688 



POSTAL FACILITIES, KECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN. 



Extension of the Registration Privilege. Previ- 

 ous to Oct. 1, 1878, the registration system had 

 been confined to letters and matter chargeable 

 with first-class rates of postage. On that date 

 it was extended to all classes of matter entitled 

 to admission in the mails, at the uniform regis- 

 tration fee of ten cents a package. The fees 

 of registration have always been greatly in ex- 

 cess of the cost of conducting the labor, and 

 thus afforded an inducement for adding to the 

 volume of business while adding nothing to 

 the weight of the mails, and consequently 

 nothing to the cost of transportation. The bur- 

 den consists solely in giving and taking receipts 

 and making the necessary records. It has 

 proved a safe and regular means of transmit- 

 ting small articles of value to remote points 

 not reached by ordinary means of conveyance, 

 and not least among its benefits to the public 

 was the reduction to which it led in the rates 

 of the express companies. In its present state 

 it scarcely retains a vestige of the plan upon 

 which it was originally founded. There has 

 been developed the through-pouch system, in- 

 troduced in 1875 ; the establishment of the 

 brass-lock system on star routes; a combina- 

 tion of the sending and return letter bill ; the 

 adoption of the combined tag and envelope for 

 inconveniently shaped parcels, containing a 

 pocket for bill and receipt ; and the adoption 

 of a card form of registered bill and return re- 

 ceipt, thus greatly simplifying the labor. 



Registered-Package Tag-Envelopes. The ordi- 

 nary registered-package envelope is useful for 

 everything but irregularly shaped packages. 

 Various expedients were considered with a 

 view to supply a remedy, and resulted in the 

 adoption in 1879 of a registered-package.-tag 

 envelope. It is a small envelope made of 

 tough manilla, and only large enough to admit 

 the registry bill and the return registry receipt. 

 It is open at the top, and midway across is 

 furnished with eyelets, through which it is 

 fastened with twine to the package, thus be- 

 coming a tag. One side contains the address 

 and registered number, the other the instruc- 

 tions and space for the record of transit. By 

 its use the rewrapping of packages is entirely 

 done away with, as well as the clumsy read- 

 justment of the older style envelopes, which 

 was required for their preservation. 



The Combination Lock. A new lock for through 

 pouches was put into use on Jan. 1, 1882. It 

 was fitted with a combination of numbers, the 

 order of which was changed by turning the 

 key. The pouch is billed at the dispatching 

 office under a given number corresponding 

 with the lock, and receipted for under this 

 number, from point to point, until it reaches 

 its destination. Any improper interference will 

 be readily detected by a disagreement between 

 the number on the lock and that on the bill, 

 and the responsibility readily located. 



Post-Office Equipments. Post-office equipments 

 gauged to given populations and requirements, 

 have come into existence. Two large houses 



have been established in the United States, and 

 for prices ranging from $100 upward will 

 send a complete outfit for a post-office, on the 

 most approved principles, to any part of the 

 country. This outfit consists of an entire room 

 arranged in complete form and order with 

 tables, call-boxes, lock-boxes, alphabetical cases 

 for general-delivery letters, numbers, name 

 clips, tags, stamps, inks, pads, scales, direction- 

 plates, etc., and can be erected in the end or 

 corner of a room or store, as occasion re- 

 quires. They have become extremely popular, 

 because of their attractiveness, and the ease 

 with which they can be erected. 



Post-Offlce Letter-Boxes. One of the best sys- 

 tems of post-office boxes is that designed by 

 Henry G. Pearson, postmaster of New York 

 city. Though originally intended for the rail- 

 way postal-car service, the boxes designed by 

 him were quickly adopted, and have been used 

 extensively, not only in postal-cars, but in post- 

 offices throughout the United States. The 

 peculiar feature of the invention is a wire 

 bottom to the box. No dust can accumulate ; 

 the boxes are always neat and clean, which 

 was never the case before ; and a clerk looking 

 for mail in an upper tier, can readily see 

 through the wires whether the boxes have 

 been properly cleared, without being obliged 

 to stand on tiptoe, or climb up on the table. 

 Prior to the introduction of metallic boxes in 

 1868, post-offices had used a wooden box or 

 drawer with a lock. In that year an improve- 

 ment was introduced by making a metal frame, 

 to which was hinged a metal door. It was 

 the invention of Linus Yale, Jr., and was first 

 tested by Gen. Burt in the Boston post-office. 

 The introduction was purely a private enter- 

 prise, but so great security was obtained that 

 it came largely into use, and was finally adopt- 

 ed by the post-office department to the exclu- 

 sion of all other styles. The first departure 

 from the old style pigeon-hole set in a window- 

 glass frame was also in the Boston post-office, 

 where the pigeon-hole receptacle was fitted 

 with a glass panel across the front, occupying 

 about half the space. It was strengthened by 

 two wire rods, fixed horizontally and parallel 

 to each other, but an open space was left, 

 through which a few robberies having been 

 perpetrated, they were superseded by a me- 

 tallic lattice work cast into the frame, cover- 

 ing the whole glass. This, in turn, was at a 

 recent date improved by removing the metal 

 work from the lower front altogether, and 

 substituting heavy plate-glass. 



The Silicate Tablet. When bulky mail, either 

 of papers, packages, or books, too large to be 

 put into the ordinary box, is received, a little 

 device has been provided whereby attention is 

 called to the fact, and the article held in re- 

 serve in another receptacle, is procured. The 

 idea was first put into practical use by a village 

 postmaster in a small office in Indiana. His 

 plan was to use old envelopes, on which he 

 wrote the name of the person addressed, and 



