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.