POSTOFFICE DEPARTMENT 



POTASH 



made it possible to save several hours or more 

 in the delivery of each letter, for when a train 

 arrives at nation all letters for points 



beyond are already sorted and placed in bags 

 ready for the next outward-bound train. These 

 traveling post offices have also been introduced 

 on steamships, particularly those to and from 

 foreign ports. The transportation of the mails 

 costs the government over $50,000,000 a v 

 and the pay of the 18,000 clerks on the trains 

 amounts to $20,000,000 more. Each clerk is 

 familiar with the location of 5,000 to 20,000 

 post offices, and can tell instantly on what rail- 

 road each post office is situated, what junction 

 points are passed to reach that office, and by 

 what one of several possible routes a letter 

 will most quickly reach its destination. The 

 accuracy with which these clerks do their work 

 is remarkable, the average error in classifying 

 mail being only 1 in 12,000 pieces handled. 

 One clerk established a record by sorting 17,000 

 cards at the rate of sixty a minute without 

 making a mistake. 



Classes oj Post Offices. The post offices of 

 the United States are divided into four classes, 

 according to their annual receipts. In the first 

 class are those whose receipts exceed $40,000 

 a year; the postmasters in this class receive 

 salaries of $3,000 to $6,000. The second class 

 includes post offices whose annual business 

 amounts to from $8,000 to $40,000; these post- 

 masters receive salaries of $2,000 to $2,900. 

 Third-class offices have receipts from $1,900 to 

 $8,000, and their postmasters receive from 

 $1,000 to $1,900. Postmasters of these three 

 classes are appointed by the President and are 

 confirmed by the Senate. Their terms of office 

 are nominally four years, but they are liable 

 to removal for political reasons before 'the end 

 of such term, for postmasterships have always 

 been used to pay political debts. 



There is a fourth class of post offices, with 

 receipts below $1,900 a year.' All fourth-class 

 postmasters, except in Alaska and the island 

 possessions, are now classified in the civil serv- 

 ice, and are not subject to removal by the Post- 

 office Department. They receive no salaries, 

 but are given a fixed percentage of the face 

 value of postage stamps cancelled on letters 

 mailed at their offices. When the commissions 

 of a fourth-class postmaster amount to $1,000, 

 the office is raised to the third class. Three- 

 fourths of all the post offices in the United 

 States are in the fourth class; these postmasters 

 are appointed by the Postmaster-General, and 

 not by the President. 



In Canada. The Canadian postoffice is or- 

 ganized like that of the United States. The 

 department handles about 700,000,000 pieces of 

 mail yearly, has 15,000 post offices, and receives 

 a net revenue of $13,000,000 to $15,000,000. 



As in the United States, there is a free de- 

 livery system in the larger cities and towns, and 

 in the country there is a rural mail delivery. 



This rural service was inaugurated in 1908, 

 and was greatly extended in 1912 and 1913. 

 There are now about 2,000 rural mail routes. 

 Canada also has a registry system, but the 

 ordinary fee is only five cents, as compared 

 with ten cents in the United States. If the 

 sender, however, desires a receipt from the ad- 

 dressee an extra fee of five cents, or a total of 

 ten cents, is charged. The payment of this 

 fee is indicated by stamps on the envelope or 

 wrapper. There is also a special, or < .r/^rr.sx. 

 delivery, in about fifty of the largest cities of 

 the Dominion. A special-delivery stamp or 

 regular postage stamps to the value of ten 

 cents must be affixed to a letter or package 

 for this service. Special-delivery mail matter 

 may also be registered. 



On money orders issued in the Dominion for 

 payment in Canada, any of the British pos- 

 sessions in North or South America, or in Cuba 

 or the United States and its possessions, the 

 fees range from five to twenty-five cents, the 

 minimum fee being for amounts up to $10 and 

 the maximum for amounts from $60 to $100. 

 On money orders to all other countries the fee 

 varies from five cents to $1, according to the 

 amount of the order. From seven to eight 

 million money orders, valued at over $100,000.- 

 000, are issued in Canada each year; the value 

 of orders issued in other countries and payable 

 in Canada is about $10,000,000 a year. W.F.Z. 



Consult Joyce's History of the Post Office ; 

 Hemmeon's History of the British Post Office. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes : 

 Cabinet Postage and Postage 



Dead-Letter Stamps 



Office Savings Banks, subhead 



Parcel Post Postal Savings Bank 



POT 'ASH, the commercial name of a com- 

 pound of potassium and carbon dioxide. When 

 early settlers cleared their land they leached 

 the ashes obtained by burning the timber and 

 boiled down the lye in large, open kettles, ob- 

 taining a white solid which they named potash 

 because it was made from ashes in pots. In 

 some rural communities wood ashes are still 

 leached, and the lye obtained is used in the 





