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: