Lights and Shadows of New York Life

J >> James D. McCabe >> Lights and Shadows of New York Life

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The Box Delivery contains nearly seven thousand boxes, on each of which
the enormous rent of $16 per annum is charged. Considering that the box
system is quite as advantageous to the Government as to the box holder,
this rent is simply extortionate.

The daily business of the New York Post-office is enormous, and is
rapidly increasing. The letters received by mail steamers from foreign
countries, partly for delivery in the city, and partly to be forwarded to
other places, average about fifteen thousand daily. The number
dispatched from this office by steamer to foreign countries is about
seventeen thousand daily. The number of letters sent from New York to
other offices in the United States is about one hundred and fifty-five
thousand daily. The number received from domestic offices for delivery
in the city is about one hundred and twenty-six thousand daily; in
addition to about seventy-two thousand per day, which are to be forwarded
to other offices. About one hundred thousand letters, and about twenty
thousand printed circulars, are mailed every day in the city, for city
delivery. The carriers deliver daily, to persons who do not hire boxes
at the general office, about fifty-three thousand letters; and collect
from the street boxes about one hundred and one thousand letters every
twenty-four hours. About five hundred registered letters, of which about
four hundred are for delivery in the city, are received, and about two
hundred and fifty are dispatched, daily. About one thousand dollars are
paid out daily on money orders, and a much larger amount is received for
orders granted to applicants. The sales of postage stamps amount to
about forty-four thousand dollars per week. About two hundred unstamped
letters are deposited in the office daily, and about one hundred letters
on which the name of the town or State is written improperly, or on which
the address is illegible. These are all sent to the Dead Letter Office,
in Washington.

The number of persons employed as clerks, porters, etc., in the general
office and the various stations, is 715.

The city is too large to admit of the transaction of all its business by
the general office. To meet the necessities of the town, and to insure
the rapid dispatch of the postal business, about 700 "lamp-post boxes,"
or iron boxes attached to the posts of the street lamps, are scattered
through the city. Letters for the mails and for delivery in the city are
deposited in these boxes, from which they are collected by the
letter-carriers nine times each day, except Sunday, between the hours of
seven A.M. and seven P.M. The Sunday collection is made once, at seven
in the evening.

There are fourteen branch or Sub-Post-offices, designated as "Stations,"
located in convenient parts of the city, north of the general office.
They are named from the letters of the alphabet, and are known as
"Stations A, B, C, D, E, F, G, J, K, L, M, N, and O." They are designed
to serve as distributing centres for certain sections of the city. They
receive from the general office all letters and papers for delivery in
their sections, and to them the carriers bring all the matter collected
from the lamp-boxes. There is no delivery from them except through the
carriers. They dispatch to the general office, at stated times
throughout the day, all matter deposited in their boxes or collected from
the lamp-boxes by the carriers.

A recent writer thus relates some of the gossip connected with the
office:

"People who come to the Post-office and make complaints of being robbed,
when they discover that they were mistaken never call and make
reparation, or relieve the department of the charge made against its
employes. A merchant, much excited, complained that a letter sent to him
'by a most responsible house,' containing $500, had not been received.
This charge was fortified by showing a letter from the postmaster who
mailed the missing letter, certifying that it was forwarded, and
contained the $500. Detectives were at once set to work to unravel the
iniquity, but all efforts proved unavailing. Finally the Post-office
authorities, after weeks of hard work, called on the complaining merchant
and asked if he had heard anything about the missing money. 'Oh,'
replied the gentleman, with great vivacity, 'that's all right; by mistake
that letter was thrown into the safe, and remained unopened nearly four
weeks. Funny, wasn't it?' Not even an apology was made for charging the
Post-office with purloining the money, or for giving its officers so much
unnecessary trouble.

"Charges of dishonesty against the Post-office are made where nobody but
'extraordinary circumstances' are to blame. A letter containing two
$1000 bills in it was delivered by the carrier, who, according to custom
(ignorant of its contents, of course), at the house of its owner, shoved
it into the hallway, under the door. The letter was missing. Complaint
was made at the Post-office; evidence was produced that the money had
been forwarded. The detectives were set to work to trace out the
robbery. The poor carrier, and the clerks in the office who handled the
letter were placed under surveillance. The clerks where the letter was
mailed were 'shadowed.' Every dollar they expended after the probable
robbery was secretly inquired into, to see if any of them had been at any
given time, after the letter was lost, unusually 'flush;' but all signs
failed. After a long time the floor covering of the hall was taken up,
and there was the letter, 'safe and sound;' the unfortunate carrier had
thrust it under, instead of over, the oilcloth.

"The misdirection of letters is the cause of serious charges against the
Post-office. A letter containing $700 was mailed from Albany to New
York. It was sent from a well-known person, and the package which was
supposed to contain the letter, made up in Albany, was not opened until
it reached New York. Both ends of the line were under suspicion. It was
stated that the letter was addressed to Mr. --- ---, Broadway, New York.
After a long search it was found that the letter had never left Albany at
all, being directed by mistake, Mr. --- ---, Broadway, Albany, and the
faithful clerks had thrown it into their own city delivery box instead of
forwarding it to New York. The confusion in the mind of the writer grew
out of the fact that there is a Broadway in both cities, and from force
of habit he wrote the wrong address.

"Miserable chirography is one of the most prolific causes of Post-office
inefficiency. It is safe to say that unmistakably written directions
would remove nine-tenths of the complaints. What is a non-plussed clerk
to do with letters addressed to 'Mahara Seney,' 'Old Cort,' or 'Cow
House,' when Morrisonia, Olcott, and Cohoes were really intended?

"One day, possibly four years ago, Mr. Kelly was sitting in his private
office opening his _personal_ letters, and enjoying the delusion that
everything was working satisfactorily, when, to his surprise, he found
one letter from Washington calling his especial attention to the
'inclosed editorial,' cut from the _Tribune_, in which the carelessness
of his clerks, and the generally unsatisfactory manner with which he
carried on his business, were dilated upon, ending with the startling
announcement that, under the present management of the department, it
took _four days_ to get a letter from New York to Chappaqua, distance
about thirty miles, and made literally no distance by a fast railway!
Consternation ensued, and Mr. Kelly, to commence examination into these
serious charges, sent a special agent to Chappaqua for the envelope of
said delayed letter. At the place named the official fortunately not
only found what he went after (the envelope), but also Mr. Greeley and
'Miles O'Reilly.' After due explanations, the envelope was handed to
Miles O'Reilly, with the query of what he thought was the meaning of the
superscription.

"Why,' said that genial wit, who had once been a deputy postmaster, 'the
devil himself couldn't make it out.'

"The envelope was then brought to the attention of the berated clerks,
who looked at it with glazed eyes, the hieroglyphics suggesting somewhat
the same intellectual speculation that would result from studying the
footprints of a gigantic spider that had, after wading knee-deep in ink,
retreated hastily across the paper.

"At the Post-office, when they distribute letters, those on which the
direction is not instantly made out, to save time, are thrown in a pile
for especial examination; if a second and more careful study fails, they
are consigned to an especial clerk, who is denominated the chief of the
bureau of 'hards.' To this important functionary the envelope of
Chappaqua was at last referred. He examined it a moment, and his eye
flashed with the expression of recognizing an old acquaintance. 'This
thing,' said he, holding up the envelope with the tip ends of his
fingers, 'came to me some days ago along with the other "hards." I
studied the superscription at my leisure a whole day, but couldn't make
it out. I then showed it to the best experts in handwriting attached to
the office, and called on outsiders to test their skill; but what the
writing meant, _if it was writing_, was a conundrum that we all gave up.
Finally, in desperation, it was suggested, as a last resort, to send it
to Chappaqua, which happened to be its place of destination.' Such is
the _literal_ history of the reason of an earnestly written denunciation
of the inefficiency of the city post."

II. THE NEW POST-OFFICE.

In 1869, the General Government decided to depart from the niggardly
policy it had hitherto pursued towards the City of New York, and to take
steps toward the erection of a Post-office adequate to the needs of the
great and growing community which demanded this act of justice at its
hands. It was decided to erect an edifice which should be an ornament to
the city, and capable of accommodating the City Postal service for
generations to come. The Municipal Authorities, in order to secure the
erection of the building in the most convenient part of the city, offered
to sell to the General Government the lower end of the City Hall Park.
The offer was accepted, and the land was purchased by the Government.
The corner stone was laid in June, 1869. At the present writing
(January, 1872,) the first story has been finished. It will probably
require several years to complete the edifice. The price paid for the
land was $500,000, a merely nominal sum. It is expected that the
building will cost about $4,000,000.

"The exterior walls are to be of Dix Island granite, and the dimensions
of the four fronts are severally as follows: the northerly side (toward
the City Hall) is about 300 feet; the Broadway and Park Row fronts,
respectively, 270 feet; and the southerly part, 130 feet.

[Picture: THE NEW POST-OFFICE.]

"The difficulty of laying the foundations may be judged from the
following facts: The depth of excavation over the entire plot was over
thirty feet, and the material to be removed was entirely loose sand,
while the traffic in Broadway and Park Row, including railroad cars and
omnibuses, was enormous, involving the danger of a caving-in of both
streets! The trenches in which the retaining walls and pier foundations
were to be laid had to be completely incased in sheet-piling, shored
across with timbers, under the protection of which the excavation was
carried on and the masonry laid. The excavation was done mostly at
night, the ground being illuminated by magnesium light. The outer walls,
and those of the court, and the foundations of the interior columns are
based on huge granite blocks, the granite being laid on massive beds of
concrete. One hundred and fifty-nine iron columns in the basement, and
117 in the first story, support the walls and floors. The piers of the
cellar are of granite, or arcaded brick and iron; the stairs are of stone
and iron; the chimneys, of stone; the roof and its ornaments, of iron,
covered with slate and copper. Four large low-pressure boilers supply
the steam for heating the entire building. The roofs of the corner
pavilions rise 107 feet above the sidewalk. The cellar is a little more
than seven feet in the clear; the basement, sixteen feet; the first
corridor, fourteen feet; and the half-story above it--both completing the
first story--also fourteen feet. The entire circuit of the building is
over one-fifth of a mile.

"The style of architecture is the classical Italian Renaissance, with
some modifications to harmonize with the treatment of the roofs, which
are to be French, as best suited to such architecture on a large scale.
The Mansard roof will be covered with an ironclad cornice and metallic
cresting.

"The irregular angles imposed by the shape of the lot are marked by
semi-hexagonal pavilions. The main building line is withdrawn from the
lower, or southerly front, to extend the facade on that side. The roof,
square-domed, rests on three arms of a Greek cross, out of the centre of
which rises a heavily buttressed cupola, carrying projecting pediments,
with detached columns on its four faces. The foot of the flagstaff,
which is to surmount the cupola, will be 160 feet above the sidewalk.

"The fronts on Broadway and Park Row, respectively, are broken by square
central pavilions, with pyramidal roofs, of which the first and second
stories are faced with detached colonnades of coupled columns. Below are
the main lateral entrances to the Post-office corridor. The centre of
the largest and northerly front is relieved by a broad pavilion with a
two-story colonnade, roofed with a dome, the balustrade of which is 150
feet above the sidewalk. The dome is lighted by a range of round
windows, and surmounted by an attic, ornamented by a sculptured pediment
and a crown with the national arms. The form of the building is,
substantially, a trapezoid, with an open triangular court in the centre,
below the main story; it includes a sub-basement, basement, three stories
in the walls, and a roof story.

"A drive-way, or street, forty feet in width, reserved from the northerly
side of the ground purchased by the Government, serves as an approach to
that front, and secures the perfect isolation of the building, with
perpetual access of light and air on that side, as well as on the other
sides, whatever changes may hereafter be made in the adjoining ground.

"The principal entrances are at the south west front under a portico,
which gives access to the Post-office corridor, and by a broad double
staircase to the upper stories; and at the northerly corner pavilions on
Broadway and Park Row, where two great elliptical stairways lead again to
the higher stories, but do not communicate with the ground-floor, being
reserved for the United States Courts, and their dependencies. Besides
these, there are lateral entrances to the Post-office corridor on
Broadway and Park Row, and to the Post-office proper on those two sides,
and also on the northerly front.

"The sub-basement, or cellar, and the basement, cover the whole area of
the lot, and are extended under the sidewalks, the central court and the
drive-way on the northerly side. The cellar will be used for the
boilers, engines and heating apparatus, and for the storage of coal and
other bulky material. The basements and the first story are reserved for
the use of the Post-office.

"The first story occupies the entire space of the building, including the
central court, which is here roofed with glass; the walls of which, with
all the interior partitions of the stories above, are, in this story and
the basement, carried on columns, leaving the whole area of the
Post-office roof open to light and free use and communication.

"The corridor for the use of the public occupies the exterior belt of the
ground-floor on the southerly front, and on the Broadway and Park Row
fronts far enough to include the central pavilions, and it is separated
from the Post-office room by a Box and Delivery screen. This corridor is
half the height of the first story, and the space above it is occupied by
a half-story, which, being entirely open on the inside, forms a gallery
encompassing the Post-office room on three sides. The high windows of
the first story, running through both the corridor and the half-story,
give an uninterrupted communication of light and air to the interior,
while the supply of light is increased by the whole breadth of the glass
roof over the court. The floor under this floor is also of glass, giving
light to the sub-basement, which is also lighted by means of illuminating
tile in the sidewalks.

"In the upper stories, corridors fourteen feet wide make the circuit of
the whole building; and from those corridors, rooms open on either hand
toward the streets and the inner court. The rooms over the principal
entrance, and which look down Broadway, are reserved for the Postmaster;
and those for the Assistant Postmaster and Cashier are close at hand.

"The whole of the northerly front is given to the United States Courts.
There are three court-rooms, of which the two largest are continued up
through two stories in height. Adjoining these, are special rooms for
the Judges, near which private stairways furnish the only access to the
jury-rooms in the third story. The remainder of the second story is
occupied by rooms for Marshals, United States Attorney, Clerks of the
Courts, record-rooms, etc., etc. Other United States officers are to be
accommodated with rooms in the upper story."

III. THE LETTER CARRIERS.

For the purpose of distributing the letters received at the New York
Post-office, the Government has organized a force of Letter Carriers, or,
as they are sometimes called, "Postmen." All letters that are addressed
to the places of business or the residences of citizens, unless such
persons are renters of boxes in the General Post-office, are turned over
to the Carriers for delivery.

The force is organized under the direction of a Superintendent, who is
appointed by and responsible to the Postmaster of the city. Applicants
for positions in the force of Letter Carriers must, as a prime necessity,
be able to command a sufficient degree of political influence to secure
their appointments. Possessing this, they make their applications in
duplicate, on blank forms supplied by the Department. The applicant must
state his age, general condition, former occupation, experience in
business, his reason for leaving his last place, and whether he has
served in the army or navy. One of these applications is laid before the
Postmaster of the city, and the other is sent to the Post-office
Department at Washington. If the applicant is successful, he is
subjected to a physical examination by the surgeon of the Department, in
order to make sure of his bodily soundness. Good eye-sight is
imperatively required of every applicant. If "passed" by the surgeon,
the applicant must then furnish two bonds in five hundred dollars each,
for the faithful performance of his duties. This done, he is enrolled as
a member of the corps of Letter Carriers, and is assigned by the
Superintendent of the force to a station.

Together with his certificate of appointment, the Superintendent hands
him an order on a certain firm of tailors for an "outfit," or uniform,
which consists of a coat, pants, vest, and cap of gray cloth, trimmed
with black braid, and with gilt buttons. The cost of this uniform is in
winter twenty-four dollars, and in summer twenty dollars. It is paid for
by the Post-office Department, and the amount deducted from the first two
months' pay of the carrier.

Upon being assigned to a station, the Carrier is required to commit to
memory the rules laid down for his guidance. His route is then marked
out for him, and he is frequently accompanied over it several times by an
older member of the force to familiarize him with it. The Superintendent
of the Station is his immediate superior. From him the Carrier receives
his orders, and to him submits his reports.

There is a "time-book" kept in each station, in which the employes are
required to enter the time of their arrival at the station in the
morning. The Carriers are also required to enter the time of their
departure on their routes, and the time of their return to the station.
Once a month this book is submitted to the inspection of the
Superintendent of the force, and any delays or other negligences that are
noted are reprimanded by him.

The Station-clerk, whose duty it is to assort the mail, is required to be
at his post at ten minutes after six o'clock in the morning. He places
each Carrier's mail in a separate box, leaving to him the arrangement of
it. The Carriers must be at the station at half-past six. They at once
proceed to arrange their mail in such a manner as will facilitate its
prompt delivery, and at half-past seven A.M., they start out on their
routes. If any of the postage on the letters to be delivered is unpaid,
it is charged by the clerk to the Carrier, who is held responsible for
its collection. Once a week the Superintendent of the Station goes over
the accounts of the Carriers, and requires them to pay over to him all
the sums charged against them.

There are nine deliveries from the stations every day. The first at
half-past seven A.M., and the last at five P.M. This entails an immense
amount of labor upon the Carriers. They are obliged to perform their
duties regardless of the weather, and are subjected to an exposure which
is very trying to them. They are very efficient, and perform their task
faithfully and promptly.

The pay of a carrier is small. By law he is entitled to $800 per annum
for the first six months. After this he is to receive $900 per annum,
and at the expiration of one year, he may, upon the recommendation of the
Superintendent of the Station, receive an additional $100 per annum; but
$1000 is the limit. It is said, however, that it is very rare for a
carrier to receive an increase of salary before the expiration of one
year. Why he is subjected to this loss, in defiance of the law, the
writer has been unable to ascertain.

Although the pay is so small, the Carrier is not allowed to enjoy it in
peace. The party in power, or rather its managers, tax him unmercifully.
From one to two per cent. of his salary is deducted for party expenses,
and he is required to contribute at least five dollars to the expenses of
every City and State election. The Postmaster of the city does not
trouble himself about this robbery of his employes, but allows it to go
on with his indirect approval, at least. General Dix has the honor of
being the only Postmaster who ever had the moral courage to protect his
subordinates from this extortion.

The Carriers have organized a benevolent association among themselves.
Upon the death of a member, each surviving member of the association
makes a contribution of two dollars to the relief fund. From this fund
the funeral expenses are paid, and the surplus is handed over to the
widow and children of the dead man.

The tenure by which the Carriers hold their positions is very uncertain.
A new Postmaster may remove any or all of them, to make way for his
political friends, and any refusal on their part to submit to the orders
or extortions of their party-managers is sure to result in a dismissal.

XXXIV. A. T. STEWART.

ALEXANDER T. STEWART was born in Belfast, in Ireland, in 1802. He is of
Scotch-Irish parentage. At the age of three years he lost his father,
and was adopted by his grandfather, who gave him a good common school and
collegiate education, intending him for the ministry. His grandfather
died during his collegiate course, and this threw him upon his own
resources. He at once abandoned all hope of a professional career, and
set sail for America. He reached New York in 1818, and began his career
here as assistant teacher in a commercial school. His first salary was
$300. In a year or two he went into business for himself, carrying on a
modest little store, and manifesting no especial talent for business.

At the age of twenty-one, he went back to Ireland to take possession of a
legacy of nearly one thousand pounds, left him by his grandfather. He
invested the greater part of this sum in "insertions" and "scollop
trimmings," and returned to New York. He rented a little store at 283
Broadway, and there displayed his stock, which he sold readily at a fair
profit. His store was next door to the then popular Bonafanti, who kept
the largest and best patronized variety store of the day. Stewart's
little room was twenty-two feet wide by twenty feet deep.

Without mercantile experience, and possessing no advantage but his
determination to succeed, Mr. Stewart started boldly on what proved the
road to fortune. He gave from fourteen to eighteen hours per day to his
business. He could not afford to employ any help, and he did all his own
work. He was almost a total stranger to the business community of New
York, and he had no credit. He kept a small stock of goods on hand,
which he bought for cash and sold in the same way for a small profit.
His purchases were made chiefly at auctions, and consisted of "sample
lots"--that is, miscellaneous collections of small articles thrown
together in heaps and sold for what they would bring. He spent several
hours after business each day in assorting and dressing these goods.
They were sold at a low price, but his profit was fair, as he had paid
but a trifle for them. Little by little his trade increased, and he was
soon obliged to employ an assistant. About this time he inaugurated the
system of "selling off below cost." He had a note to pay, and no money
to meet it. His store was full of goods, but he was short of ready
money. No man could then afford to let his note go to protest. Such a
step in those days meant financial ruin to a young man. Stewart proved
himself the man for the crisis. He marked every article in his store
down far below the wholesale price, and scattered over the city a cloud
of handbills announcing that he would dispose of his entire stock of
goods below cost within a given time. His announcement drew crowds of
purchasers to his store, and before the period he had fixed for the
duration of the sale, Mr. Stewart found his shelves empty and his
treasury full. He paid his note with a part of the money thus obtained,
and with the rest laid in a fresh stock of goods. He made his purchases
at a time when the market was very dull, and, as he paid cash, secured
his goods at very low prices.