Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, October 04, 1903, EDITORIAL SHEET, Page 18, Image 18

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THE OMAITA DAILY BEE: SUNDAY, OCTOTJETt 4, 1003.
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Aro Cordially Invited to Inspect Iho Greatest Brewery In the West and tho Homo of tho Famous
rORZ BLUE
BBON
R
ft"
as
AY
(is
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t
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The Beer Brewed by
STORZ BREWING CO.
la famed for its absolute
purity, strengthening quali
ties and exquisite flavorl
Unexcelled by any other
beer stands
Storz
(is
A
(is
(is
Blue
ft THE
& HT Th T?
IS
V TELEPHONES
METHODS OF MOVING. MAIL
Erery Knows Means Employed to Faoili
tat Prompt Dispatch and Deliyery.
TRACING THE LETTERS AS THEY GO
4alelc Bands, Sharp Ern, Trained
Minda avnd Aatomatle Machlnerjr
Im. Itrtaaoii Action Th Old
avnd tha New Ways.
Perhaps It la about t.BO when Mr. Brown
mergea from hla ofHc. on tha fourteenth
f.oor of the blc ikyacraper In lower Broad
way, write. Earl Mayo In tha Outlook.
U.ually be leavea an hour or more earlier
than this, but today he has delayed to pen
an Important personal message to a busi
ness associate In Ban Francisco. Finding
the quiet of the ofllc. conducive to thla ex
ercise, he has continued It by writing to his
: brother, who live, on the old home farm
among the Chautauqua hills of western
New York, and to the proprietor of a little
hotel up In the Adirondack wilderness ar
ranging for hla aummer outing.
As h. steps Into th. corridor h. drop, the
three letter. Into the glass-fronted chute
that lead, from top to bottom of the big
building, and they .Up swiftly out of sight.
tHla part In the Important matter of com-
isnunlcatlng with three widely separated
actions of the country I. completed, and
J be give, no thought to the effort that will
be expended and the many activities that
(Will be called Into nlav In rarrvtnir nut tha
remainder ef the undertaking. '
Before the elevator ha. had time to re-1
i .pond to the waiting man'. Impatient ring
ith. three letter, are reposing In a big steel
jnall box In the lower hallway of the build
ing. Five or perhaps ten minute, later the
box la emptied by a perspiring postman,
whose leather pouch Is already overflowing
iand who la forced to find room In hi.
I pocket, for some of the mall that he take.
out. In thla part of the city there are
! twenty-seven mall collection, between 7 In
the morning and 11 at night. During the
rush hours at the close of the business day
I these collection, are made at Intervals of
fifteen and twenty minutes, and even then
it la difficult for the carrier, to handle all
the mall.
By 8:40, while Mr. Brown I. journeying
homeward on the elevated train, hla letters
re dumped upon a long table in the big
gray poatofflce building on the south aide of
Printing House square, forming part of a
white avalanche that ha. been pouring In
from the drop., the carrier, and the spoclul
messengers from the big offices for three
hours, and that threaten, momentarily to
engulf the crowd of clerk, who are working
desperately to reduce It. proportions.
Canceling- the Stamps.
Bom. of these clerk, are rapidly gathering
up the envelope, that lie before them In an
Indiscriminate heap, and arranging them
In order, all standing on their .Idea and all
facing the aame wayt Then they are carried
to the receiving table of a busy little con
trivance that huma like a sewing machine
while It I. In operation and la aomewhat like
ne in .Is. and shape.
This 1. the automatic canceling machine.
The letter, are fed Into It from the receiv
ing board by swiftly revolving rubber
wheels. They pass through one at a time,
but with such swiftness that the eye can
not follow them, and In the process each
tamp I. canceled and the postmark Is
tamped upon each envelope.
In mora primitive day. all letter, were
postmarked and all stamps canceled by
hand .tamping machines, a. ts .till done
Jo rural office. Thl. required two distinct
operation, (or each tatter, and th limit
Ribbon
EVER INCREASING SALBS, U7JJC1
ONE MILLION
Brewery, 171; Bottling Dept., 1260.
of accomplishment for a rapid clerk wa.
from 1,600 to 1,800 letter, per hour. The
canceling machine, which la operated by
electricity and require, a single clerk to
attend It, eat. up 80,000 letter, or 40,000
postal. In an hour, and there are no un
canceled .tamp, or Indistinct postmark, on
the letter, after they have passed through
It.
There are fourteen of these machine. In
the main pout office In New York, and dur
ing the closing hour, of th business day
they are worked to their full capacity to
cope with the flood of mall that is pouring
In from all directions. During thla rush
period these machine, are handling the
mall at tha rate of over 250,000 piece, an
hour.
Routine; the Letter..
From the canceling machine, th letter,
are carried to what la called th primary
separation table, wher th first step In
the process of sorting out the different
letter, and .tartlng them properly on their
various journey, take, place.
Th primary aeparatlon table, ar. faced
by pigeonhole cases made up of compart
ment, about a foot square. Space la left
between the table and the case for th
clerk, to move about. Beneath each com
partment Is pasted a printed slip bearing
the name of aome city, state or group of
state.. The classification is made accord
ing to the amount of business, so that
while Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago
have each a box, and New Tork .tat ha.
two, there are groupa of a half-dosen dis
tant state, which have only one.
The clerks take up the letter. In armful,
and run hastily through them, glancing
at the lower line of the address on each.
and pitch them rapidly Into the proper com
partments. 'The lettera fly through th
air like th flakes of an April .nowstorm,
and It seem. Impossible that .tha clerks
can read the Inscriptions on tha envelopes,
so swiftly do they work.
Every few minutes, while this Is In prog
ress, other, clerks come and empty these
compartments, bearing the content, away
to other table, for a more complete dis
tribution. For Instance, one clerk gathers
up all th letter. Intended for point. In
the state of New Tork and carrle. them
to the New York separation case; another
takes those for Pennsylvania; another
those for the division known aa "south and
west." A large part of the .pace on the
ground and basement floors of the New
York postofflce Is given up to these separa
tion cases, which are crowded together a.
cloBely as possible, so that they form
perfect labyrinth and leave .carcely room
for the employes to move about. Each
of these separation cases 1. like the one
first described, except that the compart
ments ar .mailer and far more numerous.
There 1. a pigeonhole for each Important
postofflce In each division, while those less
Important are grouped under th route, by
which they are served
What Clerk. Mast Know.
What It mean, to be an efficient .epara'
tlon clerk may be Imagined when It is said
that there are 6,500 offices In th state of
Pennsylvania, and the clerk. In this sec
tion; must know th location of all these
offices and the routes by which they are
reached, gome of th division, are larger
even than this. Until recently the "South
aud West" case, the largest In the New
York postofflce. Included 12. St different of
flees. It waa found that this division wa.
too large and that the clerk, were not
equal to the mental .train of carrying thl.
tremendou. number of names and locations
In their mlnda. The caa has been sub
divided, and the largest of the present
divisions Includes about 7,500 offices.
At their work the separation clerks stand
a few feet back from th. case, and throw
In th. letter, a. fast as they can read the
addreasea, Ktr an experienced clerk the
average la from fifty to fifty-fir letter.
SftJ a 5 . K
BEST PfiOOF OP
R F WT
distributed per minute. This 1. rapid work
and la the rat maintained during rush
hours.
Three or four clerk, work at each of
th larger cases, and as they walk back
and forth, flipping each envelope to Its
proper compartment whllo .carcely looking
up from the pile In their arms, the air is
full of flying missive, and the scene 1.
on of seemingly hopeless confusion. The
men soon acquire an unerring aim, and It
Is seldom that a letter goes into the wrong
pigeonhole or overshoots It. mark, although
clerk, constantly patrol the spaces before
and behind the case, to pick up any that
may fall on th floor. As the New York
postofflce handle, dally about 3,0)0,003 piece
of mall matter, and aa each of these piece
must be properly separated by the method
described. It will be aeen that this 1 no
mall task.
Tracing the Lettera.
The three letters which we have traced
thus far part company In the process of
separation. Th. one directed to Ban Fran
cisco goe. directly to the compartment at
the primary Reparation table devoted to
that city. Tha others are taken forward
to one of the secondary cases and then
distributed to two of th railroad postofflce
routes.
A. th. clock moves on the clerks work
more and mora rapidly. At length the
heap, on the receiving tables ceuse to
grow; then they diminish, and finally the
tables are swept clear of envelopes, which
now are all In th separation case, or on
their way outward bound.
The first mail train by which our three
letter, can leave tho city depart, from
th Orand Central station at 8:14 p. m.
It Is now 7:50, and time to begin "tylng
out" the mall for this train. In tying out
th clerks place on top of each bundle a
"facing .Up," marked with the name of
the route to which It Is assigned, and
wrap It about with cord. All the bumlles
going by a certain route are then thrown
Into a big basket together and are trundled
away to th' pouching canes, where they
are put lifto pouchea and loaded upon one
of the big mall wagons waiting to convey
them to the train.
In this particular case, however, our
letters have a more rapid mean, of transit
than the lumbering mall wagon. Conse
quently It 1. possible to wait about twenty
minute, longer for any further letters that
may come In. Then, at S:0, the final tie-
out occurs.
All th letter, that are to go by thl.
particular train ar wheeled in baskets to
another part of the basement, where i.
the terminus ot the pneumatic tube which
leada underground to Station H, one block
from the Grand Central station and three
and one-half miles uptown.
The pneumatic tube system Is one of the
modern appliance, for facilitating the
movement of the malls. The main line In
New York consists of two parallel pip
passages eight Inches In diameter, through
which shells not unlike those used In an
eight-Inch gun ar shot. Th shells hold
about a half bushel of letter, each, are
tightly sealed by screwing on a metal cap
and are made to fit closely In the tubaa by
band, of aolid rubber encircling each end.
They are driven by compres el air and
re fed Into th tubes by an automatic
apparatus which regulates their departure
at Intervals of fifteen seconds.
The tube rairle. mall at th rat of thirty
mile, an hour, and In seven minutes our
letters are at Station II, having covered a
distance that would have required forty
minutes by the old system ef wagon trans
portation.
At Station II the mall received through
the tube I. pouched that la, the letters are
put In baga. each marked with the route to
which It 1. ..signed. Wagon, hurry it
around to th. railway station, and a few
minute, after I o'clock It la loaded upon th.
TJTB GOUDKBSS
TP? 1? I
JTAVJB NOW OVERREACHED THE ENORMOUS FIGURES OB
BOTTLES PER MONTH
train which 1. to bear It on th next .tag
of Its Journey. .
The first of the three letter, repose. In
the San Francisco pouch. It will speed
across the continent a. fa.t as .team can
turn the wheels, and will never leave the
mall bag until tha last stage of Its Journey,
when the Ogden & San Francisco railway
postofflce will make a further subdivision
of the mail Intended for different section,
of the latter city. ' It 1. mailed In New York
on Monday evening, and complete, it.
3,000-mile Journey In almost exactly four
days, an average rate of travel of a little
more than thirty mile, an hour for the
whole distance, not allowing for atop, and
transfers. It I. sent direct to th station
from which It 1. to be delivered, wher It
1. .tamped with th receiving postmark,
assigned to the proper carrier, route, and
goe. out In the first delivery on Saturday
morning, or. If It bear, a special delivery
tamp, by messenger on Friday evening.
Work la Postal Cards.
The second letter I. In a pouch consigned
to the New York and Chicago railway poat
offlce. A. soon a. tha train pull, out of tha
station tha railway mall clerk, begin open
ing the different pouches, taking them In
order, those for the nearest station, and
Junction point, betng assorted first. Th
work I. very much Ilk that of tha clerk,
we have previously watched In tha New
York postofflce. Everything move. Ilk
clockwork.' Pouch after pouch I. emptied
upon the table.. The letter, ar sorted
out, tied up Into bundle., and put Into other
pouchea. At every stop on or more of
these la thrown off and other, taken on,
the content, of which must be Immediately
sorted, because aome of their letter, may be
Intended for the next stopping point. It
menns lively work sometimes, and there Is
constant. Intent, hard work through all the
first part of the trip. Later on the tension
will slacken somewhat, and aome of th
clerk, may even be able to anatch a half
hour', sleep. At many station, where no
stop Is made a bag Is thrown out a. tha
train thunder, past th station, th. Iron
hook known as tha mall catcher 1. brought
Into play, and a pouch come, .winging
Into the car while the traveling postofflce
goes rushing on with no slackening of It.
fifty miles an hour.
The letter In which we are particularly
Interested goe. through the same treatment
a. the others. After the last stop before
Buffalo Is passed, and It Is certain that
there is no more mall for Its particular
route, It I. tied with two or three fellow.
In a package bearing a .Up with the nam
of a certain Chautauqua town, and placed
In a pouch tagged for a railway Una ex
tending out of Buffalo.
Arrived in that city It I. hurried across
the station to another train, on board which
It 1. again removed from the pouch and put
Into another one, which is presently thrown
out upon a station platform, carried away
by a waiting messenger to th local post
office, .tamped, given over to th car of a
young man, who placea It with many other.
In a light wagon, and drive, away to the
home of Farmer Brown, five mile, out In
the country, where It 1. delivered at 1
o'clock on Tuesday afternoon. It has
traveled a distance of 476 mile. In about
lxteen hours, which Is a rat of speed al
most equal to that of the transcontinental
letter.
These example, fairly Illustrate the oper
ation, of the postofflce, the method, by
which It. ordinary routine I. performed,
and th varying facilities for reaching dif
ferent points In its system. The poetofftce
Is a great business institution, and is con
ducted on business principle. That ia to
say, It affords the best service where there
Is th most business, the most demand. But
it aise affords an efficient service where the
demand is alight, and where th return,
from mail operation, do not begin to pay
the cost. In thl. respect It la administered
aa a public utility, and does work which It
AJVD POPHLARITy OP
7R? 7R D) A7 7R
would not do If conducted by private capi
tal. Extent ot the Business.
Some Idea of the extent of the business
transacted by the United State, postofflce
may be gained from the fact that last year
lta recelpta amounted to over 1121,000,000,
while It. expenditure, were about 13,000,000
greater. Of second-class matter alone the
postofflce handled last year nearly 250,000
tons. A. the result of some observation,
mad about flv year, ago, it wa. esti
mated that the average dlstanca traveled
by each piece of mall matter waa 828 miles.
To carry a letter over 300 mile, to any
point In tha country for t cents, and to
transact a business of over 1120,000,000 with
a net loa. of only 2V4 per cent. Implies a
highly effective organization.
The efficiency of th postofflce depend,
largely upon th rapidity with which. It.
work 1. done. It 1. natural that In thl.
respect ther ha. been a steady advanco
keeping pace with th Improvement In the
railway facilities of the country. Th most
Important phase of thl. Improvement. 1.
apparent only from a careful study ot the
schedules In th various division head
quarters, and 1. quit unnoticed by th
general public Wa marvel when it Is an
nounced that five or ten or fifteen minute,
has been cut off the transcontinental trip,
but what Is of mora real importance 1. th.
saving of fifteen or thirty mlnv.tes In the
time required by the average letter In
traversing It. average course of 300 miles.
It 1. in thl. direction that the most Im
portant recent Improvement, have been
made.
Th actual movement of mall, between
Important business centers Is not likely
to be made more rapid in th. immediate
future. Many practical railway men be
lieve that their line.. In the keen rivalry
for business and for the advertising It
brings, have overdone tha fast mall train
business. They hold that the heavy ex
pense of operating chess fast trains, the
Interference with freight traffic and the
los. through tha frequent imposition of
government fines for failure to com up to
schedule requirement, make the operation
of these contract, a positive source of loss
to the roads In times of great freight con
gestion like the present. There is a move
ment on foot among aome of the western
railway manager, to decrease the speed
of some of th fast mall trains, and, whilo
thl. Is not likely to be done, ther prob
ably will be na Increase in the immediate
future.
The chief delay. In the transmission
of mall at the present time arise through
It. lying In the mall box awaiting collec
tion, through It. lying in the postofflce
awaiting the departure of trains, through
its lying at Junction points awaiting train
connections, through Its lying at terminal
point, awaiting delivery. In other words,
while th mall 1. actually In transit,
whether by carrier, pneumatic tube, trolley,
train or free delivery wagon. It moves at
the highest practicable rate of speed. The
room for greatest improvement ilea in clos
ing up th gap. Indicated above, In provid
ing for moi frequent and rapid collections
and deliveries, more rapid movement In the
short haula and the substitution of me
chanical device, for hand labor whenever
possible In handling th mall.
Trolley a. a Factor.
One Important factor In the Improvement
of mall transportation Is the trolley. It
gives quick and .regular service between the
big cities and suburban town, not ao easily
reached by the .team roads. It saves time
In transferring malls between offices and
railway stations and between Junction
points. For Instance, between Council
Bluffs and Omaha, on opposite side, of the
Missouri river, where much through a
well a. local mall Is transported, the use
of electric lines ha. resulted In a, gain of
from fifteen to twenty minute. In getting
STORZ BREWING CO,
Own twenty-four Refriger-
ator Cars which are con
stantly distributing their
product to all parts of the
West. Wherever you go
you find
torz
Blue
Ribbon
Take Sherman Avenue Cars
letter. Into the hand, of th persons to
whom they are addressed. In many other
place, a similar saving I. effected and
there are now over 300 electric car mall
route. In operation. It seems likely that
In time the electric lines will do away very
largely with the comparatively slow wagon
service and will take a large part of the
short-haul business from tha steam roads.
They have the advantage of greater
economy, for the cost of trolley carriage
per mile 1. Just about one-half that of the
regular railway servloe.
In the perfection of mechanical devices
for tha handling of malls there Is a field
for the. Inventor to which considerable at
tention Is coming to be paid. For example,
a work that requires several clerks In the
New York postofflce Is the arranging of
letters so that all shall face In one direction
ready for the. canceling machine. A de
vice has Just been perfected which, while
Intended for us In business offices rather
than In tha postofflce, will do away with
this part of the work. This Is an auto
matic sealer, Into which unsealed letter,
are fed a. In the manner of the canceling
machine. The apparatus moisten, tha flap.,
seals them down and delivers the letter.
arranged In order ao that they may be
tied together and taken In this shape to
th office, thus saving one step In th work
performed there.
Another automatic device which the
Postofflce department Is now testing
Is a box for special delivery letter. In
which one may drop a letter by Inserting a
dime In a slot in lieu of a special delivery
stamp. Collections are made from these
boxes by special messengers at frequent
Intervals, thus saving considerable time.
Testing Improvements.
For ome tlm past the' government lias
been testing a machine intended for use in
tha offices of business concerns that send
out a large amount of mail. This machine
seals the letters as already described, and
also stamps and postmarks them so that
when delivered to the postofflce It will hit
necessary only to go through th operation
of sorting them before they are forwarded.
The machine keeps an exact record of the
number of letters passing through It, and
if adopted the plun would ba for th users
to make a regular accounting to th post
office authorities at dally or weekly Inter
vals for the auma due In postage. Such
a contrivance, of course, would be used only
by Arms sending letters in large quantities.
It Is possible that the general adoption of
the machine described above and the ex
tension of the pneumatic tube service may
make possible the delivery of mail from the
big office buildings and from sub-stations
convenient to the general puCllc direct to
the postofflce. already postmarked and can
celed and ready for the separation clerks.
There Is no branch of the publio service
mor efficient or more arduous in Its re
quirement, than the work of the postofflce.
Th carrier, make their round, bearing
heavy loads and exposed to all kinds of
weather. The employes in the railway
branch of the service pursue their work at
Irregular and broken hour, and under con
stant pressure. They have not even the
assurance that if, as has happened in many
cases, they lose their lives In the course of
duty, provision will be made for their fami
lies. The office clerks work at high pres
sure and with the necessity of having ail
their faculties alert at all times, often, es
pecially In the older offices, under condi
tions that are unsanitary and that make
the efficient performance of their duties al
most impossible.
Chamberlain's tolls, cholera
ad
Diarrhoea Remedy,
Th uniform success ef thl. preparation
In th relief and cur of bowel complaint,
ha. brought It Into almost universal use.
It never fall, and when reduced with water
and aweetenad 1. pleasant to take. It U
equally valuable for children and adult.
VI?
7P 7F? 1?
Direct to Brewery.
OCT OF THE ORDINARY.
The surplus of the Western Union Tele
graph company ha. risen, as shown by the
report Just Issued, to (13,619,000.
Out of the 13,500,000 people In Mexico less
than 2,000,000 can read, though the first
printing pres. in the world wa. set up In
Mexico.
An economio census of the town of
York, England, showed that 23.000 out of
the 70.000 inhabitants live habitually below
the starvation line.
Morgan and the Standard Oil alliances
control no less than 1205.000,000 of the $451,
Oou, u of the banking capital Invested In
the city of New York.
Exploration of the Yenisei and Obi rlvera
of Siberia, which empty into the Antarctic
ocean near Nova Zembla, has shown them
to be navigable to ocean steamers for a
distance of nearly 1,000 miles.
The army is to have an entirely new
MJ.ntLof nel1 "una and "l"e guna, which
will be of a pattern different from any
weapons hitherto employed in the service
They will be of the quick-fire kind and
will shoot twenty times as fast as the guns
now in use. They can throw twenty ex
ploelve shells In a minute.
The Brooklyn firm that recently pur
chased Shamrock I, the first of Sir Thomas
Upton a challengers for America', cup,
announce their intention to convert it Into
a, schooner for trading purposes. After
being remodeled it will run between. New
York and South American ports, carrying
sci apiron rather degrading work for a
boat that one tried to lift th Interna-
wonai cup.
The recording of a deed In Charles Mix
county, South Dakota, has brought to light
two unique Indian names. The deed wa.
executed by Orover Cleveland Surrounded
and hi. wife, Julia Wauhdi wanyaghlnwln,
member, af what Is known as the Yankton
tribe of Sioux Indians, who under a recent
act of congress were permitted to sell some
or the land which had been allotted to
them and their relatives year, ago by the
government.
Harry Warner of Aurora, 111., wa. con
victed in the federal court at St. Joseph,
Mo., of using the malls to operate a game
of fraud, lie Is known over the country
as the "egg man." His specialty is to se
cure consignment, of eggs from farmer,
and decamp with the proceeds of the salo.
lie was sentenced to four month. In Jail
and to pay the costs, wnich will amount
to KM).
The profits of the Minnesota state fair
this year were more than I71.IMJ. The
total receipt, were :W,000 more than last
year. The report of the board of managers
at the fair grounds showed that the total
receipts were U11.43C.85, and the disburse
ments IM0.fnt. i;st year the total receipts .
were $tS0,9o.06. Total paid admissions this
your nmounttd to 182.tMi, making an in
creased attendance over last year of 13.000.
In the matter of complimentary tickets
the board cut them down 9.fi0 under last
year. Still, more than 63,000 people saw
tha fair free of charge.
MILWAUKEE.
The cost of production bas
always been a seoondaty
consklivatlon. The rsrr
choicest of every component
part of the Blatz brews Is
the Invariable rule. Expert
Judges of barley and bops
are engaged In coutractlnic
months In advance of the
demands, and only the bout
of Mother Earth's crop Is
ever considered.
Alwayi Ih sumegood old Dla'.t
BLATZ MALT-VIVINB (Ne Intox) TONIC
VAL. BLATZ BREWING CO., Ullwiokei
Omaha Branch 1412 Douglas Bt. Tel. 1081
Kb