Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 132, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 December 1909 — Magnitude of Mail Handled Each Year [ARTICLE]

Magnitude of Mail Handled Each Year

(By Roy Bussell.) A mere statement of the weight of mail matter gives little idea of its volume. This can only be conceived by comparing it with something that is familiar to the mind. For instance if you tell a layman that 5,632.612,998 letters and 1,457,151,721 postal cards originated in the United States during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1908, it will convey to his mind simply the impression of a large number, but if you point out to him that if these letters and postal cards were placed end to end in a continuous line they would girdle the globe 27 times and then have a few left over, he would more readily comprehend the magnitude of the postal service. If the letters were placed one upon another, figuring 20 to an inch, they would form a pile 4,370 miles in height. If one had to dig a hole to bury them, it would reach half way through the earth. Fabricate a carpet of letters and it would carpet an area of,nearly 35 square miles. The comparisons refer only to firstclass mail. The number of pieces in all other classes make a grand total of 13,173.340,329. The weight of this great mass of mail matter amounted to 1,290,357,552 pounds, or 645,178 tons, a daily average of 1,763 tons. To transport this volume of mail it required 941,971,040 pounds of equipment, a total weight of 2,232,328,592 pounds, or 1,116,164 tons, a daily average of 3,049 tons, sufficient to fill 305 cars containing 10 tons each, making 9 trains of 35. cars each day.