Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1874 — The Postal-Car System. [ARTICLE]

The Postal-Car System.

Wa&hingtoh, Nov. >7. Georgs S. Bangs, Superintendent of the Railway Postal Service, has completed his annual report. From this report it appears that, at the close of the fiscal year ending June 80, 1874, there were in operation fiftynine lines of railway postoffice cars, extending over 14,866 miles of railroad, on which was performed 34,925 miles of service daily and 12,747,625 miles of service annually, by 752 railway postoffice clerks. These clerks are .classified as . follows: 383 head clerks, 379 clerks, and ninety assistant clerks. By the establishment of new lines of railroad the postal facilities have been greatly increased. During the threatened refusal of the railroads to earry the mails an offer of the Baltimore & Ohio was accepted by the department. This gave daily service between Cincinnati, 0., and Chicago, Hi., 310 miles. This completes a through line between Washington ana Chlc o, and forms a connection between the roads centering at Cincinnati. Indianapolis and Chicago. Of the present condition of the railway postoffice service Mr. Bangs says: “The railway postofflce cars are now in operation'on most of the most important connecting and trunk lines of railroad, giving the most direct and

available transit to the mail* between the various raftroads upon Which service t* pet try for pttft trs nepriptation, is now used to a great extent In. the forwarding of through and direet malls; but, owing to the poor postal facilities at preeaat furnished by that road, it cannot be utilised to any great extent in the distribution of malls in transit. As this company has expressed its willingness to grant Improved accommodations the benefit to be derived would fully warrant the in the acceptance of the tame Thfi necessity of this addition to the postal-car lines can best bn judged by the following statement of toe bulk of mails passing between the East and West: New York city originates fifty-five to sixty tons of mail matter daily, as shewn by their official statement. Forty-five to fifty tons of this is forwarded on the trunk lines leading to the West find Southwest. Three of these lines—the Pennsylvania Railroad, New Yorfr <S Brie Raitoted, and New York Central Hudson River Railroad—carry daily over their whole length an average or 98,000 pounds of mail, ana as the bulk of this mail Is deposltedin the [ Offices at toe latest hour possible to make the thdas, or arrives on connecting trains, it must be distributed in transit, taxing the present accommodations to the utmost,-es-pecially as toe Erie Railroad is the only ana upon which the department have such accommodations as are required. The propriety of estabUshing a fast and exclusive mail-train between New York and Chicago has bean discussed for some time and there appears to be

a growing necessity for the same, this train to be under the control of the department so far 'as' it is necessary for the purposes designed, and to run the distance in About tweiaty-four hours. It is conceded by railroad officials that this can be done. The importance of a line like this cannot be overestimated. It would reduce the actual time> of the mail between-the East Mid West froip twelve to twenty-four hours, as it would necessarily be established upon one or more of the trunk lines having an extended system of connections. Its benefits would be in no wise confined, but extended to all parts of the country alike. It would also, if this line be established, be practicable to reduce to one Use daily, beside this through line, the service upon the three trunk lines to the West. This reduction would compensate for all the additional expense incurred by the fast mail train, especially as, by the operation of the law governing mail transportation, the more mail concentrated upon a single line of railway the less is the aggregate cost of transportation per pound or ton per mile.” With reference to the complaints of some railroads that the compensation is inadequate, Mr. Bangs thinks it advisable to recommend legislation placing the compensation to railroads on the basis of weight alone. With regard to the extra cost of the railway postal service the Superintendent thinks erroneous opinions obtain, and that the amount ($1,692,620) is more apparent than real, owing to the fact that many minor distributing offices and a large amount of clerk hire along the railroad routes and at the termini, not now rfequired., would be necessary in the absence of the present system. The superintendency would be necessary under any system, as the distribution and dispatch of mails would require the same general supervision as now to secure the best possible results. Not toe least consideration in favor of the railway postoffice is the avoidance of delays resulting from anyother Bystem than the distribution of mails in transit.