The Postoffice Service

The total number of postoffices of all classes in operation on July 1, 1913, was 58,020, a decrease as compared with the preceding year of 709.

The readjustment of Presidential postmasters' salaries on the basis of the gross receipts for the four quarters ended March 31, 1913, resulted in the assignment to the Presidential classes on July 1, 1913, of 8,406 offices, an increase of 179 over July 1, 1912.

During the fiscal year 1,528 postmasters were appointed at Presidential offices and 7,014 at offices of the fourth class.

The number of assistant postmasters at first and second-class offices was but slightly changed during the year, the increase being from 2,329 to 2,362; the number of regular clerks increased from 33,714 to 35,486, and the number of regular carriers at city delivery offices from 29,962 to 30,923.

The number of regular clerks appointed during the year was 4,689. Of these 2,823 were appointed to fill vacancies, so that the actual increase in the clerical force was 1,866. There were 2,337 regular appointments to the carrier force, of which 1,362 were to fill vacancies, leaving the actual increase 975.

For the salaries of Presidential postmasters the annual rate of expenditure on July 1, 1913, was $14,965,500, distributed as follows: First class, $1,728,100; second class, $4,682,000, and third class, $8,555,400. The increase over the annual rate for July 1, 1912, was $398,800.

The cost during the year of promoting clerks in first and second-class postoffices in accordance with the act of March 2, 1907, was $1,543,050, and for the promotion of carriers at city delivery offices, $1,163,250. The cost of promoting the supervisory em ployees was $95,900. The increase in the cost of clerk hire at first and second-class offices was $2,171,025, making the total expenditure for this purpose $37,740,436; and the increase for letter carriers was $2,021,525, making the total expenditure for this purpose $34,812,891. The average salary of clerks increased during the year from $1,041.99 to $1,052.97, and carriers from $1,080.22 to $1,087.57.

City delivery service was extended to 62 additional offices, but as eight city delivery offices were consolidated during the year with other postoffices at which the service was already in operation, the net increase in the number of city delivery offices was The total number of offices at which city delivery service was in operation on June 30, 1913, was 1,675.

54.

Parcel Post Service

The number of parcel post packages handled during the first six months of the operation of this facility was at least 300,000,000. Based on an actual count made at the fifty largest postoffices and on the as

sumption that more than one-half of the entire business is transacted at these offices (a ratio borne out by postal receipts), the number of parcels handled in January, 1913, the first month the service was in operation, was 38,730,826. On the same basis the number handled in April was estimated at 59,546,678, or an increase over January of 53.74 per cent. The estimate of 300,000,000 parcels for the six months is based on these figures with due allowance for the usual falling off in business during the summer months.

That this vast quantity of mail has been handled to the satisfaction of the public is evidenced by many expressions of commendation and the fact that few complaints of unsatisfactory service have been received.

When the parcel post service was started no special plan was devised nor adequate additional equipment provided to insure its administration. Postmasters were authorized to employ such methods and means as might appear to be necessary for the proper transaction of the business, and they were thus left largely to their own re sources to meet the demands of the service in their communities, with the understanding that the Department would authorize such expenditures as might be required.' As would naturally be expected, many different kinds of equipment and widely dissimilar methods were employed throughout the country. This fact, together with the enormous volume of new business the service was called upon to handle, putting into effect the new eight-hour law, and the restricted condition of the service generally resulting from the policy of retrenchment followed by the preceding administration, necessitated the expenditure of much larger sums during the quarter ended March 31 than Congress had provided. It therefore became necessary in April for the Department to take steps toward securing additional appropriations for both temporary and auxiliary clerk hire and carrier service. A statement of the situation was laid before Congress in the early part of May and attention directed to the disastrous effect on the service that would result from the failure of the Department to secure the needed relief. In May, 1913, Congress passed a joint resolution making immediately available the sum of $600,000 for these purposes. By the judicious expenditure of this money during the re mainder of the fiscal year the Department was able to remove all causes for complaint and to avert the serious condition that would have resulted from further curtailments of the service made necessary by lack of funds.

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(Statistics compiled from the reports of the same offices (50 largest offices), based on a record of the number of parcels and the cost of handling between October 1 and 15, inclusive, show that since April the aver

age cost per parcel of delivery by automobile has been reduced from 5.82 to 5 cents; by horse-drawn vehicle from 3.35 to 3.3 cents, and the average cost per parcel of delivery by all vehicles from 4.14 to 3.9 cents. This result is especially gratifying since the changes in postage rates and weight limit, which became effective on August 15, have increased the average weight of the parcels from 1.02 to 1.07 pounds.)

Personal investigations by officials of the Department disclosed the fact that these varying costs of delivery were due largely to a lack of uniformity in equipment and methods employed, and to faulty organizations of personnel. The condition existing in the field service in general showed clearly the imperative need for standardized equipment, uniform methods, and more efficient organizations of personnel. In order to remedy this condition, it has been decided to conduct a series of special investigations to establish standard methods, equipment, and organization, for adoption in all offices, with such modifications as local conditions make necessary. For this purpose the country has been divided into three general sections-East, Middle West, and West. To each of these sections Departmental officials of special experience and qualifications and postoffice inspectors will be dispatched to cooperate with the postmasters in making a special study of mail handling in all of its stages to determine the most efficient as well as the most economical methods for transacting the postal business. Labor-saving devices and other mechanical apparatus for postal purposes will be tested and the discoveries and improved methods resulting from these investigations will be brought immediately to the attention of all postmasters by means of bulletins issued at frequent intervals. In this way the entire service will receive from time to time the benefit of the study and experiments carried on at designated offices.

The postoffice at Baltimore, Md., has been selected as the first of these offices because its location affords opportunity for more frequent conferences with Departmental officers and also because the commercial interests of Baltimore make that office fairly representative of the highest type of postoffice. The progress so far made in Baltimore gives promise of excellent results throughout the service from the proposed plan of operation.

Government-Owned Motor Vehicles

The rapid growth of the parcel post service since January 1 last has made it necessary for the Department to give more serious consideration than ever before to the collection and delivery features of the service. Carriers on foot are able to deliver only about 75 per cent of the parcel post mail. It is therefore necessary to employ vehicles for this purpose and both horsedrawn and motor conveyances are now being operated under rental contracts.

The horse-drawn vehicle is the least expensive, but the territory it can cover is very limited. The motor vehicle, on the other hand, is capable of covering greater distances and for many other reasons is more desirable, but the extra cost on a rental basis adds disproportionately to the expense of delivery.

Because of the increasing average weight of parcels and the consequent increasing need for vehicles, the Department has undertaken to ascertain the comparative cost