough knowledge of every detail of their work, but also that they shall be as accessible to those under them and to the public as he is himself.

_The Postmaster's Weekly Conference_

Once each week the postmaster meets his division heads and department chiefs in formal council, when the problems of the service are freely discussed and plans are formulated for such undertakings as may require unity of action and coöperative effort. These conferences keep the various heads apprised of what is of importance in the various departments, and promote an esprit de corps and coöperative attitude that explain the exceptional unity of effort that is characteristic of the entire organization. One has only to study the organization for a short time to discover that one of its strongest features is the manifest team-work, the one animating and controlling influence throughout it all being "the interest of the service."

_The Delivery Division_

Closest to the heart of the public of all the postal employees--probably because they see so many of them and know so much of their faithful work as they plod along day in and day out, in all kinds of weather, with their heavy loads weighing down their shoulders and twisting their spines--are the letter-carriers. These are all under the Division of Delivery, the superintendent of which is Mr. Charles Lubin. Mr. Lubin entered the service in 1890, as a substitute clerk, and is another example of the executive who has risen, step by step, through all the various clerical grades to supervisory rank, and then through the various supervisory ranks to his present title. The Delivery Division includes in its personnel, in addition to 2954 letter-carriers, 3621 clerks, 282 laborers, and 1800 substitute employees, so that it constitutes a small army in itself.

The New York post-office covers both Manhattan and the Bronx, with a postal population which greatly exceeds the population as shown by the census. To New York gravitate daily hundreds of thousands of people who are employed in Manhattan and the Bronx but who reside in Brooklyn, New Jersey, Long Island, or elsewhere. Hundreds of thousands of others reside at one address in Manhattan or the Bronx, but do business at another, receiving mail at both addresses. Including these, the transients, and the commuters mentioned, it is estimated that the Delivery Division is receiving mail for approximately 8,000,000 addressees in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx.