With the increase in the volume of the mail there has been an increase in the number of ships carrying the mails, and so, while in August, 1873, there were but thirty-four vessels carrying mail that sailed from New York, during July, 1922, 180 such vessels sailed; on a single day twenty ships left this port carrying a total of 11,299 sacks. During the month of July, 1922, 97,000 sacks of mail were shipped, a quantity that would tax the capacity of a large warehouse. A special feature of the service is the operation of post-offices on U. S. naval vessels. There are more than fifty such post-offices, serving the convenience of the boys in blue. Whether the naval vessels are equipped with post-offices or not, the Foreign Station is kept posted as to their movements by the Navy Department, and special efforts are made to so forward all mail received as to reach the addressee at the first port of call. During the war the Foreign Station experienced many trying times in its efforts to get American mail to destination. The sailing time of ships was seldom known much in advance of actual sailing, and the utmost secrecy was maintained as to vessel movements. The Navy Department advised the Foreign Station of the intended sailing of vessels by cipher, though such information was most jealously guarded. The utmost caution was taken in the making out of address tags, etc., to conceal the identity of the various units, the mail for which had to go out by the different ships, and throughout the war there was not a single leak. The service performed during this trying time by the employees of the Foreign Station were so conspicuously efficient as repeatedly to win approbation. A recapitulation of the several classes of mail despatched from this station to foreign countries is shown below and indicates the rapidity of its growth: 1914 1921 Letters 110,121,846 140,654,326 Printed Matter, etc. 53,940,035 101,905,335 Circulars 12,170,937 15,477,570 Registered Articles 4,372,889 10,238,298 Parcel Post 571,997 1,920,580 ----------- ----------- Total number of articles despatched. 181,177,704 270,196,109 _The Registry Department_ One of the most important departments of the New York post-office is the Registry Division, which is under the supervision of Mr. Joseph Willon. Mr. Willon has been long in the postal service, and for many years prior to his present assignment was superintendent of some of the larger stations of the city, including the one at Times Square. In the Registry Division at the General Post-office 550 persons are employed; at the City Hall Station, 130; and at the Foreign Station there is a large force, assigned exclusively to the handling of the foreign registered mails.