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<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 48014 ***</div>
<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The American Postal Service, by Louis Melius</h1>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10">
<tr>
<td valign="top">
Note:
</td>
<td>
Images of the original pages are available through
Internet Archive. See
<a href="https://archive.org/details/americanpostalse00melirich">
https://archive.org/details/americanpostalse00melirich</a>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p> </p>
<hr class="pg" />
<p> </p>
<div class="limit">
<div class="break">
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
<h1 class="p4">THE AMERICAN POSTAL SERVICE</h1>
<p class="pc4 mid"><b>History of the Postal Service from the
Earliest Times</b></p>
<hr class="dec1" />
<p class="pc mid">The American System Described with Full Details
of Operation</p>
<hr class="dec1" />
<p class="pc">A Fund of Interesting Information upon All Postal Subjects</p>
<hr class="dec1" />
<p class="pc reduct">By<br />
LOUIS MELIUS<br />
Washington, D. C.</p>
<p class="pc4 mid"><span class="smcap">Second Edition Revised and Enlarged</span><br />
<span class="smcap">Copyright 1917 Louis Melius</span></p>
<p class="pc4 reduct">NATIONAL CAPITAL PRESS, INC., WASHINGTON, D. C.</p>
<div class="figcenter">
<img src="images/ill-003.jpg" width="400" height="569"
alt=""
title="" />
<div class="caption"><p class="pc"><span class="smcap">Postmaster General Burleson</span></p>
</div></div>
</div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p>
<div class="break">
<h2 class="p4">Biographical Sketches of the Postmaster General and His Four Assistants</h2>
<p class="p2">Albert Sidney Burleson, of Austin, Tex., Postmaster General, was born June 7,
1863, at San Marcos, Tex.; was educated at Agricultural and Mechanical College
of Texas, Baylor University (of Waco), and University of Texas. Was admitted
to the bar in 1884; was Assistant City Attorney of Austin in 1885, ‘86, ‘87, ‘88, ‘89
and ‘90; was appointed by the Governor of Texas, Attorney of the Twenty-Sixth
Judicial District in 1891; was elected to said office, 1892, ‘94 and ‘96; was elected to
the 56th, 57th, 58th, 59th, 60th, 61st, 62d, and 63d Congresses; appointed Postmaster
General March 4, 1913, and confirmed March 6, 1913.</p>
<hr class="dec2" />
<p>John C. Koons, First Assistant Postmaster General, entered the service as a
Railway Postal Clerk; was transferred to Washington and made Post Office Inspector,
subsequently made Chief of the Division of Salaries and Allowances and member of
the Parcel Post Commission, in which latter connection his services were considered
of especial value and importance. Appointed Chief Post Office Inspector and upon
the resignation of the late First Assistant Postmaster General, Daniel C. Roper,
was named to succeed him. His legal residence is in Carroll Co., Md.</p>
<p>Otto Praeger, Second Assistant Postmaster General, was born in Victoria, Tex.,
1871. Legal residence, San Antonio, Tex. Took a course of instruction in the
University of Texas and was a student on political economy under David F. Houston
now Secretary of Agriculture. Engaged in the newspaper business at San Antonio
in 1887—<i>San Antonio Light</i> and <i>San Antonio Express</i>; was for a time city clerk of
said city; was engaged in newspaper work as Washington correspondent when
appointed Postmaster of Washington, D. C., and in August, 1915, was appointed
Second Assistant to succeed Hon. Joseph Stewart.</p>
<p>Alexander Monroe Dockery, Third Assistant Postmaster General, is a native of
Missouri, born in Daviess County, educated at Macon Academy; studied medicine,
graduated and practiced it for a while but later engaged in the banking business.
Served in Congress from March 3, 1883, to March 3, 1899. Member of Committee of
Appropriations, twelve years; Committee Post Offices and Post Roads, four years;
Governor of Missouri from 1901 to 1905; was author of the bill extending the special
delivery system to all post offices; also extending free delivery service to small
cities; advocated the first appropriation for rural delivery. Chairman of the commission
which bore his name, constituted by Congress for administrative reforms in
the conduct of public business, and author of the act creating a new accounting system
for the Treasury Department and many other public measures which have made his
name familiar to the public and political life of the country.</p>
<p>James I. Blakslee, Fourth Assistant Postmaster General, was born at Mauch
Chunk, Pa., December 17, 1870. Public school education, supplemented with
special courses at Bethlehem Preparatory School, Cheltenham Military Academy
and High School, Pottstown, Pa.; was connected with the Lehigh Valley and Pennsylvania
railroads as telegraph operator and assistant yardmaster; Lieutenant, Company E,
Eighth Regiment, National Guards, 1897; commissioned same rank and
regiment, U. S. Volunteers, and appointed quartermaster and commissary, Reserve
Hospital Corps, U. S. Army, during the Spanish-American War. Removed to
Lehighton in 1899. Chairman Democratic Committee of Carbon County, 1905.
Assemblyman, Pennsylvania Legislature, 1907-09 term, and subsequently made
Secretary Democratic State Committee, where his organizing ability won him
national recognition.</p>
<hr class="chap" />
</div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p>
<div class="break">
<h2 class="p4">PREFACE</h2>
<p class="p2">This little work on postal affairs aims to familiarize postal
employes and others with the operations of the Post Office Department
in all its varied and numerous details. No attempt was made
to cover the wide field of postal activity and inquiry for which a
much larger book and much greater space would be required.
It is simply meant to be a book of reference, a sort of hand-book
on postal subjects for busy people who may not care to read
lengthy accounts or stories which a few paragraphs might sufficiently
explain, or care to wrestle with columns of figures which
are best given in official reports and chiefly valuable to public
men for legislative purposes, for comparison and survey.</p>
<p>All necessary postal knowledge of immediate public interest
is herein set forth in such compact shape as to acquaint the reader
with what he might want to know, or direct his inquiry to sources
of wider information if the desire was not satisfied with the reference
thereto which this work might afford. In general it will be
found amply sufficient for all ordinary purpose as the scope of
subjects is as wide as the active operations of the Department
at present include.</p>
<p>The special articles referring to subjects of general postal
interest cover a considerable range of inquiry and deal more fully
with those matters which are but briefly mentioned in that portion
devoted to the purely business details of the Department. Much
of this material is new and all of it treated so as to interest the
reader. These articles on general postal topics in connection
with the other matter herewith given, relating to the service,
may please some one here and there and perhaps justify the publication
of this little contribution to the literature of the time.</p>
<p class="pr4">L. M.</p>
<p class="pn">Washington, D. C.</p>
<p class="pi2">March 15, 1917.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></p>
<hr class="full1" />
<hr class="full2" />
<p class="pnar1">To Mr. Ruskin McArdle, late Private Secretary
to the Postmaster General, now Chief Clerk of the
Department, whose friendly regard I have long enjoyed
and whose courteous and considerate treatment
to all with whom his official relations have
brought him into contact, this little volume is respectfully
dedicated as a mark of appreciation and
a token of deep and lasting esteem.</p>
<p class="pr6"><span class="smcap">The Author.</span></p>
<hr class="full1" />
<hr class="full2" />
</div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p>
<div class="break">
<h2 class="p4">ORGANIZATION OF THE DEPARTMENT</h2>
<p class="p2">The operations of the postal service are conducted by divisional arrangement
with the duties of each accurately and specifically defined. Previous
to this administration much of the work of the various bureaus was
found to be overlapping each other and exercising a separate authority
in correlated matters. These officially related duties were each brought
under a proper head, insuring prompt attention and fixing a definite
responsibility which has been found to be of recognized benefit and value.</p>
<p class="pc1">OFFICE OF THE POSTMASTER GENERAL</p>
<p class="pn1"><i>Postmaster General.</i>—<span class="smcap">Albert S. Burleson</span>, Texas.<br />
<i>Private Secretary.</i>—<span class="smcap">Robert E. Cowart</span>, Texas.<br />
<i>Chief Clerk.</i>—<span class="smcap">Ruskin McArdle</span>, Texas.<br />
<i>Assistant Chief Clerk.</i>—<span class="smcap">William W. Smith</span>, Tennessee.<br />
<i>Division of Solicitor.</i>—</p>
<p class="pi2"><i>Solicitor.</i>—<span class="smcap">William H. Lamar</span>, Maryland.<br />
<i>Assistant Attorneys.</i>—<span class="smcap">J. Julien Southerland</span>, North Carolina.</p>
<p class="pi4"><span class="smcap">Walter E. Kelly</span>, Ohio.<br />
<span class="smcap">Edwin A. Niess</span>, Pennsylvania.<br />
<span class="smcap">John A. Nash</span>, Pennsylvania.</p>
<p class="pi2"><i>Bond Examiner.</i>—<span class="smcap">Horace J. Donnelly</span>, District of Columbia.<br />
<i>Law Clerk.</i>—<span class="smcap">Arthur J. Kause</span>, Ohio,</p>
<p class="pn"><i>Division of Purchasing Agent.</i>—</p>
<p class="pi2"><i>Purchasing Agent.</i>—<span class="smcap">James A. Edgerton</span>, New Jersey.<br />
<i>Chief Clerk.</i>—<span class="smcap">Frederick H. Austin</span>, Missouri.</p>
<p class="pn"><i>Division of Post Office Inspectors.</i>—</p>
<p class="pi2"><i>Chief Inspector.</i>—<span class="smcap">George M. Sutton</span>, Missouri.<br />
<i>Chief Clerk.</i>—<span class="smcap">J. Robert Cox</span>, North Carolina.</p>
<p class="pn"><i>Appointment Clerk.</i>—Vacant.<br />
<i>Disbursing Clerk.</i>—<span class="smcap">William M. Mooney</span>, Ohio.</p>
<p class="pc1">OFFICE OF THE FIRST ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL</p>
<p class="pn"><i>First Assistant Postmaster General.</i>—<span class="smcap">John C. Koons</span>, Maryland.<br />
<i>Chief Clerk.</i>—<span class="smcap">John W. Johnston</span>, New York,<br />
<i>Division of Post Office Service.</i>—</p>
<p class="pi2"><i>Superintendent.</i>—<span class="smcap">Goodwin D. Ellsworth</span>, North Carolina.<br />
<i>Assistant Superintendent.</i>—<span class="smcap">William S. Ryan</span>, New York.</p>
<p class="pn"><i>Division of Postmasters’ Appointments.</i>—</p>
<p class="pi2"><i>Superintendent.</i>—<span class="smcap">Charles R. Hodges</span>, Texas.<br />
<i>Assistant Superintendent.</i>—<span class="smcap">Lorel N. Morgan</span>, West Virginia.<br />
<i>Assistant Superintendent.</i>—<span class="smcap">Simon E. Sullivan</span>, Maryland.</p>
<p class="pn"><i>Division of Dead Letters.</i>—</p>
<p class="pi2"><i>Superintendent.</i>—<span class="smcap">Marvin M. McLean</span>, Texas.</p>
<p class="pc1">OFFICE OF THE SECOND ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL</p>
<p class="pn"><i>Second Assistant Postmaster General.</i>—<span class="smcap">Otto Praeger</span>, Texas.<br />
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span><i>Chief Clerk.</i>—<span class="smcap">Eugene R. White</span>, Vermont.<br />
<i>Division of Railway Mail Service.</i>—</p>
<p class="pi2"><i>General Superintendent.</i>—<span class="smcap">Wm. I. Denning</span>, Georgia.<br />
<i>Assistant General Superintendent.</i>—<span class="smcap">George F. Stone</span>, New York.<br />
<i>Chief Clerk.</i>—<span class="smcap">Chase C. Gove</span>, Nebraska.</p>
<p class="pn"><i>Division of Foreign Mails.</i>—</p>
<p class="pi2"><i>Superintendent.</i>—<span class="smcap">Robert L. Maddox</span>, Kentucky.<br />
<i>Assistant Superintendent.</i>—<span class="smcap">Stewart M. Weber</span>, Pennsylvania.<br />
<i>Assistant Superintendent at New York.</i>—<span class="smcap">Edwin Sands</span>, New York.</p>
<p class="pn"><i>Division of Railway Adjustments.</i>—</p>
<p class="pi2"><i>Superintendent.</i>—<span class="smcap">James B. Corridon</span>, District of Columbia.<br />
<i>Assistant Superintendent.</i>—<span class="smcap">George E. Bandel</span>, Maryland.</p>
<p class="pc1">OFFICE OF THE THIRD ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL</p>
<p class="pn"><i>Third Assistant Postmaster General.</i>—<span class="smcap">Alexander M. Dockery</span>, Missouri.<br />
<i>Chief Clerk.</i>—<span class="smcap">William J. Barrows</span>, Missouri.<br />
<i>Division of Finance.</i>—</p>
<p class="pi2"><i>Superintendent.</i>—<span class="smcap">William E. Buffington</span>, Pennsylvania.</p>
<p class="pn"><i>Division of Postal Savings.</i>—</p>
<p class="pi2"><i>Director.</i>—<span class="smcap">Carter B. Keene</span>, Maine.<br />
<i>Assistant Director.</i>—<span class="smcap">Charles H. Fullaway</span>, Pennsylvania.<br />
<i>Chief Clerk.</i>—<span class="smcap">Harry H. Thompson</span>, Maryland.</p>
<p class="pn"><i>Division of Money Orders.</i>—</p>
<p class="pi2"><i>Superintendent.</i>—<span class="smcap">Charles E. Matthews</span>, Oklahoma.<br />
<i>Chief Clerk.</i>—<span class="smcap">F. H. Rainey</span>, District of Columbia.</p>
<p class="pn"><i>Division of Classification.</i>—</p>
<p class="pi2"><i>Superintendent.</i>—<span class="smcap">William C. Wood</span>, Kansas.</p>
<p class="pn"><i>Division of Stamps.</i>—</p>
<p class="pi2"><i>Superintendent.</i>—<span class="smcap">William C. Fitch</span>, New York.</p>
<p class="pn"><i>Division of Registered Mails.</i>—</p>
<p class="pi2"><i>Superintendent.</i>—<span class="smcap">Leighton V. B. Marschalk</span>, Kentucky.</p>
<p class="pc1">OFFICE OF THE FOURTH ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL</p>
<p class="pn"><i>Fourth Assistant Postmaster General.</i>—<span class="smcap">James I. Blakslee</span>, Pennsylvania.<br />
<i>Chief Clerk.</i>—<span class="smcap">J. King Pickett</span>, Alabama.<br />
<i>Division of Rural Mails.</i>—</p>
<p class="pi2"><i>Superintendent.</i>—<span class="smcap">George L. Wood</span>, Maryland.<br />
<i>Assistant Superintendent.</i>—<span class="smcap">Edgar R. Ryan</span>, Pennsylvania.<br />
<i>Chief Clerk.</i>—<span class="smcap">Lansing M. Dow</span>, New Hampshire.</p>
<p class="pn"><i>Division of Equipment and Supplies.</i>—</p>
<p class="pi2"><i>Superintendent.</i>—<span class="smcap">Alfred B. Foster</span>, California.<br />
<i>Assistant Superintendent.</i>—Vacant.<br />
<i>Chief Clerk.</i>—Vacant.</p>
<p class="pc1">OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR FOR THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT</p>
<p class="pn"><i>Auditor.</i>—<span class="smcap">Charles A. Kram</span>, Pennsylvania.<br />
<i>Assistant and Chief Clerk.</i>—<span class="smcap">Terrence H. Sweeney</span>, Minnesota.<br />
<i>Law Clerk.</i>—<span class="smcap">Faber Stevenson</span>, Ohio.<br />
<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span><i>Expert Accountant.</i>—<span class="smcap">Lewis M. Bartlett</span>, Massachusetts.<br />
<i>Electrical Accounting System.</i>—</p>
<p class="pi2"><i>Chiefs of Division.</i>—</p>
<p class="pi4"><span class="smcap">Louis Brehm</span>, Illinois.<br />
<span class="smcap">Joshua H. Clark</span>, Maryland.<br />
<span class="smcap">James R. White</span>, District of Columbia.</p>
<p class="pn"><i>Miscellaneous Division.</i>—</p>
<p class="pi2"><i>Chief.</i>—<span class="smcap">Jasper N. Baker</span>, Kansas.</p>
<hr class="chap" />
<p class="pc lmid">LATEST FACTS OF POSTAL INTEREST<br />
Report of Postmaster General; Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1917</p>
<p class="p2">The long continued agitation between the railroads and the
Post Office Department over the method of payment for mail
transportation is in process of settlement by actual tests. The
contention is whether the basis of payment shall be by weight or
by the space used. While the space rate is the higher of the two
it lends itself to rational readjustment, and is therefore best for
government needs. The tests made show a saving of about
$7,000,000 per annum by the space method.</p>
<p>The efficiency standard now required of Postmasters, has it
is stated, greatly improved the service and the announced policy
of the Department to reappoint all those who render meritorious
service has been adhered to and will be continued.</p>
<p>During the year ending June 30, 1917, 38 second class offices
were advanced to the first class; 135 third class to second, and
1,203 fourth class to third. Average annual salary of post-office
clerks is now $1,142 per annum, city carriers $1,126.50.</p>
<p>Removals of employees for cause are now rarely made, statistics
show less than one per cent in both the post office and city carrier
service.</p>
<p>It is recommended that where because of unusual conditions,
rural carriers cannot be obtained at the maximum rate of pay,
advertisements be issued calling for proposals for the performance
of such service.</p>
<p>Motor vehicle routes are now in operation on a total length
of over 41,000 miles, averaging 54 miles per route, at an average
cost of $1,786.49 per route.</p>
<p>There are now 43,463 rural routes in operation, covering
1,112,556 miles. Cost of rural service decreased 0.011 per
patron during the year 1917; cost per mile decreased 0.114 cent
per mile.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p>
<p>The cost per mile of travel by star-route contractors is $0.1024.
Cost per mile of travel by rural carrier is $0.1510. This difference
in cost is receiving departmental consideration.</p>
<p>Shipment of parcel post packages increased 14 per cent in 1917,
the increase representing more than 25,000,000 pieces. Cooperation
of postmasters in bringing the insurance feature particularly
that of partial damage prominently to public notice, has
resulted in an increase of over 8,000,000 insured parcels over the
showing of 1916.</p>
<p>Growing carelessness in addressing letter mail resulted in
13,000,000 letters being found undeliverable during 1917, an
increase of 21 per cent.</p>
<p>The report shows an audited surplus for the year of $9,836,211
the largest in the history of the department. The increase over
the preceding year was 5.66 per cent, while the increase in cost
was 4.45 per cent. The audited revenues for the year amounted
to $329,726,116.</p>
<p>Remarkable growth in postal savings is shown. In 1917 there
were 674,728 depositors with a total of $131,954,696 to their
credit. The average balance for each depositor was $195.57.
This was an increase over the previous year of 71,791 in the
number of depositors, $45,934,811 in the amount and $52.90 in
the per capita balance.</p>
<hr class="chap" />
</div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p>
<div class="sum">
<h2 class="p4">CONTENTS</h2>
<p class="pc1 mid">CHAPTER I</p>
<table id="toc1" summary="cont1">
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td class="tdr"><span class="small">PAGE</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Latest Facts</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>General Postal History</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Beginning of Personal Communication</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Postal History of England</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Penny Postage</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>General Post Office in London</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>French and German Postal History</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>The American Colonial Period</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Under the Continental Congress</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>The Crown Postmasters</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Post Offices and Post Roads Established</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>The Period of Progress</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Postage Stamps Introduced</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Progressive Steps Taken</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Historical Data</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td>
</tr>
</table>
<p class="pc1 mid">CHAPTER II</p>
<p class="pc reduct"><i>Questions of Finance. Postal Revenue—How Derived and Expended</i></p>
<table id="toc2" summary="cont2">
<tr>
<td>Revenues and Expenditures</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Method of Expenditure</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Appropriations</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Auditor</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td>
</tr>
</table>
<p class="pc1 mid">CHAPTER III</p>
<p class="pc reduct"><i>Departmental Operations—General and Detailed Descriptions and Cost of Service</i></p>
<table id="toc3" summary="cont3">
<tr>
<td>History of Rural Free Delivery</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Rural Delivery Defined</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>The Struggle for Rural Delivery</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>The Advantages of Rural Delivery</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Rural Delivery as Viewed by President McKinley</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>First County Rural Delivery</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Country-Wide Extension, Rural Delivery</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>How Rural Delivery Enhances the Value of Farm Land</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Per Capita Cost, in Rural Delivery</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Some Necessary Conditions, Rural Delivery</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Annual Cost per Patron by States and Pieces Handled</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Population and Extension, Rural Service</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Motor Vehicle Routes, Rural Delivery</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Village Delivery</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>City Delivery</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Star Routes</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Postal Savings</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Money Order System</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Stamp Books</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Postal Cards</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Division of Stamps</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Classification</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Purchasing Agent</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Dead Letter Office</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mail Locks</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mail Pouches</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Post Office Supplies</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Special Delivery</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Foreign Mail Service</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Topography Branch</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Division of Post Office Service</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>American Postal System</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Considerate Treatment of Newspaper Mail</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td>
</tr>
</table>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p>
<p class="pc1 mid">CHAPTER IV</p>
<p class="pc reduct"><i>Special Articles</i></p>
<table id="toc4" summary="cont4">
<tr>
<td>Stamp Manufacture, Bureau Engraving and Printing</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Post Office Inspectors</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Railway Mail Service</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Parcel Post, Opposition Thereto</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Interesting Facts. Postmasters General</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Withdrawal of Letters from the Mail</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Handling of the Mail in Department</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Cost Accounting</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Cleansing Mail Bags</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Farm-to-Table Movement</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Postal Service in Alaska</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Standardization of Post Offices</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Postal Savings Circulars in Foreign Tongues</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>A Patriotic Editor</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Damage, Parcel Post Mail</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Opinion of Daniel Webster on Mail Extension</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Blind Woman on Pay Rolls</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Wanamaker—Four Postal Reforms</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>The Rural Carrier as a Weather Man</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>New Box Numbering System, Rural Routes</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Wireless Telephones, Rural Service</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Parcel Post Exhibits at County Fairs</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>The Great Express Service of the Government</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>The Telephone and Parcel Post in Cooperation</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Speeding up the Service—Rural Mails</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Training Public Officials</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>For the Benefit of the Fourth Class Postmasters</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Public Work and Private Control</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Protecting the Public Records</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Registry and Insurance Service, 1916</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Readjustment Rate, Second Class Mail</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Peculiar Customs, European Rural Delivery</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>What Was a Newspaper in 1825?</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Women in the Post Office Department</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Railroad Accidents, Construction of Cars</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Public Ownership of Telegraph and Telephone—Burleson</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Liquor Carried by the Mails</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>How the Post Office Department Helps the Farmer</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Expediting the Mails on Star Routes</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Abraham Lincoln Postmaster in 1837</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>A Central Accounting Office for Each County</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Millions of Money for Good Roads</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>$14,550,000 for Rural Post Roads</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mail Extensions by Air and Motor Truck Routes</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Care Required in Preparing Contracts</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Birthday American Postal Service</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>List of Postmasters General</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td>
</tr>
</table>
<p class="pc1 mid">CHAPTER V</p>
<p class="pc reduct"><i>Miscellaneous Matters</i></p>
<table id="toc5" summary="cont5">
<tr>
<td>General and Financial Summary</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Items of Interest</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Old Laws and Regulations</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Queer Collection Holiday Mail</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Feeding the Cats</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Couple of Distinguished Canines</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Soldier’s Sister a Mail Clerk</td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td>
</tr>
</table>
<table id="toc6" summary="cont6">
<tr>
<td><span class="smcap">Index to Items of Interest</span></td>
<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr class="chap" />
</div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p>
<div class="break">
<p class="pc4 large">THE AMERICAN POSTAL SERVICE</p>
<hr class="dec2" />
<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>
<p class="psh">General Postal History</p>
<p>The need of communication was doubtless one of the earliest
activities of the Ancient World, not for public use but for government
purpose. In Holy Writ we learn that the Israelitish Nation
made early use of the means at hand. In the first Book of Kings
it is stated that Queen Jezebel wrote letters in Ahab’s name,
sealed with the King’s seal, and sent them to the elders and nobles
in the city. In the Book of Esther mention is made of sending
letters by posts to all the King’s provinces. There are also
evidences that the Assyrian and Persian nations established
stations, or posts a day’s journey apart, at which horses were kept
ready saddled with waiting couriers for the transmission of public
orders and edicts. Xenophon mentions that Cyrus employed
posts throughout his dominions and Herodotus speaks of the large
structures erected for post stations. The mail service of China
dates far back into antiquity. It is said that in the fourteenth
century there were 10,000 mail stations in the empire. Peru,
remarkable for its early evidences of civilization, had according
to the historian Prescott, communication established from one end
of the country to the other. There is, however, nothing to show
that ordinary human affairs received any attention at this early
period, the activities of rulers being devoted entirely to governmental
interest and concern. The affairs of commerce and trade
were probably carried on by personal enterprise, by voyages of
trade discovery by water or expeditions on land.</p>
<p>The method of using couriers for transmitting intelligence was
evidently long continued, being the only means known by which
such need could be met, or the one which most naturally suggested
itself. The Romans employed couriers for the promulgation of
military and public orders to their scattered provinces, private
letters being sent by slaves or by such opportunity as occasion
afforded. It is said that Charlemagne employed couriers for
public purposes, but the practice was discontinued after his death,
special messengers being used when occasion required. England
employed couriers for public purposes in the thirteenth century,
and in the fourteenth century Louis XI returned to the practice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
of employing mounted couriers and established stations but only
for government purposes.</p>
<p class="psh">The Beginning of Personal Communication</p>
<p>As early as the beginning of the thirteenth century the need of
personal communication was recognized and the University of
Paris arranged for the employment of foot-messengers to bear
letters from its thousands of students to the various countries in
Europe from whence they came. This plan lasted until 1719.
In the fifteenth century an attempt was made and the custom
prevailed for some time, of sending letters by traveling tradesmen
or dealers who made regular trips in certain directions for
barter, purchase or sale. The tremendous stimulus given to the
development of commercial conditions by the crusades, made
business intercourse necessary, and the post riders who had surplus
horses soon found use for them in the conveyance of passengers
and ultimately in the transmission of general information which
finally resulted in a fixed compensation and which method remained
in use for a considerable period.</p>
<p>The real beginning of letter posts for private and business
purposes, dates from the year 1516, when Roger, Count of Thurn,
established riding posts in the Tyrol, connecting Germany and
Italy. A letter post had been established in the Hanse towns in
the thirteenth century, but the actual commencement of such
activities dates from the year 1516. The Emperor Charles V
made these riding posts general throughout his dominions and
appointed Leonard, Count of Thurn, his postmaster general.
The Counts of Thurn and Taxis held this monopoly by regular
succession for many years afterward. The rapid growth of English
civilization made postal progress necessary for its people and this
brings us to the period of most interest to students as well as the
average reader.</p>
<p class="psh">The Postal History of England</p>
<p>As much of our postal system is naturally based on that of
England from our early Colonial dependence, it is of interest to
note the various steps of English progress and development in
connection with the subject.</p>
<p>The first English postmaster general of whom any account can
be given was Sir Brian Tuke, who is described on the records of the
year 1533 as “Magister Nuncrorum, Cursorum, Sire, Postarum,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>”
but long subsequent to this appointment of a postmaster general
the details of the service were frequently regulated by proclamation
and by orders in council. During the earlier years of Queen
Elizabeth, most of the business of the postal service to and from
England was managed by the incorporated “Merchant Strangers”
who appointed special postmasters among themselves.</p>
<p>The accession of James I, necessitating more frequent communication
between London and Scotland, led to many improvements
in the postal service. It was ordered that the posts should
travel not less than 7 miles an hour in summer and 5 miles in
winter. In 1619 a separate postmaster general for foreign parts
was created. Thomas Witherings was one of the successors in
this office and entitled to rank as one of the many conspicuous
postal reformers in the continental service. All letters were then
carried by carriers or footpads 16 or 18 miles a day. It required
two months to get answers from Scotland or Ireland to London.
He directed that all northern mail be put into one “portmantle”
directed to Edinburgh and separate bags to such postmasters as
lived upon the road near to any city or town corporate, which
was the first step in the separation of mail since carried to such
perfection here and elsewhere.</p>
<p class="psh">Penny Postage Attempted</p>
<p>The income from the post office in 1643 was but 5,000 pounds.
Ultimately the posts both inland and foreign were farmed out to
John Manley for 10,000 pounds a year by an agreement made in
1653. About this time an attorney of York, named John Hill,
ventured upon the plan of placing relays of post horses between
that city and London and undertook to convey letters and parcels
at half the former charge. He aimed to establish penny postage
for England, two-penny postage for Scotland, and a four-penny
postage for Ireland. But the post office was regarded in that day
as a means of revenue and incidentally of political espionage and
government did not approve of such individual enterprise. His
letter carriers were literally trampled down by Cromwell’s soldiers,
and the enterprising attorney narrowly escaped severe punishment.
Another attempt at penny postage for London was established by
William Duckwra, a custom house employe, and Robert Murray,
a clerk in the excise office. Duckwra carried for a penny and registered
and insured, both letters and parcels up to a pound in weight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
and $10 in value. He established hourly collections and ten
deliveries daily for the central parts of London and six for the
suburbs. The Duke of York had, however, a patent covering
this service and suits were laid against him which put an end to
his enterprise.</p>
<p>The systematic employment of women in post office and telegraph
service was for a long time an experiment and a problem,
but it afterwards proved a success. Under new regulations in
1870, women were employed as telegraphists for eight hours
daily with pay according to age, intelligence and practical experience.
At the close of 1880, there were a thousand women so
employed in the cities of London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, and
nearly as many in minor postal positions throughout the Kingdom.</p>
<p class="psh">General Post Office at London</p>
<p>The necessary authority for the establishment of a general
post office at London to cover the British dominions, including
the American Colonies, was given by act of Parliament in 1657.
Under this act the postal affairs of England were conducted for a
great length of time with but little if any improvement. It was
not until the memorable pamphlet of Sir Rowland Hill was issued
in 1837 that any real progress was made or any attempt made
worthy of mention. Postal conditions were so unsatisfactory
that he made the whole subject a matter of profound inquiry and
his pamphlet on “Postal Reform” stirred the nation and led to a
complete reformation of the entire postal system and was the
beginning of the British post office as we see it today.</p>
<p>The important events in English postal history given above
and that which follows in chronological order are abridged from the
Encyclopedia Brittanica, 1891—1720, organization of cross roads
and rural posts; 1753, establishment of post office in American
Colonies under Benjamin Franklin; 1774, improved mail coaches
and organized mail routes; 1821, first conveyance of mail by steam-packet;
1830, first mail coach by railway; 1834, postage stamps
invented by James Chalmers, Dundee, Scotland; 1835, overland
route to India; 1838, Postal money order system; 1840, general
and uniform penny postage (per half ounce); 1855, first street
letter boxes put up in London; 1856, Postal Guide issued; 1861,
Postal Savings Banks instituted; 1870, transfer of telegraph to
state and postal cars introduced; 1881, postal orders issued; 1883,
parcel post established.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p>
<p class="psh">French and German Postal History</p>
<p>The French Postal System was founded by Louis XI in 1464.
It was largely extended by Charles IX, 1565, and generally
improved under Henry IV and Louis XIII. Napoleon abolished
the board system by which the French service was then conducted
and recommitted the business to a postmaster general as it had
been under Louis XIII. Napoleon greatly improved the service
in all its details, and the measures he adopted and the reforms he
introduced in 1802 remained in force for many years afterward
and are probably in use now with such additions as developments
suggested. The most important reforms in French Postal History
were the extension of postal facilities to all the communes, effected
under Charles X, 1829; adoption of postage stamp, 1849, under
Louis Napoleon. Issue of postal notes to bearer, 1860; Postal
Savings Banks, instituted 1880.</p>
<p>The development of the Prussian or present German postal
system was mainly due to Dr. Stephan, who was also the chief
organizer of the International Postal Union. This Prussian
system, incorporated into the admirably organized post and
telegraph service of the empire, began with the Great Elector,
1646. In Strasburg a messenger code existed as early as 1443.
A postal service was organized at Nuremberg in 1570. The first
mail steam packet was built in 1821; the first transmission of mails
by railway was in 1847; telegraph service in postal affairs, 1849.
A regular delivery by letter carriers attached to the state postal
system existed in Berlin as early as 1712.</p>
<p>These principal items of postal history concerning France and
Germany are condensed from the excellent articles upon the subject
as found in the Encyclopedia Brittanica, edition of 1891, as
well as the information on English postal history, for which
acknowledgment is made in its proper place relating to the
Postal History of Great Britain.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p>
<p class="psh">The American Colonial Period</p>
<p>The earliest attempt to provide postal facilities for the colonies
was in 1672 when Governor Lovelace, of the New York colony,
established monthly service between New York and Boston.
An office was later established at Philadelphia from which weekly
mail was received and sent. By the signing of letters patent in
1691 the control of the American posts was vested in Thomas
Neale, commonly called the “Neale Patent.” In that year Neale
and the Royal Postmasters General appointed Andrew Hamilton,
Postmaster General of America. All the colonies except Virginia
cooperated with him in improving and extending the service.
A weekly post was established between Portsmouth, New Hampshire,
to Boston, Saybrook, New York, Philadelphia, Maryland
and Virginia. Five riders were engaged to cover each of the five
stages twice a week. In 1707 the crown purchased the good will
of the American post and continued John Hamilton, the son of
Andrew, in that office at an annual salary of 200 pounds. In the
year 1737, Franklin became postmaster at Philadelphia and
generally supervised the other offices of the colonies. In 1753 he
was one of the deputy Postmasters General, but was dismissed in
1774 by Governor Hutchinson, of Massachusetts, because of his
adherence to the patriotic cause.</p>
<p class="psh">Under the Continental Congress</p>
<p>But Franklin was not to remain idle for when the Continental
Congress met at its second session at Philadelphia, July 26, 1775,
they resolved to have a post office system of their own and
he was selected to carry on the work. A salary of $1,000 per
annum was voted him with permission to employ a secretary and
a comptroller with a salary of $340 per annum to each, and a line
of posts ordered established from Falmouth, New England, to
Savannah, Ga., with postages 20 per centum less than those
afforded by parliament. However, Franklin’s great diplomatic
ability soon secured him a transfer to a wider field of usefulness
and his son-in-law, Richard Bache, who had been comptroller,
was named to succeed him. The ledger kept by this gentleman
is still preserved among the archives of the Department. It
consists of about 3 quines of foolscap, written over in a neat and
legible hand. Ebenezer Hazard, who had been the Constitutional
postmaster at New York, so termed to distinguish him from
the British deputy at that place, was appointed to succeed him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
In 1782, an act was passed by the Colonial Congress establishing
a line of posts between New Hampshire and Georgia, the salary
of the deputies not to exceed 20 per cent of the revenues. The
rate of postage at that time on letters weighing not over 1 penny-weight
and going not more than 60 miles was equal to 5½ cents
and a proportionate charge for greater weights and distances.</p>
<p class="psh">The Crown Postmasters</p>
<p>In a well-written article in the Washington, D. C., <i>Evening
Star</i>, of July 26, 1913, upon the occasion of the celebration of the
one hundred and thirty-eighth year of the American postal service,
the activities or self-assumed powers of the English or crown
postmasters and its effect in encouraging the independent sentiment
of the time was stated as follows:</p>
<div class="pbq">
<p class="p1">“These crown postmasters had, or at least they exercised, the
right of ‘spying’ upon the mails intrusted to their care. This
made it difficult and dangerous for the liberty-loving colonists to
communicate with each other. The zealous representatives of
England also professed to exercise a supervising care over the newspapers
which were printed in the colonies, and made arbitrary
rules and regulations against those who were too liberal or outspoken
in their expressions of condemnation of things as they then
were and who dared to urge the liberty and independence of the
colonists. Some papers were shut out of the mails and some were
forced to tone down their utterances. A pound sterling was
demanded to carry 250 papers, 130 miles.</p>
<p>“The post office led in the unification of the colonists. Paul
Revere was the confidential post rider of Massachusetts. The
tea party in Boston Harbor would have been but a neighborhood
affair but for the agency of the post office and the patriotic publishers
who spread the news up and down the Atlantic coast.</p>
<p>“The postal service did more than any one other agency to
unify and unite the colonists. It brought their interests and
endeavors to a common meeting point. It brought the leading
men and women to know and exchange ideas one with another.
Printing presses were established about the same time that the
postal service was begun in America. Postmasters enjoyed the
privilege of sending their mail free of postage, so most postmasters
became publishers. In this way the news of the doings of the
various jealous colonists was disseminated and the opinions of
these early postmaster-publishers were given wide circulation. It
added an incentive to trade and intercourse. By making the
colonists acquainted it dissipated jealousies. The growth of the
post office from the humble beginning of a sturdy carrier from New
York to Boston loaded with ‘divers letters and small portable
packages’ (you see they had parcel post even in those days),
solidified the colonists and made their independence possible.”</p></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p>
<p class="psh">Post Offices and Post Roads Established</p>
<p>During the Continental Government, the receipts of all the
post offices did not exceed $35,000 and in 1789 were $10,000 less.
February 20, 1792, an act was passed establishing post offices and
post roads within the United States, the first general law. The contracts
made were to run eight years and the salary of the Postmaster
General was increased to $2,000, and $1,000 for his Assistant.
The original number of post offices (that is for the first year) was
seventy-five and the mail routes less than 2,000 miles over which
mails were carried by horse, stage, or sailing packets. In 1795,
the number of postoffices had increased to 453, and the routes to
over 13,000, and the net revenue to over $42,000. This closes
the period of Continental management, except ordinary details and
changes which bore no relation to any especial object or purpose.</p>
<p class="psh">The Period of Progress</p>
<p>From 1801 dates the great advance in modern methods, ideas
and accomplishment. It then occupied forty days to get a letter
from Portland, Me., to Savannah, Ga., and bring back an answer,
and forty-four at Philadelphia for a reply to one addressed to
Nashville, Tenn. Ten years later the time had been reduced to
twenty-seven and thirty days. By 1810 there were over 2,400
post offices and the post routes covered over 37,000 miles. Marked
improvements began soon after this period. The office of Second
Assistant Postmaster General was created and the scale of postages
changed. Single letters of one piece were charged from 8 to 25
cents, according to distance. Sunday delivery of mail at post
offices was inaugurated about that time in the face of great objection
from the religious bodies of the country, the strife being
kept up for many years.</p>
<p>In 1813 the mails were first conveyed in steamboats from one
port town to another, the Government paying 3 cents for each
letter and 1 cent for newspapers. The postal laws of 1816 made
a further change in postage which lasted until 1845. The new
scale charged letters consisting of one piece of paper, not going
over 30 miles, 6 cents; not over 80 miles, 10 cents; not over 150
miles, 12½ cents, and not over 400 miles, 18¾ cents, and for
greater distances, 25 cents. On the ninth of March, 1829, Hon.
William T. Barry, of Kentucky, was commissioned Postmaster
General by President Jackson, and called to a seat in his Cabinet,
being the first Postmaster General to receive that honor.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p>
<p class="psh">Postage Stamps Introduced</p>
<p>Early in 1836, pony expresses as they were called, were put into
operation on the principal turnpike roads of the Southern and
Western States for the purpose of carrying letters of persons desiring
greater expedition, press news and Government dispatches,
at triple the ordinary rates, but the experiment was abandoned,
not proving profitable. In July, 1838, the Department was
reorganized and an Auditor appointed. The office of Third
Assistant Postmaster General was also created at that time.
Railroads were declared post routes by act of Congress, in July,
1838, and the mails carried upon them. Postage stamps of the
five-and ten-cent denominations with the faces of Franklin and
Washington, respectively, were introduced in 1847. Previously
all postages were collected entirely in money, prepayment being
optional. July, 1851, a new series of stamps was adopted, consisting
at first of denominations of 1 and 3 cents, but afterwards
of larger amounts.</p>
<p class="psh">Progressive Steps Taken</p>
<p>Rapidly sketched for reference, the more important progressive
steps that followed show that during the administration of President
Tyler, while Hon. Charles A. Wickliffe, of Kentucky, was
Postmaster General, many reforms were instituted, such as cheapening
the postage, improving the manner of letting routes by
contract, prohibiting private expresses, and restricting the franking
privilege. Prior to this period, letters were not rated by weight
but by enclosures. For instance, a letter containing three banknotes
for which the single letter charge would be 18¾ cents for
over 150 miles, was then charged 75 cents, the inclosure making
it a quadruple letter. Under the new system the rate was measured
by the weight, all weighing not over half an ounce were
regarded as single letters and carried for 5 cents for distances not
over 300 miles and 10 cents for greater distances. In 1850 the
“foreign desk,” from which ultimately grew the admirable arrangement
of the Postal Union, was instituted by Hon. Horatio King,
of Maine. Through the efforts of Judge Hall, of New York,
Postmaster General under President Fillmore, the postage on
letters was reduced to 3 cents. The registration system came in
under Postmaster General Campbell, of Pennsylvania, during the
administration of President Pierce. The Free Delivery Service<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
was inaugurated in 1863 by Hon. Montgomery Blair, of Maryland,
also the money order system in 1864, in Lincoln’s administration.
The Railway Mail Service dates from July, 1862, when Judge
Holt, of Kentucky, ordered its establishment, the first railway
postoffice being from Quincy, Ill., to St. Joseph, Mo., on the
Hannibal and St. Joseph Railway.</p>
<p class="psh">Historical Data</p>
<p>A summary of historical data covering some of the principal
features of postal progress may be given in chronological order
as follows: Postage stamps first issued at New York, July, 1847;
stamped envelopes first issued, June, 1853; letters registered, July,
1855; newspaper wrappers, Act of Congress, February, 1861;
Free City Delivery, July, 1863; Money Order System, November,
1864; International Money Orders, October, 1867; Postal Cards,
May, 1873; Postage reduced to 2 cents, October, 1883; Special
Delivery, October, 1885; Rural Delivery, October, 1896; Postal
Savings, January, 1911; Parcel Post, January, 1913.</p>
<p>The maximum number of post offices in the United States,
76,945, was reached in 1901, since which time by the introduction
of rural delivery the number has steadily declined, 21,011 having
been discontinued. July, 1916, there were 55,934 in operation.
Extent of post routes in miles in 1790 was 1,875. In 1915 the
number was 1,672,169. The miles of service performed in 1915
amounted to 617,527,795. The entire compensation paid to
postmasters in 1789 was $1,657. In 1916 the estimated amount
was $31,150,000.</p>
<hr class="chap" />
</div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p>
<div class="break">
<h2 class="p4">CHAPTER II</h2>
<p class="pch">Questions of Finance</p>
<p class="psh">Postal Revenue—How Derived</p>
<p>The revenues of the Post Office Department are derived from
sales of stamps, stamped envelopes, newspaper wrappers and
postal cards, second-class postage (pound rate) paid in money,
box rents, money order business, balances due from foreign postal
administrations, miscellaneous receipts, fines and penalties, and
from unclaimed dead letters and postal matter. Its greatest
revenue is received from postage paid on mail matter. The
amount so received in the last fiscal year was $287,001,495.13, or
91.97 per cent of the total revenue received. Of this amount
$20,174,973.93 was received from mailings of second, third and
fourth-class mail matter on which the postage was collected in
money, the remainder, $266,826,521.20, being the postage paid
by means of stamps. Entire revenue, 1916, $312,057,688.83.</p>
<p class="psh">Revenues and Expenditures</p>
<p>The audited revenues and expenditures of the Post Office Department
for the year 1916, show that the ordinary postal revenue
yielded $303,232,143.36; revenue from money order business
$8,130,545.47, and from postal savings business $695,000. Total
revenue received, $312,057,688.83. Expenditures: On account of
the current year, 1916, $297,637,128.87. On account of previous
years, $8,566,904.27. Total expenditure during the fiscal year
1916, $306,204,033.14. Excess of revenue over expenditure,
1916, $5,853,565.69. Amount of losses by fire, burglary, etc.,
$24,419.62. Surplus in postal revenue for fiscal year 1916,
$5,829,236.07.</p>
<p class="psh">Method of Expenditure</p>
<p>Expenses of the postal service are paid as follows:</p>
<p><i>By Postmasters.</i>—Postmasters are authorized to pay their own
salaries, the salaries of clerks and carriers attached to their offices,
rent, light, and fuel, and other expenses of their offices from postal
receipts.</p>
<p><i>By Warrants Drawn upon the Treasurer of the United States.</i>—These
warrants are in payment of the contracts for transportation
of mail, supplies, and other obligations that cannot be paid
direct by postmasters. The accounts are prepared for payment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
by journals in the Bureau of the Post Office Department having
jurisdiction over the appropriations and certified to the Auditor,
who reviews them and forwards the journals to the Division of
Finance. Warrants are then drawn for the amounts due to
contractors, countersigned by the Auditor and mailed direct from
the Department to the payees.</p>
<p><i>By Disbursing Postmasters.</i>—Certain payments may be authorized
by the Postmaster General to be made by postmasters designated
as disbursing officers. The Department authorizes and
directs disbursing postmasters, one in each State, to pay the
monthly salaries of rural delivery carriers. In addition thereto
the Department authorizes other postmasters who are designated
as disbursing officers, to pay the salaries of railway mail clerks,
and in some instances the salaries of postoffice inspectors and
other employes of the postal service. When the receipts of an
office are not sufficient to meet the pay rolls authorized by the
Department, the postmaster is instructed to make an estimate
of the deficiency and forward a requisition to the Postmaster
General therefor. An accountable warrant drawn on the Treasurer
of the United States for the sum needed is then forwarded to
the postmaster who deposits the same in a depository bank and
issues his check in payment of such salaries.</p>
<p><i>By Transfer Draft.</i>—If a balance appears to be due a postmaster
after his term of office has expired and his accounts have
been adjusted, the Auditor certifies the amount due and upon
this certification a transfer draft issued by the Department and
drawn on a postmaster in the State in which the former postmaster
resides, is forwarded in settlement of the account.</p>
<p class="psh">How Appropriations Are Made for the Department</p>
<p>Appropriations for the Post Office Department are made by the
Congress upon estimates submitted to the Postmaster General
by the heads of the various bureaus according to the nature and
needs of the service. After examination and approval by the
Postmaster General, these estimates are sent to the Secretary of
the Treasury where the estimates for all Departments of the
Government are assembled for transmission to Congress. Hearings
on the estimates submitted by the Postmaster General are
then held by the House Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads,
the members of which go over the items in detail, the various<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
bureau heads being in attendance to explain more fully, if need be,
the public necessity and requirements of the estimates submitted.
The Postmaster General may also be called upon to explain these
estimates if the Committee so desire. At the conclusion of these
hearings, the result of such inquiry and the recommendations of
the Post Office Committee are submitted to Congress and are
considered in Committee of the Whole. When the post office bill
is under consideration and upon its passage through the House
of Representatives it is in charge of the Chairman of the Committee
on Post Offices and Post Roads, who answers all inquires made and
defends the action of his committee in submitting these estimates
to Congress for its action and approval.</p>
<p class="psh">Auditor for the Post Office Department</p>
<p>All accounts of the Post Office Department are audited by the
Sixth Auditor of the Treasury, who is the Auditor for the Department.
When the Department was reorganized in 1836 this
position was created for the purpose of relieving the Postmaster
General of the responsibilities of this particular form of official
duty. The statutes define these duties which are numerous and
important, the fiscal relations, owing to the great growth of the
postal service, being of such magnitude and involving such an
amount of detail that the office has become one of the greatest
of the auditing branches of the Treasury Department. The
annual reports of the Auditor to the Postmaster General show the
financial condition of the Department at the close of each fiscal
year and are a part of the Postmaster General’s report to Congress.
A very large force of clerks is required to conduct the operations
of the office and the most approved devices and methods are used
to facilitate the dispatch of business. For greater convenience
the office of the Auditor is lodged with the Post Office Department.</p>
<hr class="chap" />
</div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p>
<div class="break">
<h2 class="p4">CHAPTER III</h2>
<p class="pch">Department Operations—General and Detailed Descriptions
and Cost of Service</p>
<p class="psh">History of Rural Free Delivery</p>
<p>The subject of Rural Free Delivery occupies so much public
attention both in the press and among the people, and the Department
has shown such interest in the matter and done so much to
make the service popular and attractive as a public measure, that
it is worthy of some considerable space in a work devoted entirely
to postal affairs. Aside from tabular work which has no proper
place in descriptive accounts of departmental operations, a very
good idea of what rural delivery is and aims to accomplish, may be
gathered from the articles which follow this introductory reference.</p>
<p>The history of Rural Delivery dates from January 5, 1892,
when Hon. James O’Donnell, Member of Congress from Michigan,
introduced the first bill in Congress relating to the subject. This
bill carried an appropriation of $6,000 but failed of passage.
March 3, 1893, Congress appropriated $10,000 for experimental
purposes but this sum together with $20,000 appropriated July
16, 1894, for the same purpose, was not used, Postmaster General
W. S. Bissell, of New York, deeming the amount insufficient.
On June 9, 1896, $10,000 together with the prior appropriation
of $30,000 was made available, and experimental rural free delivery
service was established by Postmaster General Wilson, of
West Virginia, on October 1, 1896, simultaneously, on three
routes in that State—Charlestown, Uvilla and Halltown.</p>
<p>At the close of business June 30, 1916, there were 42,927 rural
routes in operation, 42,766 carriers covering 1,083,070 miles and
serving 5,719,062 families, representing a total population of
26,307,686, and at the cost of $51,715,616. Aggregate daily
travel by rural carriers, 1,063,305 miles. Average length of rural
routes, 24.96 miles. The first complete county service was in
Carroll County, Maryland. Available reports show that between
the years 1905 and 1909, delivery of mail on rural routes increased
87 per cent. In 1913, 2,745,319,372 pieces of mail were delivered;
in 1915, 3,193,326,480; 1916, 3,022,755,601. Cost of delivery per
patron: 1915, $2.060; 1916, $1.966. Average annual pay of
carriers was $1,162.50, including motor vehicle service. For
horse-drawn routes the average was $1,155.48.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p>
<p class="psh">Rural Delivery Defined</p>
<p>The doubts, uncertainties and the delicate questions involved
in the early days of rural delivery when the subject was viewed
with concern, cautiously tested as an experiment and its extension
in various directions regarded as perhaps outside the bounds of
original intent and therefore to be approached with considerable
reserve, is well illustrated when petitions from Utah and other
mining sections of the West for the establishment of such service
to supply isolated communities devoted exclusively to mining,
raised the question in the administration of Postmaster General
Charles Emory Smith as to the proper definition of rural free
delivery. It was held by the First Assistant Postmaster General
that the term “rural” meant communities not included in cities
or incorporated villages, and that it did not necessarily imply that
the persons so situated should be engaged in farming pursuits.</p>
<p class="psh">The Struggle for Rural Free Delivery</p>
<p>The aim and purpose of rural delivery was to place the rural
resident on something like equal grounds with the dweller in the
cities so far as mail facilities were concerned, not exactly so, for
conditions were dissimilar, but to such reasonable extent as
circumstances would permit. For years there had been a growing
discontent among farmers and the people in the smaller towns
and villages because of the postal advantages afforded to the
cities, and the more populous communities. They felt themselves
deprived of opportunities and benefits which others enjoyed and
could not understand why the accident of location should make
such a difference. Postal service was intended for all the people,
not a part, not merely for those who had chosen to live in cities
but for those outside as well. This desire to share at least in
the benefits so freely accorded to others became at length so outspoken
and insistent that recognition could no longer be denied
and the matter was finally introduced into Congress and an attempt
made to secure legislation upon the subject.</p>
<p>The magnified difficulties of such a proposition as rural delivery
contemplated had long deterred action, and when the attempt was
finally made, the question was viewed with such caution and
approached with such hesitation and the apprehension of an
unknown and indeterminate expense so bound up with possible
failure of real benefit in proportion to cost, that postal authorities<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
hesitated to take the initial step. Even when a sum of money was
appropriated the task seemed too great for successful accomplishment,
and it was only when further delay was vigorously opposed
that the step was taken. Congress voted $40,000 to make the
experiment and with that to begin with active measures were
taken and the rest is postal history.</p>
<p class="psh">The Advantages of Rural Delivery</p>
<p>The question has frequently been asked to what extent and in
what way has rural delivery service benefited the country sections
of the United States. Many magazine articles have been written
to show the general advantages it affords in rendering rural conditions
more tolerable and enduring the inconveniences to which
such life is subject. In one particular at least, it has been of immense
advantage and that alone has secured it great public favor.
It has given the farmer his daily paper. This great educator of
our modern civilization, an almost indispensable necessity of our
times, was practically denied the rural resident before the advent
of this service, but now the avenues of communication are so far-reaching
and the service so well conducted, that publishers of
daily papers have not only been able to greatly extend their circulation
in every direction, but actually to bring the morning newspaper
to the farmer’s door at an hour which places him on an equal
footing with his city neighbor in all the advantages which early
news can give, but which is of special advantage to the farmer
who has something to sell and is thus directed to the best market
for his purpose.</p>
<p>The combined opportunity which both publisher and subscriber
now enjoy in country sections reached by rural delivery
and the use made of it is forcibly illustrated in a recent statement
published in a South Dakota paper. A rural carrier stated that
when he started service some years ago there were but three farmers
on his two routes who took daily papers. There are now something
like 200 dailies taken by patrons on these routes, some farmers
subscribing for two or three.</p>
<p>What rural delivery has done in other directions may be summed
up as follows: It has broadened the field of industrial opportunity,
touched as if with magic power the possibilities of human endeavor,
and transformed conditions to a degree almost marvelous. It
has brought special delivery almost to the door; secured good roads<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
and maintains them by official interest and concern; has attracted
the attention of the various States to this question and obtained
results; it has made farm lands more valuable and contributed to
increased production; it has abridged time by rapid communication;
brightened all environment, and made ordinary dull routine
interesting and attractive; it has lessened toil by the instructive
suggestions which Government experiment and inquiry affords,
and has made the home a center of influence and crowns domestic
life with all that makes for peace and contentment.</p>
<p class="psh">Rural Delivery as Viewed by President McKinley</p>
<p>The favorable opinion entertained of the advantages of the rural
free delivery service when it was yet in the experimental stage and
doubts were expressed as to its practical benefit, cost considered,
is well set forth by President McKinley in his annual message to
Congress, December 3, 1900.</p>
<p class="pbq p1">“This service ameliorates the isolation of farm life, conduces
to good roads and quickens and extends the dissemination of
general information. Experience thus far has tended to allay the
apprehension that it would be so expensive as to forbid its general
adoption or make it a serious burden. Its actual application has
shown that it increases postal receipts, and can be accompanied
by reductions in other branches of the service, so that augmented
revenues and the accomplished savings together materially reduce
the net cost.”</p>
<p class="psh">The First County Rural Service</p>
<p>The first full county service was inaugurated in Carroll County,
Maryland, and at a time when weather conditions made it something
of an undertaking. December 20, 1899, was the date
selected and winter with its storms and snow had put the roads
in the worst possible condition. Sixty-three post offices and
thirty-five services by star route contractors, were discontinued
in one day and rural free delivery service substituted. Westminster,
then a third-class office, was made the distributing center
but postal stations were established in villages where post offices
had formerly been located.</p>
<p>Service started with four two-horse postal wagons and with a
postal clerk in each to issue money orders, register letters and cancel
stamps on the letter mail collected. These wagons supplied mail
to twenty rural carriers at designated points and brought all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
territory within easy and convenient reach. This initial service
first covered 387 square miles of the 453 in the county, but soon
afterward embraced it all.</p>
<p>The inauguration of so great a change in postal service created
antagonism and a strong delegation came to Washington to enter
protest. But the manifest advantages which soon began to appear,
silenced all opposition, and the great majority of the protesting
citizens withdrew their opposition and bore convincing testimony
to the efficiency and value of the service. The cost of the service
in the first three months was $4,543, saving by service superseded,
$2,805. Increase of postal receipts was $1,501.75 leaving net cost
of the whole county service for three months at only $236.</p>
<p>This successful county experiment attracted wide attention and
full county service was thereafter rapidly established in many
directions.</p>
<p class="psh">Country-wide Extension, Rural Delivery</p>
<p>The extension of rural delivery has increased from year to year
and the cost of the service has grown in corresponding proportion.
The great next step would be country-wide extension, which has
been frequently mentioned on account of the vast possibilities
bound up in such a measure. This would, however, involve a very
considerable expense. It is estimated that to extend this service
to all rural patrons wherever located would cost something like
$100,000,000 more. While such complete service is the logical
conclusion of all rural delivery effort and may be expected to
engage public attention in the near future, as it is the only means
left by which the thousands of people now deprived of such benefits
can be reached and accommodated, such a tremendous advance
must be seriously considered before any definite steps can be
taken, but rural delivery will never reach the point of greatest
usefulness until this country-wide extension is an accomplished
fact and people everywhere are permitted to equally enjoy the
benefit which it confers.</p>
<p class="psh">How Rural Delivery Enhances the Value of Farm Land</p>
<p>Many arguments have been advanced by the friends of rural
delivery to show the almost immeasurable value of this service
to the farming communities of the nation, but there is one case
which has come under the notice of the publisher which presents
an argument of such striking force that it is worthy of special
mention.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span></p>
<p>Mr. Marion F. Holderman, of Washington, D. C., states that in
1885 he bought 135 acres of farming land three miles east of Rantoul,
Ill., in Champaign County, for $44 per acre, and that in 1901
rural delivery was established enabling the delivery of the Chicago
daily papers at his gate in the morning, thus giving him all the
advantages of the Chicago market and the opportunity of the
shipment of grain, stock, and farm products the same day that
these published market reports appeared. This fact so greatly
enhanced the value of the land through these succeeding years
that he was able to sell this property for $225 per acre on March 1,
1917, thus netting him a profit of $24,435. No improvements
were made on the farm except necessary repairs and painting of
the buildings.</p>
<p>He states that if there had not been rural delivery he would
have had to go to the post office for his mail at least twice a week
which at the lowest estimate for the time of the person, vehicle,
and the horses would have cost him over $225 per annum, and as
there are 105 families on the route besides himself, the saving to
the patrons of the route by this service is over $23,850 annually,
besides the value of the land increase, and the many other advantages
which have followed.</p>
<p>Taking his estimate of saving to each family along a route and
allowing for six families for each mile, three on each side of the
road, and there being 1,037,259 miles of rural delivery roads in
the United States, it can be seen what an aggregate wonderful
saving this has made, not counting the property, personal and
educational value of such a service to the people.</p>
<p>It will be seen that by this showing that the saving to the patrons
of 1 mile of rural delivery service ($1,350) will more than pay what
it costs the Government for a 24-mile route at a rate of $1,200
per annum.</p>
<p class="psh">The Per Capita Cost in Rural Delivery</p>
<p>The per capita cost in the Rural Delivery Service has been a
matter of considerable interest to those who are following the progress
and extension of this branch of the public service. The great
advance which has been made in this service and the still greater
extent to which it is proposed to extend it, embracing ultimately
all patrons wherever located, naturally raises the question of cost
as a whole and the cost per patron.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p>
<p>Charles Emory Smith, Postmaster General in 1900, who was
one of the staunch friends of rural delivery in its early days, said
the gross cost could be estimated by three methods, cost per square
mile, cost per capita, and cost per county. Adhering to the subject
in hand it may be stated that he found the cost per capita at
that time to be 92.7 serving a population of about 2,000,000 people
on something less than 3,000 routes. There is no reliable data
covering the period to 1910 upon this subject, but taking an
estimate based upon close calculation, it is found that notwithstanding
the tremendous growth of this service during that time
reaching in 1910 over 41,000 routes and accommodating over
20,000,000 patrons, the cost per capita had arisen to only 1.797,
and now with nearly 43,000 routes and serving over 26,000,000
people as patrons, the cost per capita is but 1.966. No answer
as to cost considering the known value of such service could be
illustrated more forcibly than by the figures here presented. If
the undeniable benefits of rural service to the people can be given
with ever-increasing efficiency at a cost no greater than that, it
can be reasonably assumed that the people who live upon the farms
of the United States and endure the hardships of such life with its
many attendant inconveniences are certainly entitled to their
share of public benefit, especially when as shown, the cost is so
small compared to the inmeasurable advantages afforded.</p>
<p>The city delivery service of the nation with its 34,000 carriers
costs now over $43,000,000. No computation of cost per capita
in this service has ever been made and relative comparison cannot
be given but such figures as are available show that in 1911 the
per capita cost of serving the people in the cities of the country
was $1.40 and that in 1916 this cost had increased to $1.75.
When the comparatively comfortable conditions under which
city delivery is conducted is considered, and the proportionate
difference in appropriation taken into account, it will appear that
the excess of cost in rural delivery is no greater than might naturally
be expected from the peculiar nature of the service, the territory
to be covered, and the almost insurmountable conditions
with which it has to contend. Indeed, it is a matter of surprise
that the cost of service per capita under the circumstances is so
small.</p>
<p>To keep down the public expense to so low a figure while extending
this service to millions of people heretofore denied this privilege,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
should be a matter of congratulation and encourage the hope,
as well as assure the ultimate end towards which all rural delivery
aims and activities are directed, viz., country-wide extension.</p>
<p class="psh">Some Necessary Conditions of Rural Delivery</p>
<p>England, France and Germany antedate us in the establishment
of rural delivery, but the service there is bureaucratic, originating
always with the post office officials and dominated by red tape
requirements. Ours is democratic and cooperative. It is established
upon petitions sent through Representatives in Congress,
irrespective of party affiliation. However, any application received
from a postmaster, or individual, showing reasonable
warrant for the establishment of a rural route in any community
will be given careful consideration by the Department. It is
absolutely free, the only conditions the Government makes in
establishing and maintaining service is that those who desire to
avail themselves of its beneficent provisions shall do their part
towards rendering it of public advantage, viz., by mending their
roads, building bridges over unbridged creeks and streams, see
that the county commissioners give prompt attention to such
needs and provide themselves with suitable receiving boxes, conveniently
placed along the roadside that the carrier can readily
deposit and collect mail without alighting from his conveyance.
Patrons can do much towards aiding the Government in this matter
and they doubtless do their bit in a willing and accommodating
spirit.</p>
<p class="psh">Annual Cost Per Patron, and Pieces Handled in Rural
Delivery Service</p>
<p>A study of the annual cost per patron in the rural delivery
service for the year 1916, shows that in the States of California
and Utah, and in the District of Columbia, it was less than $1 each.
In the States of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut,
Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina,
Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia, it
was more than $1 and less than $2. In Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,
Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana,
Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York,
Ohio, Oklahoma, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming, it was more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
than $2 and less than $3, and in North and South Dakota it was
over $3 and less than $4. Annual cost of service for patron decreased
from 2,066 in 1915 to 1,966 in 1916.</p>
<p>The annual cost per piece of mail handled on rural routes was
lowest in the States of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Utah, and the District of Columbia,
and highest in Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, North and South
Carolina, and Tennessee. Annual cost per price handled was
.0144 in 1915 and .0150 in 1916.</p>
<p>The States which had the largest number of patrons served on
rural routes (over a million in each) were Georgia, Illinois, Indiana,
Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas. The States which had less
than 100,000 patrons served were Arizona, Delaware, Montana,
Nevada, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Utah, Wyoming and the
District of Columbia.</p>
<p class="psh">Population and Extension of Rural Service</p>
<p>Relative to the provision in the act making appropriations for
the rural service for the fiscal year 1917, “that rural mail delivery
shall be extended so as to serve as nearly as practicable the entire
rural population of the United States,” it should be stated that
rural delivery service covered, at the end of the fiscal year 1916,
1,037,259 miles of roads, while star-route service was operated
upon 139,634 miles.</p>
<p>It is estimated that there are 2,199,646 miles of public roads in
the United States, so that there remain 1,022,753 miles or roads on
which no mail service is in operation.</p>
<p>At the end of the fiscal year 1916 an estimated population of
26,307,686 was served by rural routes, 520,000 by star routes,
and approximately 10,000,000 by fourth-class post offices. The
total rural population in the United States is placed at 43,991,722.
It will be seen, therefore, that while 83 per cent of the rural population
is receiving convenient mail service, 47 per cent of the rural
road mileage is uncovered.</p>
<p class="psh">Speeding Up the Rural Service by Motor Vehicle</p>
<p>This is a time of intense activity. Action is demanded everywhere
and “get there” is the cry of the day. Brevity and speed
are in close fellowship in the business world and competition spurs
on towards the greatest possible endeavor in any direction where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>
advantage lies. Expedients no longer serve. Only that which is
best and in the highest degree efficient, can hope to survive. The
introduction of the motor car in transforming conditions and producing
wonderful changes is characteristic of this pushing age.
Time is money. The motor has demonstrated its value, and
dominates the field of all far-reaching enterprise. Business men
recognize its tremendous possibilities and advantageous help in
saving time and abridging distance. It spells efficiency in commercial
life and men strain a point to bring themselves up alongside
their pushing and wideawake neighbors in availing themselves
of this great modern aid to the completest equipment. The farmer
realizing what it can accomplish in his peculiar domain, has hastened
to supply himself with what will contribute to his profit,
and he finds in this great adjunct to energetic industrial life the
means of increasing his business and enlarging his vision of opportunity
and desire.</p>
<p>Motor vehicle service is of course an innovation upon the 24-mile
horse-drawn route, and as any innovation upon old-established
custom may expect to meet objection in the administration of
public affairs, especially when such an innovation contemplates a
readjustment of routes and a possible reduction of carriers, objection
was raised in some quarters, but the desire to secure all
the benefit which the parcel post could give by the opportunity
afforded by zone extension, was a determining factor in the case,
and the Postmaster General, availing himself of the power vested
in him by act of Congress, ordered its establishment, due regard
being had to the limitations and conditions under which it could
be operated. Experience has justified the wisdom of such action.
Motor vehicles were accordingly introduced into the rural service
in 1915 to meet this demand for greater expedition in service and
the transportation of increased amounts of parcel post and mail
matter on extended routes and principally from the larger cities.
These routes must, however, be 50 miles in length and the compensation
is fixed at not more than $1,800 per annum, the carriers
to furnish and maintain their own motor vehicles. On June 30,
1916, 500 of such routes were in operation with a total length of
26,878 miles, averaging 53.756 miles per route, with an annual
cost of $877,824, or an average of $1,755.65 per route. These
motor routes superseded horse-drawn vehicle service formerly
costing $1,093,106 a year, or an annual saving of $515,282. Motor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>
routes are of especial benefit in sections where railroad facilities
are lacking. The greater distance covered by motor routes makes
it possible for a much larger number of persons in given localities
to communicate with one another on the same day, eliminating
the necessity for taking the mail to postoffices for redispatch and
in some instances transshipment over one or more railroads.
Better facilities are also afforded for the transportation of products
of the farm. Indianapolis, Ind., is a conspicuous example
of the efficiency of this service in reducing postage; a 20-pound
package mailed on a rural route from one office in Marion County
addressed to a patron of a rural route on another, which would
have cost 24 cents, can now be carried for 15 cents, and a 50-pound
package from one point to another, the cost of which would have
been 54 cents will now cost but 30 cents.</p>
<p class="psh">Village Delivery</p>
<p>In furtherance of the desire of the Government to do everything
in its power to oblige and accommodate the people of the
country and enlarge every privilege which could advance their
interests or provide for their comfort, the question of the extension
of village delivery, for which there has been considerable
demand, but which has heretofore received little encouragement,
was taken up with a view of securing such action from Congress
as would allow further extensions to be made, the original appropriation
being too limited for the purpose.</p>
<p>Between the very great facilities afforded the dwellers in the
cities and the almost equally great accommodation shown to those
in the rural sections, village delivery was but imperfectly considered
and the benefits and advantages which a more direct
attention to these needs could have secured, was allowed to remain
in abeyance, or at least not given the attention it deserved.</p>
<p>But the claim of the residents of small towns to equal privileges
with more favored localities was at length recognized and village
delivery which was established and put into operation in 1912,
was extended until 280 of such towns now have this accommodation,
employing 400 carriers. The entrance salary paid village
delivery carriers is at the rate of $600 per annum, and increased
to $690 per annum after twelve months of satisfactory service.
Only communities where the annual post office receipts amount
to $5,000 are entitled to this service.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p>
<p>Carriers appointed at third class offices are not subject to civil
service rules as such offices are not classified. When the receipts
amount to $8,000 per annum, the office is advanced to second
class and the village delivery carriers are given a civil service
status.</p>
<p class="psh">City Delivery</p>
<p>In 1864 the number of city delivery offices was 66, number of
carriers 685, cost of service, 1864, $317,063.20. In 1916 the
number of offices was 1,864, number of carriers 34,114, and the
cost of service $43,136,818. Average annual salaries of carriers
for the past four years has increased from $1,080.22, to $1,115.46.
Carriers enter the service at a salary of $800 per annum and are
promoted annually on their service record through the various
grades until they reach the salary of $1,100 at first class offices,
and $1,000 at offices of the second class, after which promotion
depends upon their exceptional efficiency.</p>
<p class="psh">Star Routes</p>
<p>June 30, 1916, the number of star routes was 11,187, length in
miles, 147,167, average cost per mile of length of routes $54.16,
per mile of travel $0.1026. In the renewal of contracts on certain
routes in the western States under new form of advertisement
there was a reduction in the cost of operation of $130,000.</p>
<p>Star routes are so-called because originally, a “star” appeared
on the advertisements for contract bidding to distinguish them
from other contracts and because of the words “with due celerity,
certainty and security” which appeared in connection with such
contract service. The purpose of star route service is to serve
post offices off the line of railroad travel and incidentally such
families as may live between those post offices who erect boxes or
hang out satchels to receive their mail, also to collect mail where
proper provision has been made for the purpose.</p>
<p>No bid submitted under an advertisement for star route service
will be considered unless the bidder shall agree in his bid that in
the event of the contract being awarded to him he will reside on or
contiguous to the route and give his personal supervision to the
performance of the service.</p>
<p class="psh">Postal Savings</p>
<p>The postal savings system was inaugurated January 3, 1911.
In June, 1916, the number of depositors was 602,937 and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
balance to the credit of depositors was $86,019,885.00. The
denominations of postal notes or certificates are $5.00, $10.00,
$20.00, $50.00 and $100.00, and they may be purchased at any
postal depository. The interest allowed by the Government is
2 per cent. These deposits may be exchanged in amounts of
$20.00 and multiples thereof, for 2½ per cent U. S. Postal Savings,
registered or coupon bonds. Postal certificates are made at the
Bureau of Engraving and Printing.</p>
<p class="psh">Money Order System</p>
<p>Dr. Charles F. Macdonald, who had been greatly interested and
had taken an active part in the establishment of the money order
system, was upon its inauguration in May, 1864, appointed as
superintendent. He is often called the “father of the money order
system” and doubtless with some considerable justice. He
labored untiringly to make it a success, and upon his death in 1902
it was found that he had bequeathed $2,000 to the United States
to be used by the Postmaster General in the improvement of that
service, and Congress by act of October 22, 1913, accepted the
gift, and the commission appointed by the Postmaster General in
furtherance of the act recommended that a vignette of Dr.
Macdonald be placed on the money order draft forms. This
recommendation was approved by the Postmaster General and
carried into effect. Orders issued: 1916, 121,636,818. Amount,
$719,364,950.46. Orders paid and repaid: number, 122,379,113.
Amount, $720,584,719.58. Net money order revenue for 1916,
$6,821,499.75.</p>
<p class="psh">Stamp Books</p>
<p>The need for some convenient way of handling postage stamps
when more were purchased than immediately required and which
need was long felt and operated as a bar against the purchase of
stamps in any considerable quantity for occasional use, led the
Hon. Edwin C. Madden, Third Assistant Postmaster General,
to consider some method of remedying this lack, and on March
26, 1900, after considerable experiment with paper of various kinds
to suit the purpose, devised the stamp book now in use of which
millions of copies are annually sold. In 1916, the Department
issued 28,005,930 of these books and the demand for them is
constantly increasing. These books are made in six different
kinds—books containing 24 and 96 stamps of the 1-cent denomination;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
12, 24 and 48, of the 2-cent denomination, and a book containing
both 1-cent and 2-cent stamps, viz., 24 1-cent, and 24
2-cent.</p>
<p>In this connection it may be but just to divide the credit of the
origin of the stamp book with Captain Bain of the Bureau of
Engraving and Printing, who, it is said, had the project in mind
for some time previous to its inauguration as a public accommodation.
Mr. Madden is usually given the credit but, as stated, the
credit may perhaps be fairly divided, as it is understood that
both these gentlemen collaborated in the perfection of the project.</p>
<p class="psh">Postal Cards</p>
<p>The postal cards now so generally used at once sprang into
public favor when adopted in this country in 1873. Their use
has not only been a means of carrying intelligence in easy and
convenient form, but has contributed to commercial enterprise
in many forms, and many directions as the growing demand for
them in the business world amply indicates. The number issued
to postmasters in 1916 was 1,047,894,800 and the value of these
cards was $10,784,307.00.</p>
<p class="psh">Division of Stamps</p>
<table id="t01" summary="t01">
<tr>
<td class="tdlh">Postage stamps and other stamped paper on hand in post offices, July 1, 1915</td>
<td class="tdrh">$104,035,823.48</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdlh">Stamped paper charged to postmasters</td>
<td class="tdrh">287,352,176.84</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdlh">Sales by postmasters, July 1, 1915, to June 30, 1916</td>
<td class="tdrh">277,728,025.20</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdlh">Stamped paper on hand in post offices, June 30, 1916</td>
<td class="tdrh">112,332,714.66</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p class="p1">The reduction in stamp sales which followed the outbreak of
the war in Europe and the gradual recovery is shown in the
increases, viz., for the quarter ending September 30, 1915, the percentage
of increase was 3.01; for December 31, 1915, it was 9.04;
for March 31, 1916, it was 9.87; for June 30, 1916, it was 11.25.</p>
<p>Interesting information concerning the manufacture of stamps,
etc., is given in the article relating to the Bureau of Engraving
and Printing on page 46.</p>
<p class="psh">Division of Classification</p>
<p>This division is charged with the consideration of all questions
relating to the classification of matter admitted to the mails,
intended or deposited for mailing, including the determination of
the admissibility of publications to the second class of mail matter,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
the limit of weight and size of mail, penalty envelopes and the
franking privilege. This office is in the Bureau of the Third
Assistant Postmaster General to whom all questions upon this
and kindred subjects should be addressed.</p>
<p class="psh">Purchasing Agent</p>
<p>Under the direction and control of the Postmaster General, this
officer has the supervision and purchase of all supplies for the
Department, whether under contract or not, for the Post Office
Department proper or for any branch of the postal service. The
Postal Laws and Regulations provide that a Bureau officer controlling
an appropriation, may authorize postmasters and other
postal officials to purchase supplies chargeable to that appropriation
subject to the approval of the purchasing agent in each
instance.</p>
<p class="psh">The Dead Letter Office</p>
<p>All undeliverable mail matter comes within two classes, unmailable
and unclaimed. The first comprises such as is not sufficiently
prepaid or so incorrectly, insufficiently or illegibly addressed
that the destination could not be discovered. All letters
of this class containing matter of value is classified and recorded
and a considerable amount of money can thus be returned to the
owner. The larger part of such unmailable matter contains articles
of merchandise, photographs, etc. The undeliverable letters
are those that though properly prepaid and correctly addressed
are unclaimed, not taken out of the office, though effort had been
made by advertisement to find the owner.</p>
<p>Letters and parcels received for 1916 amounted to 10,839,890.
Of this number 3,677,194 pieces were delivered, 101,485 filed,
7,019,436 destroyed and 41,775 under treatment. Checks, drafts,
money orders and other valuable papers of the face value of
$2,303,119.56 were found in undelivered letters, practically all
of which was restored to the owners. The net revenue from the
sale of undeliverable articles of merchandise and currency found
loose in the mails, etc., aggregated $53,665.69. Advertised letters
returned from the Dead Letter Office now require the payment of
1 cent, the revenue of this for the past six months amounted to
$11,000, making net revenue $64,665.69, or within $10,000 of the
whole amount required to conduct the operations of the office.</p>
<p>Formerly all dead matter came to Washington for examination<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
and disposition. Now there are twelve large cities in the country
geographically arranged, to which dead matter is sent in addition
to what is received in Washington. This has made it possible to
largely reduce the force in the Washington office. The establishment
of the Dead Letter Office dates back to 1825.</p>
<p class="psh">Mail Locks</p>
<p>There are four kinds of locks used by the Department, in protecting
the mails, the brass padlocks seen on letter and package boxes,
the iron lock used on mail pouches, the inside letter box lock, and
the registered lock used to protect the more valuable mail. The
locks and keys are made by the Government in the equipment
shops at Washington. Of the iron lock there are something like a
million in use. These locks are made at a cost of 8½ cents each
and weigh but 2-<sup>4</sup>/<sub>5</sub> ounces, the lightest and best lock ever used for
the purpose. Locks previously in use cost a great deal more
to make and keep in repair and were much heavier. The study
of economy in various forms during the past four years has made
it possible to introduce many reforms in the manufacture of
locks of which the above is a significant example. Steel is now
largely used in all lock equipment on account of the high cost of
brass. All equipment used in mail transportation is made by the
Government.</p>
<p>Mail locks and keys were formerly made by contract, but during
the administration of Postmaster General Dickinson it was
decided to do this work under Government supervision. Public
policy, no less than economy dictated this course. While the
manufacture of Government locks was surrounded with all possible
safeguard and precaution there could be no absolute assurance
that the mechanism would be kept secret, would be safe from imitation,
so the Government, both for security to the mails and for
economic reasons, decided to have the work done under its own
direction.</p>
<p class="psh">Mail Pouches and Sacks</p>
<p>In the general scheme of mail bags used in the postal service the
term “pouch” is used to apply to all mail bags designed for locking
by means of mail locks, and the term “sack” is used to apply
to all mail bags used in the postal service which are designed
for closing but not locking.</p>
<p>Under the term “pouch” may be mentioned those bags used<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
for inclosing through registered mail, saddle bags, designed for
transportation of mail on horseback; inner registered bags, used
for holding registered matter and inclosed in another receptacle;
and the ordinary pouches for first class mail matter such as letters,
etc.; also the mail catcher pouch, the use of which is restricted to
the exchange of mails with moving trains.</p>
<p>Under the term “sacks,” which are designed for closing, as a
rule, but not locking, comes the ordinary sack for newspapers and
parcel post matter, and bearing a cord fastener which bears a label
case and also serves for closure purposes. The standard bag is
made of No. 8 canvas, of best quality, and withstands usage for
several years. The sacks used for foreign mails, ordinary and
registered, are not provided with a closure device but are tied
with a string and secured with a lead seal, but it is expected in the
near future these classes of bags will be equipped with a locking
contrivance.</p>
<p>During the last ten years the weight of pouches used for ordinary
service has been rapidly diminishing. The average weight of
pouches in 1907, largest size, was about 9 pounds 5 ounces each,
while those now being introduced into the service weigh 2½
pounds each. This reduction in weight being due largely to the
elimination of leather parts. Many old-style pouches are still
in use, viz., made of a heavy canvas body, leather bottom and a
light weight top; costing about $2.16 each; the “1908” pouch
made of a heavy canvas bottom with leather band and a lighter
weight canvas top and body, costing about $1.44 each. These
pouches are now being rapidly replaced with the all-canvas pouch
costing less than 70 cents each. Catcher pouch used in the
exchange of mails on moving trains costs 80 cents each. Wherever
possible, the Department has eliminated expensive leather and
other parts in the production of its equipment.</p>
<p>There are approximately 600,000 pouches and 4,000,000 sacks
available to the service at present. The all-canvas pouch which
the Department now furnishes costs between 69 and 70 cents, while
the largest size domestic standard sack cost a little less than
73 cents, smaller sizes in proportion. Pouches and sacks are
purchased by contract but kept in repair by the Government.
New pouches of new types are also manufactured by the Government,
nearly 80,000 being made in the Mail Bag Repair Shop
during the past year.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p>
<p>The principal movement of mails is from the east to the west,
from the great commercial centers to the less densely populated
districts. This ebb and flow is natural in ordinary times, but is
greatly increased both in volume and quantity when the immensely
stimulated holiday trade changes conditions in all directions and
calls for the exercise of administrative ability in meeting extraordinary
demands and supplying suddenly developed needs.
These conditions are met by a system of distribution devised
to meet just such needs, whereby congestion is relieved at one
point and pressing demands accommodated at another, the various
mail bag depositories under capable management rendering such
necessary aid. The whole supply of bags has been handled as
much as ten times in one year through these depositories without
which the peculiar conditions of the service could not be met.
Mountain carriers in the northwest require special pouches especially
in the sections where snow shoes are needed. The carriers in
Alaska with their dog-teams have also special makes of pouches
and thus all conditions are met where peculiar needs require it.</p>
<p class="psh">Post Office Supplies</p>
<p>In June, 1872, Congress authorized the establishment of a blank
agency for the purpose of supplying the smaller post offices with
blanks and stationery. The appropriation was $132,500. In
1883 the scope of this enactment was enlarged and the Department
undertook the tremendous task of supplying all the post
offices of the country with stationery and all the office equipment
and appliances needed in the conduct of public business. The
amount of a recent appropriation for the purpose was about two
and a half million dollars. From this blank agency has grown
the Division of Supplies, which furnishes all supplies needed except
mail bags, locks and keys, which come under the equipment
branch, of which this division is a part. Supplies are sent to
postmasters upon requisitions made out upon blank forms furnished
for the purpose. These requisitions are carefully revised
by clerks and allowances made conformably to practice and
customs. Money order and postal note requisitions are also
handled in this division. Supplies are required in enormous quantities
for public use. In twine alone the required amount for 1916
was 2,000,000 pounds, or 680,000 miles of it. Ink 15,000 gallons.
Facing slips more than a billion; pencils, pens, blanks, envelopes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
and paper in staggering amounts. The utmost economy is practiced
in sending out these immense supplies that waste may be
prevented and the money appropriated used to the best advantage.
The capable management of the Superintendent and those in
charge of the Division of Equipment and Supplies, has produced
gratifying results in all directions and rendered service which has
been recognized and appreciated.</p>
<p class="psh">Special Delivery</p>
<p>Special delivery was authorized by Act of March 3, 1885, during
the administration of Postmaster General Vilas. Established
October 1, 1885. At first restricted to free delivery offices in towns
of 4,000 or more inhabitants. August 4, 1886, it was extended to
all free delivery offices. Special delivery service is made to all
persons within the carrier limits of city delivery and to patrons of
rural service who reside more than 1 mile from post offices, but
within half a mile of rural routes. Deliveries are made at all first
and second class post offices on Sundays and at other offices if
open on Sunday, and at all offices on holidays. Auditor’s report
shows that for the quarter ending September, 1916, the amount
expended for this service was $633,713.21. The number of pieces
delivered was nearly 8,000,000, or a yearly average of something
like 32,000,000.</p>
<p class="psh">Foreign Mail Service</p>
<p>The foreign mail service of the United States dates back to
1868, when James H. Blackfan was chief clerk of the Department.
This service was then in charge of the chief clerk and when the
office of Superintendent of Foreign Mails was created he was
placed in charge of it. These mails are carried under the Act of
1891. All mails not carried by the mileage basis under this act
are carried by non-contract vessels on the weight basis. The
total cost of this service in 1916 was $2,228,341. The rate of
compensation allowed under the general statute for the sea conveyance
of United States mails by steamers of American register,
not operated under the ocean mail Act of 1891, is not exceeding
the full postage of the mails conveyed. The two principal offices
from which foreign mail is dispatched are New York and San
Francisco. Clerks are assigned to this service as need requires.
Under the regulations of the Universal Postal Convention, mail<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
matter other than parcel post, may be dispatched whether fully
prepaid or not, but as double the amount of postage is collectable
when not fully prepaid, postmasters in this country have been
instructed whenever practicable to notify senders of short-paid
letters that such double expense might be avoided. On registered
articles and parcel post packages, full prepayment is compulsory.
Rate of postage is 5 cents for the first ounce or fraction of an
ounce, and 3 cents for each additional ounce or fraction thereof.
Letter postage for England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British
possessions goes at 2 cents an ounce. International parcel post
rate is 12 cents per pound or fraction of a pound.</p>
<p class="psh">Topography Branch</p>
<p>The impetus given to this branch of the service, the making of
maps, by the rapid growth of rural delivery, the reorganization of
which made the completion of county maps an almost immediate
necessity, has considerably stimulated activity in this direction
and been productive of great benefit generally. Recompilations
of State maps have been made, old drawings brought up to date
and diagram maps replaced by those of the regular edition. The
making of maps has developed into quite an industry in recent
years owing to the greatly increased need for such matter. Few
people realize how necessary such aid is in determining questions
of administrative concern, especially in such vast areas of public
enterprise as the growth and extension of the rural delivery and
star route service involves.</p>
<p>These public maps are very largely used for post routes and altogether
this branch occupies quite an important place in Department
operations. Of the post-route class 43,258 were printed during
the year of 1916, 1,545 were sold to the public, together with
5,983 county and 1,963 local center maps (blueprints) the balance
having been distributed to the postal service, to other Departments
and to Members of Congress. In the blue-printing plant
7,964 county maps, 13,330 local center maps, and 10,347 miscellaneous
plans, forms, etc., were made.</p>
<p>Of the 3,010 counties in the United States there are 2,630 in
which rural delivery service is in operation. Accurate maps,
showing rural service in 984 of these counties, have been completed,
while preliminary maps for 755 others, giving similar information,
have been drawn. Base maps and other data are in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
hand which will be used in the compilation of maps of 432 additional
counties. Active steps are being taken to procure information
from every possible source for use in compiling maps of the
459 remaining counties.</p>
<p>These maps of every county in the United States in which
rural service has been established, are made on a scale of 1 inch to
the mile. They show all public roads, rural routes, post offices,
houses, school-houses, churches and streams. Negative prints
are sold at 35 cents each by application to the Third Assistant
Postmaster General. Lists are furnished on request showing
maps completed.</p>
<p class="psh">Division of Post Office Service</p>
<p>On the first of July, 1916, a new division was created in the
office of the First Assistant Postmaster General to be known as the
Division of Post Office Service. This new division absorbs the
duties formerly performed by the City Delivery and the Division
of Salaries and Allowances. All persons employed directly in post
offices as well as the city carriers will now come under the control
of this division. It will also include every function relating to the
handling and the moving of the mails in the cities and towns of the
country. More efficiency and better results generally are confidently
expected to follow this change which is in line with the
general policy of placing all closely related duties under the same
jurisdiction and control.</p>
<hr class="chap" />
</div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p>
<div class="break">
<h2 class="p4">CHAPTER IV</h2>
<p class="pch">Special Articles on Postal Subjects</p>
<p class="psh">The American Postal System</p>
<p>The genius of the American Postal System is found in the harmonious
cooperation of its several parts, in direction and in
operation; wise policy and purpose as seen in the formulation of
plans, with willing assistance in operation to render such plans
effective. The Postmaster General directs the policy, the bureau
heads execute what is determined upon and the benefit or failure is
seen in practical administration. All alike share in achievement,
the mind that conceives, the heads that direct, and the force upon
whose faithful and intelligent effort the outcome depends.</p>
<p>A form of Government democratic in all its parts and tendencies
requires fidelity and patriotic purpose in performance from every
one to whom any trust is committed, and in every successful
accomplishment of any given plan or purpose, the measure of success
is always in proportion to the interest taken or the industry
with which such plan or purpose is pursued. Loyalty alike to
administrative endeavor or the public welfare is imperatively
required and unless this is faithfully and ungrudgingly given no
plan can succeed, even the best devised must surely fail. There
is such a thing as patriotic devotion to public duty and no man
is fit to hold an office of trust no matter how small it may be
who does not consider this as an obligation to be met and honestly
discharged. If any one thing has contributed to make our postal
establishment prosperous and great it is the conscious acceptance
of the full meaning of such an obligation. This has distinguished
Americans in all public employment, emphasizing the stirring
words of Lord Nelson, England’s great naval commander, whose
injunction to patriotic response upon a memorable occasion
deserves to be remembered in civil life as well, for loyalty and
patriotism are as much in accord there, as much demanded in
ordinary civil functions as in the more heroic, but not less honorable
and useful pursuit common to our national life.</p>
<p class="psh">Considerate Treatment of Newspaper Mail</p>
<p>When General Gresham was Postmaster General in President
Arthur’s administration, the Washington correspondent of the
<i>Louisville Courier-Journal</i> complained to him about the non-delivery<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>
of newspapers mailed by private individuals. “What do
you think is the reason?” asked General Gresham. “I attribute
the failure,” said the correspondent, “to the carelessness of post
office officials. A newspaper in their mind is a very small thing
and it is handled accordingly. If the address is the least unintelligible
no effort is made to decipher it and it is tossed on the floor
and if the wrapper happens to be torn it shares the same fate, and
I believe that newspapers are often torn open and read without
any conscientious scruples whatever.”</p>
<p>“I am glad you told me about the alleged carelessness that exists
in post offices in the country,” said General Gresham. “I shall
give the matter prompt attention. If I cannot work out a reform
in that respect, I would remove a postmaster for breaking the
wrapper of a newspaper or making away with it as quick as I
would if he had torn open a letter. One is as sacred as the other.”</p>
<p class="psh">Bureau of Engraving and Printing<br />
Stamp Manufacture</p>
<p>The Bureau of Engraving and Printing in which all the postage
stamps used by the Government are manufactured is a wonderful
institution every way. Every known appliance and all that
the mechanical skill and ingenuity of the Director, Hon. Joseph
E. Ralph, and his very capable expert and designer, Mr. B. R.
Stickney, could devise, have been brought into requisition for
the purposes the Bureau is intended to serve.</p>
<p>The various operations required in printing postage stamps
alone, of which such enormous quantities are annually required,
would seem a great undertaking, but when to this is added the
printing of all the paper money, bonds and securities used by the
Government, the magnitude of the task may be understood.
Between four and five thousand people find employment within
the Bureau, the greatest establishment of its kind in the world.
Thousands of visitors annually witness the wonders therein displayed
and come away impressed with the marvels they have
seen in the adaption of means to a definite purpose. The care
and comfort of the employes is a matter of deep concern to the
Director and every possible method of providing for both, by
approved means of sanitation and ventilation, is availed of. The
air is washed and strained to cleanse it of all impurities and full
hospital provision made for those who may need medical care and
attention. Nothing seems to have been forgotten or overlooked in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
this most wonderful of all government establishments and the
result is that under favorable working conditions the utmost that
may be expected is fully realized.</p>
<p>The ordinary postage stamps are in denominations of from 1
cent to $1 and of nineteen kinds. The output is 40,000,000 daily,
or something like thirteen billions per annum, with a face value in
1915 of $221,875,000. They are printed in sheets of 400 each,
which are divided and subdivided until the sheet contains 100
stamps in which amount they are sent to the post offices for public
use. The various processes used in manufacture, the printing,
gumming and perforating, are separately performed on the sheets
of stamps; those intended for slot machines are printed and perfected
on a rotary press which performs all the operations at once.
This press, the invention of Mr. Stickney, after seven years of
labor, will save 65 per cent of the cost of printing stamps per
annum or $280,000, and will completely revolutionize stamp printing
from intaglio plates. It combines twenty-three operations in
one. It prints, gums and perforates the stamps, cuts them
into sections of 100 stamps each, or will finish the stamps in coils
of 500 and 1,000 stamps per coil. It turns out the finished product
ready for shipment to the postmasters of the country. As an
object lesson to further show the tremendous proportions of this
postage stamp industry, it may be stated that the daily output
would cover approximately eight acres of land if laid flat or make
a chain of stamps 703 miles long if laid end to end. The sheets of
100 stamps each sent to post offices in 1915, piled up one upon
another, would make a shaft over 6 miles high, and placed end to
end would make a strip over 16,000 miles long and as there are
ten rows of stamps on each sheet, a strip of single stamps would be
more than 160,000 miles long, enough to girdle the earth six times
with something over.</p>
<p>The paper required to print these stamps for the year 1915
amounted to 1,200,000 pounds, and to make this paper and to
obtain this amount, 3,500 spruce trees were ground to a pulp.
Converted into lumber this would have built fifty houses complete.
The amount of ink required was 670,000 pounds.</p>
<p>When the post office inspectors, unannounced, visited the Bureau
at the close of the fiscal year of 1915 to check up the accounts, they
were found correct to the last one-cent stamp, a high compliment
to the excellent accounting system in practice at that institution.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p>
<p>Orders for stamps are received daily from the Office of the Third
Assistant Postmaster General and shipped by the Bureau.</p>
<p class="psh">Post Office Inspectors</p>
<p>The Division of Post Office Inspectors is in many ways one of the
most interesting in the postal service. The duties are varied and
of especial importance, as the Post Office Inspector when on duty
for the Department is the official representative of the Postmaster
General and clothed with all due official authority. The purpose
of such officials is to have ready at hand reliable men for confidential
work. Unusual capacity is required, tact, judgment, patience
and courage. The duties of an inspector are not measured by the
ordinary hours of employment, but depend altogether upon the
nature of the work he is called upon to perform, day and night
in successive order, being synonymous terms when especial service
is required. Complaints are generally the basis of inquiry and
operation, but the scope of duties takes a wide range, involving
special work of any kind and in any direction. Irregularities in
the service form the principal basis of complaints, but violations of
postal laws, frauds and depredations upon the mails furnish a
proportionate share.</p>
<p>The inspectors are assigned to duty in geographical divisions
of the country under an inspector-in-charge, with the Chief
Inspector at Washington in general control. As a rule inspectors
do duty in their divisions, but under the orders of the Postmaster
General they may be sent anywhere. They are expected to be
familiar with the Postal Laws and Regulations and conduct their
inquiries in accordance therewith. The division is directly under
the Postmaster General and in the classified civil service, and the
selections made for this important service represent men of intelligence
and integrity. Volumes could be written of the strategy
employed and methods pursued in tracing criminal operations.
The more agreeable duties, however, require an equal amount of
skill though attended with less danger and difficulty. The force
of inspectors has been largely increased in recent years because of
postal growth and development in all directions.</p>
<p class="psh">The Railway Mail Service</p>
<p>The Railway Mail Service of the United States, the most
splendid of all the branches of the postal service, owes its origin to
Hon. S. R. Hobbie of New York, First Assistant Postmaster<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
General in the administration of President Jackson. Upon his
return from Europe in 1847, he made a report to the Department
giving his impression of the traveling post office in England. The
Department was then struggling with many difficulties in the distribution
and bagging of the mails and one plan after another
was tried with but indifferent success. Finally Judge Holt,
Postmaster General in 1862, determined to try the English system
and the first railway post office was introduced in the postal
service of the country. The overland mails were then carried
by stage coaches from the west side of the Missouri River to California
and the immense accumulation of mail matter at Saint
Joseph, Mo., destined for the Pacific Coast and the intermediate
States, induced the Postmaster General to establish the first
railway post office on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad
(Quincy, Ill., to St. Joseph, Mo), the pioneer road in Railway Mail
Service history. The growth of the Railway Mail Service has
been marvelous and its achievements unequalled in modern
progressive developement. Three thousand five hundred railroad
mail routes, aggregating 502,937,359 miles of service and employing
nearly 19,000 postal clerks and supervisors with salaries
amounting to over $26,000,000 attest the strength and greatness
of this magnificent arm of the postal service. Of the 14,369,582,586
pieces of mail matter distributed and re-distributed during the
past year, 14,367,325,426 pieces, or 99.984 per cent, were handled
correctly—a record which should be a matter of pride to every
man who wears the badge of the R. M. S. The fifteen divisions
in which the whole service is divided each complete in itself, but
responsive to central control and direction in Washington, has
brought the system to such a state of perfection that but little
remains for further experiment.</p>
<p class="psh">The Parcel Post and the Opposition to Its Establishment</p>
<p>The splendid showing made in the recent reports of the Postmaster
General touching the growth and development of the
Parcel Post in this administration must be of interest to the people
of the country for whose benefit this measure has been so successfully
conducted. Its admitted usefulness brings forcibly to
mind the struggle through which this measure passed before the
force of public opinion and the evident advantage it foreshadowed,
secured its ultimate adoption.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p>
<p>While in the American Republic history is rapidly made and
startling changes are not of infrequent or uncommon occurrence,
it is, however, true that subjects which provoke discussion because
cherished interests are endangered or settled opinions of public
policy liable to be overthrown, require time in which to adjust
themselves to changing conditions.</p>
<p>The student of political economy will be interested to note how
these changes of time and condition affect the opinion and views
of men identified with public affairs. What seems wisdom and
good judgment in one generation is opposed and set aside in
another, both acting for the general welfare and inspired by patriotic
purpose.</p>
<p>The proper scope and purpose of government, in its relation to
the people whom it serves, is always a matter of deep concern,
not only as to the views held by those appointed to administer
public affairs, but also in the opinions and ideas of the people
themselves. While a great principle may remain in many minds
the same, unchanged and reluctant to change, conditions may
operate to produce views entirely dissimilar and completely at
variance with those of another and previous period.</p>
<p>Two greatly divergent and distinctive opinions have divided the
thinkers and the statesmen of our country as to the proper functions
of such a government as this. This difference arising from
the educational environment of many leaders of public opinion,
easily became a matter of accepted political or party belief between
those who held to the limitations of delegated authority and those
who inclined to wider power and greater privilege. Both have
had earnest and strenuous advocates, but the tendencies of the
times conclusively point to the growing acceptance of the latter
as more suited to a great and growing nation whose needs may not
be fettered by tradition or obstinate blindness to the march of
progress, but must recognize the paramount interests of the
people whose welfare should always be the chief concern.</p>
<p>The Parcel Post is now a recognized benefit to the country. All
classes and conditions profit by its mutual advantage. Its
gigantic strides to popular favor cannot be measured or adequately
described. The burdensome exactions of the high tariffs,
which corporate enterprise so long interposed, have been lifted
and closer relation established between buyer and seller, by
which both are the gainer. As no compromise was possible where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
monopoly was concerned, it remained for the Government to set
aside the question of limited powers and give the people of the
country the benefit to which they were entitled, but which monopoly
denied, viz., the opportunity to profit by the use of the facilities
which were at hand and which have proven so thoroughly
effective. Two names stand out prominently in this connection,
the statesman whose thorough knowledge of the subject and whose
earnest and intelligent efforts shaped and directed this great public
measure, and the public official whose hearty cooperation assured
its success. Hon. David J. Lewis, of Maryland, and Hon.
Albert S. Burleson, the Postmaster General, deserve the thanks of
the country for their work in this beneficial enterprise and the
meed of praise will not be withheld.</p>
<p>The old-time belief in the necessity of curbing the ambitious
designs of those who were striving to open the way to an enlargement
of government privilege is strikingly seen in the attitude of
Postmaster General Jewell in his annual report to Congress in
1874. In referring to the activity then already seen to widen the
scope of the Post Office Department and engage in enterprises
held by many at that time and the Postmaster General in particular,
as foreign to the sphere of duties and intended purposes
and powers of the Department, Mr. Jewell said:</p>
<p class="pbq p1">“I would suggest that the time has come when a resolute effort
should be made to determine how far the Post Office Department
can properly go in its efforts to accommodate the public, without
trespassing unwarrantably upon the sphere of private enterprise.
There must be a limit to governmental interferency and happily
it better suits the genius of the American people to help themselves
than to depend on the State. To communicate intelligence and
disseminate information are the primary functions of this Department.
Any divergence from the legitimate sphere of its operations
tends to disturb the just rule that, in the ordinary business
of life, the recipient of a benefit is the proper party to pay for it,
since there is no escape from the universal law that every service
must in some way be paid for by some one. Moreover, in a
country of vast extent like ours, where most of the operations of
the Department are carried on remote from the controlling center,
the disposition to engage in lateral enterprises, more or less foreign
to the theory of the system, may lead to embarrassments whence
extrication would be difficult.”</p>
<p class="p1">Although the advocates of the privileged rights of private enterprise
have ever resisted the entrance of government into the field<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
of national endeavor, the triumphant progress of the Parcel Post
under Departmental direction has silenced all captious objection,
for its admitted adaptation to the needs of the country and its
growing popularity among the people, attests the fact that no
limitations can be wisely set in public affairs which bars the
progress of an intended benefit.</p>
<p>An attempt was later made in 1901 to check the growth of public
sentiment favorable to the establishment of the Parcel Post,
for which a bill has been introduced into Congress, by a concerted
movement, by whom originated is not known, which aimed
to arouse the merchants in rural sections in opposition thereto, a
widespread propaganda, the object of which was to flood President
McKinley with a stereotyped circular signed by these rural merchants
all over the country, in order that such measure might not
meet with his approval because of the wreck and ruin it would be
sure to create. To what extent this movement was carried or
what attention it received from President McKinley is not known,
but the fears of Postmaster General Jewell or the alarm of the
rural merchants were not borne out in the light of subsequent
events, as the successful progress of the Parcel Post has abundantly
demonstrated.</p>
<p>This popular measure was, however, not to be secured for the
public good without strenuous effort, even in these later days
when its early adoption was so clearly foreseen. It still had to
encounter opposition, the lingering echo of previous struggle.
Its friends had to meet and combat resistance, within and without
the halls of legislation and it was only by determined purpose and
a concert of effort that criticism was finally silenced and the
measure written into the statutes of the nation. Congress
passed the act, August 24, 1912, and the struggle of nearly half a
century was at an end with the popular will triumphant.</p>
<p>First recommended in 1892. Law passed by Congress August 2,
1912. Became operative January 1, 1913. It is in operation on
45,000 rural routes and a billion parcels are carried annually.
Parcels may be sent C. O. D., may be insured, 3 cents for parcels
valued up to $5 or less and a low graduated scale up to $100.
Indemnity is paid for partial loss or damage. Rate is charged
by weight in pounds and by zones. Books are now admitted
and all classes of proper merchandise accepted. Weight is
limited to 50 pounds for first and second zones (150 miles)<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
and to 20 pounds beyond. Postmasters will give all necessary
information.</p>
<p class="psh">Interesting Facts about the Postmasters General</p>
<p>Excluding the border States, the South, properly speaking, has
had but two men in the office of Postmaster General since the days
of Benjamin Franklin—Joseph Habersham, of Georgia, and Albert
Sidney Burleson, of Texas. The more populous States of the east,
with their political power and material advantages, have had
the greatest number of such appointments, 23 of the 48 men
who have held that office having come from that section. The
border States have had 15 and the west only 8. It was not until
1866 that the west was at all recognized in the appointment of
such cabinet officer, when Alexander W. Randall, of Wisconsin,
was chosen by President Johnson. Subsequently that State furnished
three more Postmasters General, viz., Howe, Vilas and Payne.
In 1829 the Postmaster General became a member of the cabinet by
the action of President Jackson, his first appointee to that position,
Hon. William T. Barry, of Kentucky, receiving that honor.</p>
<p>In considering the States of the Union which have been most
fortunate in appointments to this office, it is found that Pennsylvania
and New York have each had 6 to their credit; Connecticut,
Kentucky, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, 4 each; Massachusetts,
Maryland, and Ohio, 3 each, and the remainder scattered
among the 18 States from which all the Postmasters General
have been selected.</p>
<p>The term of service was, it seems, much longer in the olden
days than at present. From 1775 to 1850—75 years—there were
only 17 men in that position, Gideon Granger, of Connecticut,
having served 13 years and 8 months, and Return J. Meigs, of
Ohio, 9 years and 3 months. From 1850 to 1913—63 years—there
have been 31 men in that office. Whether the shifting currents of
political life and expediency, or other causes, have operated to
make changes in this office, it appears that many occurred in
the administrations of some of our chief executives. Roosevelt,
for instance, had four Postmasters General; Grant, Arthur, and
Cleveland (in the latter’s two terms) also had 4 each; Washington
and Buchanan, 3; Jackson, Fillmore, Lincoln, Hayes, and
McKinley, 2 each. The remainder of the Presidents evidently
retained the men they had originally appointed.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p>
<p class="psh">Withdrawal of Letters from the Mail</p>
<p>It may not be generally known that a letter once mailed can be
withdrawn. Such is, however, the case. Letters may be withdrawn
from the mails at the office of mailing by satisfactory identification,
a written address in the same handwriting, if address
was written, or such other evidence as will satisfy the postmaster
of the applicant’s right to withdrawal. If letter has already been
dispatched the postmaster may telegraph to the point of destination
for withholding such letter from delivery, or to a railway
postal clerk in whose custody the letter is known to be, carefully
describing the same and requesting its return. A sum must be
deposited with the postmaster sufficient to defray all expenses
incurred.</p>
<p class="psh">Handling of the Mail</p>
<p>Official mail comes to the Department addressed to the several
Bureaus. It is then opened, assorted to the various divisions and
redistributed to the clerks according to the subjects named or
special duties assigned to each. The divisions are supervised
by the official in charge, under whose direction the work is done
and by whom the responsibility is assumed. He advises with
and suggests methods of operation, and in important matters involving
special correspondence, assumes direct charge himself.
Letters written by clerks are submitted to the chief for examination
before being initialed for mailing, or for the signature of the
Bureau heads where such signature is required. Letters are
answered according to date of receipt all reasonable promptness
being enjoined. Filing is done according to the nature and duties
of the various bureaus and the character of correspondence and
papers in use. Approved systems are followed and metal filing
cases generally employed. In the Bureau of the Fourth Assistant
where monthly reports are received in connection with the regular
mail, during the month of January, 1917, the amount so received
aggregated 72,000 pieces, and 46,000 pieces of mail were dispatched.
Ordinary hand work could not dispose of such amounts with the
force assigned, therefore mechanical devices for opening and sealing
mail are employed for the purpose. Messengers gather the
outgoing mail by regular rounds and it is dispatched as soon as
brought to the mailing room. A work of considerable magnitude
in this Bureau is now being conducted, viz., the purging of the accumulated
rural and star route files and correspondence which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
had so grown in bulk as to make both search and handling difficult.
It was a much needed reform and will be found of especial value in
filing operations.</p>
<p class="psh">Cost Accounting</p>
<p>By means of an accurate cost-keeping system devised for the
equipment shops, but which can be adapted to any form of clerical
expense, great improvements have been made and savings effected.
All mail equipment is now supplied at a greatly reduced cost and
in improved form. Supplies for post offices are judiciously and
economically handled under the system now in operation, all discoverable
waste checked and the service greatly benefited. The
direct, the indirect and the overhead charges can now be clearly
ascertained in any form of manufacturing enterprise and the
cost in any direction definitely known. It was a long felt need in
economical administration and its introduction in the Post Office
Department has been of decided advantage.</p>
<p class="psh">Cleansing Mail Bags</p>
<p>The life of a mail bag is about six years and after being dragged
about on railroad platforms and other places they accumulate an
amount of dust and dirt which renders them unfit for handling
when returned to the bag shop for repair. The old practice was
to shake them out by hand, but in the hurry and haste of business
this was but imperfectly done and there was constant complaint
among the operators and clamor for a better system. After
many experiments and various tests a method was at length
devised which cleans them thoroughly and does away with the discomfort
under which the work was done. The method finally
adopted consists of large tumbling barrels or cages made of wood
with slats and fashioned in the shape of a star, holding several
hundred bags each. Driven rapidly by electric power the bags
are thoroughly shaken, the escaping dust confined in a tightly
constructed room and carried off by blowers into an immense canvas
bag resembling a dirigible balloon when inflated. At stated
intervals the end of this bag is opened and the dirt and dust
removed. Four thousand bags a day are now successfully treated
by this process.</p>
<p class="psh">The Farm-to-Table Movement</p>
<p>As the farm-to-table movement is now attracting a great deal of
public attention and is directly connected with the postal service<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
by its afforded means of communication, some observations upon
the subject may be worthy of mention.</p>
<p>There are four fundamental facts connected with the subject,
viz., the points of production, places of consumption, methods of
operation and means of communication. Production is upon the
farm, consumption in the cities and towns, methods, to be determined
by experience, and the mode and means of conveyance, a
government function.</p>
<p>Regarding the first of these divisions, certain facts are apparent.
The balance of trade, eight to one is against the farmer at the
point of production; he receives very much more than he sends.
Why this disproportion? It is caused either by lack of interest
in the subject, or because of lack of practical experience in the
successful management of such business enterprise. The remedy
in either case is in his hands. If interest is wanting he should cultivate
it; if he has made experiments and they have failed of proper
results, he should not become discouraged but try again. High
prices in the cities lead the residents there to seek relief by direct
dealings with the producer. The consumer will reach him if he
puts himself in touch with the man who is seeking, and the desire to
sell his goods and do business, should lead the producer to inquire
how best it can be done.[ The postmaster can help him by advice
and counsel and it should be a pleasurable duty for the postmaster
to advise and confer with, and put the producer (who is his
patron), in the way of profitable business intercourse with the man
in the city who needs him and is only too anxious to find who he is,
where he lives, and what he has to sell.</p>
<p>While the country postmaster at the point of production has a
duty to perform in advising with the producer (for the postmaster
is to all intents and purposes the “middleman” in this connection)
the city postmaster has also a duty to perform in assisting
the resident there to find the most convenient places of production
and how such places can be easily reached and what can be
procured there that the city resident wants and needs. Many
postmasters are now paying especial attention to this matter on
account of the urgent necessity which the high prices, and diminished
quantities of provision that come to the cities, render so
necessary, but conditions require that many more should be
engaged in that direction to afford all the benefit this great measure
of the Government was intended to give.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p>
<p>The methods, the best methods to obtain the end desired, both
at the point of production, where the supply is found, and at the
point of consumption to which this supply is to be transported,
must be discovered by the actual results which the various methods
that have been tried have produced, or were found to be most
advantageous and most successful. Many plans have been
suggested and tried out, but it must remain for experience to
demonstrate and determine which of these is best and most
likely to secure advantageous benefits.</p>
<p>The remaining question is the part the Government is called upon
to perform to reap the most possible results and make the farm-to-table
movement popular and profitable. The Government
is more ready to act than either producer or consumer seem to be;
to extend every privilege and afford every accommodation which
postal enterprise or the public purse can provide, that this, in
some sense paternal relation of government to people in benevolent
provision for their welfare, may secure all that its most sanguine
projectors ever hoped to accomplish. It has the support of Congress,
and the Postmaster General has omitted no word or act
which could in any manner contribute to its success and stands
ready to do the utmost that his great office and his great opportunity
afford, to make this measure a benefit and a boon to all the
people.</p>
<p>The readjustment of prices will come, and the remedy appear,
when the elimination of so much handling, packing, repacking and
distributing with its consequent loss and its increased cost, decreases
the cost which the consumer has to meet for all this added
labor, and for which he pays the price, and from which burden
the parcel post by its direct and better system of exchange aims
to free and relieve him.</p>
<p class="psh">Postal Service in Alaska</p>
<p>Alaska is so far off that its interests do not commonly concern the
people to any great extent. The Government, however, takes a
more paternal view of its only territorial possession in North
America, and has paid particular attention to its progress and
development, especially in postal affairs and the means of communication
among the people. Alaska has now 170 post offices
of which 45 have money order facilities. It has 21 star routes
with an aggregate length of 4,544 miles and an annual travel of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
249,331.10 miles. Annual rate of expenditure, $260,518.50. Average
rate of cost per mile traveled, $1.04. Average number of
trips per week, 52.</p>
<p class="psh">Standardization in Post Office Methods</p>
<p>During this administration a very important change was made
in the management and conduct of the larger post offices of the
country. It was found that the delivery of parcel post matter by
vehicle was costing from 1 to 6 cents each. Investigation showed
that this varying cost was largely due to lack of uniformity in
methods and equipment and that the need of standardization
extended to every branch of post office service. Postal experts
were accordingly sent to all sections of the country to study
existing methods and recommend necessary changes. As a result,
unnecessary independent divisions in post offices were eliminated
and two divisions established, one in charge of records, accounts
and financial services, the other to have charge of the mail handling
operations. The personnel of the offices also received attention,
that as far as possible, clerks could be assigned to the duties
for which they were best fitted. Subsequent investigation confirmed
the advantage of such standardization, and the large post
offices which handle 75 per cent of the nation’s mail, have now
been brought under such improved control that the benefit which
such intelligent methods, properly carried out, should naturally
develop, has been abundantly shown.</p>
<p class="psh">Postal Savings Circulars in Foreign Tongues</p>
<p>The Government has for years been anxious to reach citizens of
foreign birth residing in the United States for the purpose of informing
them relative to our Postal Savings System. Circulars
have now been issued in the mother tongue to Bohemian, Bulgarian,
Chinese, Croatian, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, French,
German, Greek, Hungarian, Magyar, Italian, Japanese, Lithuanian,
Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Ruthenian, Serbian, Slovak,
Sloverian, Spanish, Swedish, and Yiddish people here which
have been widely distributed and are expected to be of considerable
service. The foreign born population in this country,
according to the census of 1910, numbers over 13,000,000 and it is
believed that the business of the Postal Savings System would
be greatly increased if the attention of these people could be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
properly directed to its advantages, and these circulars in their
own language are intended for that purpose.</p>
<p class="psh">Postal Enterprise of a Patriotic Maryland Editor</p>
<p>It seems from old records on the subject as mentioned in the
<i>Washington Evening Star</i>, that some of the editors of the colonial
period of our history had quite a good deal to say and took a very
active part in shaping political events, particularly in postal
affairs. One Maryland editor, Goddard by name, when his papers
were refused in the mails on account of his outspoken views, set
about establishing what he called “A Constitutional American
Post Office.” He issued a circular, July 2, 1774, announcing his
plan, and went about the colonies soliciting support. Committees
were appointed and subscriptions of money secured, postmasters
designated, riders secured and service established, which was
instantly patronized. Crown post riders found the roads unsafe
and resigned. Goddard was printer of the <i>Maryland Journal</i>,
printed at Baltimore, and by the early part of 1775 he had thirty
offices and nine post riders, covering the territory from Massachusetts
to Virginia, including Georgetown-on-the-Potomac.</p>
<p>It was a private service, operated in opposition to the still
existing British service. Goddard had declared his desire to have
the Continental Congress assume charge and administer this
service for all the people.</p>
<p>The Continental Congress took up the matter and appointed a
committee composed of Mr. Franklin, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Lee, Mr.
Willing, Mr. Adams, and Mr. P. Livingston, who brought in their
report July 25, 1775.</p>
<p>The report was taken up and considered the next day, July 26,
1775, when it was resolved, that a Postmaster General be appointed
for the United Colonies. The record of the Continental Congress
on that day (postal independence day), then closes with the
unanimous election of Benjamin Franklin to be Postmaster
General.</p>
<p class="psh">Damage in Handling Parcel Post Mail</p>
<p>A study of 4,219 reports received at the headquarters of the
various Railway Mail Service Divisions during a thirty-day investigation,
held recently to discover the amount of damage in handling
parcel post mail and the causes of such damage, it was found
that in 52.31 per cent of the cases damage was caused by improper<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
preparation of the parcels by senders. The result of this investigation
may be summarized as follows:</p>
<table id="t02" summary="t02">
<tr>
<td class="tdlh">Cases of damage caused by improper preparation of sender</td>
<td class="tdrh">2,207</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdlh">Cases of damage caused by improper handling by postmaster</td>
<td class="tdrh">107</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdlh">Cases of damage caused by improper handling by Railway Mail Service employes</td>
<td class="tdrh">43</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdlh">Cases of damage caused by improper handling by railroad employes</td>
<td class="tdrh">54</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdlh">Cases of damage from miscellaneous causes</td>
<td class="tdrh">188</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdlh">Cases of damage from unknown causes</td>
<td class="tdrh">1,620</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td class="tdrh">———</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdlh" style="padding-left: 4em;">Total</td>
<td class="tdrh">4,219</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table id="t03" summary="t03">
<tr>
<td class="tdlh">Cases of damage to—</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Eggs</td>
<td class="tdrh">355</td>
<td class="tdrh" style="width: 4em;">8.41</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Butter</td>
<td class="tdrh">99</td>
<td class="tdrh">2.35</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Hats</td>
<td class="tdrh">119</td>
<td class="tdrh">2.82</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Paint</td>
<td class="tdrh">20</td>
<td class="tdrh">.47</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Powders</td>
<td class="tdrh">59</td>
<td class="tdrh">1.40</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Preserves</td>
<td class="tdrh">129</td>
<td class="tdrh">3.06</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Liquids</td>
<td class="tdrh">925</td>
<td class="tdrh">21.92</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Foodstuffs</td>
<td class="tdrh">575</td>
<td class="tdrh">13.63</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Merchandise</td>
<td class="tdrh">1,002</td>
<td class="tdrh">23.75</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">China and glass</td>
<td class="tdrh">368</td>
<td class="tdrh">8.72</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Liquids</td>
<td class="tdrh">925</td>
<td class="tdrh">21.92</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Fruit</td>
<td class="tdrh">194</td>
<td class="tdrh">4.60</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Poultry</td>
<td class="tdrh">51</td>
<td class="tdrh">1.21</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Flowers</td>
<td class="tdrh">53</td>
<td class="tdrh">1.26</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Other articles</td>
<td class="tdrh">270</td>
<td class="tdrh">6.40</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td class="tdrh">———</td>
<td class="tdrh">———</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td class="tdrh">4,219</td>
<td class="tdrh">100.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdlh">Damage cases insured</td>
<td class="tdrh">137</td>
<td class="tdrh">3.25</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdlh">Damage cases on star routes</td>
<td class="tdrh">304</td>
<td class="tdrh">7.21</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p class="psh">An Opinion by Daniel Webster on Mail Extension</p>
<p>In this period of unprecedented postal growth and activity when
history is rapidly made and great achievements are born in a day,
it is interesting to recall that in 1835, during the discussion of a
measure in the United States Senate to establish a post route from
Independence, Mo., to the mouth of the Colorado River, the
learned Daniel Webster closed his speech in opposition with the
following language:</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p>
<p class="pbq p1">“What do we want with this vast worthless area; this region
of savages and wild beasts, of deserts, shifting sands, and whirlwinds
of dust; of cactus and prairie dogs? To what use can we
hope to put these great deserts or those endless mountain ranges,
imposing and covered to their very base with eternal snow? What
use have we for such country? Mr. President, I will never vote
1 cent from the Public Treasury to place the Pacific Coast 1 inch
nearer to Boston than it now is.”</p>
<p class="p1">“I can safely venture,” said Hon. D. C. Roper, late First Assistant
Postmaster General in his speech at the Denver, Colo., Convention
of the National Association of Postmasters, in July, 1913,
from which this extract is made, “that were Mr. Webster to return
to earth and accompany me on this western trip he would confess
in chagrin that in no expression made during his long career as a
public speaker was he wider of the mark.”</p>
<p class="psh">A Blind Woman on the Pay Roll</p>
<p>It is wonderful how the blind, those who have been denied by
nature or accident of the most priceless of all human faculties,
can adapt themselves to conditions whereby the means of support
may be obtained. All communities and great centers of
population have doubtless such cases, especially where opportunities
are afforded by private munificence or public appropriation,
but there are perhaps few cases where, in Government service, it is
possible for a blind person to find an opportunity to earn a living.
The Mail Bag Repair Shop at Washington furnishes such a case
and it is worthy of notice.</p>
<p>Twenty-six years ago a blind girl, Miss Hattie Maddox, called
to see Postmaster General Wanamaker and asked for a place in the
bag shop. She said, “You give seeing people a two months’ trial
at the work, will you give me that much time to prove that I can
do it?” She then went to Colonel Whitfield, Second Assistant
Postmaster General, who had charge of such work, and showed
him some crocheting she had done and the opportunity she sought
was given her. She is there today busy with a pile of mail bags,
stringing them with new cords, finding weak spots and repairing
them with needle and thread and does the work as well as any of
those around her. An attendant from her home brings her to her
daily task and calls for her, and she is one of the most contented
and happy women on Uncle Sam’s pay roll.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p>
<p class="psh">Mr. Wanamaker’s Four Great Postal Reforms</p>
<p>Marshall Cushing, private secretary to Postmaster General
Wanamaker, says in his book “The Story of Our Post Office,”
published some years ago, that Mr. Wanamaker had in mind and
frequently discussed with public men, four great postal propositions,
one of which this administration is now vigorously pushing
forward, while the other three are still in abeyance. These propositions
were the postal telegraph, the postal telephone, rural
free delivery and house-to-house collections of mail. He regarded
them as simple and easy business propositions.</p>
<p>The first proposed that the thousands of letter carriers of the
Department should help the telegraph companies collect and deliver
messages, and that a few clerks in a central bureau at Washington
could manage the stamp department and do the book-keeping
for this part of the business of the companies. Telegrams
were to be written on stamped paper, sold by the Department,
or upon any sort of paper provided with stamps sold by the
Department, and be deposited as in the case of letters whether on
the streets or attached for collection and delivery purposes at
house doors. These postal telegrams were to be collected by
carriers on their regular tours of collection and telegraphed to the
destinations and taken out and delivered in the first delivery.
Answer to be sent off exactly in the same way.</p>
<p>Telegraphic business was thus to be cheapened to the public because
of the lessened cost to the companies by this Government aid,
commonly estimated at about one third of their whole operating
expenses. The gain to the Government would be not only the 2
cents for postage rates proposed for telegrams under this scheme
but also the impetus given by general correspondence. The gain
to the companies would be the additional patronage which lower
rates and regular collection and delivery would give, also the
saving of this expense and the office use, clerk hire, etc., and
other expenses incidental thereto. This scheme was in no wise to
interfere with the use of the quicker form of telegraphing for those
who preferred it. It was simply intended to bring together in
concerted action the two great machines for conveying intelligence,
the telegraph plant of the companies and the free delivery
operating forces of the Department. This, in brief, was his idea,
but much more extensively elaborated in further supporting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>
arguments in its favor and in meeting objections where doubts
of its practicability might be supposed to exist.</p>
<p>This proposition has been widely mentioned, has had many
advocates, and it is interesting to note in this connection that
Postmaster General Burleson entertains a somewhat similar
idea, and has in three annual reports to Congress urged the matter,
however, with this difference. Wanamaker’s plan did not
contemplate taking over the telegraph companies, simply entering
into a mutual business arrangement with them, while Postmaster
General Burleson goes a step farther by the incorporation of the
telephone and telegraph into the postal establishment. The
opposition to the postal telegraph was as strong then as now, its
constitutionality being questioned by those who oppose it. Mr.
Wanamaker held that the powers granted to Congress by the
Constitution were not merely confined to the facilities known at
the time, but were to keep pace with the progress of the country,
and Mr. Burleson says, operation of these facilities inherently as
well as constitutionally, belongs to the postal service. Both are
thus in accord, differing only in method. The question is one of
interest and its future development will be watched with considerable
concern by all who wish to see further progress in this direction.</p>
<p>As the second of Mr. Wanamaker’s propositions, the postal
telephone, with its tremendous opportunities and possibilities,
especially in connection with rural delivery and parcel post
advantages, the magnitude and success of which even the enthusiastic
and optimistic Pennsylvanian did not then foresee, is bound
up in General Burleson’s plan, and the third, the rural free delivery,
is making such strides towards country-wide extension that it is
only a matter of time when it may be brought near, the fourth
of Mr. Wanamaker’s propositions remains only to be mentioned.</p>
<p>This is the use of letter boxes for the collection as well as the
delivery of mail from and to everybody’s door in every city, town,
village and farming community of the country. This means
such an immense convenience to everybody that he does not argue
the case, but simply points out its admitted advantages as a sufficient
reason for its early adoption. A disk at the door-box when
mail was to be collected would summon the carrier on his daily
rounds, even if no mail was to be delivered; trips to the letter
box on the corner would then be no longer necessary, and the ease
and certainty with which collection would be made, would in Mr.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
Wanamaker’s opinion, give an impulse to letter writing and increase
the public revenue to a very considerable extent. It would mean
two great conveniences to the family, the safe delivery of letters
at their door and the equally safe collection of mail therefrom.
Of course to obtain this service, letter boxes would have to be
provided by the householders, but Mr. Wanamaker believed
that this complete accommodation would induce people to go to
that trifling expense in order to gain such an evident advantage.
It was tried in St. Louis in his time, and worked exceedingly well.</p>
<p>Postmaster General Wanamaker was an official with a far-seeing
vision and actively alive to all postal possibilities, and the present
Postmaster General is fully abreast of him in every form of public
enterprise which makes for the utmost in postal accomplishment
(See page 83, for Postmaster General Burleson’s views regarding
Postal Telegraphs and Telephones).</p>
<p class="psh">The Rural Carrier as a Weather Man</p>
<p>It is said that the most common topic among mankind everywhere
is the weather. It follows nearly every greeting and salutation,
introduces conversation, is always a subject of interest and
affords opportunities of discussion upon which people can agree
and disagree without exciting the least disturbance whatever.</p>
<p>It has so much to do with the temper, the disposition the
pleasures and the material affairs of life that its compelling interest
is admitted and the winds and clouds are ever objects of our daily
attention. The Government recognizes this fact and has brought
scientific knowledge to bear upon the subject for the benefit of the
man who tills the soil, for the mariner upon the sea and they who
dwell in the cities, and for whom wind and weather has also its
peculiar interest and concern.</p>
<p>Weather maps are common in the crowded cities and commercial
centers, but are not as convenient of access in the country
districts, and aside from the reports in the morning papers, the
farmer has no particular way of acquainting himself with the
provision the Government has made in this respect.</p>
<p>It has been suggested that an easy and simple way of interesting
and informing the rural residents of the daily weather
forecasts would be for the carriers on rural routes who can
obtain this information to make it known by means of little
flags attached to their vehicles, for example, a white flag when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
the weather will be clear, a red flag when rain is indicated, a yellow
flag for snow and a blue flag when a cold wave is coming. This
would be a daily guide, a matter of but little trouble to the carrier,
and give his daily visits an additional interest to all the patrons
whom he serves.</p>
<p class="psh">New Box Numbering System for Rural Routes</p>
<p>In the cities of the country the streets are named and the
houses are numbered by the authorities. The Department uses
these numbers and street names in its mail deliveries. A letter
to be properly addressed to a person or a firm needs only the number
of the house or building and the name of the street. This
method is very simple and the mail is speedily and successfully
handled.</p>
<p>In the country districts there are four systems in use by the
Department, the railroads, and the express companies. The
first system is where patrons erect boxes at their places of residence
for the collection and delivery of mail. The letter or parcel
is simply addressed to the post office, to the patron and the rural
route is given. The second is where a letter or parcel is addressed
to the patron at a post office, with the number of the route, the box
number, the side of the road, and the miles from the office being
embodied in the box number. The third is where a letter or
parcel is addressed to a patron at a post office giving the route
number and the number of the patron’s box. The fourth system
is where mail is addressed to the patron at an office giving the section
and township where the patron lives. This latter system
is used by the railroads relative to freight and express matter and
definitely locates a person in any part of the United States. The
addition of the rural route number and box makes the most
complete designation possible.</p>
<p>There has been an ingenious plan suggested (if it can be practically
employed), a newer and more complete method of numbering
the boxes along rural delivery routes indicating and locating the patrons
thereon which will identify the patron with his place of residence,
simplify assorting, and afford in many ways advantages
not offered or included in the old method.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p>
<p class="pc1"><b>The Present Method</b></p>
<div class="figcenter">
<img src="images/ill-066.jpg" width="400" height="362"
alt=""
title="" />
</div>
<p class="pc1"><b>The Suggested New Method</b></p>
<p class="p1">The diagram on the following page, which is intended to illustrate
the suggested new plan, shows that in any given three numbers,
such as 111, the first figure at the left would be the route number,
the second figure the number of the box, the third the distance
from the supplying office.</p>
<p><i>Explanation</i>: The first figure as indicated denotes the rural route
number, the second figure denotes the box and its location on the
mile, the third or more figures denotes the miles from the supplying
post office. Each mile is divided into four quarters for box
designation, those on the right have the odd figures 1, 3, 5, 7,
and those on the left even figures 2, 4, 6, and 8. If there is more
than one box in a quarter, the other boxes are given the first box
number in that quarter with the addition of a small letter <i>a</i>, <i>b</i>, <i>c</i>, <i>d</i>,
etc., after the mile figure or figures. The patron if he lived at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
first quarter of a mile would be addressed—John Williams, Rayville,
Ill., Rural Delivery 111. This would show that John
Williams lives on rural route number one, at the first quarter mile
on the delivery part of the route, and that it is the first box on the
first mile. If he lived on the second mile at the third quarter he
would be addressed Rural Delivery 152, and his box would be so
numbered. If he lived on the second mile at the second quarter,
and on the left-hand side of the road, his box number would be
142. Where automobile routes are established a capital letter can
be used instead of the first figure. If it is desired, the section
number can be used instead of the miles figure or figures, and would
then show where the patron lived in the township.</p>
<div class="figcenter">
<img src="images/ill-067.jpg" width="400" height="346"
alt=""
title="" />
</div>
<hr class="dec2" />
<p>It is understood that the Department has under consideration
the question of locating the boxes on the right-hand side of the
road for the convenience of the carrier. The above system
can be used whether all the boxes are located on the right side of
the road or not. The question of entirely abandoning the practice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
of numbering boxes is also being considered and if adopted,
this suggested method of additional identification would of course
be useless. It is simply mentioned here as an idea to aid in readily
assorting mail in the office and as a more complete method of
identification than under the present system. If the Department
decides that the name of the owner on the box is sufficient,
this suggested new plan has no further value and can be regarded
as one of the many novel ideas in connection with the rural service
which come up from time to time.</p>
<p>It may, however, be said that a box once located and numbered
always retains its identity and no matter how many persons live
at, or move to or from that locality, the box number retains its
identity the same as a house retains its identity in a city.</p>
<p class="psh">Wireless Telephones in the Rural Service</p>
<p>From that memorable day in June, 1875, when Alexander
Graham Bell discovered a faint sound emanating from the curious
little machine over which three years of patient labor had been
spent, until today, when the world is debtor to this great man for
one of the marvels of the age, the telephone has been a constant
wonder and especially so at this time, when its adaptability for the
common uses of life has made it of value wherever civilization
extends. Mr. Bell was a professor at Boston University and his
honors came to him at an early age, for he was but twenty-nine
when the patent that was to make him famous was granted by the
Government.</p>
<p>He exhibited his invention at the Philadelphia Centennial
Exposition with but indifferent success; no attention was paid him
until Dom Pedro, Emperor of Brazil, a visitor at the fair, who knew
the young inventor, placed the receiver to his ear while Professor
Bell, in an adjoining room, spoke into it and, listening to it a
moment, looked up with the exclamation, “My God, it talks!”
Recognition by the judges was then hurriedly given and future
success assured.</p>
<p>The fortieth anniversary of the award of this patent was fittingly
celebrated at the annual dinner of the National Geographic Society
in Willards Hotel, Washington, D. C., March 7, 1916. The account
of what occurred there, the splendid tributes paid to Professor
Bell by the distinguished men present, appears in the March
number of the <i>National Geographic Magazine</i>, 1916, and presents a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
story of achievement of which every American can be justly
proud, but is not a matter of pride to American genius alone, but
shared alike wherever men do homage to intellectual worth and
greatness.</p>
<p>But what of the future? Can the telephone be brought to still
other uses than already known? Can it be made adaptable for
field use, for rural purposes in the country districts of the United
States? <i>The Electrical Experimenter</i>, for April, 1917, discusses
a practical possibility in this direction, not for civil pursuits but
for military needs. It mentions a wireless telephone set, mounted
on a motorcycle for army purposes by means of radiophonic
communication in connection with a military aeroplane. This
is of course intended for military purposes only, but shows the
great possibilities involved and advantages that may follow fuller
investigation of wireless methods. All questions of wireless development
for military needs, however, may now be safely left
in the hands of those directly concerned. Perhaps the greatest
interest centers at present in its possibilities in the field of the
rural delivery service where its successful introduction would work
a most tremendous change. If, for instance, it could be used by a
rural carrier, what a field of opportunity it would open in connection
with such service.</p>
<p>Is there a possibility of such accomplishments? It would seem
that there is from the investigation and discovery of a young
electrician, Earl Hanson, of Los Angeles, Cal. He recently
demonstrated to the mayor of Los Angeles and the president of the
telephone company that his apparatus could send music, talk of
any kind, whispers and signals without wires. His device is
so light and small and yet so effective that when attached to a
bicycle used by a policeman, constant communication could be
maintained with the laboratory. One or one thousand receivers
can be attached, and each hears as distinctly as if they were in the
room from which the sounds proceeded. The only explanation of
this marvelous process given is that the inventor used very low
frequency wireless waves in a new way. The great drawback to
wireless telephony and telegraphy has always been that the air is
one great “line” and always busy. Hanson’s plan aims to overcome
this, to send messages though the air is split up around him
by the operation of other stations!</p>
<p>All this is wonderful and may require more demonstration to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
prove its adaptability, but science is at work and it is not improbable
that wireless telephones for rural use and purpose may ere
long be successfully accomplished.</p>
<p>The Jasper, Fla., <i>News</i>, voices this prophetic hope in a well-written
article which recently appeared in that paper, and we take
pleasure in presenting that portion herewith as a compliment to
editorial enterprise and a far-seeing vision of coming events.</p>
<div class="pbq">
<p class="p1">“An improvement, which we confidently look forward to as being
made in the not far distant future, will be the establishment of a
wireless telephone system at every county seat in connection with
the rural free delivery service.</p>
<p>“By means of this wireless telephone, the carrier would be
enabled to communicate with the post office from any point while
serving his route, and the post office could call any carrier desired
and deliver a message which the carrier would get without even
stopping his automobile.</p>
<p>“The advantage of an arrangement of this kind can be easily
seen. The farmer could meet the mail at his number and over
the wireless, could call a doctor, send a telegram, inquire about the
market direct with the buyer, have Uncle Sam to run his
errands, and many other things too numerous to mention.</p>
<p>“Truly, we are living in a wonderful age, but more wonderful
things are coming.”</p></div>
<p class="psh">Parcel Post Exhibits at County Fairs</p>
<p>One of the methods by which the Department is bringing the
advantages of the parcel post to the attention of the people of the
United States is by means of exhibits at State and county fairs
and other civic expositions. While there is no appropriation
available for such purpose, postmasters who are interested in this
government experiment to bring producer and consumer together
and so reduce the cost of living expense have shown such desire
to aid in this matter and their efforts have been so generally successful
in this direction that space has been freely given and great
benefits have followed in all communities where this plan has been
tried.</p>
<p>From reports at hand it appears that ninety-four of such
displays have been held in various States and that thirty additional
fairs were yet to be held at which such parcel post exhibits
were to be made a special feature. By tens of thousands, both
city and rural populations have been afforded an opportunity to
see working demonstrations of the farm-to-table service and been
enabled to profit thereby.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p>
<p>These exhibits are generally so instructive to the people, the
farmers so willing to show by card or samples of goods what they
can furnish, and the postmasters so ready to cooperate in every
way to make these postal exhibits a success by showing different
styles of containers, the best method of packing, etc., that no
opportunity should be lost where county fairs are held to secure
space for such exhibits and make the most creditable display possible.
The postmasters are the proper parties for carrying out the
purposes of the Government in this connection and the Department
is anxious that such opportunities be availed of that the
advantages thus offered may be utilized to their fullest extent.</p>
<p class="psh">The Great Express Service of the Government</p>
<p>The parcel post, the great express service of the Government, is
now used so generally and for so many purposes that the mention
of some of the things that are being shipped may be of interest.
For instance, at the Lincoln County fair at Merrill, Wis., some time
ago, there was an exhibit of a take-down house all the parts of
which had been sent to Merrill by parcel post. Indeed the
shipment of lumber by parcel post is not now an uncommon
thing, due attention being paid to postal requirements.</p>
<p>At Gridley, Cal., a patron entered the office with several small
sacks of some heavy material and asked to have them forwarded.
The clerk after weighing them regarded the sacks with some
suspicion and upon inquiry of the shipper learned that the sacks
contained dirt, soil from a farm, which he was sending to the
State University for analysis. Another patron appeared at the
office in the morning with a package of meat under his arm and
posted the parcel to a family in Marysville, Cal., remarking at
the time that Mrs.—— ordered this meat for supper!</p>
<p>An enterprising farmer at Burke, Va., advises the Postmaster
at Washington, D. C., that he would kill a steer on December 1,
and would sell the cuts of meat at one-third less than Washington
retail prices. His offer was advertised in a farm list and in a parcel
post trade paper and before the steer was killed the meat had all
been engaged. The cuts were sent to the customers in market
baskets and containers. The farmer was offered $35 for the steer
on the hoof, but realized $45 by individual sales and the hide
paid for help in parting and dressing for market. Orders came
from Washington, Baltimore, and even from Long Island, N. Y.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p>
<p>The postmaster of Denver, Colo., reported that on Thanksgiving
Day, 1914, more than 1,000 perishable parcels, 80 per cent of which
contained turkeys, were received at the Denver office and delivered
in good condition.</p>
<p>The list of possible shipments of every conceivable kind and character
could be indefinitely extended, for it is known that the scope
of subjects that can be handled by the parcel post is practically
limitless and only awaits proper enterprise for productive profit
to those who will engage in it.</p>
<p>The parcel post is without question a great success. There is
no other measure of interest connected with the service which
presents so many economic possibilities. Its great advantage
over the private carriers is apparent and the benefits quickly seen
in practical operation. The United States mail goes everywhere
throughout the length and breadth of the country. Private
expresses are governed by the avenues of profit. The Government
is not concerned about profit but regards service as of paramount
importance, hence it directs its activities to all regions
alike, going where there are no express offices or ever likely to be.
This is the great distinguishing feature of the parcel post and its
benefits as can be plainly seen, are chiefly for the rural sections
who would be denied these advantages were there no such service
in operation.</p>
<p>The whole effort of the parcel post aims to furnish an exceedingly
reasonable method of interchanging commodities between
the farm and city home, something which no private corporation
has ever attempted or would undertake to do, all such enterprises
being purely for gain and profit. The farmer can now find the
opportunity he has been seeking. By some little care and attention
to the conditions that assure favorable results, such as putting
himself in touch with his customers, properly packing and furnishing
a good article at a reasonable price, he can develop a
profitable market for what he produces, reduce the cost of living
to others while reaping an advantage for himself.</p>
<p class="psh">The Telephone and Parcel Post in Cooperation</p>
<p>Elsewhere attention is called to the future possibilities of the
wireless telephone for rural uses, but in the meanwhile the many
uses to which the telephone can be put in the common affairs of
life is being industriously employed in all the rural sections of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>
country. The farmers have learned to make daily use of this convenience
and it is doubtless employed to almost as great an extent
there as in the cities and commercial centers. The farmers wife
can talk to the village store, or the more ambitious establishments
at the county seat, or perhaps reach a neighboring city for her
wants, and Uncle Sam is so anxious to oblige her and has made such
ample provision for the purpose that her wants can receive instant
attention and be promptly supplied, a matter gratifying alike to
the customer and the merchant as well.</p>
<p>It was altogether different before these conveniences were available.
It probably meant in those days a visit to the city or town,
or if the need was not pressing the friendly aid of neighborly
interest and concerns in seeing her wants supplied. In the hurry
and rush of modern life taking everything for granted and considering
nothing uncommon, we are apt to pay little heed to the many
comforts we now enjoy, and of which this Government provision
for speedily supplying our wants and needs forms no inconsiderable
part.</p>
<p>The local merchant also comes in for his share of advantage to
which the telephone and parcel post so greatly contribute. The
scope of his patronage is now broadened and enlarged. One
hundred and fifty miles of territory have been added to and is now
tributary to the field of his industrial enterprise, and he can fairly
compete with mail order houses by the lower rates of postage within
this zone—quite an item in his favor—for it is practically a rate of
1 cent a pound or but little more, which with some business ability
and advertising push will give him a field of opportunity wherein
he can enter with every prospect of at least an equal chance with
any of his competitors.</p>
<p class="psh">Training Public Officials</p>
<p>The following editorial article from the Washington, D. C., <i>Post</i>,
while not relating to postal affairs particularly but treating of the
public service generally, has yet its peculiar significance to postal
affairs as 80 per cent of all public employees are in some way connected
with the postal service. This very thoughtful and clearly
expressed editorial contains so much of value upon a subject to
which but little attention has been given, that the matter may well
occupy a share of public concern in a country such as ours where so
large a proportion of its people occupy public position.</p>
<p>The <i>Post</i> says:</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p>
<div class="pbq">
<p class="p1">There has been a steady increase in the number and variety of
Government activities. As industry has become more complex
more Government agencies have been created for the purpose of
regulation and control. Unfortunately, improvement in methods
has not kept pace with the addition of new agencies.</p>
<p>Touching upon this condition, Prof. Charles A. Beard, of Columbia
University, supervisor of the training school for public
service, recently asked:</p>
<p>“How can we educate the public up to an appreciation of the
necessity for trained and expert service in every branch of the
Government? How can we order our public service so that it will
attract the ablest men and women and guarantee progressive
careers to those who prove loyal and efficient? How can we develop
our civil service commissions into genuine recruiting agencies
capable of supplying the Government with exactly the type of
service needed for any given movement and of maintaining a loyal
and efficient personnel?”</p>
<p>If promotions were more certain in the Government service there
would be no dearth of competent men to fill the places higher up.
To solve this particular phase of the problem, however, it will be
necessary to have the Government pay higher salaries. Better
pay is now available in private industry than in the public service,
and the Government has not yet reached the point where there is
any general realization of the sound principle that it is better
in the long run to pay high salaries to efficient men than to employ
mediocre men at smaller salaries.</p>
<p>The universities and colleges can do their part in training young
men who seek elective offices, but a man well trained for office might
lack the qualities which make for political success. Many foreign
cities are run by experts. A large city frequently hires its chief
executive from some neighboring town. A competent manager in
a small city knows that he has an excellent chance of attracting
attention by good work and getting a promotion. This system
has been tried out in a small way in the United States, where a
number of cities have hired managers to take full charge, with
indifferent results. While progress toward efficiency is apt to be
slow, the increased discussion of the problem is certain to bear
good results eventually.</p></div>
<p class="psh">For the Benefit of the Fourth Class Postmaster</p>
<p>While the public concern has received the utmost attention,
there are, however, some questions of interest affecting the welfare
of postal employees which should be given consideration.
It is but common justice to consider the present method of payment
to fourth-class postmasters, for it allows them but small
returns for their labor. If the same high standard of efficiency<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
is expected of them which should obtain in the service generally,
they should have their labor properly compensated. At present
the law restricts the salaries to be paid according to the volume
of outgoing mail at their office. The rural carrier who works
under the postmaster is under no such restrictions, is better
paid, and has more holiday privileges. The fourth-class postmaster
may have to work half days on holidays and Sundays
and has no leave of absence. The rural carrier has both. The
position of postmaster may therefore be said to be less desirable
than that of the carrier, though his official responsibility from the
nature of his duties is greater. At the recent State convention
of third and fourth-class postmasters, held at Sunbury, Pa.,
the question was brought up and a reform urged in the matter.
There is much to be said in favor of a more equitable adjustment,
and the subject can be approached without detriment to the carrier
by a wider and more comprehensive view of the duties of the
postmaster and a corresponding improvement in the method of
payment.</p>
<p>The introduction of the parcel post as a great common carrier
is an added feature in connection with this subject. The fourth-class
postmaster receives much more mail than he sends out.
This inequality which affects his pay can be largely corrected if
the postmasters in cities would adopt some practical measures
towards stimulating orders from city patrons for farm produce
which could be shipped by mail. The organic act passed by Congress
contemplated such advantageous interchange for the benefit
of the fourth-class postmaster as well as the city consumer, and a
steady and persistent effort in that direction by the city postmasters
would greatly assist in carrying out the intention of Congress
in this respect and popularize the plan in the rural sections
by the reciprocal advantages it would confer. The fourth-class
postmaster could, however, greatly benefit himself, even under
present methods, by making an earnest and industrious effort to
develop the parcel post idea in his community, embracing the
opportunities of his official relation to the service by encouraging
and taking an active part in every detail of postal management,
of which, just now, the parcel post is so conspicuous a feature
and whose more extended use among the people would so greatly
advance his official as well as his personal interest.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p>
<p class="psh">Public Work and Private Control</p>
<p>It is sometimes asked why the Post Office Department cannot be
managed as if it were in the hands of a private corporation. Many
reasons might be given, but a few will serve to explain the difference
and perhaps enlighten the public who may expect more than
the Department can perform.</p>
<p>In the first place, the service is throughout closely controlled by
Congress through its committee on Post Offices and Post Roads,
and no important variations in the system or the methods of administration
can be initiated without their concurrence, and even
if any particular or significant change is proposed by such committee,
it is not always possible to obtain full congressional consent.
Differences between the administrative heads of the
Department and Congress as to the necessity or advantage of certain
plans or methods, are not uncommon, especially when any
proposed changes antagonize existing usage or clash with party
policy or expediency. When proposed changes invade the domain
where private enterprise has interests more or less valuable already
established, influence may be brought to bear to counteract the
reforms proposed, based on honest grounds of dissent as to the
real benefit or practical advantage to be gained by the adoption
of such measures. Unless it can then be shown that public interests
would be benefited by the changes proposed, the Department
might have difficulty to overcome this opposition.</p>
<p>In the next place, corporate control moves within narrower
limits and exercises its power in more direct fashion. In theory
a corporation is composed of its stockholders, a majority of whom
nominate the board of directors. This board in turn appoints the
permanent officials and they exercise full control in operation.
Wide powers are given to these men and the policies advanced for
extending influence and gaining profit are generally adopted. It
is quite different dealing with Congress. New policies are not
always accepted, sometimes rejected or ignored. It therefore
follows that private concerns, having a freer hand and no complicated
management to contend with, can institute experiments
and try methods, and if well conceived, obtain results which a more
restricted authority could only perhaps with difficulty secure.</p>
<p>A striking contrast between public and private control is seen in
the appropriation system by which the Departments are governed.
Aside from the difficulty often experienced in securing additional<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
help when required, which would be readily given in great private
concerns because of expected advantages to follow, Department
needs are sometimes left unsupplied and the dispatch of business
hindered by delay in this respect, or in the installation of mechanical
appliances so generally used now, and which have in recent
years to a very large extent, taken the place of human agencies
in the business world.</p>
<p>Perhaps one of the greatest difficulties which obtains in public
work aside from what has been already mentioned and which
has hampered more rapid progress in the Post Office Department,
was the tendency and practice to adhere to old-established
rules and precedents. These lax methods, which were particularly
apparent in the business customs and official procedure of the
Department, were so firmly imbedded in its official life that it
required a firm hand and a positive purpose to dislodge them. The
present Postmaster General had both the courage and the desire
to sweep away these relics of a bygone period and substitute
newer and more suitable methods to meet progressive conditions
and the Department is now conducted as it should be, and public
complaints caused by these obsolete and unsuitable measures is
now largely avoided.</p>
<p>These are some of the things that confront and have confronted
the Department in its efforts towards greater efficiency.
Conditions must be taken into account and understood. The
Department must always be a public function and under Government
control and be conducted, more or less, according to public
usage. While red-tape rules and customs will to some extent
remain, great progress has been made in many directions and
public methods, by skilful management, brought nearer to the
successes of business life, and the time is near at hand when the
answer to the interrogatory first propounded, may be made
in the affirmative.</p>
<p class="psh">Protecting the Public Records</p>
<p>Among the many useful and necessary reforms accomplished
by the Postmaster General may be mentioned the institution of a
hall of records for the protection of the files and valuable papers
which belong to the Department. These records contain the
history of postal administration from the beginning and deserve
the most careful attention, not only on account of their sentimental
but their historical value as well. The rise and progress of this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
index to our developing greatness in postal progress from the days
of Benjamin Franklin to our own times, is recorded in the volumes
which form the great official library of the Department. The
opinions, acts and State papers of every Postmaster General are
found here and a complete history of the whole postal administration
could be compiled from these records.</p>
<p>It is a matter of some surprise that preceding administrations
paid so little attention to the care and proper housing of these valuable
files and papers. For years they were stored in the garrets
and attic of the old Post Office Building, inconvenient of access,
and so limited in space that any semblance of order was next to
impossible. Lying there for years practically undisturbed, a prey
to the ravages of dust and decay, it is a wonder that they are in any
condition of preservation whatever. The traces of neglect and
ill-usage has left its marks visibly upon these old volumes, and
but for the quality of the material then used and the care in
binding then demanded for public documents, they would be of
but little service now.</p>
<p>To Postmaster General Burleson belongs the credit of rescuing
these valuable archives of his Department from ultimate destruction.
Space was found on the first floor of the building for storage
and arrangement. A force of clerks from each Bureau was
detailed for this work. The books and papers were removed from
the nooks and corners to which they were relegated and under
careful supervision located in the place provided for them. Accumulations
of dust brushed off, bundles of documents neatly
arranged and tied anew, frayed edges and loosened covers attended
to, and the more important historical records set apart for rebinding
when necessary. Protected now from danger, easy of access
and convenient for reference, with space and light to assist in general
preservation, these records can now be readily consulted, time
is saved in search and conditions in every way made serviceable
and satisfactory. With an elaborate and carefully devised system
of indexing, this official record is perhaps the most complete
of any of the Departments of the Government.</p>
<p class="psh">Registry, Insurance, and Collect-on-Delivery Services for
the Fiscal Year 1916</p>
<p>The number of pieces of mail registered, insured, and sent collect
on delivery during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1916, is shown
in the following statement:</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p>
<table id="t04" summary="t04">
<tr>
<td class="tdh"><i>Registered</i></td>
<td class="tdc">1916</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdlh">Paid registrations:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Domestic letters and parcels</td>
<td class="tdrh">29,091,506</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Foreign letters and parcels</td>
<td class="tdrh">5,179,325</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td class="tdrh">—————</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Total paid registrations</td>
<td class="tdrh">34,270,831</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdlh">Free registrations—official</td>
<td class="tdrh">4,965,738</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td class="tdrh">—————</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Total paid and free</td>
<td class="tdrh">39,236,569</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdlh">Amount collected for registry fees</td>
<td class="tdrh">$3,427,083.10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdh"><i>Insured</i></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdlh">Fourth-class (domestic parcel post):</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Total pieces insured (3-, 5-, 10-, and 25-cent fees)</td>
<td class="tdrh">24,936,082</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Total fees</td>
<td class="tdrh">$1,067,192.29</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdh"><i>Collect on Delivery</i></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdlh">Fourth-class (domestic parcel post) pieces</td>
<td class="tdrh">6,300,546</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Fees</td>
<td class="tdrh">$630,054.60</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p class="psh">Readjustment of Rate for Second-Class Mail</p>
<p>One of the vexatious problems with which the Department has
to deal is that relating to second-class mail matter which costs the
Government several times over what is received therefrom in the
way of revenue. In March, of 1911, Congress passed a joint
resolution authorizing the appointment of a commission to investigate
the subject and make a report thereon. The president selected
Mr. Justice Hughes, of the Supreme Court, President
Lowell, of Harvard University, and Mr. Harry A. Wheeler, of
Chicago. This commission found that the cost to the Government
of handling and transporting this mail was about 6 cents a
pound for which the Government received but 1 cent a pound.
The Department recommended an increase to 2 cents a pound
which was approved by the commission. February 22, 1912,
the report was submitted to Congress by the President, who urged
favorable consideration, but so far no action has been taken.
Suggestions as to desirable changes in relation to second-class
mail matter have been made to Congress by Postmaster General
Burleson, in which several ideas as to a more equitable arrangement<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
were proposed, by which the Government would get a compensation
more nearly in accord with the expense of this service,
but without result, and the whole subject remains undisposed of
with the prevailing rate still in force. This class of mail increased
93,184,891 pounds over that of the year 1915, notwithstanding
the higher cost of paper and material. The readjustment of rates
is held to be necessary in view of the disproportion of revenue to the
cost of handling and transportation.</p>
<p>Postmaster General Charles Emory Smith in his annual report
to Congress in 1900, referring to the cost of carrying second-class
mail matter as hindering the progress of rural delivery extension,
said:</p>
<p class="pbq p1">“In my last annual report it was shown that if a class of
publications which now, under an evasion of the purpose of the
law, pay the second-class rate of postage, were really made to pay
the third-class rate, as they ought to do, it would bring an additional
revenue to the Government of $12,343,612. This amount
is lost through an abuse that can be and ought to be rectified.
It is a public contribution without any public advantage for the
sole benefit of a few private interests.... If it is a question
between favoring a very limited number of publishers and favoring
twenty-one millions of people who live on the farms of the
United States, there ought to be no hesitation in serving the many
rather than the few. The abuse should be uprooted as a public
duty, the national delivery service should be undertaken as a
public policy, and when through the overthrow of the wrong
the right can be established without the slightest additional
burden, the appeal becomes irresistible.”</p>
<p class="psh">Peculiar Customs of European Rural Delivery</p>
<p>Some years ago at the request of Postmaster General Gary, the
Secretary of State addressed a letter to each of our ambassadors
and ministers in Europe, asking for information touching the
extent and character of rural delivery in the countries to which
they were accredited. In the answers received it was shown, for
example, that in Great Britain there was substantially a house-to-house
rural delivery, only the most inaccessible domiciles being left
unvisited. The English rural postman, traveling chiefly on foot,
walks from 15 to 18 miles a day, for an average pay of 18 shillings,
or $4.50 a week. A paternal government provides him with a
uniform, gives him $5 a year to buy shoes, furnishes him medical
attendance when sick, and permits him to retire on a small pension
after ten years of faithful service.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p>
<p>In France rural carriers, who also travel on foot, are paid a mileage
of 7¼ centimes a kilometer, or not quite 2½ cents a mile, for
the distance they cover. The average length of a route is from
10 to 15 miles, and they are required to cover it every day in the
year, Sunday included. They receive an allowance for clothing,
and may retire on a pension at the end of fifteen years. The
service extends into every commune, and practically all France
is covered by rural free delivery.</p>
<p>In Germany the delivery of mails in remote rural districts is not
exactly free. Extra postage is charged, part of which goes to the
carrier and part to the government. The pay of carriers, outside
of this allowance, is from 700 to 900 marks a year, with 100 marks
additional for house rent (a German mark being equivalent to 24
cents of our money).</p>
<p>In Austria-Hungary the rural carrier is hired by the postmaster
of the local office to which he is attached and paid by him. He is
authorized to collect a fee of half a cent on all letters and an eighth
of a cent on all newspapers delivered by him. His average pay is
about $120 a year. To earn this sum he travels 10 miles a day,
always on foot. Before he can enter upon his duties he has to
make a deposit of $80 (or two-thirds of a year’s salary) with the
postmaster as security for carrying out his contract.</p>
<p>The Belgian rural carrier makes a daily round trip of 15 or 16
miles on foot, and is paid a salary which varies according to the
supposed cost of living in the district where he serves, but which
seldom exceeds $250 a year. He is denied the right to vote,
and prohibited from taking part in politics.</p>
<p class="psh">What Was a Newspaper? Act of 1825</p>
<p>During the administration of Postmaster General Wickliffe
of Kentucky the question was raised what in the meaning of the
postal law, Act of 1825, constitutes a newspaper. <i>The Shipping
and Commercial List</i> and <i>New York Price Current</i> claimed that it was
a newspaper and entitled to the newspaper rate. It had been so
regarded prior to 1837, but afterwards as subject to letter postage.
The Postmaster General wanted light upon the subject and the
question was submitted to the Attorney General, Hon. H. S.
Legare for an opinion. As his spirited reply may interest newspaper
men of today as well as others, the principal parts of the
opinion are subjoined:</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p>
<p class="pbq p1">“The only light, a very uncertain one, is the use of the word,
‘newspaper’ in common parlance or in the English Stamp Acts.
According to the statute it must be (1) periodically published; (2)
at intervals not exceeding two days; (3) must contain public news
or remarks thereon; (4) that it contain not more than two sheets.
Thus it may be admitted that the paper must be published at short
intervals, but what is a short interval? There are many weekly
newspapers, why not monthly? It may be doubted whether the
intervals need be exactly stated. The passing events may be
diversified according to the tastes, the fancies, the wants or
convenience of mankind. The monthly catalogue of new publications
will be of interest to a scholar, proceedings of tribunals to
a lawyer, theaters or new fashions in dress to the idle and the gay,
etc., bulletins of battles to a soldier, price currents to a merchant,
etc. A newspaper is more likely to please a majority of readers
which meets all tastes. Why should a devout man be annoyed by
puffs of opera dancers, members of a total abstinence society with
tempting sales of wines and liquors, a plodding man of business
with dissertations on books, or a bookish man with columns of
business advertisements?”</p>
<p class="p1">The decision states in conclusion that “<i>The Shipping and Commercial
List</i> to be treated as a newspaper must be sent open and
without any written signature or note.”</p>
<p class="psh">Women in the Post Office Department</p>
<p>The women of the United States owe an everlasting debt of
gratitude to Frances E. Spinner for opening to them the door of
opportunity for employment in the public service. Salmon P.
Chase was Secretary of the Treasury in the administration of
President Lincoln and General Spinner was the Treasurer of the
United States. Many of the clerks of the Treasury had joined the
army, and General Spinner suggested to the Secretary the employment
of women in their stead. Though his suggestion met with
considerable opposition at the time, the wishes of General Spinner
finally prevailed, and Secretary Chase gave his consent to the
appointment of women, and the avenues of public employment
were opened to them.</p>
<p>Since that time the employment of women in the public service
has become general, and they may now be found in all the Departments,
in post offices and as mail carriers on the post roads of the
United States. The most recent register of employees in the
Post Office Department shows that it had upon its pay rolls
for the Department proper, sixty-two women receiving $1,200 per<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>
annum, thirty-two at $1,400 per annum, ten at $1,600 per annum,
three at $1,800, forty-three at $1,000 per annum, besides many
more at lesser salaries. The act of General Spinner in opening
the door of the public service to women doubtless had its general
effect in private employment as well, for from the close of
the Civil War the entrance of women into the business relations
of the country may be safely dated.</p>
<p>Many of the women in the Departments occupy positions of
responsibility and importance, and fill such positions with credit
to themselves and the service as well.</p>
<p class="psh">Railroad Accidents and the Construction of Mail Cars</p>
<p>There were 163 railroad accidents during the fiscal year, 1916,
of which 155 resulted in injuries to clerks, and eight, exclusive of
those in which clerks were injured, resulted in loss or damage to
mail.</p>
<p>The following table shows the kind and construction of the mail
cars in which accidents to clerks occurred:</p>
<table id="t05" summary="t05">
<tr>
<td class="td234c" style="width: 8em;">Kind of car</td>
<td class="tdbc">Number of cars in accidents</td>
<td class="tdbc">Number of clerks in these cars</td>
<td class="tdbc">Clerks killed or died as result of injuries</td>
<td class="tdbc">Clerks seriously injured in these cars</td>
<td class="tdbc">Clerks slightly injured in these cars</td>
<td class="td124c">Total clerks injuried and killed in these cars</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="td23h">Wood</td>
<td class="td123r">57</td>
<td class="td123r">76</td>
<td class="td123r">1</td>
<td class="td123r">18</td>
<td class="td123r">42</td>
<td class="td12r">61</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="td3h">Wood-steel reenforced</td>
<td class="td13r">18</td>
<td class="td13r">25</td>
<td class="td13r">...</td>
<td class="td13r">12</td>
<td class="td13r">9</td>
<td class="td1r">21</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="td3h">Steel</td>
<td class="td13r">67</td>
<td class="td13r">258</td>
<td class="td13r">1</td>
<td class="td13r">28</td>
<td class="td13r">86</td>
<td class="td1r">115</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="td34h">Steel underframe</td>
<td class="td134r">22</td>
<td class="td134r">57</td>
<td class="td134r">...</td>
<td class="td134r">9</td>
<td class="td134r">21</td>
<td class="td14r">30</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="td234i">Total</td>
<td class="tdbr">164</td>
<td class="tdbr">416</td>
<td class="tdbr">2</td>
<td class="tdbr">67</td>
<td class="tdbr">158</td>
<td class="td124r">227</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p class="psh">Public Ownership of Postal Telegraphs and
Telephones</p>
<p class="pc1"><b>Opinion of Postmaster General Burleson</b></p>
<p class="p1">Postmaster General Burleson, in his annual report to Congress
for 1916, made the following statement regarding Postal Telegraphs
and Telephones:</p>
<p>“As the former reports pointed out, the private ownership of
telephone and telegraph utilities places in private hands the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>
control of important vehicles for the transmission of intelligence,
and therefore infringes upon a function reserved by the Constitution
to the National Government. Operation of these facilities
inherently as well as constitutionally belongs to the Postal Service.
Attention again is called to the legal precedents and the attitude
of former postmasters general, as briefly stated in my report for
1914:</p>
<p>“That it has been the policy of this Government to ultimately
acquire and operate these electrical means of communication as
postal facilities, as is done by all the principal nations, the United
States alone excepted, is evidenced by the fact that the first
telegraph line in this country was maintained and operated as a
part of the Postal Service, and further by the Act of July 24, 1866,
which provided for the Government acquisition of the telegraph
lines upon the payment of an appraised valuation, and again by the
act of 1902, which directed the Postmaster General ‘to report
to Congress the probable cost of connecting a telegraph and
telephone system with the Postal Service by some feasible plan.’</p>
<p>“‘It is an interesting fact that, whereas policies of Government
have been advocated and some adopted, the constitutionality of
which have been seriously questioned, the principle of Government
ownership and control of the telegraph and telephone finds
its greatest strength in the Constitution. This opinion has been
shared by practically all Postmasters General of the United
States, who have held that the welfare and happiness of the nation
depend upon the fullest utilization of these agencies by the people,
which can only be accomplished through Government ownership.’”</p>
<p class="psh">Liquor Carried by the Mails</p>
<p>In view of the rapid spread of prohibition sentiment in the
country during the past few years, it may be of interest to know
that the activities then already apparent to check in every possible
way convenient access to this demoralizing evil, found in a
limited sense the aid and support of the Post Office Department.</p>
<p>There was a growing suspicion that traffic in the carrying of
liquor from one point to another on the lines of the star-route
service by carriers was being conducted, and this suspicion afterwards
developed into loud and persistent complaints which finally
reached the Department and attracted official attention. It was
stated that liquor was being conveyed by these carriers to points
in local option territory and even distributed among the Indians,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
a practice which the Government was particularly anxious to prevent.
The matter was finally brought to the attention of Postmaster
General Von Meyer who at once took steps to interfere
with this traffic. After some consultation as to the best means
of stamping out this evil, a clause was inserted in the advertisement
for star-route service and later embodied in every contract
upon which awards were made. This statement says: “It is further
agreed that the contractor or carrier shall not transport intoxicating
liquor from one point to another on this route while in the
performance of mail service.”</p>
<p>This positive Governmental interference with the traffic in
liquor by means of the mails may not be generally known, and it is
mentioned here that credit might be given to Postmaster General
Von Meyer for an act which destroyed a growing evil, covertly
conducted, and put a stop to a practice which was doing damage
in a great many sections.</p>
<p>By Act approved March 3, 1917, providing for appropriations
for the Post Office, no letter, postal card, circular, newspaper,
etc., containing any advertisement of spirituous, vinuous, malted,
fermented or other intoxicating liquor of any kind, or containing a
solicitation of an order for said liquors, shall be deposited in or
carried by the mails of the United States, or be delivered by any
postmaster or letter carrier addressed and directed to any person,
firm, corporation or association at any place or point in any
State or territory of the United States, at which it is by the law
in force in such State and Territory at that time unlawful to advertise
or solicit orders for such liquors or any of them respectively.</p>
<p class="psh">How the Post Office Department Helps the Farmer</p>
<p>Of all the great Executive Departments, the Post Office comes
closest to the people and is of particular interest to the farmer
living away from the great avenues of postal service supply. The
Postmaster General, from his service in Congress, where the needs
of the farmer are known, coupled with the opportunities of his
present position, was able to render him a great service, and that
he has done so, that his administration has shown his successful
efforts in this direction cannot be questioned nor denied.</p>
<p>The Parcel Post with all its beneficent possibilities and advantages
received early consideration. It meant so much to the
farmer that zealous and persistent attention was wisely directed to
obtain the utmost that could be accomplished. Weight limits<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
were extended, postage reduced by zone expansion, and the project
put upon such practical basis that great benefits are already
assured and further progress only waits legislative sanction. City
and country are now brought together. Suburban express, the
result of motor service, gives the farmer an easily reached and
remunerative market and the consumer finds upon his daily table
the fresh products which this rapid means of communication from
the farm can so readily supply. The Parcel Post is one of the
most popular measures of this administration and everything
possible has been done to foster and perfect it.</p>
<p>The Rural Free Delivery with its millions of patrons, of which
over 650,000 were added within the past three years, tells the
story of administrative accomplishment. The great success of
rural delivery is peculiarly the farmers triumph. He is now on a
par with his neighbor in the cities in all that enterprising postal
service can give. Taken both together, the widely admitted
success of the Parcel Post as well as the rural delivery, a chapter
of achievement has been written of which the Department is justly
proud and against which criticism can find no ground for righteous
complaint.</p>
<p>But this is not all that this administration has done for the man
in the country. The energetic application of the experimental
legislation appropriating $500,000 for participation in the construction
of improved highways has brought forth an additional
appropriation of $75,000,000, which will be expended by the
Federal Government, in cooperation with the States, for the
improvement of roads over which mail delivery is performed, or
on which it may be located hereafter. The Rural Credit and Good
Roads bills are subjects of profound interest which even partisan
prejudice cannot minimize or obscure. The tremendous advantage
which these two great measures afford the farmer will be readily
admitted and recognized when seen in practical operation. The
need of such beneficent help has long been felt and these two bills
should make the lot of the farmers much easier. They have been
getting reasonably good prices for their products and are generally
prosperous, but the fact remains that but few hold their land free of
incumbrance. Complete ownership will now be possible. With
federal aid to road construction and this new rural credits law,
it should not be long until the greatest prosperity the country
sections have ever known should be an accomplished fact.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span></p>
<p class="psh">Expediting the Mail on Star Routes</p>
<p>Attention is called elsewhere to the benefit of motor vehicle
service in rural delivery, and it is now proposed to introduce this
advantage in the star-route service as well. Until a short while
ago there was no authority for any particular form of conveyance
to be used in this connection. With the advent of automobiles
and other motor vehicles, it became evident that great opportunities
presented themselves by which the transportation of mails on
this class of routes could be measurably expedited and during the
present administration the law was so amended that the mode of
transportation could be specified.</p>
<p>The demand of the day is for the rapid conveyance of mails in
every direction and people are no longer satisfied to put up with
the practices and methods of other days. That mails have been
conveyed in this service with “due celerity, certainty and security”
was not enough. Money is paid for service and the best
that can be given is required. So it was decided to expedite star-route
service. While there are a number of routes on which automobiles
are now used in view of the provision of law as covered by
the order of the Postmaster General, August 14, 1916, amending
section No. 1424 to correspond with the law as amended, steps are
now being taken in connection with the award of contracts for the
four-year term beginning July 1, 1917, which includes the contract
section from Maine to West Virginia, to require the use of
motor vehicles wherever the importance of the route seemed to
warrant and weather conditions would permit the use of such conveyance.
One hundred and forty advertisements are now pending
for such service in this contract section.</p>
<p>This is going to be a great accommodation for all routes where
such service can be employed and will give the people the best
mail facilities that can be devised. It will hasten the receipt
and dispatch of mails by means of rural carrier connections, be of
great advantage to the business men along such routes, expedite
newspaper delivery and in many cases save twenty-four hours over
the present method. Every effort will be made to introduce this
more rapid service as quickly and widely as the laws will permit.
If it is found to work well in this first contract section where
it is to be tried, it will be extended to others in regular succession
until the star-route service everywhere has the benefit of this
improved means of communication.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p>
<p class="psh">Abraham Lincoln Postmaster in 1837</p>
<p>So much has been said and written about Abraham Lincoln
that it would seem as if nothing new could be mentioned. In fact
his history and biography are as well known to the school children
as that of George Washington, but it is probably not generally
known to the postmasters of the country that he was at one
time in the postal service as a postmaster, and in a book devoted
entirely to postal affairs it may be of interest to state the fact
that this additional incident in his life and public career may be
added to what is already known.</p>
<p>Mr. T. H. Bartlett, in the Boston <i>Transcript</i>, says:</p>
<p class="pbq p1">It will interest Lincoln lovers to learn that, as far as known,
probably the first time that Abraham Lincoln’s name was mentioned
in print was in the United States Biennial Register for 1837.
It was in the Post Office Department, as “Postmaster at New
Salem, Ill., Abraham Lincoln, 1 quar., 10-19-48.” The Register
contained the names of every officer and employe for that year.</p>
<p class="p1">So people who keep scrap books in which to note peculiar events
and occurrences in the lives of great men may add this little
item to their collection, for everything connected with the life of
Abraham Lincoln is worthy of notice.</p>
<p class="psh">A Central Accounting Office for Each County</p>
<p>A very notable and far-reaching measure of public administration
in the conduct of the Post Office Department was enacted in
the past session of Congress by which, in order to promote economy
in the distribution of supplies and in auditing and accounting,
the Postmaster General was authorized to designate districts
and central offices in such districts through which supplies shall
be distributed and accounts rendered. This means in other
words that one postmaster in a county is hereafter to distribute
supplies for the other post offices and render an account to the
auditor for all the offices in a certain county or district, thus simplifying
the whole subject and placing the business involved at each
of these offices under one central control. This is, however, not to
give such central office authority to abolish offices, to change
officers or employees in offices included in such district.</p>
<p>The law goes into effect July 1, 1917, and the Postmaster
General will appoint a committee, of which the First Assistant
Postmaster General will probably be chairman, to establish the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
system and select the central office in each district or county to
which the other offices are to report, and under whose general control
this plan is to be conducted.</p>
<p class="psh">Millions of Money for Good Roads</p>
<p>That good roads are an important factor in the spread of
civilization is a statement which no one will dispute. Imperial
Rome in the zenith of its power perfectly understood this. The
marvellous genius and industry which constructed its great highways
of commerce and travel, works which have been the admiration
of all succeeding ages, are yet splendid even in their decaying
greatness. Prescott, the historian, in his romantic history of
Peru, tells of the wonderful engineering skill displayed in the
reigns of the early Peruvian rulers in the building of their great
military roads, which served alike the purpose of a peaceful
people as well as the rapid assembling of its armies for warlike
action. No nation now neglects this very important part of its
economic life, and the United States having become a power in
universal civilization is fully alive to all the measureless advantages
which good roads afford.</p>
<p>Material prosperity waits upon road development and land values
rise in proportion to road improvement. A few striking instances
may be mentioned as illustrating this fact. <i>Wallace’s Farmer</i>
has stated that:</p>
<p>“In Franklin County, New York, where 24 miles of good roads
have been built, eight pieces of land selected at random increased
27.8 per cent in value. In Lee County, Virginia, which built
eighty-four miles of roads, land advanced 25 per cent in value.
Spottsylvania County, in the same state, improved forty-one
miles of roads, and the land adjoining sold for $44.75 where
previous to the improvement it had been bought for just $20 less
per acre. After Manatee County, Florida, had constructed sixty-four
miles of macadam and shell highway, the land along the
road increased more than $20 per acre in less than two years, and
the land a mile away from the road showed an increase of $10
an acre. In Wood County, Ohio, where land has been drained
and bounded by limestone pikes, the values have risen from $70
to $250 per acre.”</p>
<p>The <i>New York Journal of Commerce</i> says “there are few agencies
that are so fruitful of economic good, social and political solidarity,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
and even national spirit.” The very great desire of the Post
Office Department to extend and improve the rural delivery service
is an ever present argument in favor of good roads, without
which no extensions or improvements are possible. The life of
the country church, the country school, the whole question of intensive
and scientific farming is involved in the subject of good
roads, and in its wider and broader aspect the question takes on
a new and a very significient meaning. Originally intended to
promote and foster the arts of peace, military needs now claim
national attention. Quoting again from the <i>Journal of Commerce</i>:
“Mobilization, defense, and the transportation of troops, munitions,
and supplies, are in a large part dependent upon an adequate
system of highways, especially along the sea coasts and
national borders. The experience of all the warring nations of
Europe in the present conflict, are ample proof of this. Only
the future will show whether or not these objects have been kept
in view when the national appropriation is spent.”</p>
<p>The Government has set aside for the year ending June 30,
1919, the sum of $14,550,000 as an apportionment to the States
to aid in the construction and maintenance of rural post roads
in accordance with the provision of the Federal aid roads law.
$20,000,000 will be apportioned for 1920, and $25,000,000 for 1921.
This is the third apportionment under the law, $4,850,000 having
been apportioned for 1917 and $9,700,000 for 1918. The Bureau
of Public Roads states that the expenditures for road and bridge
building in the United States have increased from about $80,000,000
a year in 1904 to $282,000,000 in 1915, or more than
250 per cent.</p>
<p>These figures are as amazing as they are impressive, and they
must carry to the mind of the reader the solicitude of his government
for all that makes for national prosperity and advancement.
There was a time when good roads were a luxury and only a few
States in the East paid any attention to this question. With the
advent of the automobile came a great change. Rides for pleasure
as well as for gainful pursuits required better conditions, and for
both purposes good roads became everywhere a question of paramount
importance. The farmer whose improved surroundings
permitted this now common luxury, wanted the benefit of it, and
the demand for better road conditions found its way into the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>
halls of legislation in the States, and in the Congress of the Nation,
and the answer to this demand upon the part of the Federal government
is the magnificent appropriation which is now available and
to be expended for this far reaching purpose.</p>
<p>Rural delivery in which the rural resident is so greatly interested
will profit most by this liberal government provision, it being
originally intended for post road purposes, of which rural delivery
is now the principal and most important part. The rural life of
the country is to be bettered in every way by the spread of this
means of postal communication. The Post Office Department is
always ready to listen to every suggestion which makes for greater
comfort and convenience in this direction, and to act promptly
when resulting advantages can be shown. Therefore, the sections
where rural delivery is not as fully introduced and developed as
it might be, or inviting fields for exploration and administrative
action are not yet reached, the people for whose benefit this
money is to be used should get in touch with the Department and
bring to its attention whatever information upon the subject they
may possess which might be fashioned into useful results. The
Department has many eyes but cannot see all and know all, and
this is where outside assistance can be of great advantage, and
would be most gladly welcomed. Postal patrons are the working
partners of the Postmaster General in all that concerns the improvement
and extension of the service, and if they will take the
same active interest that he does and cooperate with the Fourth
Assistant Postmaster General, in whose Bureau this rural delivery
work is centered, great advances in all directions may be readily
made.</p>
<p class="psh">$14,550,000 for Rural Post Roads</p>
<p>Apportionment to the States from government funds to aid in
the construction and maintenance of rural postroads in accordance
with the Federal aid roads law for the year ending June 30, 1919,
is as follows:</p>
<table id="t06" summary="t06">
<tr>
<td>Alabama</td>
<td class="tdr">$313,456</td>
<td class="tdli4">Ohio</td>
<td class="tdr">558,043</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Arizona</td>
<td class="tdr">205,540</td>
<td class="tdli4">Oklahoma</td>
<td class="tdr">346,489</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Arkansas</td>
<td class="tdr">250,018</td>
<td class="tdli4">Oregon</td>
<td class="tdr">236,332</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>California</td>
<td class="tdr">456,167</td>
<td class="tdli4">Pennsylvania</td>
<td class="tdr">690,145</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Colorado</td>
<td class="tdr">257,278</td>
<td class="tdli4">Idaho</td>
<td class="tdr">182,471</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Connecticut</td>
<td class="tdr">92,216</td>
<td class="tdli4">Illinois</td>
<td class="tdr">658,323</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Delaware</td>
<td class="tdr">24,411</td>
<td class="tdli4">Indiana</td>
<td class="tdr">406,230</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Florida</td>
<td class="tdr">170,723</td>
<td class="tdli4">Iowa</td>
<td class="tdr">434,653</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Georgia</td>
<td class="tdr">403,909</td>
<td class="tdli4">Kansas</td>
<td class="tdr">429,131</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Maryland</td>
<td class="tdr">130,871</td>
<td class="tdli4">Kentucky</td>
<td class="tdr">292,984</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Massachusetts</td>
<td class="tdr">221,261</td>
<td class="tdli4">Louisiana</td>
<td class="tdr">203,755</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Michigan</td>
<td class="tdr">435,356</td>
<td class="tdli4">Maine</td>
<td class="tdr">144,807</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Minnesota</td>
<td class="tdr">425,865</td>
<td class="tdli4">Rhode Island</td>
<td class="tdr">34,972</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mississippi</td>
<td class="tdr">268,751</td>
<td class="tdli4">South Carolina</td>
<td class="tdr">215,014</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Missouri</td>
<td class="tdr">508,603</td>
<td class="tdli4">South Dakota</td>
<td class="tdr">243,175</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Montana</td>
<td class="tdr">298,520</td>
<td class="tdli4">Tennessee</td>
<td class="tdr">340,663</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Nebraska</td>
<td class="tdr">319,445</td>
<td class="tdli4">Texas</td>
<td class="tdr">876,986</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Nevada</td>
<td class="tdr">193,229</td>
<td class="tdli4">Utah</td>
<td class="tdr">170,763</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>New Hampshire</td>
<td class="tdr">62,610</td>
<td class="tdli4">Vermont</td>
<td class="tdr">68,128</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>New Jersey</td>
<td class="tdr">177,357</td>
<td class="tdli4">Virginia</td>
<td class="tdr">298,120</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>New Mexico</td>
<td class="tdr">238,634</td>
<td class="tdli4">Washington</td>
<td class="tdr">216,530</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>New York</td>
<td class="tdr">749,674</td>
<td class="tdli4">West Virginia</td>
<td class="tdr">159,713</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>North Carolina</td>
<td class="tdr">342,556</td>
<td class="tdli4">Wisconsin</td>
<td class="tdr">382,707</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>North Dakota</td>
<td class="tdr">229,585</td>
<td class="tdli4">Wyoming</td>
<td class="tdr">183,805</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span></p>
<p class="psh">Mail Extensions by Air and Motor Truck Routes</p>
<p>As the result of a recent conference between Postmaster General
Burleson and Secretary of War Baker, and with the approval of
the President, Congress has been asked to authorize the Secretary
of War to turn over to the Post Office Department all military
aeroplanes and motor vehicles not serviceable for military purposes,
or which after the war may be dispensed with for military
service.</p>
<p>As soon as any aeroplanes are turned over to the Post Office
Department, aeroplane mail routes will be established in the
country, as they now are in Italy and France.</p>
<p>Italy has an aerial mail route from her coast to Sardinia, and is
able to deliver 500 pounds of mail in two hours. France has a
similar aerial route between her coast and Corsica.</p>
<p>The motor trucks procured from the War Department at this
time or at the close of the war will be available for the parcel post
truck service. In the view of the Postmaster General, the operation
of these motor-truck routes would add 100 per cent to the
value of the parcel post service in the vicinity of the cities where
established.</p>
<p>The cost of living will be reduced, it is stated, by eliminating
useless and expensive operation in the postal means of communication
between producer and consumer; will permit the producer to
continue production and the labor incident thereto, instead of
suspending production or labor while conveying produce to consumers,
and will extend the postal zone of collection-and-delivery
service in the vicinity of large cities to the point where the actual
farmer-producer is domiciled rather than where only suburban
residents and nonproducers live.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p>
<p class="psh">Care Required in Preparing Contracts</p>
<p>Among the most important duties which a postmaster is called
upon to perform is seeing that contracts for star-route service
are properly filled out before being sent to the department. These
contracts are of a legal nature and while the necessary provisions
are plainly stated and simple enough to be easily understood,
extreme care must be exercised to see that the instructions are
complied with. Spaces for the signatures of the contractor, the
sureties and witnesses properly filled out, dates given, names
plainly written wherever required and the contractor should personally
examine the contract to see that all this is carefully done.
Failure to note these necessary details causes the return of the
contract for correction, delaying its acceptance and imposing extra
and unnecessary work upon the contract clerk. It may also
be stated that as failure to perform service on the part of the
contractor is liable to bring these contracts into courts of law for
judicial determination, it becomes of the highest importance that
nothing required to be done is omitted in preparation and the
contract be correct in form and in every particular.</p>
<p class="psh">Birthday of the American Postal Service</p>
<p>On the twenty-sixth of July, 1917, the postal service of the
United States can celebrate the one hundred and forty-third
anniversary of its establishment. It was on July 26, 1775, nearly
a year before the independence of the colonies was proclaimed,
that the freedom of postal affairs was made an accomplished fact.
The British control had existed for eighty-three years, from 1692
to 1775. There was only one line then in existence along the
coast with but few branches and those far between. This service
was first managed by private interests under a patent from William
and Mary, but afterwards directly by the English crown. The
fullness of time had at length arrived, had brought the auspicious
day, and postal independence was born!</p>
<p>Patriotic sentiment is not wanting in this country of ours, and the
flag is ever the object of sincere and heartfelt devotion. The great
strides in postal development from that day to this should make
the pulse of every citizen, particularly every postal employe, great
or small, quicken with civic pride as each successive anniversary
of our great postal establishment brings the date to mind. Postmasters
might well signalize the day by conspicious display of the
flag under which such tremendous progress has been made not only
in postal affairs but in national greatness and glory.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p>
<p class="psh">List of Postmasters General</p>
<p class="reduct"><i>Continental Congress</i></p>
<table id="t07" summary="t07">
<tr>
<td rowspan="3"> </td>
<td>Benjamin Franklin,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Pennsylvania,</td>
<td>July 26, 1775</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Richard Bache,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Pennsylvania,</td>
<td>Nov. 7, 1776</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ebenezer Hazard,</td>
<td class="tdli4">New York,</td>
<td>Jan. 28, 1782</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdcl"><i>Presidents</i></td>
<td class="tdcl"><i>Postmasters General</i></td>
<td class="tdcl"><i>State</i></td>
<td class="tdcl"><i>Date of<br />Appointment</i></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 8em;">Washington,</td>
<td>Samuel Osgood,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Massachusetts,</td>
<td>Sept. 26, 1789</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdc">”</td>
<td>Timothy Pickering,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Pennsylvania,</td>
<td>Aug. 12, 1791</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdc">”</td>
<td>Joseph Habersham,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Georgia,</td>
<td>Feb. 25, 1795</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Jefferson,</td>
<td>Gideon Granger,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Connecticut,</td>
<td>Nov. 28, 1801</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Madison,</td>
<td>Return J. Meigs, Jr.,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Ohio,</td>
<td>April 11, 1814</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Monroe,</td>
<td>John McLean,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Ohio,</td>
<td>July 1, 1823</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Jackson,</td>
<td>Wm. T. Barry,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Kentucky,</td>
<td>April 6, 1829</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdc">”</td>
<td>Amos Kendall,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Kentucky,</td>
<td>May 1, 1835</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Van Buren,</td>
<td>John M. Niles,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Connecticut,</td>
<td>May 26, 1840</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Harrison, W. H.,</td>
<td>Francis Granger,</td>
<td class="tdli4">New York,</td>
<td>Mar. 8, 1841</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Tyler,</td>
<td>Chas. A. Wickliffe,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Kentucky,</td>
<td>Oct. 13, 1841</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Polk,</td>
<td>Cave Johnson,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Tennessee,</td>
<td>Mar. 6, 1845</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Taylor,</td>
<td>Jacob Collamer,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Vermont,</td>
<td>Mar. 8, 1849</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Fillmore,</td>
<td>Nathan K. Hall,</td>
<td class="tdli4">New York,</td>
<td>July 23, 1850</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdc">”</td>
<td>Samuel D. Hubbard,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Connecticut,</td>
<td>Sept. 14, 1852</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Pierce,</td>
<td>James Campbell,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Pennsylvania,</td>
<td>Mar. 7, 1853</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Buchanan,</td>
<td>Aaron V. Brown,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Tennessee,</td>
<td>Mar. 6, 1857</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdc">”</td>
<td>Joseph Holt,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Kentucky,</td>
<td>Mar. 14, 1859</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lincoln,</td>
<td>Horatio King,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Maine,</td>
<td>Feb. 12, 1861</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdc">”</td>
<td>Montgomery Blair,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Dist. of Col.</td>
<td>Mar. 9, 1861</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Johnson,</td>
<td>Wm. Dennison,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Ohio,</td>
<td>Oct. 1, 1864</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdc">”</td>
<td>Alex. W. Randall,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Wisconsin,</td>
<td>July 25, 1866</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Grant,</td>
<td>John A. J. Creswell,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Maryland,</td>
<td>Mar. 5, 1869</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdc">”</td>
<td>Jas. W. Marshall,</td>
<td class="tdli4">New Jersey,</td>
<td>July 7, 1874</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdc">”</td>
<td>Marshall Jewell,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Connecticut,</td>
<td>Sept. 1, 1875</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdc">”</td>
<td>Jas. N. Tyner,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Indiana,</td>
<td>July 12, 1876</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Hayes,</td>
<td>D. M. Key,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Tennessee,</td>
<td>Mar. 13, 1877</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdc">”</td>
<td>Horace Maynard,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Tennessee,</td>
<td>Aug. 25, 1880</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Garfield and Arthur,</td>
<td>Thos. L. James,</td>
<td class="tdli4">New York,</td>
<td>Mar. 8, 1881</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdc">”</td>
<td>T. O. Howe,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Wisconsin,</td>
<td>Jan. 5, 1882</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdc">”</td>
<td>W. Q. Gresham,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Indiana,</td>
<td>April 11, 1883</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdc">”</td>
<td>Frank Hatton,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Iowa,</td>
<td>Oct. 14, 1884</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Cleveland,</td>
<td>Wm. F. Vilas,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Wisconsin,</td>
<td>Mar. 7, 1885</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdc">”</td>
<td>Don M. Dickinson,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Michigan,</td>
<td>Jan. 17, 1888</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Harrison,</td>
<td>John Wanamaker,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Pennsylvania,</td>
<td>Mar. 6. 1889</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Cleveland,</td>
<td>Wilson S. Bissell,</td>
<td class="tdli4">New York,</td>
<td>Mar. 7, 1893</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdc">”</td>
<td>William L. Wilson,</td>
<td class="tdli4">West Virginia,</td>
<td>April 4, 1895</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>McKinley,</td>
<td>James A. Gary,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Maryland,</td>
<td>Mar. 6, 1897</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdc">”</td>
<td>Charles Emory Smith,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Pennsylvania,</td>
<td>April 22, 1898</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Roosevelt,</td>
<td>Henry C. Payne,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Wisconsin,</td>
<td>Jan. 15, 1902</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdc">”</td>
<td>Robert J. Wynne,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Pennsylvania,</td>
<td>Oct. 10, 1904</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdc">”</td>
<td>Geo. B. Cortelyou,</td>
<td class="tdli4">New York,</td>
<td>Mar. 7, 1905</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdc">”</td>
<td>Geo. Von L. Meyer,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Massachusetts,</td>
<td>Mar. 4, 1907</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Taft,</td>
<td>Frank H. Hitchcock,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Massachusetts,</td>
<td>Mar. 6, 1909</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Wilson,</td>
<td>Albert S. Burleson,</td>
<td class="tdli4">Texas,</td>
<td>Mar. 5, 1913</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr class="chap" />
</div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p>
<div class="break">
<h2 class="p4">CHAPTER V</h2>
<p class="pch">Miscellaneous Matters</p>
<p class="psh">General and Financial Summary</p>
<table id="t08" summary="t08">
<tr>
<td><i>Revenue</i>:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Entire receipts, 1916</td>
<td class="tdr">$312,057,688.83</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Ordinary postal revenues</td>
<td class="tdr">303,232,143.36</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">From money order business</td>
<td class="tdr">8,130,545.47</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Postal savings</td>
<td class="tdr">695,000.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><i>Expenditures</i>:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">On account of current year, 1916</td>
<td class="tdr">$297,637,128.87</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">On account of previous years</td>
<td class="tdr">8,566,904.27</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td class="tdr">———————</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4a">Total expenditure</td>
<td class="tdr">$306,204,033.14</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Excess of revenue over expenditure, 1916</td>
<td class="tdr">5,853,655.69</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><i>Rural free delivery</i>, 1916:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Cost per patron, 1915</td>
<td class="tdr">$2,060</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Cost per patron, 1916</td>
<td class="tdr">1,966</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Annual cost, 1916</td>
<td class="tdr">51,715,616.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><i>City delivery</i>, 1916, 34,000 <i>carriers</i>:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">City delivery, cost of, 1916</td>
<td class="tdr">$43,000,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Cost per capita (estimated)</td>
<td class="tdr">1.75</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><i>Star route</i>, 1916:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Annual cost</td>
<td class="tdr">$7,726,975.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><i>Postal savings</i>:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Number of depositors, 1916</td>
<td class="tdr">602,937</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Balance to credit of depositors, 1916</td>
<td class="tdr">$86,019,885.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><i>Money orders</i>:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Orders issued, 1916</td>
<td class="tdr">121,636,818</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Amount</td>
<td class="tdr">$719,364,950.46</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><i>Stamp books</i>:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Number issued, 1916</td>
<td class="tdr">28,005,930</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><i>Postal cards</i>:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Number issued, 1916</td>
<td class="tdr">1,047,894,800</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Value</td>
<td class="tdr">$10,784,307.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><i>Dead letters</i>:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Letter and parcels received, 1916</td>
<td class="tdr">10,839,890</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Money value found in undelivered letters</td>
<td class="tdr">$2,303,119.56</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Net revenue from sale of undeliverable articles</td>
<td class="tdr">$53,665.69</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><i>Mail bags</i>, 1916:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Number pouches available</td>
<td class="tdr">600,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Number sacks available</td>
<td class="tdr">4,000,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Cost of pouches</td>
<td class="tdr">$0.70</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Cost of catcher pouches</td>
<td class="tdr">.80</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><i>Mail locks</i>, 1916:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Number general mail locks in use</td>
<td class="tdr">1,000,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Cost, each 8½ cents; to repair, 3 cents</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><i>Division of supplies</i>:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Appropriation, blanks, stationery, etc., 1916</td>
<td class="tdr">$2,500,000.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><i>Special delivery</i>:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Amount expended for service, 1916</td>
<td class="tdr">$633,713.21</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Number of pieces delivered yearly</td>
<td class="tdr">32,000,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><i>Railway mail service</i>, 1916:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Number of clerks</td>
<td class="tdr">19,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Number of mail routes</td>
<td class="tdr">3,500</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Salaries paid</td>
<td class="tdr">$26,000,000.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Correct handling of mail</td>
<td class="tdr">99.984 per cent</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Cost of transportation</td>
<td class="tdr">$57,900,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><i>Star routes</i>:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Number, 1916</td>
<td class="tdr">11,187</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Length of miles</td>
<td class="tdr">147,167</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Average cost per mile, length</td>
<td class="tdr">$54.16</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Average cost per mile of travel</td>
<td class="tdr">$0.1026</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Annual cost</td>
<td class="tdr">$7,726,975.00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Routes on which there is found rate service</td>
<td class="tdr">195</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Number pounds carried, 1917</td>
<td class="tdr">23,411,604</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Cost</td>
<td class="tdr">$280,738.08</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Cost per hundred pounds</td>
<td class="tdr">$1.20</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli">Number of Star routes discontinued on account
of rural delivery service from Jan., 1904, to
June, 1917</td>
<td class="tdrh">7,450</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Cost</td>
<td class="tdr">$2,577,728</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Length in miles</td>
<td class="tdr">72,340</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table id="t09" summary="t09">
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td class="tdr">1900</td>
<td class="tdr">1917</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Number of routes</td>
<td class="tdr">22,834</td>
<td class="tdr">11,208</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Cost mile of length</td>
<td class="tdr">$19.02</td>
<td class="tdr">$54.56</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Cost mile of travel</td>
<td class="tdr">3.83 cents</td>
<td class="tdr">10.24 cents</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Cost per route</td>
<td class="tdr">$224.81</td>
<td class="tdr">$723.00</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table id="t10" summary="t10">
<tr>
<td><i>Registration and insurance</i>:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Total registration, paid and free</td>
<td class="tdr">39,236,569</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Amount collected fees</td>
<td class="tdr">$3,427,053.10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Insured parcel post, total pieces</td>
<td class="tdr">24,936,082</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Total fees</td>
<td class="tdr">$1,067,192.29</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">C. O. D. pieces</td>
<td class="tdr">6,300,546</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdli4">Fees</td>
<td class="tdr">$630,054.60</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p>
<p class="psh">Items of General Interest</p>
<p>Statistics show that although 70 per cent of parcel post matter
comes from the fifty largest cities of the country, these cities only
receive 17 per cent of parcels for delivery. The smaller post
offices which receive 65 per cent of the parcels, dispatch only 9½
per cent.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>The annual readjustment of the salaries of presidential postmasters,
will, according to the provisions in the postal appropriation
bill for 1917, be based on the gross receipts for the four quarters
ending December 31, instead of March 31, as heretofore.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Eligibles for fourth-class postmaster places are selected in the
order of their civil service rating unless good and sufficient reasons
to the contrary are submitted to the Department. Of 32,000
of such eligibles, 89.5 of those whose names appeared first on the
list were appointed. In 8 per cent the second highest were selected,
and in 2.5 per cent, the third.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>The number of postmasters in the United States are, according to
classes, 567 in the first, 2,211 in the second, 6,414 in the third,
and 46,742 in the fourth class. Total, 55,934.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Custer County, Montana, has one of the longest mail routes in
the United States. This line runs from Miles City to Stacey,
Olive, Broaddus, Boyer, Graham, and Biddle. It is said to be
126 miles long and some contend that it is longer.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>The longest star route in the United States is from Helper to
Vernal, Utah, 116 miles, and the price the Government pays is
$38,678.70 per annum. The longest route in Alaska, is overland,
Barrow to Kotzbue, 650 miles. The shortest route is in Pennsylvania,
from Keiser to Natalie, <sup>65</sup>/<sub>100</sub>. There is one route in New
York, Delhi to Bloomville, 8 miles and back, twelve times a week,
for which the contractor receives but 1 cent per annum, no doubt
considering the advantage of carrying the mail as a sufficient
compensation for taking the job at such a rate.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>There are 3,010 counties in the United States, 984 have rural
service and steps are being taken to see what can be done with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
remainder, though any considerable progress in such direction must
be slow as a great deal of preliminary work must be done before
any real action can be taken.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>That fractions count in a great business organization such as the
Post Office Department, will be seen when it is stated that postmasters
during the year, 1916, accounted for a total of $131,625.90,
arising from gains in fractions of a cent where stamped envelopes
and wrappers were sold in odd quantities.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>The annual per capita of expenditure for postage in the United
States has increased since 1912 from $2.58 to $3.04, and the
gross postal revenue from $246,744,015 to $312,057,688. In the
fiscal year of 1857, the first full year in which prepayment of postage
by means of stamps was compulsory under the Act of March 3,
1855, the per capita use of stamps was but 19 cents. The increase
of population in this period has been 257 per cent. Of postage
stamp consumption 4,968 per cent.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>The sales of postage stamps and other stamped paper for the
fiscal year 1916 aggregated $277,728,025.20, an increase of
$21,521,481.49, the greatest sales and the largest increase ever
recorded, exceeding the entire sales of the fiscal year 1873, which
amounted to $20,324,817.50.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>The Post Office Department was removed to Washington, D. C.,
first Monday in December, 1800, the seat of Government being
changed to the District of Columbia at that time.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Over 100 years ago the question of patronage was already a
disturbing feature in the management of public affairs. Gideon
Granger, of Connecticut, Postmaster General in 1814, who had
been an active and efficient official in the administration of President
Madison, lost his place on account of some disagreement with
the President, regarding the appointment of postmasters. It is
not clear whether he resigned or was displaced, but the differences
of opinion with President Madison led to his retirement from the
service.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Joseph Habersham, of Georgia, Postmaster General in the
administration of General Washington, 1795, was the first one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>
the long line of Postmasters General to sit in the Capital of the
Nation, he coming to Washington when the seat of Government
was established there in the year 1800.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Post route and rural delivery maps made by the Government
are on a scale of 1 inch to the mile. These maps show all public
roads, rural routes, school houses, churches, streams, etc., and
negative prints can be purchased at 35 cents each by application
to the Third Assistant Postmaster General.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>The number of claims filed with the Solicitor for the Post
Office Department in 1916, for the value of postage stamps lost
by burglary of post offices, was 690, amounting to $144,440.54,
as compared with 720 claims, amounting to $197,011.88, filed in
1915. It will be seen that while the number of claims is approximately
the same, the amount is $52,571.34 less.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>It was the custom in 1857 and prior thereto, to publish the names
of the postmasters in connection with the post offices as is indicated
by an old Postal Guide published by D. D. T. Leech at that
time. This was then easily enough done, for the offices then numbered
but 13,600 and changes were not as frequent as at present.
The First Assistant Postmaster General had in his Bureau 18
clerks, the Second Assistant, 26, the Third Assistant, 25, and the
Chief Clerk of the Department, who had charge of the Inspection
Service, had 18. There were then but 11 distributing offices in all
of New England including Pennsylvania, 8 in Virginia, and the
Carolinas, 3 in Georgia, 4 in Ohio, 2 in Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky,
Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas,
and Iowa, and 1 each in Maryland, Michigan, Indiana, Texas, and
California. Aaron V. Brown, of Tennessee, was the Postmaster
General. The abbreviation for Massachusetts was then “M.S.”
as is seen by an old dating stamp of that period.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>In 1868 money orders were issued at the rate of 10 cents for all
orders not exceeding $20. By act approved June 8, 1872, the rate
was reduced to 5 cents for all orders not exceeding $10. By this
change the Government lost, in the two succeeding years on account
of this reduction, <sup>2.84</sup>/<sub>100</sub> on every order issued on the
5-cent basis, showing that such rate at that time was too low.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span></p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>There were 2,405 rural carriers separated from the service during
the year 1915, of which number 1,228 resigned, 232 died, and
618 were removed. In 1916, there were 2,602 changes, 1,844
carriers resigned, 208 died and 550 were removed.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Almost the entire expense incident to the operation of the rural
mail service is in the compensation paid to carriers. On account
of their unusual duties, which include the sale of stamps and
stamped paper, registration of mail, transaction of money-order
business, etc., duties not required of city delivery carriers, it is
stated that carriers maintaining a motor vehicle of the capacity
required by the Department, who work eight hours a day and carry
perhaps as much as 50,000 pieces of mail a month, should receive
not less than $2,000 per annum.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>The total number of miles of railroad in the United States in
1830 was 23, and 634 miles in 1834, on which mail covering 78
miles, was carried. In 1844 the mileage had increased to 4,377
and mail carried on 3,714 miles. In 1854 the mileage was 16,720,
in 1864, 35,085, in 1874, 70,278, and in 1882, 104,813, with corresponding
increase of mail carriage. There are now 3,479 railroad
mail routes with a length in miles of 234,175.13 and an annual
travel of 502,937,359.43 miles.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>The decision of President Wilson to place all postmasters of the
country under the civil service law will take away $16,587,300
of public patronage from the customary method of disposal. At
the first of the year there were 567 first-class offices in the country
paying salaries ranging from $3,000 to $8,000, or a total of $2,014,300.
Included in this list were the post offices in New York,
Chicago, St. Louis, Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Baltimore,
Indianapolis, Kansas City, Detroit, Cleveland, Toledo
Columbus, Atlanta, and other large cities. There were 2,213
second-class offices, salaries ranging from $2,000 to $2,900, or a
total of $5,235,500. Third-class, 7,437 paying from $1,000 to
$1,900 yearly, or a total of $9,337,500. Fourth-class postmasters
are already under the civil service law.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>From 1816 to 1845, a letter carried not over 30 miles paid 6¼
cents, over 80 and under 150 miles, paid 12½ cents, and if the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>
letter weighed an ounce, four times these rates were charged. In
1851 the 3-cent rate was reached for distances less than 3,000 miles,
and in 1853 distance limit was abolished and the rate made uniform.
This system led to a deficiency in 1860 amounting to
over $10,000,000. The restriction of service during the Civil
War, it being then confined to the densely populated States of the
north, allowed a surplus to appear amounting in 1863 to $2,800,000.
After the war, deficiencies became the rule for many years, diminishing,
however, from year to year as the country became more
thickly settled.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>By official order it is stated that the Department commends
and will give record credit marks to rural carriers whose efforts
result in greater quantities of farm products being transported
through the mails.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Notwithstanding the growth of the service together with the
added work of the postal savings system and the parcel post, the
Department service in Washington has been reduced by 200, with
a resultant saving of over $166,000 per annum because of the
adoption of methods of operation which develop efficiency, and
permit the changes so necessary to progressive improvement.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>It is estimated that the cost of extending rural free delivery
service throughout the entire country will be $100,000,000,
additional. This seems like a vast sum for one form of public
service, but country-wide extension is also a vast proposition and
its benefits would be so immeasurably great if it could be accomplished,
that the nation might consider the money well spent
for such a purpose.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>It may not be generally known that fully 80 per cent of all
civil service employees of the Government are in one way and
another connected with the postal service. This shows how vast
and widely extended this service must be and how intimately
connected with the public welfare.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>The objectionable use to which window-delivery service in the
cities of the country may be subjected, has led to an active and
vigorous campaign by the Department to check the possibility of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>
making this public accommodation a channel for unworthy purposes,
and this active effort has, it is believed, been productive of
great good in such direction.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>The danger to life and limb by service in postal cars, to which
attention is called elsewhere, has led to increased effort to provide
cars of all-steel construction for better protection in this naturally
hazardous service. One thousand of this pattern have within a
recent period been added to those already in use and a liability
law enacted for the relief of employes. The risks which must
be taken in this service demand that the best possible protection
that can be given should be afforded that the dangers of the rail
may be lessened to the least degree.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>The mails of the United States were first carried on steamboats
from one post town to another in 1813, the Government paying
not over 3 cents for each letter and 1 cent for newspapers.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Railroads were declared post routes by act of Congress in July,
1838, and the mails carried thereon.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>This administration is certainly doing all it can to save money in
various directions. An opportunity was presented in the motors
returned to the Department for repair. These motors have been
neglected in many instances through indifference or lack of
mechanical knowledge on the part of postal employes. Each
returned motor is now given careful examination by an expert
electrician and from the knowledge thus gained, additional
instructions as to proper handling of this class of equipment will
be sent out. The same is true of old cancelling machines which
have lain idle for a number of years but by the adoption of newly
designed mechanical attachments have been converted into
serviceable equipment at a nominal cost.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>The increase in expenditure for rural delivery by periods was as
follows: 1897, first year, $14,840. Third year, 1900, increased to
$420,433. In 1905, to $20,864,885. In 1910, to $36,914,769,
and in 1916 to $51,715,616.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Revision of the rural delivery service to eliminate duplication,
unnecessary retracing and unjustifiable special facilities was conducted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
in 329 counties in twenty-nine States during the fiscal year
of 1916, at a reduction in cost of $1,359,162. This saving with
that made in readjustments in the fiscal year of 1915, made it
possible to grant all applications for new service and extensions
where the requirements have been met. It is estimated that the
whole territory now covered by rural service, with such necessary
revision, could be operated at a reduction in cost of $3,500,000.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>The commercial shortage in the paper industry is being to some
extent remedied, at least so far as the Post Office Department can
aid and assist, by urging the cooperation of every employe in the
conservation of the waste paper in all of the larger post offices of
the country. Paper-baling machines are now supplied to the postmasters
for this purpose, which not only contributes to economy
in use and adds to the visible supply, but is a matter of revenue as
well, for what was formerly regarded as waste, and destroyed, is
now made a matter of profit.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>The numberless curiosities gathered from unmailable and unreclaimed
articles which found their way into the Dead Letter
Office from time to time, together with the many articles of postal
interest to those who delight in antiquities—the old mail coaches
used in the west, the dog sledges used in the Alaskan service, the
carriers in uniform of all nations and the many features of interest
too tedious to enumerate here and which formed a veritable
collection of postal wonders and delighted thousands of people
when gathered for display purposes on the first floor of the Post
Office Department are now, in part at least, in the National
Museum at Washington and are well worthy a visit when people
come to the Capital City on a sight-seeing tour.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>The period of greatest activity in extension and general progress
of Rural Delivery was from 1900 to 1905, the appropriations running
from $450,000 in 1900 to $21,116,000 in 1905. On February
1, 1902, the rural letter carriers were placed under the civil service
by executive order.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Salary increases in the Rural Delivery service have been as follows:
August 1, 1897, $300; July 1, 1898, $400; July 1, 1900,
$500; March 1, 1902, $600; July 1, 1904, $720; July 1, 1907,
$900; July 1, 1911, $1,000; September 30, 1912, $1,100; July 1,
1914, $1,200.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p>
<p class="psh">Some Old Laws and Regulations</p>
<p class="pbq">NOTE.—In some old postal publications dating back to 1843 and 1857, a
number of curious laws and regulations appear which may be of interest to
people who delight in antiquarian research. Where no date or Act of Congress
is mentioned in the paragraphs following, they refer to laws or regulations
prior to 1843 or between that date and 1857. These items are published
simply as indicating the peculiar views and opinions of the time, and are
not to be taken as an official guide for the present day, for changes may have
been made in some cases, amendments in others, some superseded by later
enactment and all more or less affected by later conditions and needs. No
attention can therefore be given them except as phases of other days, unless
indeed existing laws and regulations make them, or some of them still operative
and in force, which may be determined by consulting the laws and regulations
of today.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>To Senators and Members of Congress, the franking privilege
was originally limited to 2 ounces in weight, excess to be paid for.
Act of March 3, 1825.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>The sum of 4 cents was allowed for advertising each letter remaining
unclaimed in a post office if published in more than one newspaper.
Section 35, Act July 2, 1836, Act of 1825, Section 26,
allowed but 2 cents for each letter, published three times.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Newspaper publishers could have printed or written notice sent
to subscribers stating the amount due on subscription, which shall
be attached to paper and the postmaster shall charge for such notice
the same postage as for a newspaper. Act of 1825.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>No ship or vessel arriving at any port in the United States shall
make entry or break bulk until the mails are delivered to the postmaster
by the master of such ship or vessel. Penalty was $100.
Act of 1825.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Section 1, Act of March 2, 1847, permitted deputy postmasters
whose compensation for last preceding year did not exceed $200
to send letters written by himself, and to receive through the mail
written communications addressed to himself in his private business
which shall not exceed ½ ounce, free of postage. Regulation
293, allowed every deputy postmaster to frank and receive free
all his letters, public and private, subject to the ½-ounce weight.
This privilege did not extend to his wife or any other member
of the family.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Paid letters might be forwarded by private opportunity to
places where no post offices were established.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Postmasters were not allowed to give credit for postage, but if it
was done, letters addressed to such persons on which postage was
paid or tendered by him could not be detained.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Act of August 31, 1852, allowed letters enclosed in <i>stamped
envelopes</i> to be sent out of the mail.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>By joint resolution of February 20, 1845, the Postmaster
General could make contracts with railroads for carrying the mail
without advertising for bids as was then the custom.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>The postmaster, or one of his assistants, was required, before
office was swept or otherwise cleaned of rubbish, to collect and
examine all waste paper in order to guard against possibility of
loss of letters or mail matter by falling to the floor or mingling with
waste paper. Observance of rule was strictly enjoined, its violation
constituted a grave offense. They were also admonished in
mailing letters or packets to use all wrapping paper fit to be used
again, and the sale of such paper was strictly forbidden.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>As late as 1843, postmasters were officially known as “Deputy”
postmasters following the old custom from the beginning.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>If a newspaper began to arrive at the office in the course of the
post office quarter, deputy postmasters should demand postage
in advance of the subscriber up to the end of that quarter. At the
end of a quarter, they might refund postage on so many of the
newspapers as had not arrived during the quarter. Advance
payment of postage was invariably demanded and unless complied
with no papers should be delivered even though the postage was
tendered on them singly. (Act, 1825.)</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Carriers were required to receive and convey a letter (and the
money for its postage when tendered) if delivered more than a mile
from a post office and to hand it with the money, if paid, into the
first post office at which carrier arrived. A penalty of $50 attached
on failure to do so. (Act of 1825).</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Postmasters were forbidden to show any preference between one
person and another in the arrival or delivery of mail by the unlawful
detention of any letters, packages, pamphlet or newspaper.
A fine not exceeding $500 was the penalty and the person was forever
prohibited from serving as postmaster. (Act of July 2, 1836.)</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>A ferryman who by wilful neglect or refusal to transport mail
across a ferry thereby delaying the same, was to be fined $10 for
every ten minutes of such delay. (Act of March 3, 1825.)</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Letter carriers employed at such post offices as the Postmaster
General may direct, were allowed to collect 2 cents for each letter
they delivered. For letters lodged at the post office by direction
of the individual, the postmaster was to receive 1 cent; newspapers
and pamphlets ½ cent; letters received by carrier for deposit
in a post office, 2 cents, to be paid to the postmaster for a fund
for compensation of carriers. This was known as the “penny
post” and was in vogue until the day of free delivery.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Section 38, Act of March 3, 1825, provided that: Any person
confined in jail on any judgment in a civil case obtained in behalf
of the Post Office Department, who makes affidavit that he has a
claim against the General Post Office, not allowed by the Postmaster
General, and shall specify such claim in the affidavit, that
he could not be prepared for trial by lack of evidence, the court
being satisfied in those respects, may be granted a continuance
by the court until the next term, and the Postmaster General
authorized to have such party discharged from imprisonment
if he has no property, of any description, but such release shall
not bar a subsequent execution against the property of the
defendant.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>A postmaster was not allowed to receive free of postage, or frank
any letter or packet, composed of, or containing anything other
than paper or money. (Sec. 36; Act of July 2, 1836.)</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>According to the Postal Laws and Regulations of 1843, only a
free white person could carry the mail and any contractor who
employed or permitted any other than a free white person to convey
mail was subject to a penalty of $20.</p>
<hr class="chap" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span></p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>At post offices where the mail arrived between 9.00 o’clock at
night and 5.00 in the morning, the postmaster was allowed a commission
not to exceed 50 per cent on the first $100 collected in any
one quarter (Act of March 3, 1825), but the commission was
afterwards increased to 70 per cent. (Act of June 22, 1854.)
No allowance on this account was, however, to be made unless accompanied
by a certificate signed by postmaster upon a prescribed
form.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Post riders and other carriers of mail collecting way letters on
which postage had been paid, were allowed 1 cent each for such
service by the postmaster when such letters were delivered at the
post office.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>“Express mail service” could be established by the Postmaster
General if deemed expedient, for the purpose of conveying slips
from newspapers in lieu of exchanges, or letters, except such as
contained money, not exceeding ½ ounce in weight, and public
dispatches, marked as above, at triple rates of postage.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Employment of extra clerks was permitted and authorized when
actually needed to answer some information called for by Congress.
Copyists, etc., were paid at the rate of $3 a day; other
service $4 when actually and necessarily employed. (Act of
August 26, 1842.)</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Section 442, Chapter 60, says: “Every deputy postmaster will
consider himself the Sentinel of the Department in regard to its
affairs in his immediate vicinity; and he will carefully observe and
promptly report to it everything tending to affect its interests or
injure its reputation.”</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Section 445 says: “If a mail carrier having the mail in charge
becomes intoxicated, the Deputy Postmaster will instantly dismiss
him, employ another at the expense of the contractor and
report the facts to the Department.”</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Section 382, Chapter 53. “Deputy postmasters are in the habit
of settling their printer’s bills only once in two or three years and
then forwarding the advertising account for several quarters at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
once. This must not be done. All such accounts must be forwarded
with the returns to which they belong.”</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Section 379. “No allowance for furniture will be made to any
post office when the net proceeds do not amount to $20 per year.”</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Act of 1825, Section 39, and Act of 1863, Section 41, says the
carriers of the “United States City Dispatch Post” in New York,
and other city dispatch posts, wherever established, are authorized
to charge and collect 3 cents on each letter deposited in any part of
the city, and delivered at another.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Act of 1825, Section 38, states a deputy postmaster will not
open, nor suffer to be opened, any packet of newspapers, not
addressed to his office, under a penalty of $50. A penalty of $20
was to be imposed on any person not authorized to open mails,
who shall open any packet of newspapers not directed to himself.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p>Regulations 324 and 325 says that the franking privilege travels
with the person possessing it and can be exercised in but one place
at the same time, and prohibited deputy postmasters or other
privileged persons from leaving their frank behind them upon
envelopes to cover public or private correspondence in their
absence.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p class="psh">Queer Collection in Holiday Mail</p>
<p>Some years ago, the Cincinnati, Ohio, post office, gave an account
of the queer combinations and collections of articles found
loose in the mails at the Christmas season owing to the carelessness
of senders. These articles vary from value to worthlessness, utility
to uselessness. Money, jewelry, articles of dress, dainty ribbons
to choice silk patters, tableware, and even to “corn shellers.”
Many of the articles named were doubtless in combinations and
sent to one address, but being carelessly wrapped or addressed,
they could not be assembled for identification or identified singly
for delivery in the great majority of cases. The list is given
for the benefit of readers who delight in curious things. These
articles were held for a week for possible identification and then
sent to the Dead Letter Office. No attempt has been made at
classification as more interest is excited by taking them as they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
come. Some of the combination must have been very amusing.
List is as follows:</p>
<p>A cabinet photograph, pair rubber sleeves, 2 silver quarter-dollars,
sewing machine shuttle, piece of white swiss goods, 2 dimes, a
brass key, package common tea spoons, 5 cents and 8 childs’
cards from Beamsville, Ont., for Mrs. J. Carl, Tallahassee, Ala.,
and sent to the postmaster of that place for delivery. Two unstamped
letters, one to Mrs. Rebecca Washington, the other to
Wm. Cummings; 65 cents, plated butter knife, gold plated lead
pencil, silver quarter, 2 combination tools, 2 pen knives, lot
photographs, pension affidavit of Jasper Acres, pair knit stockings,
6 books, false mustaches, pearl pen holder, box of pills, patent
corn sheller, 2 electrotype plates of “Sellers Cough Syrup,” yellow
and purple knit hoods. Christmas cards, studs, 2 small drills,
peacock feather, fountain pen, ladies brooch, butter knife, felt soles,
letter in match box addressed to postmaster Berlin, sugarspoon,
celluloid, ring, sleeve buttons, 25 cents, hair switch, open letter to
J. Lyon, Red, Ky., Ind., which was delivered to him.</p>
<p>Two pen knives, dime, box violin strings, ladies fashion bazaar,
bottle “Fruit Laxative,” plain gold ring, ear rings, breast pin, and
thimble (snide), paper needles, book “Bad Boy’s diary,” pencil,
large pen knife, 70 cents, unstamped letter to Adelaide Long,
iron hook, toy knitting machine, 2 tops of sleeve buttons, hair
chain, lot crayons, chalk, letter to P. O. Wickley, Augusta, Me.,
unstamped, containing 70 cents in stamps, child’s book “The Proud
Little Lady,” magic lantern, watch chain, masonic charm, ½-dozen
teaspoons, paper needles, childs mits, comforter and doll,
2 harmonicons, Bible, child’s gingham dress, 2 sticks of candy.
A wallet containing a gold double eagle, $20 bill, 9 $5 bills, 3 $10
bills, found by F. A. Montague, in a pouch from Lewisburg, Tenn.,
and returned to postmaster of that town to be delivered upon
receipt to the sender.</p>
<p>Gold plated pencil, unaddressed envelope, containing pair of
lisle thread gloves, black and white stamped ribbon, uninclosed
letter containing $1 marked from “Joe to Gus,” two-cent
piece, gold and jet pencil holder, butter knife, tidy, white apron,
pair baby socks, blank check book, dominoes, black cord and
tassel, red worsted shawl, tidy. Wooden box, lot of candy,
assortment of rubber sheep. Letter from R. MacFeeley, Washington,
D. C., to Capt. A. M. Corliss, without envelope, one cent,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
German picture cards, meerschaum cigar holder, woman’s head
design. Three plain rings, four watch charms, compass, horseshoe
cigar cutter, two lanterns, pearl handled table knife, billiard ball,
silver quarter sewed in some knit work, whisk broom, a false
tooth, two black ties, three New Year cards, hair switch, curry
comb, vanity case, stuffed Aunt Dinah, game “Old Maid,” box
Mason’s blacking with brush, fiddle strings.</p>
<p class="psh">Feeding the Cats</p>
<p>It is perhaps not generally known that cats are kept and fed at
the public expense in some of the larger post offices of the country.
Some years ago (and it may still be the custom) an appropriation
of from $80 to $100 was annually made for this purpose for the
benefit of the New York post office, and $30 to $40, spent for like
service at the Philadelphia office. In an article in the <i>Philadelphia
Record</i> it was stated that a man in that city had a contract for
keeping these feline employes of the office in provisions, and it
was also mentioned that there are about 1,000 of these useful
domestic animals in the employ of the Post Office Department
and they are paid for their services by food and shelter. It is
estimated that about $1,000 per annum is expended in this way
at the principal post offices and large public buildings of the
country.</p>
<p>Ferrets are also often employed for this purpose in the great
public buildings in Washington when the rodents get too numerous
and damage to papers and files likely to occur. The common
practice of eating lunches in these government buildings tends to
the spread of this annoying condition and the cats in the public
service are held to be a useful and necessary convenience in hunting
down and interfering with the nibbling propensities of this pest to
domestic as well as public economy.</p>
<p class="psh">A Couple of Distinguished Canines</p>
<p>Mention is made in another article of the employment of cats
in post offices as “mousers,” and they doubtless contribute their
share towards public benefit. The dog, man’s most faithful friend,
so eulogized in song and story, has also, it seems, his part in
public interest and concern. For many years the postal clerks
of the country paid great attention to “Owney” an adventurous
terrier dog who attached himself to the Railway Service and whose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>
exploits as a traveler and companion on many postal trips and runs
made him a familiar and welcome acquaintance wherever he established
his temporary domicile. His faithfulness, friendship and
fellowship, in his way of showing it, was the topic of discourse when
he made his occasional visits and his praises were told in many a
newspaper story and he wore the numerous decorations and
medals with which he was bedecked, the gift of admiring friends,
with all the dignity and grace becoming a dog so honored and
esteemed.</p>
<p>“Owney” had an humble imitator and counterpart in canine
sagacity and wisdom in a dog at Mount Carmel, Pa., whose watchful
guardianship of the office mail and general fidelity won him
such deserved recognition at home as a remarkable example of
what a dog can be taught to do, that his fame spread abroad, was
brought to public attention at Washington and the post office people
awarded him special recognition in the shape of a handsome
collar, raised by subscription. He got his name in the newspapers,
but whether all this honor and glory turned his head
and his attention elsewhere, or some evil-minded person, jealous
of the costly collar he wore, appropriated it and the dog also, is
not known, but after being thus honored and decorated and set
apart from the rest of the canine fraternity, this famous dog
suddenly disappeared and was never heard of again.</p>
<p class="psh">Soldier’s Sister a Mail Carrier</p>
<p>President Wilson has issued an executive order allowing the
Postmaster General to appoint as temporary rural mail carrier,
during the absence of the regular carrier on military duty, the
person on whom the support of the dependents of the regular
carrier devolves, without regard to civil service requirements, if
the substitute is found competent. The first appointment under
the order is that of Miss Edith Strand, of Princeton, Ill., whose
brother was called into the military service, leaving her to care
for the family.</p>
<p class="psh">Notice</p>
<p>In a pamphlet giving a brief history of the postal service, compiled
by Mr. Stanley I. Slack during the administration of Postmaster
General Charles Emory Smith from which a few general
facts are taken relating to our early postal history, appears a statement
that use had been made of the following works—Journal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
kept by Hugh Finlay, 1773-74, Brooklyn, 1867. Joyce “History
of the British Post Office; The Early History of the Colonial Post
Office by Mary E. Wooley; Leech and Nicholson’s History of the
Post Office Department, Washington, 1879, and the contributions
of the Postal History of the United States by C. W. Ernst of Boston
in Vols. XX, 1895, and XXI, 1896; Journal of the Postal
Union.” As none of these authorities have been consulted in the
publication of this work, or access had to any of them for such
purpose, this explanation is made so that if anything from the
above mentioned publications appears herein, drawn from Mr.
Slack’s pamphlet, the necessary acknowledgment might hereby
be made and due credit given.</p>
<hr class="chap" />
</div>
<div class="break">
<h2 class="p4">INDEX TO ITEMS OF INTEREST</h2>
<p class="pni">Annual readjustment salaries, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></p>
<p class="pni">Claims for stamps lost by burglary, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></p>
<p class="pni">Credit marks for rural carriers, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></p>
<p class="pni">Cost, country-wide extension rural delivery, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></p>
<p class="pni">Difference in dispatch parcel post matter, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></p>
<p class="pni">Department force at Washington reduced, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></p>
<p class="pni">Eligibles, fourth-class postmasters, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></p>
<p class="pni">Expenditure rural delivery by periods, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></p>
<p class="pni">First Postmaster General to sit at Capital, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></p>
<p class="pni">Gain to Department in fractions of a cent, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></p>
<p class="pni">Increase rural carriers’ pay, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></p>
<p class="pni">Longest mail route, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></p>
<p class="pni">Longest star route, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></p>
<p class="pni">Loss to Government by low money order rate, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></p>
<p class="pni">Mails first carried on steamboats, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></p>
<p class="pni">Number of counties having rural service, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></p>
<p class="pni">Names of postmasters mentioned in 1857, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></p>
<p class="pni">Number of postmasters affected by order of President, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></p>
<p class="pni">Per capita expenditure for postage, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></p>
<p class="pni">Patronage 100 years ago, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></p>
<p class="pni">Period of greatest activity, rural service, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></p>
<p class="pni">Post routes, rural delivery maps, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></p>
<p class="pni">Postal employes in public service, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></p>
<p class="pni">Paper baling machines, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></p>
<p class="pni">Postal curiosities in National Museum, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></p>
<p class="pni">Postmasters by classes, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></p>
<p class="pni">Postage stamp sale, 1916, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></p>
<p class="pni">Railroads declared post routes, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></p>
<p class="pni">Rural carriers separated from service, 1915-1916, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></p>
<p class="pni">Rates of postage, 1816 to 1853, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></p>
<p class="pni">Revision of rural service, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></p>
<p class="pni">Shortest postal route, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></p>
<p class="pni">Salary increases, rural carriers, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></p>
<p class="pni">Saving money by motor repairs, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></p>
<p class="pni">Sale postage stamps, 1916, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></p>
<p class="pni">Total railroad mileage, 1830, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></p>
<p class="pni">Window delivery service, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></p>
<p class="pni">When the Department was moved to Washington, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></p>
</div>
<div class="sum">
<div class="transnote p4">
<p class="pc large">TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE</p>
<p class="ptn">—Obvious errors were corrected.</p>
<p class="ptn">—The transcriber of this project created the book cover image using the title page of the original book. The image is placed in the public domain.</p>
</div></div>
</div>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 48014 ***</div>
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