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
Some of the Early Postmasters of New York City.
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.
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.
Postmaster, New York, N.Y., and Staff.
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.
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.
Adequately to meet the requirements of this vast number there are scheduled, for the business section of the city, six carrier deliveries daily, and four for the residential sections. Just what this means will be better appreciated if one will pause and try to visualize what it means to traverse every street and alley of the great area covered by Manhattan and the Bronx from four to six times daily, stopping at every door for which there is mail, and effecting delivery in apartments, in tenements, in office buildings, and in factories.
Of the 2954 carriers mentioned above, 384 are employed in collecting mail from the street boxes, both package and letter, and from the chutes in office buildings, etc. From the boxes in remote suburban districts three to five collections are made daily, from boxes in the residential sections from seven to fifteen collections daily, while in the business sections the collections run from fifteen to twenty-seven.
Even with the frequency of collection that takes place in the intensively developed business sections, the boxes fill up as quickly as they are emptied.
To appreciate how quickly, and to make clear the volume of mail collected by the carriers, it may be stated that among the office buildings equipped with chute letter-boxes are the Equitable Life, thirty-nine stories, and the Woolworth, fifty-five stories, from each of which fifty-five to sixty full sacks of mail are collected by the carriers daily between 3 and 7.30 P.M. These sacks are conveyed by wagons to the Varick Street Station for postmarking and despatch, four carriers being engaged on the task.
The volume of mail collected at the close of business in the lower part of the city, and largely from buildings equipped with chutes and boxes, exceeds that handled by many first-class post-offices for an entire twenty-four-hour period.
Rear view of New York General Post Office and Pennsylvania
Railroad tracks. Manufacturers Trust Company, West
Side offices, nearby (in semi-circle).
The Stations
For greater efficiency in handling the mails, to shorten the trips of carriers and collectors and to serve the public convenience, as the city has grown, various classified or carrier stations have been established, and of these there are now no fewer than forty-eight in operation and also two financial stations. The classified or carrier stations are practically complete post-offices, so far as the public is concerned, affording full facilities for the sale of stamps, money-orders, postal savings, registration of mail, acceptance of parcel post, the distribution of mail, etc., and for the delivery and collection of mail by carriers. The financial stations afford all the conveniences mentioned for the benefit of the public, except that they do not make delivery of mail nor effect its distribution.
It is estimated that the delivery division effects the delivery daily through the carriers assigned to the general office and to the various stations of approximately 5,000,000 letters, cards, and circulars, 800,000 papers, periodicals, and pieces of printed matter and small parcel-post packages, and 65,000 bulky parcel-post packages, or, in all, close to 6,000,000 pieces of mail of all classes.
But the delivery of mail is only part of the story, for it is estimated that the public mail daily in the various chutes, classified station "drops," and street letter boxes, etc., approximate 5,000,000 pieces of first-class mail and several million circulars, all of which have to be gathered together and put through the various processes of cancellation, sorting, etc., before the actual work of delivery or despatch begins.
The tremendous magnitude of the business of the various stations is shown not only in the volume of mail received and delivered, but in the sale of stamps, the collection of postage on second-class matter, etc., constituting the receipts.
The receipts at the City Hall Station, for instance, are greater than the receipts of any post-office in the United States except Chicago, Ill., Philadelphia, Pa., and Boston, Mass., as shown by the table below, giving figures for the fiscal year 1921. In the case of all the offices named, the figures include not only the main office but all the stations of the offices. In the case of the City Hall Station alone, the figures are for this unit exclusively, and no other point.
RECEIPTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1921
| Chicago, Ill. | $ 42,711,561 |
| Philadelphia, Pa. | 15,588,738 |
| Boston, Mass. | 11,597,061 |
| City Hall Station | 9,749,018 |
| Saint Louis, Mo. | 8,722,633 |
| Kansas City, Mo. | 6,490,018 |
| Cleveland, Ohio | 6,218,695 |
| Detroit, Mich. | 5,742,835 |
| Brooklyn, N. Y. | 5,695,037 |
| San Francisco, Cal. | 5,623,409 |
| Pittsburgh, Pa. | 5,298,504 |
| Cincinnati, Ohio | 4,663,323 |
| Minneapolis, Minn. | 4,606,689 |
| Los Angeles, Cal. | 4,580,969 |
| Baltimore, Md. | 4,323,525 |
| Washington, D. C. | 3,661,760 |
| Buffalo, N. Y. | 3,438,497 |
| Milwaukee, Wis. | 3,311,922 |
From these figures it will also be seen that the receipts of the City Hall Station are greater than the receipts of the entire city of Saint Louis, as great as the receipts of Cleveland, Ohio, and Buffalo, N. Y., combined, as great as the receipts of Detroit, Mich., and Washington, D. C., combined, as great as those of Brooklyn, N. Y., and Milwaukee, Wis., combined, or those of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Minneapolis, Minn., combined.
The rapid increase in the volume of business at the City Hall Station is shown by the following figures of receipts:
| Calendar Year | |
| 1915 | $ 6,587,228.98 |
| 1916 | 7,124,138.76 |
| 1917 | 7,544,849.70 |
| 1918 | 8,162,774.76 |
| 1919 | 9,188,449.66 |
| 1920 | 10,253,435.42 |
Increase in five years—55.65 per cent.
City Hall is not the only station of great receipts, as the following statistics show:
RECEIPTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1921-2
| Madison Square Station | $ 5,458,705.90 |
| Grand Central Station | 4,582,718.87 |
| Wall Street Station | 2,815,963.56 |
| Station "D" | 2,354,165.33 |
| Times Square Station | 2,323,791.88 |
| West 43d Street Station | 1,742,125.04 |
| Station "P" | 1,688,795.83 |
| Station "G" | 1,540,499.66 |
| Station "O" | 1,523,785.14 |
| Station "F" | 1,432,161.03 |
| Station "S" | 1,192,883.02 |
| Station "A" | 1,138,459.07 |
In addition to the actual receipts of the various stations, made up by the sale of stamps, etc., as described, their financial transactions incident to the money-order and postal-savings business are tremendous, as will later be shown in detail under the heading "Division of Money-Orders" and "Postal Savings"; suffice it to say here that the City Hall Station issued last year money-orders to the value of $3,183,209, and the Madison Square Station money-orders to the value of $2,004,273, while Station "B" had to the credit of its postal-savings depositors $6,786,622, Tompkins Square Station, $5,580,389, and Station "U," $4,595,974.
How greatly the business of the stations has grown is evidenced by the fact that in 1875 the gross receipts for the year amounted to but $3,166,946.19, which is less than the receipts for one month at the present time, the receipts for last July amounting to $3,821,095.94.
To those who are now enjoying the advantage of free delivery service it seems that it is the natural thing, and it is difficult for them to realize how a busy community could get along without it, yet as a matter of fact it was not established until 1863, when it was experimentally installed in forty-nine cities, with but 449 carriers, which number is about a seventh of those employed at the present time in New York alone.
The number of stations has also increased rapidly. In 1889 there were but eighteen classified stations and twenty contract stations in New York, while to-day, as previously mentioned, there are forty-eight of the former, two financial, and 271 contract stations authorized, and also forty-one Warship Branches.
Foreign Mail for City Delivery
The receipts of foreign mail from Europe is increasing very rapidly. During the month of July, 1922, there was received for delivery in New York City from foreign countries 3,372,767 letters and 2577 sacks of foreign papers.
Few people who hasten through the
New York General Post Office building notice its
architectural beauty of design and perspective.
The task of handling the city mail received from steamers is particularly trying, since many of the addresses are difficult to read, insufficient postage is prepaid in many cases, and it comes not in a steady flow but in quantities at one time; and it is, of course, always in addition to the regular daily quota of domestic matter. In exemplification of this it may be said that on August 11, 1922, a single steamer, the Mauretania, brought in 8553 sacks of letters.
The Division of Mails
The Division of Mails embraces the Division of Delivery, which has already been described, the great terminal stations, that is, the Grand Central Station (including the Foreign Station Annex); also the Division of Registered Mails and the Motor Vehicle Service. All of these, as previously mentioned, are under the general supervision of Acting Assistant Postmaster Randles. The Division of Mails proper, exclusive of the Division of Delivery and of the Division of Registered Mails, is under the acting superintendent of mails, Mr. Peter A. McGurty. Mr. McGurty was formerly assistant superintendent of delivery, and has been in the postal service in New York since 1897. Mr. McGurty, like other division heads, served first as a clerk, and rose gradually, grade by grade, to his present position. In the Mailing Division there are 4942 employees. The duties of the Mailing Division are many and varied. In the main it is responsible for the distribution and despatch of all outgoing mail, including the parcel post. It is in itself a complex organization, employing not only the army of men above mentioned but an enormous fleet of motor vehicles and complex mechanical equipment for the conveyance of mail from one part of an office to another, and the loading of it upon railroad cars, ships, etc. The average daily transactions of the division are as follows:
| Outgoing letters | 3,965,023 |
| Circulars | 1,917,190 |
| Second-and third-class matter | 1,620,250 |
| Parcel-post matter | 363,805 |
| Customs due matter | 800 |
| Collections on customs due matter | $ 2,500 |
One duty of the Mailing Division is the weighing of second-and third-class matter to determine the postage required thereon. The daily average of the matter thus weighed is approximately 343,000 pounds, and on this postage is collected to the amount of approximately $10,500.
In order to make clear what is involved in the handling of a great volume of mail such as is disposed of daily in this division of the New York office, it may be well to describe the course that is followed by a single letter. Assume that a letter is mailed in a street letterbox, in the district of a great terminal; it is brought in by a collector, who deposits it upon a long table surrounded by many employees. The table is likely to be what is known as a "pick-up table," which is one equipped with conveyor belts and convenient slide apertures for letters of different lengths, and into these apertures, with nimble fingers, the clerks grouped around it separate the mass of letters received, placing the letters with all the stamps in one direction. As quickly as they do so, the conveyor belts carry the letters, according to the different sizes into which they have been separated, to the electrically-driven canceling machines. These canceling machines are operated by a second group of employees, who feed in the letters, which are canceled at the rate of approximately 25,000 letters per hour. The whirling dies by which are imprinted the postmarks which cancel the stamps revolve at almost lightning speed. These postmarks are changed each half-hour, and the aim is to postmark the letters as rapidly as they come to hand, so that but a few minutes intervene between the time of mailing and time of postmark. This postmark is, in fact, the pace-maker. Once it is imprinted upon a letter, it can be determined by the postmark at any time just how long a time has been required for it to reach a particular point in the progress toward despatch.
From the postmarking machine the letters are carried, sometimes by conveyors, sometimes by hand, and sometimes by small trucks, to what are known as the "primary separating cases." These cases are manned by employees who separate the letters into groups, according to certain divisions which facilitate the secondary and further distributions. Thus at the primary cases the letters are likely to be broken up into lots for the city delivery, for many different States, for foreign countries, and for certain large cities. Each separation on the primary case will likely be followed by a secondary separation almost immediately. A sufficient number of men is kept on the facing or pick-up tables, on the primary cases, and on the secondary cases and pouching racks, to maintain a continuous movement of the mails. The aim is to keep the mail moving not only continuously from the point of posting to the point of delivery, as nearly in a direct line as practicable, but rapidly also, and with only an arresting of the movement when this is made necessary by awaiting the departure of the next train.
From the secondary cases the letters are carried to the pouching rack. By the time they reach the pouching rack they are made up into bundles, various letters for the same localities having been segregated and tied together. In some instances the packages of letters are tagged or labeled for States, in others for cities, and still others for railroad lines or for sections of such lines.
The handling of papers and circulars is much the same, so far as distribution is concerned, as the handling of letters, though there is considerable variation as to the details of segregation.
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 this and not more is 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 Office
on 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 be
loaded 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-head he 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 and emergency, there were but 747 which were but partly performed and but 1323 which failed.
Mail trucks loaded with parcel post matter to be
transported 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 figured separately, 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 of the 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 country for 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 convenience of 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:
| 1914 | 1921 | |
| Letters | 110,121,846 | 140,654,326 |
| Printed Matter, etc. | 53,940,035 | 101,905,335 |
| Circulars | 12,170,937 | 15,477,570 |
| Registered Articles | 4,372,889 | 10,238,298 |
| Parcel Post | 571,997 | 1,920,580 |
| Total number of articles despatched. | 181,177,704 | 270,196,109 |
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 half of 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 AT
NEW YORK, N. Y., YEAR ENDING
DECEMBER 31, 1921
| Station | N. Y. City | Distribution | Foreign | Total No. of Pieces Handled |
| G. P. O. | 10,927,723 | 12,144,069 | 2,331,683 | 25,403,475 |
| City Hall | 2,848,002 | 2,832,993 | 230,124 | 5,911,119 |
| Foreign | 132,250 | 10,143,579 | 10,277,829 | |
| Total | 13,775,725 | 15,109,312 | 12,705,386 | 41,592,423 |
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
| Year | Number | Amount |
| 1918 | 2,504,473 | $ 25,014,403.41 |
| 1919 | 2,762,021 | 32,206,933.02 |
| 1920 | 3,306,613 | 43,457,921.55 |
| 1921 | 3,549,742 | 46,699,314.76 |
| 1922 | 3,846,676 | 45,339,319.17 |
| Total | 15,969,525 | $ 192,717,891.91 |
INTERNATIONAL MONEY-ORDERS ISSUED
| Year | Number | Amount |
| 1918 | 194,349 | $ 2,807,166.44 |
| 1919 | 192,655 | 2,839,846.28 |
| 1920 | 122,088 | 1,824,007.11 |
| 1921 | 76,292 | 1,161,793.74 |
| 1922 | 92,303 | 1,344,494.51 |
| Total | 677,687 | $ 9,977,308.08 |
DOMESTIC MONEY-ORDERS PAID
| Year | Number | Amount |
| 1918 | 16,869,819 | $ 115,059,322.85 |
| 1919 | 16,544,345 | 132,692,080.13 |
| 1920 | 18,321,840 | 174,530,250.50 |
| 1921 | 16,379,250 | 155,812,988.47 |
| 1922 | 17,345,209 | 134,217,183.37 |
| Total | 85,460,463 | $ 712,311,825.32 |
INTERNATIONAL MONEY-ORDERS PAID
| Year | Number | Amount |
| 1918 | 51,443 | 962,232.03 |
| 1919 | 65,605 | 1,349,771.29 |
| 1920 | 73,660 | 2,560,337.36 |
| 1921 | 47,493 | 803,782.14 |
| 1922 | 50,553 | 605,932.87 |
| Total | 288,754 | $ 6,282,055.69 |
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.
Money order accounting machines in use at the
New 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.
| Number | Amount | |
| International money-orders certified to foreign countries | 722,321 | $ 9,583,425.62 |
| International money-orders certified from foreign countries | 112,292 | 1,802,902.66 |
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 as one 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
| Kind | Number |
| Ordinary | 1,317,465,292 |
| Postage due | 8,584,300 |
| Parcel post | 150,750 |
| Proprietary (revenue) | 1,768,763 |
| Documentary (revenue) | 7,240,444 |
| Stamps in coils | 337,852,500 |
| 1,673,062,049 | |
| Books of stamps | 1,403,100 |
| International reply coupons | 30,000 |
POSTAL CARDS
| Denomination | Number |
| Postal cards—1¢. | 147,515,077 |
| Postal cards—2¢. | 29,242,551 |
| Postal cards—4¢. | 1,163,209 |
| 177,920,837 |
STAMPED ENVELOPS
| Kind | Number |
| Low-back | 95,826,243 |
| High-back | 29,411,708 |
| Open-window | 4,671,750 |
| Extra-quality | 466,000 |
| Special-request | 95,371,000 |
| 225,746,701 |
TREASURY STAMPS AND CERTIFICATES
SINCE DECEMBER 15, 1921
| $ 1.00 | stamps | 43,017 |
| 25.00 | certificates | 12,471 |
| 100.00 | certificates | 11,403 |
| 1000.00 | certificates | 1,195 |
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 among the 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 to the 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 not claimed 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 VALUABLE
ENCLOSURES
| Number | Amount | |
| Money | 10,352 | $ 27,559.93 |
| Drafts, checks, money-orders, etc. | 35,178 | 2,528,844.19 |
| Postage-stamps | 98,413 | 4,641.67 |
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 of proficiency 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:
| Number of regular clerks subject to examination | 5,956 |
| Approximate number of substitute clerks subject to examinations | 2,000 |
| Total | 7,956 |
| Number of examination schemes issued to regular clerks subject to examination | 10,051 |
| Approximate number of examination schemes issued to substitute clerks subject to examinations | 2,000 |
| Total | 12,051 |
| Number of examinations conducted July 1, 1921, to June 30, 1922 | 15,140 |
| Number of cards handled in conducting case examinations | 12,334,812 |
| Average case examinations, daily | 50 |
| Number of clerks instructed in post-office duties July 1, 1921, to June 30, 1922 | 4,636 |
| Average instructions, daily | 16 |
| Number of study schemes in use in Examination Section | 119 |
| which are divided into examination sections | 140 |
| Mail schedule | 4 |
| divided into examination sections | 26 |
| Number of schemes examined July 1, 1921, to June 30, 1922 | 564 |
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.