Full text of "Story of our post office : the greatest government department in all its phases"

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THE STORY

Our Post Office

The Great Government Department in a\\ its fiasco

MARSHALL CUSHING

ILLUSTRATED WITH OVER

yJjL^yt^' FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY FINE ENGRAVINGS

BOSTON, riASS.

A. M. .HAYER & CO., PUBLISHERS

1893

D. M. Rowland has been appoint-
ed and confirmed as post master
at Marengo. He will assume the
duties of the office in a short time
and is well qualified for the position.
A. L. Downard has been the
postmaster for the past four years
and has been allowed to serve his
term out. He has made a goodl
official and is well liked by all. |

NEW POSTMASTER.

CHANGE IN THE MABENGO OFFICE.

Makengo, Sept. 3. — Special: Having
served four months more than his full
term, Mr. D. M. Rowland, our estimable
postmaster, now turns the office over to
Mr. C. L. Shipton, his successor. Mr.
Rowland's management of the office at
this place has been par-excellent in every
particular, and has given general satis-
faction to the patrons at this delivery
regardless of political affiliations.
Courteous and prompt attention
to business, order, ability, accuracy,
neatness and dispatch have all been no-
ticeable features during Mr. Rowland's
term of office, and we do not believe bet-
ter kept records or neater reports have
ever been furnished from the Marengo
postoffice than those prepared by Mr. R.
and his most efficient deputy, Miss Mary
Rowland. Mr. Shipton will take formal
possession to-day, and we feel very sure^
that the most critical examination of
records will not reveal the loss to Uncle
Sam of so much as a 1-cent postage
stamp during Mr. Rowland's term of of-
fice. We trust that at the close of his
term of service Mr. Shipton can produce
as good a record as his Republican prede-
cessor.

A Good Showing.

One of the certain indexes of the bus-
iness of a town is its post office receipts,
and those of the Marengo office make
a very satisfactory showing in this re-
spect—the following being a statement
of the receipts for the past four years:

1890 $3,745.02

!891 3,830.62

1892 4,095.75

1893 4,242.32

Postmaster Rowland has reason to
feel complimented at the good showing
made during his administration, much
of which is due to the attentive and
business-like manner in which he has
conducted the office.

'%aAsZ^*Ur c

'he post office matter at Marengo |
been settled by Congressman Cur J
f -.vho recommended D. M. Rowland I
'' succeed Lin Shipton. H. E. Goldth-
ite, who was the next most promin-i
candidate extends his thanks and
'fully accepts defeat.-B. P. Union}

• *IIlJ\ r G.

All rights r r ^MS

Iff

• wn Curtis has filed his

i in favor of D. MJ

— >«oi- at Marengo.

Cv. B>. held the office un-

v, administration seems

regarded as an ob-*"
■ ought not, as he made a
cer then, which is a guar-
jat he will make a good officer;
n/r ^scatine Journal.

Post Office Change.

The transfer of the post office at Ma-
•engo occurred Friday evening, Aug.
ilst, after the close of business, and
ihe new post master entered upon the
lischarge of his duties the next raorn-
ng, Sept. 1st. Mr. Rowland has served
is post master four years and three
nonths, and his administration of the
)ffice has been highly satisfactory, and
n retiring he carries with him the con-
idence and esteem of the- public, with-
>ut regard to ' party lines. The office
,vas conducted at all times with the
sole object of giving the public the
9est service possible, and there are
rery few if any who will not concede
:hat he succeeded admirably.

Miss Mary Rowland, who has been
the assistant under her father, and
whose obliging and courteous manners
ind marked efficiency has made her
extremely popular with the patrons of
the office, will be retained for some
Lime.

"Typography and Fres&work
J 1 by L. Barta & Co,. ,

The Barta Pi
148 High St., Bos:

I), M. Rowland, of Marengo has been
appointed postmaster at that place.
Mi*. Rowland, if we are not mistaken,
was at one time a resident of Sigour-
ney. It is a good appointment, for he
is a worthy and capable man.

f OTHJiat IOWA NJtfWS.

MAREHGO'S NEW POSTMASTER.

Mabengo, April 23. — Register Corre-
spondence.— In to-day's Register among
the confirmations you had it P. M. Howland
postmaster at Marengo. It should have
been David M. Rowland. The appointment
is a recognition of a hardworking Republican
ftnd gives general satisfaction.

.to wing figures baL
/ Mr. D, M. Rowland,
. increase in ithe business 1
ed through the Marengo
»- c for a number of years
i iq a good indication of ' °

NOTE.

Y Last Monday Mr. Lincoln Rowland,
our efficient assistant post master, and
a son of post master Rowland, of this
city, ,rece iv ^^ a tele? 1 ' «v from San
i?rw~ ' terir : l ie position

uv •

j>j

H J Washington, Oct. 12, 1892,

Dear Mr. Thayer: —

I send you the last of the copy to-day. At least, you shall not
deny that you have been favored in one respect : I have had it all
typewritten. I congratulate myself, too, that the photographs were
mostly taken by my friend here, Mr. Prince ; and both of us ought
also to feel happy that personal friends of ours had the mechanical
work, so important in any publication, in charge, Mr. Gill of the
engraving and Mr. Barta of the printing. You had a long head
when you engaged these men — and it was a compliment to me.

As to the matter, it ought to speak for itself. For one, I rather
like it. At any rate, I shall not apologize for it, though that is the
fashion, it seems. I only hope that the book will be read and en-
joyed by some of the 230,000 people who are so honorably employed
in the postal service, and by some of their friends ; and even by
some of the millions who use the mails and want to have them made
quicker, safer, and more frequent. May a good number enjoy read-
ing the book as much as I have enjoyed writing it ! That is enough
to wish for.

Accept my cordial regards, and hurry the proofs ; they must be
read with the greatest care, and that takes time.

As ever, yours most truly,

MARSHALL CUSHING.

Mr. A. M. THAYER,

6 Mt. Vernon St., Boston, Mass.

Allison Rowland will, before many N
days.be the fullfl edged deputy p. rri,
of this city. Allison has been in
training for some time and will make
a good man for the position. Con-
gratulations my boy.

■

-/^wo6*L

There has

been a very gratifying
growth of business in the Marengo
post office during the past few years,
the receipts of the office having grpwn
from $3,466.20 for the year ending March
1889 to $4,192.16 for the year ending
March 1, 1893. Mr. Rowland is a very
efficient and painstaking postmaster and
much of this increase is due to his care

f ul and intelligent management of the
office. Xj LWcrC^aXY/ / /&*

Monday morning the first bulletin to
appear on the Republican board was
the announcement of the appointment
of D. M. Rowland as postmaster to
succeed Mr. Shipton. Mr. Rov land
has previously served the public one
term of four years in this office, and is
well qualified to again resume the work
so efficiently and well managed now
by C. L. Shiptcn. The contest has-
been a spirited one by the different
candidates, any one of whom would
have made a good official, and all of
whom had good home endorsements,
the contest between Mr. Goldthwaite
and Mr. Rowland being exceedingly
close, but the preponderance was fav-
orable to the latter and he receives the
appointment, that fact, however, being j
not in the least derogatory to Mr.
Goldthwaite, whom it would have been
just as pleasant for the Republican to
endorse as Mr. Rowland, as he is a
good citizen. He has resided here for
years and certain features entered
into his candidacy to make it especial-
ly strong; but all cannot be successful,
and strictly under the policy of Mr.
Curtis, that of the strongest home sup-
port, the appointment has gone to Mr.
Rowland. And although the disap-
pointment will be great, as it always
is in like cases, yet neither Mr. Goldth-
waite or Mr. Jones are that kind of re-
publicans who will let disappointment I
for a moment sever them or their I
friends frDm devoted party allegiance. I
He who enters the canvass for politi-
cal preferment always does so hoping
for success, but with the full knowl-
edge that failure must come to some
one, and when to him, then his clear
line of party duty is the same actions,
support and feality that he would ex-
pect and like under reversed condi-
tions. Tnat there is any bitterness
engendered in this contest, beyond
the rivalry incident to success, is not
for a moment thought to be possible,
and we should be pained to think
otherwise of the different gentlemen
and their friends. On his success we
congratulate Mr. Rowland, with the
full belief that under his administra-
tion the federal business in Marengo
wi'l be maintained at a high standard.

ROWLAND THE VICTOR.

The Post Office Question Settled

and D. M. Rowland Gets

the Plum.

A telegram received in the city Mon-
day forenoon, announced to our citi-
zens that D. M. Rowland had received
the appointment as postmaster here.
The appointment has been looked for-
ward to for some time, but from the
closeness of the contest and the well-
known popularity of the two chief can-
didates, Messrs. Rowland and Goldth-
waite, the issue was for some time in
doubt.

Mr. Rowland is a splendid business
man, of unquestioned ability and integ-
rity. He will bring to the office the
same careful business methods that is
characteristic of his work in other
lines. He was postmaster for four
years under the Harrison administra-
tion, and gave universal satisfaction to
the patrons of the office. His appoint-
ment is a virtual recognition of his
power and influence in Iowa county
politics, and is a compliment to his su-
perb business qualifications for the po-
sition. There is no doubt in anyone's
mind that the affairs of the office will
be managed well during his incumben-
cy, and that he will be a worthy suc-
cessor of the present popular and effi-
cient officer, Mr. Shipton. The Demo-
crat congratulates Mr. Rowland on
his appointment.

T^t^y sK, /ffF

Hon D. M. Rowland, who has been
I named by Congressman Curtis for
postmaster at Marengo served the pat-
rons of that office most satisfactorily
during President Harrison's adminis-
tration. The business men of Maren-
go say they never had such satisfactory
service as during Mr. Rowland's admin-
istration. Mr. Rowland is a gentleman
of high standing, a loyal republican
| and ever found ready to do his full
! part not only in the way of lo^al en-
terprise, but m the service of his party
The Republican congratulates Maren-
go and Mr. Rowland upon this most
fortunate settlement of the postoffice
question. — Davenport Republican.

1>\A*4 j I

Concerning a former resident here the
Marengo Democrat saya: " A telegram re-
ceived in the city Monday forenoon an-
nounced to our citizens tha» D M. Rowland
had received the appointment as postmas-
ter here. The appointment has been looked
forward to for some time, but from the
closeness of the contest and the well known
popularity of the two chief candidates,
Messrs. Rowland and Goldthwaite, the
issue was for some time in doubt. Mr.
Rowland is a splendid business man, of un-
questioned ability and integrity. He will
bring to the office the same careful busi-
ness methods that is characteristic of his
work in other lines."

THE CITY AND THE DEPAKTMENT. ^^/fV^T*

HE visitor to Washington City descries the
pure, constant, beautiful monument and
the dome of the majestic Capitol as he
rides into town. He goes to his hotel, or
visits his more or less hospitable relations.
Then he begins the task of seeing the
sights. He has allotted to him so many
days in which to see such a number of
sights, and that makes it a mathematical
certainty that he must see such a number
of sights per day. He visits the vaults of
the Treasury Department, where the mil-
lions and millions of gold and silver coin
are piled in great sacks; spends an hour
or two at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where the
revenue stamps and the greenbacks are manufactured; rides to
the top of the Monument and looks down upon a city of a quarter
of a million people nestling in a hundred thousand trees and
breathing easier in the shade of three or four hundred parks, big
and little. He almost certainly wanders over to the White House,
is taken through the parlors and the East Room, and formally, and
with as much dignity and self-possession as possible, shakes the
President by the hand ; or, if he knows his Member or his Senator
and appreciates his own importance to that patriotic representative
of his locality, secures a personal introduction to the Chief Execu-
tive in his library upstairs, and finds better occasion for passing
the time of day and better excuse for boasting to his neighbors
of the tremendous successes of his latest journey away from home.
The visitor no doubt spends a good part of a day at the Capitol,
gazing upon more unique and stately things and familiarizing him-

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

SACRED MOUNT VERNON.

self with more statesmen than he can describe in a year's time. He
looks in at the Pension Office, where, under the massive pillars
and the barn-like roof,
they dance at the great
inauguration balls. He
rides behind the lazy,
loquacious African dri-
ver, — unless, of course,
his very hospitable re-
lations put their pri-
vate- carriages at his
disposal, or his patriot-
ic representatives simi-
larly favor him. He
glories in the view
from Fort Myer, the

view of Washington City, lying on the bank of the sluggish
river, surrounded by woods and hills, feels the pathos of the
national burial place at Arlington, lingers by the porch of Lee
or the grave of Sheridan. He drives to the Soldiers' Home, per-
haps, and wonders whether that beautiful reach of field and lawn

or the shades of
Arlington satisfy
him most. He
surely devotes a
day to sailing
down the river,
to sit and muse
at the venerated
home of Wash-
ington and stand
reverently by
the great man's
grave.

The visitor
sometimes finds

occasion to leave this beaten track of sentiment and historic beauty
for things more present and practical. He misses quaint old News-

THE ROBERT E. LEE HOUSE AT ARLINGTON.

THE CITY AND THE DEPARTMENT.

paper Row, misses, perhaps, the delicious fried chicken at Han-
cock's. But he studies the objects in the museums, tires himself
out in the libraries, in the. Patent Office, in the Smithsonian Insti-
tution. He goes to the Navy Yard and examines the enormous
gun plant, and, if fortune favors, finds a proud, new cruiser, lying,
sleepy but relentless, in the lap of the Eastern Branch. Then, if
the visitor has time, he wants to see the Dead Letter Office in
the Post Office Depart-
ment, a thing which he
has read about, and "just
to catch a glimpse " of
the Postmaster Gen-
eral, a man whom he
has read about. The
Department and the
man are more of inter-
est than the stranger
has imagined. The De-
partment touches every
several person of all
the millions in this
whole country. It touches millions, indeed, in other countries.
The man inspirits all this boundless public service.

The building of the Post Office Department occupies a square
bounded by Seventh and Eighth, and E and F Streets, northwest;
that is, it is in the seventh square west of the Capitol, and in the
fifth one north of the reservation extending westward from the
Capitol to the Monument. The structure has a basement and two
principal stories, adorned, as an architect would say, with monolithic
columns and pilasters with Corinthian capitals. The material is
white marble from Maryland and New York. The building was
begun in 1839 from designs by Robert Mills, and it was finished
in 1855 by Thomas U. Walter. No doubt it would have cost less
than $2,150,000 if it had not been so many years in progress. Most
of the offices of the Department are quartered in this building. Five
important offices in addition, however, are required to be rented:
the Busch building, directly opposite the Department building, on
E Street, at $11,000 a year; the structure at the corner of Eighth

THE TOMB OF WASHINGTON.

4 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

and E Streets, which is occupied by the Money Order Division and
by other bureaus, at $8,000 a year; the Mail Bag Repair Shop, on
C Street, a fine, partly new brick structure opposite the rear of the
National Hotel, at $5,000 a year; the old skating rink on E Street,
between Sixth and Seventh, which is occupied by the Division of
Supplies, at $4,000 a year; and the Topographer's Office, at 418
and 420 Ninth Street, at $1,500 per year. These outside quarters
have been rented from time to time, according as particular post-
masters general have been persuasive enough, and particular Con-

. ..

AT THE SOLDIERS' HOME.

gresses have been generous and falsely economical enough, for the
forced accommodation of some of the hundreds of workers in the
departmental service. Successive Congresses have been sufficiently
importuned to enlarge the present Department building, or to pro-
vide a new building and turn the present General Post Office over
to the uses of the Interior Department, which is even more cramped
in its present quarters; or, in short, to provide in some logical,
public-spirited, and prudent way for the growth of this enormous
postal service — which cannot be prevented from becoming every

THE CITY AND THE DEPARTMENT. 5

year more and more enormous, simply because the country cannot be
prevented from growing. But the preference has been to pay this
$30,000 per year in true hand-to-mouth fashion.

One finds most easily the duties of the Postmaster General and
his various assistants outlined in the Congressional Directory. This
prosaic but very useful publication says substantially :

The Postmaster General has the direction and management of the Post Office
Department. He appoints all officers and employes of the Department, except
the four Assistant Postmasters General, who are appointed by the President, by

NEWSPAPER ROW.

and with the advice and consent of the Senate ; appoints all postmasters whose
compensation does not exceed one thousand dollars ; makes postal treaties with
foreign governments, by and with the advice and consent of the President, awards
and executes contracts, and directs the management of the domestic and foreign
mail service.

The First Assistant Postmaster General has charge of the following divisions:
Salary and Allowance Division: the duty of readjusting the salaries of post-
masters and the consideration of allowances for rent, fuel, lights, clerk hire, and
other expenditures.

Free Delivery : the duty of preparing cases for the inauguration of the system
in cities, the appointment of letter carriers, and a general supervision.

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Talbott

Division of Post Office Supplies : the duty of sending out the blanks, wrapping-
paper, twine, letter-balances, and cancelling-stamps to offices entitled to them.
Money Order Division: the supervis-
ion of the domestic money order and
postal note business, the superintend-
ence of the international money order
correspondence, and the preparation of
postal conventions for the exchange of
money orders.

Dead Letter Office : the treatment of
all unmailable and undelivered mail
matter which is sent to it for disposi-
tion; the enforcement of the prompt
sending of this matter; the duty of not-
ing and correcting errors of postmasters
connected with the delivery or with-
holding of mail matter; the examination
and forwarding or return of all letters
which have failed of delivery; the in-
spection and return to country of
origin of undelivered foreign matter;
the recording and restoration to own-
ers of letters and parcels which con-
tain valuable inclosures; and the
disposition of all money, other ne-
gotiable paper, and valuable articles
found in undelivered matter and correspondence.

Correspondence Division: the reference of all inquiries received from post-
masters concerning the discharge of their duties, of disputes regarding the
delivery of mail matter, and of inquiries relative to the construction of postal
laws and regulations.

The Second Assist-
ant Postmaster Gen-
eral has charge of the
transportation of all
mails. His office em-
braces four divisions
and two offices, viz :

Contract Division:
prepares all advertise-
ments inviting pro-
posals for star steam-
boat, and mail-messen-
ger service, receives
the proposals, pre-
pares orders for the
award of contracts,
and attends to the ex-
ecution of these.

THE WHITE HOUSE FROM THE SOUTHWEST.

'WASHINGTON," NEWSBOY.

THE CITY AND THE DEPARTMENT.

THE PEACE MONUMENT.

Division of Inspection : charged with the examination of monthly and special
reports of postmasters as to the performance of mail service by contractors and

carriers, and the preparation of cases
and orders for deductions for the non-
performance of service, and for the impo-
sition of fines.

Railway Adjustment Division: prepares
cases authorizing the transportation of
mails by railroads, the establishment of
railway postal-car service and changes
in existing service; prepares orders and
instructions for the weighing of mails,
and receives the returns and computes
the basis of pay.

Mail Equipment Division: charged with
the preparation of advertisements invit-
ing proposals for furnishing mail-bags,
mail locks and keys, label cases, mail-bag
cord fasteners, and mail-bag catchers;
the receipt of proposals and the prepar-
ation of contracts, the issuing of these
articles for the service, and the repair
of them.

Railway Mail Service: has charge of
the railway mail service and the railway
post office clerks, prepares for the Second Assistant Postmaster General cases for
the appointment, removal, promotion,
and reduction of clerks, orders the mov-
ing of mails on railroad trains; has
charge of the dispatch, distribution, and
separation of mail matter in railway
post office cars and the principal post
offices, and conducts the weighing of
mails.

Foreign Mail Service: has charge of
all foreign postal arrangements (except
those relating to the money order sys-
tem), conducts correspondence with
foreign governments and private citi-
zens, and has supervision of the ocean
mail steamship service.

The Third Assistant Postmaster Gen-
eral has charge of the Finance Office,
and the Stamp Division, thus :

Division of Finance : issues drafts and
warrants in payment of balances re-
ported by the Auditor to be due to mail
contractors, and superintends the col-
lection of revenue at depository and
depositing offices.

THE CAPITOL. VISTA IN WINTER.

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Division of Postage Stamps and Stamped Envelopes: issues postage stamps,
stamped envelopes, newspaper • wrappers, and postal cards; and supplies post-
masters with envelopes for their official use.

Division of Registered Letters: prepares instructions for the guidance of
postmasters relative to registered letters.

Division of Files, Mails, etc. : receives, distributes, and indexes all papers com-
ing to the office; dispatches and records all papers sent, and keeps the office files.

Special Delivery System: and all business relating to the rates of postage, the
classification of mail matter, and the entry of periodicals.

The Fourth Assistant Postmaster General has charge of the Divisions of
Appointments, Bonds and Commissions, and Post Office Inspectors and Mail
Depredations:

IN LAFAYETTE SQTTABE.

Division of Appointments : prepares all cases for establishment, discontinuance,
and change of name or site of post offices, and for the appointment of all
postmasters.

Division of Bonds and Commissions : receives and records appointments ; sends
out papers for postmasters and their assistants to qualify; files their bonds and
oaths, and issues commissions.

Division of Post Office Inspectors and Mail Depredations: the general super-
vision of the work of inspection, and of all complaints of losses, irregularities in
the mails, or violations of the postal laws.

Almost seventy thousand postmasters, two hundred and thirty
thousand persons connected in one way and another with the Post
Office Department, hundreds of thousands of persons using the mails
extensively, and millions having remotely to do with the Post
Office, find it of value to know what the duties of the Postmaster
General and of his assistants are. Hundreds of persons every month

THE CITY AND THE DEPARTMENT.

From Photographs by

Scenes
AboQt

Centre
Aar^ef,

Miss Frances Benjamin Johnston.

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

are sure they want to see trie Postmaster General or to write to him,
who really want to see or. address somebody else; and hundreds
every month are sure they want to see or address somebody else who
really want to reach still others. Thousands send letters to the
Department that have to be referred from the officers to whom they
are addressed to other officers. All this causes delay. To under-
stand the fact that the business of the Post Office Department is
almost limitless, and that it requires to transact it the efforts not

of one person, or of
ten, but of thou-
sands, is to expedite
everybody's letter.
No machinery is so
complicated as that
of the Post Office De-
partment, yet none
is so simple and reg-
ular when all of its
affairs, great and
small, take their
natural, proper, and
quick courses. One
may hear every day
of the red tape of the Government service. One may hear twice
every day of the red tape of the postal service. But rules are
necessary in every business; and surely they are necessary in
the greatest business in the world. In the Post Office Depart-
ment are some tens of thousands of persons who are trying to
do their work, with as much dispatch and reliability as possible, for
millions of persons in billions of cases. And the figures of the Dead
Letter Office show that five sixths of the causes of the miscarriage
of mail matter are due to the ignorance or carelessness of the great,
royal, complaining public; and the experience of any person em-
ployed in the postal service for no matter how short a period also
shows that the unreliability of the service is due most often to the
inability of the people themselves to do business with the public
service from their side of the transaction. And worse yet, they will
not complain to any representative of the Department, but to some
dozen persons who have nothing to do with it.

Talbott

SEEN AT FOET FOOTE.

THE CITY AND THE DEPARTMENT. 11

The Blue Book, a compilation made by Dr. John G. Ames,
Superintendent of Documents of the Interior Department, gives an
idea, as much as any compilation may, of the magnitude of the
postal system. The second of the two volumes of the Blue Book is
devoted exclusively to the postal service. It contains 1,425 royal
octavo pages, and discloses the names and salaries of persons
engaged in the service in Washington City and elsewhere. The
number of postal people may be summarized as follows :

Post Office Department in Washington 681

Mail bag repair shop in Washington 231

Post Office inspectors 103

Post Office inspectors' clerks 27

Postage stamp agency 8

Stamped envelope agency 15

Postal card agency 5

Postal agency at Shanghai 5

Postmasters 67,368

Assistant postmasters 138

Chief clerks in post offices . 658

Clerks in post offices (estimated) 111,875

Letter carriers 10,892

Sea post office clerks 12

Star and steamboat service :

Professional contractors 274

Local contractors 4,013

Sub-contractors 11,478

Carriers, other than contractors or sub-contractors, estimated . . 2.789

Special office carriers 2,549

Regulation wagon service :

Contractors 22

Sub-contractors 15

Carriers, other than contractors or sub-contractors, estimated . . 300
Railroad service :

Contractors 2,415

Railway postal clerks 6,440

Mail messenger service 7,122

Total 229,435

These are the bulk of the army of public servants in this country.
Of course there are regiments of the army, collectors of customs
and of internal revenue and all their deputies and clerks, and the
various officers and employees of the Departments of State, Agri-
culture, and Justice, and the officers and sailors of the Navy, and
the hundreds employed by the Pension and Land Offices and the

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

other bureaus of the Interior Department. But the officers and
employees of the postal system embrace the major part of all ; and
they always will. The increase of the army of Federal employees is
necessarily great and constant. It is a great and constantly growing
country. The increase in numbers, however, does not imply a
similar increase in expense, for by far the largest item of increase is
in the number of postmasters ; and here offices are established and
officers appointed upon the demand of new communities which

add, without appreciable outlay,
much new revenue to the Depart-
ment.

A writer for the Indianapolis
News not long ago examined the
Blue Book, greatly to the interest
of the readers of that paper. He
found that among the number of
Government employees are 2,000
people of the name of Smith; and
some 400 of them bear the name
of John Smith. There are over
11,000 Browns, 1,000 Johnsons,
and 900 Joneses. There are hun-
dreds of them who spell their
names with but three letters each,
as Box, Bee, Dew, Dox, Gee; and
some of the names that go to the
other extreme are Calvacoresses, Waffenschmid, Vonbruddenbrock,
Matagonsky, Stoutenborough, Schenckenberger, Scharringhausen,
Petegomenne, Brannerstenther, and Dzierzanowaki.

Among the names are Huggs, one Hugger, one Huggins, and
twenty-five or thirty Loves. The various nationalities appear to be
pretty well represented, by names as well as by individuals, for
there are fifteen people who bear the name of English, seventy-five
with the name of French, six of the name of Irish, three of German,
and one of America. Uncle Sam's large family evidently has its
proper proportion of people able to make their way through the
world by whatever way seems most convenient, for two of them sail
under the cognomen Gall, and three of them carry off the equally
suggestive name of Cheek.

IN THE AGRICULTURAL GROUNDS.

THE CITY AND THE DEPARTMENT. 18

They are a patriotic lot evidently, for there is one Red, half a
dozen Blues, and Whites by the hundreds. There are several Flags
and material for more, for there are two Calicos and one Silk. And
Uncle Sam would have no difficulty in finding material to set his
table. There are six Rusks, one Bread, fifty Fishes, ten Custards,
eleven Coffees, two Teas, three Butters, one Milk, two Sourwines,
one Sourbeer, and two Apples. There are some names that would
seem to be burdensome to carry about through life. For instance,
there are three by the name of Coward, one Lie, one Awkward, one
Damschroeder, one Goldammer, and one Damall. The months of
the year are pretty well represented, — one January, one February,
one August, and half a dozen of the name of March, and Mays in
still greater numbers. Scriptural names are numerous. Adam and
Adams can be counted by the hundred. To go with all of them
there is but one Eve. There are forty Cains, thirteen Abels, one
Job, seven Abrahams, four Isaacs, three Jacobs, two Matthews, four
Marks, one Luke, twelve Johns, and twenty-five Pauls. The list
contains one Doctor, two Akes, and twelve Pains.

People of the names of the various Presidents seem to be pretty
well represented. There are 40 Washingtons, of whom five are
George Washingtons; 300 Adamses, 16 Jeffersons, 325 Jacksons,
20 Munroes, 10 Madisons, 200 Harrisons, 10 VanBurens, 50 Tylers,
12 Polks, 75 Pierces, 30 Buchanans, 14 Lincolns, 1,0*00 Johnsons,
100 Grants, 20 Hayeses, 6 Garfields, 20 Arthurs, and 20 Clevelands.
The royal and the titled are represented, for there are 40 Kings, 3
Queens, 6 Czars, 2 Marquises, and Princes, Lords, Earls, and Dukes
in great numbers.

There is enough in the clothing line to fit out the most fastidious,
8 Coats, 2 Shirts, a pair of Shoes, 2 Stockings, 2 Socks, and 1 Boots.
The fish family is represented with 38 Fishes, 15 Pikes, 7 Salmon,
2 Shadd, 6 Trout, 8 Oysters, 1 Mackerel, 6 Rock, 2 Crabbs, 1
Pickerell, and 2 Bullfish. To catch them with are 2 Poles, 5 Lines,
and 6 Hooks. The animal family is well represented, for among
the names are 1 Lion, 1 Tiger, 10 Hoggs, 4 Coons, 50 with the
name of Wolf, 4 Deer, 7 Bears, and 4 Monkeys. The human family
is represented by 1 Boy, 1 Man, and 2 of the name of Baby; while
the provisions for their care consist of 1 Cradle and 1 Cribb.

History is slow, but a few recorded facts show how wonderfully

THE CITY AND THE DEPARTMENT. 15

big the postal service is. In the war-time there were a third as
many post offices as now, and the revenue of the Department was
but little more than a sixth of what it is to-day. Then the total
number of registered letters was insignificant. In 1866 there were
275,103 pieces of mail matter registered. Last year the Government
increased the security of the mails by registering over 15,000,000
pieces. The money order system had just been inaugurated and its
benefits had only been extended to 766 post offices, which handled
about $4,000,000 per annum. To-day there are 30,000 money
order offices, whose combined monetary transactions aggregate nearly
$140,000,000 per annum. The registry system was a farce and
accomplished anything but the object in view. To-day the regis-
tered mail is so secure that only one in every 12,227 pieces of
matter is lost. Probably there will be one hundred thousand post
offices in the year 1900, that will earn, perhaps, $100,000,000 annu-
ally. A hundred years ago the post office carried but 2,000 pieces
of mail per day. Now more than 8,000 letters and packages are
dropped into the mails every minute of the year. Then not a daily
mail existed anywhere. There were only 100 post offices in the
entire country. The length of all mail routes did not exceed 2,000
miles. The entire annual revenue of the service fell far short of
$50,000. Every working day now the mails travel a distance equal
to forty-one times the circumference of the globe, and more than one
half of all the post offices in the country are supplied with daily
mails. In 1860, 27,000 miles of railroad were used for carrying
mails, at an annual expense of little more than $3,000,000, with
only 600 employees. Now the railway mail service traverses 160, 000
miles of road, spends $21,000,000 a year, and employs, in 2,800 cars,
over 6,000 men; and in a year they travel 113,000,000 miles in
crews. They distribute in transit the inconceivable volume of
7,900,000,000 pieces of mail matter, besides receipting for, record-
ing, protecting, and distributing nearly 16,000,000 registered pack-
ages, and more than 1,000,000 through registered pouches. This
task is performed with such care that less than two letters in 10,000
are sent wrong. This does not mean that two letters in 10,000 are
lost, but that in distributing 10,000 an average of less than two is
made by which the transmission and delivery of those two missives
may be delayed; and every railway postal clerk must carry in his

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THE CITY AND THE DEPARTMENT. 17

mind the most direct route to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of post
offices, — and these conditions are constantly changing with the
changes of railway schedules and the times of day at which distribu-
tions are made.

The growth of the postal service with every year is enormous,
resistless, inconceivable. The present Postmaster General called
to the Department last March some fifty of the leading post-
masters of the country for conference with him. To these men he
made a little speech. It had been exactly three years since he had
been appointed Postmaster General, and Mr. Wanamaker illustrated,
by quoting a few figures, what the growth of the postal service had
been in that short period. A few paragraphs were :

" From March 4, 1889, to March 5, 1892, we have established 10,549 new post
offices, more than one sixth of the whole number in existence. To the 2,654
presidential offices of 1889 we have added in three years 467 — about 18 per
cent, of the entire number of such offices, which is now 3,121. In the matter of
revenue, the three years prior to the present administration increased postal
receipts $24,000,000, or from 130 to 154 million, being more than 18 per cent.
The three years of this administration carried the revenue from 154 to over 195
million dollars, an increase of more than 26 per cent. ; in other words, we main-
tained the $24,000,000 gained by the last administration, and added over 40 and
a half millions to it.

"We have added in the past three years to the miles travelled with mails
exactly 54,816,192 miles, by railroad, steamboat, and star service. The rate of
pay in star and steamboat service has been decreased. There have been 2,129
new routes opened, 255 new railway post offices and compartment cars put on,
and 1,016 additional clerks employed in the railway mails, mainly on account of
new service. The increase in the annual number of miles of service by railway
postal clerks for the past three years was about 70,000,000, or a little more than
21 per cent. In the number of pieces of mail matter distributed by railway
postal clerks for the same time, there was an increase of 5,730,000,000, or nearly
33 per cent. In the number of letters separated by railway postal clerks for city
delivery, there was an increase of nearly 227,000,000, or about 54 per cent. Test
examinations to ascertain the efficiency of the permanent force of postal clerks
were made in nearly 25,000 cases, involving a handling of nearly 30,000,000
pieces, the result showing an average of correctness of more than 93 per cent.

" Free delivery has been established in the past three years at 150 offices, and
the entire service has been strengthened and extended by the addition of 2,409
carriers. The last report of the last administration showed a total of 358 letter-
carrier offices; up to date there are 551.

"An unerring indication of the increased efficiency of the service is to be
found in the records of the Dead Letter Office. The total number of pieces of
dead mail matter received at that office in 1886, was about 4,800,000. Three years
later it was about 6,200,000; and for the present year it will be about 6,800,000.
In other words, for the three years prior to 1889, there was an increase of

18 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

1,400,000 pieces, of 29.2 per cent.; while for the last three years the increase has
been only 600,000, or 9.6 per cent. That is to say, while there was an increase
during the three years of fully 35 per cent, in the number of pieces of mail matter
handled, the increase in the number of pieces sent to the Dead Letter Office was
less than 10 per cent., a difference of 25 per cent, in favor of increased efficiency
of service."

Not only do the actual figures, in the recent as well as the earlier
history of the postal service, illustrate its remarkable development,
but the United States may challenge, fearlessly, comparison with
any other nation. We beat the world. Neither Germany nor Great
Britain has more than 25,000 post offices, and France has less than
10,000 — facts not so notable because of the limited area of these
countries, though more notable, perhaps, because the United States
has almost as many post offices as all of the countries of Europe,
Germany excepted. The rates of postage in this country are the
lowest, considering the total of miles traveled to perform the ser-
vice, in the world. England, with her compact population and
short distances, is no better off for postage rates. In length of
mail routes the United States is far ahead of any other country.
Great Britain, Germany, and France all together do not half equal
the United States in this respect; and even in the mileage of mail
service annually performed the United States is ahead of these three
foreign countries all combined. An average American sends more
letters than anybody else ; for upon the basis of the last census the
average number of pieces of mail matter to every inhabitant of the
countries named is now :

United States, pieces per capita 71

Great Britain ,, ,, ,, 61

Germany ,,,,,, 41

France ,,,,,, 37

No, there is no doubt the American postal system is the greatest
in the world. It cannot be prevented from growing, and any
American citizen is proud to have it the greatest in the world, and
likes to see it grow. Yet this immense machine, this stupendous,
delicate, all-pervading business, is everywhere impecunious and
restive. The Post Office Department never has money enough to
work with. Not one person in a hundred insists that the postal
service should be self-sustaining. He reflects that the army and the
navy are not, and he freely pays for them because of the public

THE CITY AND THE DEPARTMENT.

spirit which they help him to express. He rarely understands that
the real reason why the postal service is not better is because he
himself does not insist that money should be voted for it in order to
make it better. He does not realize that there is hardly a person
among the 230,000 who are employed within its branches who is not
underpaid and overworked. He does not realize that impossibilities
are expected of human beings. He does not stop to think that he

POST OFFICE BUILDINGS OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

himself might relieve the stress somewhat by conforming without
variation to the ordinary requirements of the service. He has for-
gotten that the postal service earns back every dollar that it spends.
The fact is that the American postal service, while to-day the
greatest business in the world, is to-day the worst conducted — the
best conducted under the circumstances, but the worst conducted,
under the lack of means to work with. Everywhere the post offices
are overcrowded. Everywhere, almost, the postmasters, the clerks,
the contractors, are underpaid. The Department force is crowded
and hampered almost beyond belief. Four hundred clerks have been

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

moved into the five branch offices outside the Department building,
and yet a larger number than ever crowd the present structure. The
hallways of the Post Office building are made not only uncomfort-
able but unhealthy by the great heaps of files. 240,000 quarterly
reports are received annually from postmasters and 480,000 weekly
statements come in each year from money order and postal note
offices. Money orders and postal notes to the number of 16,000,000
have to be handled annually. These files and records are always

THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT.
(From the top of the Washington Loan and Trust Company's Building.)

in the way. The work of the postal service in Washington and out
of it is always in the way. It can never be caught up with — until
indignant public protests, expressing themselves in the votes of Con-
gressmen, provide the means with which this vast, necessary labor
may be performed. The present Postmaster General had not studied
the service a month before he was heard to declare that, if the money
really required to run the postal service could really be granted, he
would guarantee to make $10,000,000 annually with it. Nobody
at all familiar with the system doubts that this real business man
would do that; and besides, with a difference on the credit side
would come increased and improved facilities, cheapened postage
rates, and improved service again, again, and again.

THE CITY AND THE DEPARTMENT. 21

A good way to understand about the postal service, about the
intricate machinery of it, the multitude of impossible things
expected of it, the fidelity and dangers necessary to be practised or
to be encountered in connection with it, the modes by which money
is appropriated for it, the labors, satisfactory and unsatisfactory, of
the man whom the President appoints to direct it, — to know what
the postal clerk, the letter carrier, and the other brave and steady
fellows on the inspector force, in the postal cars, and on the star
routes through the wildernesses perform and don't perform, — to
know about all this is to study it all a little. It is impossible to
know which man and which work is most important. Every man
and every duty is essential and every duty and every man is worth
inquiring about, even if only hurriedly one sees the actors passing
to and fro from day to day, out and in among the scenes, sees the
parts played well or badly, sees the efforts and successes, and the
no less worthy failures.

THE TRANSPOKTATION OF THE MAILS.

HE Second Assistant Postmaster General's Office,
which has charge of the transportation of all the
mails, disburses annually some $25,000,000 for the
pay of railroads alone, and its total of disbursements
to all classes of contractors is over $40,000,000.
The pay of postmasters and clerks and of mail
contractors is regulated by the laws of Congress.
A dissatisfied agent of the Post Office Department, no matter
how much or how justly he may be dissatisfied, finds himself
confronted, if he visits the Department or writes to some officer
of the Department to complain, with certain laws and regulations
which cannot be overridden. In numerous cases, no doubt, these
laws and regulations work injustice, but generally they are good
and necessary. A common trouble with them is that they do not
provide enough for the employment and pay, from time to time,
of new agents. Changes in the laws and regulations that would
be wise, are repeatedly brought to the attention of Congress by
postmasters general or by members of one of the branches of
Congress; and unwise and impossible changes are much more
numerously presented to the law-making body by demagogues (who
are not unpatriotic enough to expect the measures to go forward
into actual legislation) and by unspeakable cranks and lobbyists
who know nothing about their subject, or who make it their
invisible business to grind axes for others. But the $40,000,000
annually appropriated for the transportation of mails is used by
the officers of the Department with an honesty and exactness which
is superb when it is considered how many conflicting, irreconcila-
ble special interests are involved, how much personal or political
pressure is supposed to make weight in the balance, and how
heavily the real demands of the intensely active letter-writing

THE TRANSPORTATION OF THE MAILS.

people call for satisfaction out of an appropriation always
inadequate.

Look through the office of the Second Assistant Postmaster Gen-
eral. See the almost immeasurable diversity and magnitude of the
affairs with which it has to deal. Mail routes are arranged in these
classes: railroad mail routes, which extend over lines of rail-
roads ; steamboat mail routes, on which mails are carried by steam-
boat; mail messenger routes, which run from railroad stations to
post offices located but a short
distance from the station (usu-
ally within two miles) but which
the railroad companies are not
required to supply ; regulation
wagon routes which is the ser-
vice performed in the larger cities
between the main post offices,
sub-offices, railroad stations, etc.,
and for which a particular style
of wagon is used; special routes,
which are not under contract,
but are established for the tem-
porary supply of new post offices
that are not on existing contract
routes ; and star routes, which
supply post offices throughout
the rural districts, that are not
on the line of railroad or steam-
boat routes, the mails being
carried by stage, horseback, or otherwise, the contract not prescrib-
ing the mode of transportation, but providing that all the mails
shall be carried with "celerity, certainty, and security," the three
words having been designated by three stars and having given rise
to the term "star service." And in addition to the above, all of
which relate to the domestic service, there are the ocean mail routes
and the foreign mail service.

A few figures illustrate this diversity and magnitude. In the
United States are about 2,300 railroad routes, aggregating 160,000
miles in length, the annual travel over which exceeds 230,000,000

MR. J. LOWRIE BELL,
Second Assistant Postmaster General.

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

miles. There are 17,000 star routes, aggregating 240,000 miles in
length and over 100,000,000 miles in annual travel; 7,000 mail
messenger routes, aggregating 6,000 miles in length and 10,000,000
miles in annual travel; 2,500 special routes, aggregating 27,000
miles in length and 5,000,000 miles annual travel; 125 steamboat
routes, 10,000 miles in length and involving 3,500,000 miles of
annual travel. In all classes of inland service there are about
30,000 mail routes, aggregating 450,000 miles in length and 350,-
000; 000 miles in annual travel. To be familiar with the laws
under which all of this business is to be distributed, to provide rules

stringent enough to hold all
these contractors to the faithful
performance of their obliga-
tions, to do the labor of hand
and brain required merely for
the record of these transac-
tions, to inspect the service
with method and dispatch, to
investigate complaints, and to
have the hardihood honestly to
invite them — all this faintly
suggests the work of the trans-
portation office of the Depart-
ment.

The Second Assistant himself
is Mr. J. Lowrie Bell, of Read-
ing, Pa. He has been railway
clerk, train dispatcher, super-
intendent, and general traffic
manager. He was promoted
from General Superintendent of the Railway Mail Service to be
Second Assistant. His chief clerk, Mr. George F. Stone, is a
Trumansburgh (N. Y.) boy, who entered the employ of the Lehigh
Valley Railroad as telegraph operator at eighteen, but after about
three years resigned. In the Second Assistant's office he has been
promoted from the lowest to the highest clerkship. Mr. Stone is a
remarkably clear-headed, energetic fellow, thoroughly up in his
work. He graduated from the Columbian University Law School

ME. GEO. F. STONE,
Chief Clerk, Second Assistant's Office.

THE TRANSPORTATION OF THE MAILS. 25

in 1884, received the post graduate degree in 1885, and was
admitted to the bar of the District in 1886.

See what the Contract Division, the first of the Second Assist-
ant's office, has to do. It prepares all advertisements, inviting
proposals for star, steamboat, and .mail messenger service, receives
the proposals, prepares orders for the award of contracts, attends
to the execution of the contracts, receives and considers appli-
cations for the establishment of new routes or for changes in exist-
ing routes, conducts the investigation as to the necessity of the
postal service asked, determines the course of routes and the fre-
quency of trips, arranges the time schedules on which the mails shall
be carried on star and steamboat routes, receives, examines, and recog-
nizes sub-contracts to secure to sub-contractors pay for their services,
conducts all correspondence relating to these matters, prepares
statistics and reports to Congress, as required by law, and notifies
the Sixth Auditor of orders affecting the accounts of mail contractors.

But steps have to be taken in the Second Assistant's office, in
establishing and maintaining a mail route, before the route is placed
under regular contract service. When the Fourth Assistant Post-
master General, who has charge of the establishment of post offices,
creates a new post office, he notifies the Second Assistant Post-
master General of that fact, giving the name and location of it. If
it is not upon some existing route, or near enough to be supplied
from one, the postmaster is authorized to employ a "special carrier"'
to carry the mails between his office and the nearest convenient post
office, as often as practicable, for a sum not exceeding two thirds of
the postmaster's salary (the rate fixed by law), which depends upon
the number of stamps cancelled at the new office. This, however,
is considered but a temporary arrangement, and as soon as the new
office shows a considerable number of people to be supplied, or a fair
cancellation of stamps or of mail matter handled, a regular star route
is provided.

Whenever a petition is received for a new star route, an investi-
gation is made to ascertain whether there is a postal necessity for
it. Sometimes the petitioners state the reasons why they think the
route should be established, which aids the Department in its work ;
or they may give very little information. But in any event corre-
spondence is opened with the postmasters on the proposed route to

26 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

ascertain its length, what frequency of supply is needed, the time
schedule upon which mails- should be carried, the condition of the
roads, whether there are streams, ferries, toll-roads, or mountains to
be crossed, the number of people to be supplied, the amount of
postal business at each post office, and so forth. All are invited
to make such suggestions as they may think good, and in many
cases of importance or difficulty a special agent of the Department
is 'sent upon the ground.

When the papers are all in they are carefully examined. If it is
decided that the route should be established the postmasters at the
termini are instructed to post for ten days in a conspicuous place in
their offices and elsewhere, notices which are furnished to them,
inviting proposals for carrying the mails over the proposed route
from the earliest practicable date to the end of the fiscal year, June
30. A copy of this notice is also posted on a bulletin advertise-
ment in the Department. This is a temporary, or "bulletin board"
advertisement, under which the service is limited by law to one
year, and the advertisement and proposal are less formal than those
required under advertisements for longer terms. All bids received
by the postmasters are in envelopes and are forwarded to the Depart-
ment, where they are opened; and the service is awarded to the
lowest bidder, if the bid is considered a reasonable one. Contracts
are then sent out for him to execute and return, when they are
signed by the Second Assistant Postmaster General. The postmas-
ters at schedule points are notified as to the service required, and
instructed to keep reports, upon blanks furnished to them, showing
how the service is performed, which reports are sent to the Inspec-
tion Division at the close of each month, where they are carefully
examined ; and if they show that the service is performed in com-
pliance with the contract, a certificate to that effect is issued to the
Sixth Auditor at the close of the quarter, who has a copy of the
contract, and who states the contractor's account, showing the amount
due him. A warrant or draft is drawn in his favor, which 9 after pass-
ing through a number of offices under a system of checks which effect-
ually guards against mistakes or frauds, is mailed to the contractor.

After this contract has expired the service is continued under a
general or miscellaneous advertisement for longer periods. For the
purposes of the general advertisement the country is divided into

THE TRANSPORTATION OF THE 3VLAILS.

four contract sections, and all the star and steamboat routes in each
section are re-let once in four years for a term of four years, the sec-
tions being in regular order, so that there is a general letting every
year. The Second Assistant's office begins to prepare the general
advertisement nearly a year before the new contracts are to go into
effect. The advertisements are prepared in pamphlet form, one for
each state, describing in detail all the star and steamboat routes in
the state, and containing extracts from the Postal Laws and Regu-
lations applicable to that service, with full instructions to bidders,
and forms of proposals and bonds. This pamphlet advertisement
is displayed in every post office in the state for at least two
months before the letting
takes place. All propo-
sals must be sent to the
Second Assistant Post-
master General by a fixed
date.

The proposals are placed
unopened, as they are re-
ceived, in a vault until the
day for opening arrives,
when, under the supervi-
sion of a committee ap-
pointed by the Postmaster
General, they are opened
by a large force of clerks,
stamped, folded, arranged,
examined, and recorded with the utmost system. Accompanying
each proposal and as a part of it, there must be as provided by law
the oath of the bidder that he has the pecuniary ability to perform
the service, a bond executed by the bidder and at least two sureties
in a sum fixed in the advertisement, the oaths of the sureties as to
the location, description, and value of their real estate over and
above all incumbrances (which value must be at least double the
amount of the bond), and finally, a certificate from a postmaster
that, after informing himself, he believes the sureties to be good and
sufficient.

When this work is completed the result appears in great books

ON A STAR ROUTE IN THE SOUTH.

28 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

showing a complete statement of each route, the service required,
etc., with the names of all bidders for that route and the amounts
of the bids. The awards are then made to the lowest bidders whose
bids are in proper form. Then contracts are drawn and sent to be
executed by the accepted bidders. Under the annual general adver-
tisement and the annual miscellaneous advertisement there are
received about 120,000 proposals and bonds, and about 5,000 con-
tracts in duplicate are drawn. ' This does not include the bulletin,
or temporary advertisements, which are issued almost daily. This
is the method of letting star and steamboat routes. Contracts for
regulation wagon service are made similarly.

In the last general advertisement for proposals for mail service,
issued now almost a year ago, the number of routes in the several
states advertised for was as follows: North Carolina, 638, South
Carolina, 263, Georgia, 519, Florida, 206, Alabama, 576, Mis-
sissippi, 387, Tennessee, 719, and Kentucky, 717; or a total of 4,025
routes representing an annual travel of 22,646,694 miles. Propo-
sals were also invited in this same advertisement for performing
mail messenger, transfer, and mail station service in the chief cities
of these Southern states. For this service wagons have to be built in
accordance with plans and specifications furnished by the Department.

On the 11th of last March the Second Assistant's office announced
that it was about to begin the preparation of advertisements inviting
proposals for carrying the mails on all star and steamboat routes in
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, and all postmasters and
others were invited to submit suggestions along the trend of the
following questions :

Has any post office more frequent mail supply than it needs ?

Is the service on any route unnecessary in whole or in part ?

Could any post office be better or more expeditiously supplied from some point
other than its present base of supply ?

Does any post office need more frequent mail supply; if so, does the postal
business at that office warrant the probable increase in cost ?

Could the mail be advanced or better connections made by a change in any
existing time schedules ?

If a new route should be established, what existing service could be dispensed
with ?

The advertisements for the above contract section went to press in

THE TRANSPORTATION OF THE MAILS. 29

August. The advertisement for the Southern contract section,
referred to as having been issued late in the fall of 1891, was again
referred to in an order of the- Second Assistant Postmaster General,
dated April 4, 1892. He announced that he had awarded contracts
on four thousand star and steamboat routes, and would soon make
awards for 1,600 miscellaneous routes. This order gives certain
directions to sub-contractors, and quotes a section of the Postal
Laws and Regulations, as follows :

" No postmaster, assistant postmaster, or clerk, employed in any post office
shall be a contractor or concerned in any contract for carrying the mail. Post-
masters are also liable to dismissal from office for acting as agents of contractors
or bidders, with or without compensation, in any business, matter, or thing
relating to the mail service. They are the agents of the Department and cannot
act in both capacities."

In accordance with the spirit of the statute the order adds :

"The wife or husband of a postmaster should not become a sub-contractor;
neither should a minor child of a postmaster when such an arrangement would
result in the postmaster being pecuniarily interested."

In such and in almost numberless other ways are the Argus eyes
of the Second Assistant Postmaster General's office required to
watch the contractor and the postmaster, not so much that they need
watching, but that they might need watching if they were not
watched.

In another order of the Second Assistant Postmaster General,
issued on the day after the date of the one last mentioned, it is
directed that mails must never be dispatched in advance of the time
named. The postmasters must see that all pouches are securely
locked. Mail carriers have the right to transport merchandise out-
side the mails, but all communications relating to it must be verbal
(the carrier must not carry outside the mail any written communi-
cation relating to merchandise); and the registers of the arrivals
and departures of the mails must be actually and not mechanically
kept. The order mentions that several postmasters have recently
been removed on account of a persistent neglect to keep these regis-
ters properly — reasonably enough, for the postmasters are evidently
the only check on the contractors. Now and then a mail contractor
has been found to submit offers to postmasters to secure, upon the
payment of money considerations, the services of persons to act as
sub-contractors, and though there is a postal regulation against this,

30 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

it needs frequent reiteration. It is the contractor, the "star
router," arid not the sub-contractor, who usually needs the special
kind of watching. The derelictions of the contractor are usually
the things he won't do if he can help it. Those of the sub-contractor
are the things he can't do, no matter how hard he tries.

Up to a year or more ago mail contractors (many of whom are
professionals and contract for thousands of routes) were accustomed
to drop the unprofitable routes and retain the profitable — if they
could. Under the old method no bidder for carrying the mails was
released from the obligation implied in his proposal, notwithstanding
a lower bidder secured the contract, until that lower bidder actually
began the performance of the service ; so that, if an accepted bidder
failed to begin the service, the Department was compelled to award
the route to the next lowest bidder. Taking advantage of this, pro-
fessional bidders who had submitted proposals with little knowledge
of the cost of operating the routes, and who found that the routes
could be sub-let only at a great loss, refused to begin the service,
hoping to have the routes re-let. To check this the Department
has refused to compromise in the re-letting of routes upon the basis
of pecuniary damages resulting from re-letting the service, taking
the ground that such pecuniary damage does not compensate for the
annoyance to the people interested in the route, and that what the
Department wanted was not damages, but a performance of all con-
tracts. To make its position clear the Department prosecuted one
contractor and secured his conviction. This resulted uniformly in
bona fide bids made by those only who intend to perform the service.

It is true that frauds are sometimes attempted by contractors, but
the Government espionage is so close and comprehensive that such
efforts are sure to result in failure and punishment. Not long since
the general manager of a Western railroad, a millionnaire and a man
of supposed character, tried to swindle the Government by sending
over his road, during the period when the mails are weighed for the
purpose of ascertaining the average amount carried by the road and
fixing compensation proportionately, a large amount of " dead "
matter, such as old newspapers. The Government would have over-
paid this road perhaps 110,000 a year, but the attempted fraud was
promptly discovered, and the millionnaire manager was duly indicted
by the grand jury.

THE TRANSPORTATION OF THE MAILS. 31

To hold the transportation service up to the standard required and
paid for the Division of Inspection of the Second Assistant Post-
master General's office examines the performance of all classes of
domestic service. It receives and examines each month thousands
of reports from postmasters at offices at schedule points, showing the
day and hour of arrival and departure of mails, and the irregulari-
ties and failures on the part of contractors and carriers; prepares
orders making deductions from pay of contractors for non-perform-
ance of service, or imposing fines for delinquencies of contractors or
carriers; issues certificates to the Sixth Auditor as to the perform-
ance of service, which authorize that officer to make the quarterly
settlements with contractors; authorizes the payment of railway
postal clerks; considers applications for remissions of fines and
deductions ; and conducts all correspondence relating to these mat-
ters. In an average year the gross amount of fines and deductions
from postal contractors and others is over $1,000 a day, though from
this sum is deducted in the course of a year about $90,000 for satis-
factory explanations. The deductions from railroad service amount
to about $300,000 annually, and the deductions from the star ser-
vice to over $50,000. The remainder is distributed in small sums
among the steamboat contractors, and mail messengers, and the postal
clerks. Generally explanations are satisfactory where acts of Provi-
dence intervene to prevent a contractor from performing his work
acceptably. The Johnstown flood, for example, affected several of
the largest trunk lines of railroad. The contractors in this case used
every possible endeavor to make connections and put the mails
through as nearly on time as possible, and the Department, in pur-
suance of its liberal but just policy, accordingly remitted the usual
fines.

Mail messenger service is not performed under formal contracts.
There are, of course, the same features of advertising at the office
where the service is to be performed and competitive bidding and
awards to the lowest bidder; but there is less formality as to the
bid, and no bond and no contract. The lowest bidder is designated
for an indefinite period to perform all service that may be required.
He has the right to resign at any time upon giving thirty days'
notice, and the Department may re-advertise the service whenever
it may be thought advisable to do so.

32 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Star contracts are made for a specific number of trips per week,
by a schedule of a certain number of hours running time for each
trip, and provide that the Department may order the number of
trips increased with pro rata allowance of pay to the contractor. In
years past there was also a provision in the contracts to the effect
that if the Department ordered the trip made with greater speed,
requiring the contractor to employ additional stock and carriers, he
should be allowed additional pay, which should bear no greater pro-
portion to the original pay than the additional stock and carriers
required for the faster schedule bore to the stock and carriers
required for the original schedule. Increase in frequency of trips
was, and is, known as " increased service, " and reduction of running
time, that is, greater speed, is known as "expedited service."

It was the action of the Department under these two provisions,
and particularly under the latter, that led to the so-called star
route frauds of 1878, 1879, and 1880. A contract would be made,
say, for once a week service on a slow schedule ; after it was in opera-
tion a petition, instigated by the contractor, would be presented
asking for faster time ; the contractor would make affidavit that to
perform service on the fast schedule would require him to double
his stock and carriers. The Department, without examining into
the correctness of his affidavit, would order the faster schedule
adopted and would double the contractor's pay. Then, perhaps, an
application would be presented for twice-a-week service which, if
granted, would again double the contractor's pay, and so on. In
this way a contract which originally paid the contractor a few hun-
dred dollars could be made to yield him many thousands. Hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars were thus paid out of the Treasury.
This lead to charges of corruption, investigation, and criminal pro-
ceedings against Departmental officers, contractors, and others.
Since then no allowances are made to contractors for expedited
service. If it becomes necessary to adopt a faster schedule on a
route, and the contractor is unwilling to perform such service with-
out additional pay, his contract is terminated and the faster service
is opened to competitive bidding. Thus, any possibility of fraud is
done away with.

The Railway Adjustment Division of the Second Assistant's
office considers applications for the establishment of mail service

THE TRANSPORTATION OF THE MAILS. 33

upon railroads, prepares orders authorizing such service and the
establishment of railway post-office car service and changes in exist-
ing service, prepares the orders and instructions for the weighing of
mails, receives the returns and computes the basis of pay, prepares
the orders adjusting the pay of railroad companies for carrying the
mails, and for postal car service, and attends to all correspondence
relating to this branch of the service. The mail service performed
by the railroad companies is not under any formal written contract.
In 1873 Congress enacted a law providing that railroad companies
should be paid for carrying the mails on the basis of the weights
carried, and fixed a scale of maximum rates that could be allowed.
These rates were reduced ten per cent, in 1876 and five per cent,
additional in 1878. Railroad companies cannot be compelled by the
Department to carry the mails, but as a general rule they gladly
avail themselves of the privilege when permitted. When a new
railroad is completed and the company makes application for the
establishment of mail service over its line, the Department makes
an investigation as to the necessity for the service. If the result is
favorable, and the amount of postal business is thought to be suffi-
cient to warrant the payment of the maximum rates allowed by law,
an order is issued authorizing the transportation of mails over the
line ; after the service is fully in operation a weighing is had of the
mail actually carried, for a period of thirty consecutive working
days, to ascertain the average weight of mail per mile that is carried
each day, and upon this weight the pay is computed. If the benefit
to the postal service to be derived from the transportation of mails
on a line will not warrant the payment of the maximum rates for
the weight carried, a rate less than the maximum is allowed by
agreement with the railroad company, or the service is not estab-
lished. The pay thus fixed continues to "the end of the four years
term for the state in which it is operated. Then another weigh-
ing is had. Under this arrangement the railroad company must
carry the mails at least six times a week each way, and the De-
partment may place mails on any additional trains which the
company may run. Where the amount of mails carried makes
it necessary for the company to provide railway post-office cars
over forty feet in length, for the exclusive use of the Department
in handling the mails, additional pay is allowed for each line of

34 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

cars ordered by the Department, according to the length of
the cars.

The Post Office Department takes the view that the cooperation,
and not the antagonism, of the railroads of the country is desired in
providing mail facilities, and consequently great liberality towards
them — liberality as great as possible under the laws of Congress
-and the business requirements of the service — is pursued. The
interests of the Department' and of the railroads are allied, for
often the Department is able to put on mails where the enterprise of
a railroad company is pushing its transportation business with faster
and more frequent trains, and sometimes a railroad company, lack-
ing by only a little enough transportation business to enable it to
put on a newer or a faster train, is enabled to do so with the assist-
ance furnished by the Department in consideration of its transporta-
tion of the mails.

The maximum rates of pay allowable to railroads at the present
time are, on routes carrying their whole length an average weight
per day of

200 pounds $42.75 2,000 pounds $128.25

500 ,, 64.12 3,500 „ 149.62

1000 „ 85.50 5,000 ,, 171.00

1500 „ 106.87

And for every additional 2000 pounds $21.37.

The chief item of expense in conducting the postal service is, as
has doubtless been imagined already, the transportation of the mails,
— though it is not to be forgotten that there are the items of
millions for the pay of postmasters and clerks. Almost everywhere
the earnings of the service — this, too, must already have been
imagined — are used again for the extension and improvement of
the service — for the general improvement of it, that is to say, as
fast as the acts of Congress permit. Only ten states and one terri-
tory produce more postal revenue than is spent within their borders.
New York leads, Massachusetts is next, Illinois is third, and Penn-
sylvania is fourth. Oklahoma is the one territory. Grouping the
states in regions, the New England States produce $ 1,636, 091. 29
more than is spent for them; the Middle States produce $3,857,-
181.23 more. No state on the Pacific slope produces as much as is
required for the maintenance of its postal service. The same is true

THE TRANSPORTATION OF THE MAILS. 35

of the Southern States. Two of the Western States and one terri-
tory supply more than they use. The Southern States use $3,888,-
973.23 more than is collected; the Western States $6,143,677.18
more; the Pacific States $1,871,806.04 more. Without taking into
account the amounts expended last year for transportation, all the
increase of receipts (nearly half a million dollars) in the New Eng-
land States, except $107,000, went back into improved service. In
the Middle States, out of over one and a half million dollars increase
all but $10,000 went back to improve the service. In the Southern
States the increase was nearly eight hundred thousand dollars, and
all but $15,000 went back to improve the service. In the Western
States all the increased receipts and $677,591 in addition were spent
for the benefit of the service ; and in the states on the Pacific Slope
the additional receipts of $474,644, and $278,539 more, were spent
to better the postal facilities.

It is well known that many of the large city offices yield a net
revenue to the postal service. It is frequently stated that the New
York office alone receives above $4,000,000 annually more than it
costs to operate it; and while there is no sure basis for making a
calculation of this sort (inasmuch as the item of transportation of
mails to and from a place like New York cannot be charged against
that city in any definite and right proportion), it is of course true
that the New York office and many others yield millions of dollars
of net revenue to the Department. This fact has been the reason
why propositions have been numerously made to reduce the
postage on letters in large cities, (which are intended for de-
livery within the limits of those cities,) and to have pneumatic tube
service, and other new additions to the postal facilities. The reason
why these claims are somewhat illogical is that the letter writers of
the large cities pay not merely for the postage of letters intended
for delivery within their own towns, but for the privilege of sending
letters to the farthest qiuarter of the country, — and receiving
answers back. It would not be maintained that no post route and
no mail facilities should be extended to localities where the service
is not expected to be self-sustaining; for in hundreds of cases it
costs fifty cents and more to send letters to their destinations, where
the charge is only the ordinary two-cent stamp. It is not simply
the postage on the letter which travels a mile that the letter writer

36 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

pays. It is the privilege of sending a letter three thousand, or even
six thousand miles, for two cents, that he pays for. Major George
L. Seybolt, Post Office Inspector in Charge at San Francisco, lately
returned from an examination of the postal service of Alaska.
Alaska is as far west of San Francisco as San Francisco is west of
the Atlantic Ocean. The remotest office belonging to the United
States is at Mitchell, far up in the interior of Alaska. The spot
is a little mining camp near where the waters of Forty Mile Creek
flow into the Yukon River. The people are not quite certain
whether the United States or Canada owns the land, for the bound-
ary line is quite near; but at any rate the United States has the
office. The mail is carried irregularly by any one who chances to
be going that way. Of course, nearly all the small merchandise

IN THE UPPER PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN.

for points in Alaska goes by mail — boots, shoes, silver ware,
pictures, clothing, millinery, groceries, and in fact anything not
liquid or alive that can be made up into a four-pound package.
The Government charges are much lower than any express or
freight company could afford to make ; and hence the additional loss
on this far-away business, which is not merely the transportation of
letters.

A year or more ago numerous complaints were received from
Texas that the star service there was irregular and generally ineffi-
cient, and public attention was again drawn to the evils incident to
the sub-letting of star route contracts. It is well known that the
bulk of the star route contracting is done by professional bidders,
or "star routers," as they are called. These men make hundreds,

THE TRANSPORTATION OF THE MAILS. 37

or even thousands, of contracts. They of course sub-let them,
sometimes at ruinously low figures, as the disposition of many a
sub-contractor to give up his work testifies. As has recently been
stated by the Department, a great diversity of opinion has existed
respecting the advisability of enacting new laws or the creation of
additional regulations, the outcome of which would be to discourage
competition, thereby largely increasing the cost of the star service
without substantial assurance that there would arise from the new
conditions a marked change in the performance of the service itself.
Two methods have been recommended by those advocating a
change; first, to prohibit sub-letting altogether; second, to require
the approval of bidders' sureties by postmasters at post offices upon
or contiguous to the routes to which the proposals relate. It has
been claimed for the first proposition that it would prevent specula-
tion in mail contracts, because no person would bid for service on a
large number of routes knowing that he could not sub-let them. In
opposition, it is asserted that while sub-letting directly would be
prevented, the contractors could still hire carriers who, after per-
forming the service, might have no means to secure their earnings
by evidences of agreements that could be recognized by the Depart-
ment. The purpose of the second change would be to exclude sub-
letting bidders and to cause contracts to be let to persons residing
upon the various routes or near to them. For it is argued that com-
petition among speculators is so great that they in turn must sub-let
at figures below which inferior equipment is necessary and good
service impossible. But under the present system pay is not
awarded unless the registers of the postmasters show that the service
has actually been performed; and an objection easy enough to be
thought of is that, under the proposed change, intending local con-
tractors might form combinations and increase prices inordinately.
The Department is rather inclined, in choosing between these
evils, to a more rigorous supervision of all the work; and this is one
of the reasons why it is more important now than ever before that
all complaints should be submitted specifically and without delay,
as cause for them arises. An increase of ten per cent, in the cost of
the star service would necessitate an additional annual appropria-
tion by Congress of over half a million dollars for this service
alone. The Department, insisting upon a sharper supervision, and

38 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

taking advantage, too, of the closeness of competition among bidders,
has been able to prove the wisdom of its position by pointing out
that under the letting of the star service in the fourth contract sec-
tion, which took effect July 1, 1890, there was an annual saving of
over $213,000, which would be for the contract term of four years a
saving of over $850,000 ; and that under the letting of the third
contract section, which took effect July 1, 1891, the reduction per
annum was over $100,000, or a reduction for the contract term of
four years of over $400,000. The competition was sharp enough.
The number of routes embraced in this last contract section was over
4,000, and the total number of sealed proposals almost 100,000, so
that the average number of bids per route was from twenty to
twenty-five.

Not the least significant development of Postmaster General
Wanamaker's desire to facilitate the delivery of mail in country
districts is the possibility of a large and important addition, but not
an addition at all onerous, to the duties of the mail contractor. It
is believed that if letter boxes for the collection of mail were put up
at central points in farming, lumbering, or mining communities, the
mail could be collected from them and properly disposed of by the
contractor without trouble, greatly to the accommodation of these
far-off letter writers ; and not the least of the benefits likely to be
derived from this proposed departure would be, as Congressman
Nelson Dingley of Maine has pointed out, as in the case of the
extension of the free delivery by carrier to villages and rural com-
munities, the freer interchange of letters and newspapers, and of
general intelligence, and hence a less marked tendency on the part
of country people towards life in the city.

The " regulation wagon service " is performed in some forty of
the chief cities of the country. It provides for the transportation of
mails from railroad stations to post offices, and every city dweller
has seen the lumbering red, white, and blue express wagons trudg-
ing backward and forth. Every intending contractor must per-
sonally investigate the extent of the service to be required. There
is no diminution of compensation for partial discontinuance of the
service, nor is there any increase of compensation for any increase
of service that may be required. Bidders know this, and make
allowance. The regulation wagon is expensive. It requires con-

THE TRANSPORTATION OF THE MAILS.

stant care and frequent painting to make its appearance creditable,
and it is the more expensive because, after the contract term is over,
it cannot be made of service to the owner without being radically
changed; for its subsequent use is forbidden by the Government
until after the removal of all the insignia of the Government ser-
vice. In about forty cities of secondary importance the screen-
wagon service, as it is called, is provided. The ordinary mail
messenger service did not afford sufficient protection for the mails,
and in the number of cases above mentioned the messengers were
required to furnish covered wagons, protected by screens, and pro-

TOB THE REGULATION WAGON SERVICE.

vided with waterproof curtains. The regulation wagon service
costs perhaps half a million dollars annually.

The sub-contractor does not complain much of the hardships which
the professional "star router" puts upon him. He has taken the
work to do at the given figure and knows that he must perform it
or lose his pay. Nor does he complain much of the difficulties and
dangers of wind and water. He provides himself with the kind of
clothes required to protect him, and in the wilder regions, of course,
goes armed. There is nothing timid nor particularly gentle about
the mail carrier. No doubt he is provided in the first place with
ample store of brawn and courage, and he almost always feels an
additional determination not to be interfered with, especially with
his added importance as an agent of the Government.

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

One hears thrilling stories of the bravery of these hardy fellows.
In Johnson County, Wyoming, the seat of the Rustler cattle war,
Contractor Stringer had been unable during the winter to carry the
mail across the Big Horn Mountains from Buffalo to Ten Sleep.
In the belief that the summer season was sufficiently advanced to
allow the trip to be made, he started from Buffalo on a strong-
saddle horse and with four mules packed with mail pouches.
Twenty-five miles of hard travelling brought him to an emer-
gency cabin with his stock completely played out. Here he
placed some mail on a toboggan, and, strapping on a pair of snow
shoes, made another start for Ten Sleep. In about fifteen miles

one of the snow
shoes was broken.
The nearest haven
was Stringer's own
ranch, twelve miles
distant. He was
five days getting
to it. Most of the
way he crawled on
his hands and
knees. With hun-
ger and exhaustion
he was all but
dead. Resting
three days at his
ranch and making a new shoe, Stringer returned to the station for
the abandoned stock and mail, and in a week put the mail through
to Ten Sleep.

The women are self-reliant and determined also. Mrs. Clara
Carter, of West Ellsworth, Maine, drives the mail coach from that
place to Ellsworth, seven miles away. A Lewiston Journal cor-
respondent, who recently made the trip with her, saw her deliver
twelve packages and as many letters, besides several papers, along
the route, attend to errands and look after two passengers, all in an
hour and twenty minutes. This energetic woman rises early in
the morning, does the cooking for five in the family, starts at
7 for the city with the mail and numerous errands that are

THE SCREEN WAGON.

THE TRANSPORTATION OF THE MAILS. 41

given to her without memoranda. She returns at noon, gets dinner,
goes to the blueberry fields and picks ten quarts of berries or more
in the afternoon, and in the cool of evening does the family washing
and ironing and other household tasks. This amount of work she
performs six days in the week, varying the routine in the afternoon,
out of berry season, by sewing for the family. She finds time, too, to
play on the parlor organ an hour or more in the evening, or to enter-
tain visitors.

There is a brave little woman mail carrier in Oregon. She
travels from the head of navigation on Siuslaw's River over the
Coast Range Mountains, and then follows the river through Hale's
post office within fifteen miles of Eugene City. Her route is
twenty miles long, and right in the heart of the mountains. She
carries the mail night and day, and fears nothing. She rides horse-
back and carries a revolver. Miss Westman is a plump brunette,
twenty-two years old. Her father and uncle operate a stage line.
At Hale's station the young woman meets her father and takes the
mail from Eugene City. Miss Westman has never met with a mis-
hap. On one of her trips last year she found three good-sized bears
in the road, right in front of her. The horse became frightened,
threw his rider to the ground, and ran back. Miss Westman started
after the runaway, remounted, and rode right through the savage
line, and, strange to say, she was not attacked. Some friends later
went to the place and killed the bears. On another occasion Miss
Westman met two bears, but they did not molest her.

Another brave woman carries the mails in the gold mining coun-
try of Okanogan County, Washington. A recent visitor to that
neighborhood, Mr. John F. Plummer of New York, rode in stages
and wagons, and tramped three hundred and fifty miles away from
the railroad and back, over stage routes and trails, near the Cana-
dian border line. At a station, called Malott after the first settler
in the locality, the party stopped for food, and were entertained
by Mrs. Malott, and especially by her very interesting daughter,
who carries the mail on horseback sixteen miles a day.

Not so very long ago (but it is a rare thing now) the mail carrier
had to fight the Indian. The story of Danny Redmond, the rider
on the Sunset Trail, is told by a writer for the Chicago Inter Ocean.

The Sunset Trail wound its way over the dreary plains of Kansas,

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

across the Cimmarron, and on and on into the great State of the Lone
Star. But Danny's route only extended to Crooked Creek, a
town consisting of a grocery store. At this time the population of
Ford County could have been easily corralled on a quarter section,
and had comfortable standing-room at that. Danny was an apostle to
these lone settlers, and only one who has experienced the appalling
loneliness of existence in those thinly peopled plains, where you can

MISS MALOTT,
Who carries the mail sixteen miles a day in Northern Washington.

see your next door neighbor's shanty on clear days only, can realize
the joy with which they heralded this blue-eyed, brown-haired
bunch of turbulence.

"Two o'clock," would comment some unkempt denizen, consult-
ing the sun. "Danny'll be here in ten minutes."

They would look till their eyes ached afar to where the Sunset

THE TRANSPORTATION OF THE MAILS. 43

Trail tipped over the roll of prairie at the horizon. Soon their
watching would be rewarded, and steadily and swiftly would the bay
mare Dolly bear her rider down the trail in that swinging, inde-
fatigable gallop of the mustang.

Perchance some settler coming into the post-office would jog in
the path that Danny chose. "Git out o' the way of the United
Statesmail!" would come the warning, and he would prudently
"git" to the other side of the road, for Danny could and would
shoot, and, besides, didn't he have every one of those fellows down
at the office to stand at his back to the last shot?

How longingly and expectantly those eager pioneers would watch
the letters distributed! Though, perhaps they had no grounds for
expecting a letter, yet their hope did not sink until the last one was
put away.

Then the return mail would be made up and at the exact minute
Danny would vault into the big Mexican saddle — almost as big as
he and Dolly — and with the all-potent mail he would recommence
his long ride, never stopping as he tried a shot at some unwieldy
rattlesnake that had dragged its mottled form out on the trail to
loll in the sun, who would not be able to wiggle into the tall grass
ere the United States mail was upon him. Along the route the
settlers would come out of their shanties half bent and wave their
sombreros and cheer the buoyant rider.

Wabash was the only stop. It was of the same importance as
Crooked Creek only there were two houses instead of one, or rather
a double house ; for the owners of the claims that joined up there
occupied a shanty of two compartments, one on each claim. Some-
how or other the scamp would sit straighter in the saddle and pull
Dolly's head up higher when they approached Wabash and a pretty
little peach of a girl would come out and chat with the carrier
while her spectacled father's attention was riveted on the letter
packages. Dolly would probably think that Danny was getting
rather weighty on one side as he bent low in the saddle danger-
ously close to that pink sun bonnet. And the scoffing gopher
that sat up conveniently close to his burro would wonder for
what reason a fellow would want to bite a pretty girl like her.
But Rosie didn't seem to mind the punishment a bit. And I
fear Danny would fain have lingered longer at the unprepos-

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

sessing post of Wabash but — the United States mail must be
carried on.

Night would fall ere he crossed the dark Cimmarron and on the
auspicious nights the moon was well up in the sky when he rode
with a whoop and halloo, that stilled the howling of the coyotes,
into Fort Dodge — the journey done.

One day a cowboy came into the fort with a jaded mustang and a
slash across his cheek, and reported that he had been chased by a
band of Arapahoes. Those children of nature had grown insolent
with well feeding and little work. They often became thus at
irregular intervals, and, breaking from the reservation, swept

north upon the
scattered settlers
of the plains.

Danny was pre-
paring to start
upon his route
when the news
came.

"You oughtn't
to go, Dan, " they
said, "for they'll
strike right up
the Cimmarron
like they allays
do, and more'n
likely fall afoul o' you. If you do your scalp'll dangle from some
red nigger's belt before mornun'."

"I'm not skeert, " replied he, settling himself in the saddle, "and
besides, the folks at Wabash and the Crick ought to be warned.
And you know the mail has to go as long as it's anyways possible."
The spur touched Dolly's flanks more often than usual, but she
kept up bravely, and Danny clattered into Wabash, ahead of time.
Imparting the alarming intelligence to old man Beck, the post-
master, and cautioning him to get the family ready and start for the
post without further delay, he rode on toward Crooked Creek.

Danny clinched the saddle tighter and looked to his weapons ere
he mounted for the home spurt. He was not afraid. Had he been

FOR THE STAGE LINES OF THE FAR WEST.

THE TRANSPORTATION OF THE MAILS. 45

a coward he would have remained safely at the fort. But an
ominous dread fell upon him as he thought of the dark Cimmarron.

He arrived at Wabash and looked in at the open door of the Beck
and Lartan households. Everything was topsy-turvey as left in the
hurry of departure.

"Well, Rosie is safe anyway," he confided to Dolly with a sigh.

Their flying shadows grew longer and longer, and finally night
dropped on the plains. Before him loomed the Cimmarron. He
could see the misty vapor rolling up like smoke.

"If they're anywhere they'll be down there," he mused.
"They'll want to lay along the trail, and catch some of the settlers
making for Dodge. Wonder if I hadn't better cross further down ? "

It was a good idea, and he turned Dolly from the trail and
directed his course further down the river.

The reins changed from right to left as he entered the mist, and
his right fell upon the protruding butt of a revolver in his belt. A
twig cracked under the horse's feet and gave the rider a start.
Down into the Cimmarron they splashed. Dolly pulled at the rein.

"No, no, Doll; can't drink this time," he murmured.

He climbed the bank on the opposite side and rode out on the
plain, breathing easier.

"Spang!"

Dolly bolted forward and a flame of light flashed in the darkness
up the river.

'Yip-yip-yip!" It was the war-cry of the Arapahoe. With a
yell of defiance he fired at the dark mass tearing after him, and
bending low over the saddle horn spoke encouragingly to the horse :

" Dolly, if you ever run, do it now. You're faster thun any of
them. Dolly, if you'll only try — look out for the gopher hills —
that's a good horse. Whew! that one was close. Now you're get-
tin' down to it, Dolly. We'll beat the red devils yit. On, Doll.
Remember, we've got the mail, and it must be saved. Here's the
trail. Now, see how fast you can run. Ouch! O God, I'm hit,
and hit home at that. It's all with you, Dolly! it's all with you."

And he clung to the saddle horn and gave the mustang free rein.
She ran like a frightened antelope, hardly seeming to touch the
ground, while Danny with closed eyes and clenched teeth clung to
the saddle horn with the desperation of death.

46 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

" Halt ! Who comes there ? " challenged the guard, as a horse and
rider came into the fort. •

"The United States mail," came the faint reply, and Dolly
galloped up with blood in her nostrils and blood on her flanks,
quivering like an aspen.

" Dan, are you hurt ? " asked the soldier, lifting him from the
saddle.

"I'm hit dead," he replied, with a moan. They carried him into
the barrack room, and the surgeon was summoned, but there was no
hope, he said. Soon the news spread to the camp, and the rough
soldiers and fugitive settlers gathered around him, watching with
breathless interest for the end to come. A girl came pushing her
way through the crowd, wringing her hands in agony. She bent
down and took the sufferer's hand.

"Rosie," he said, with a pained smile. "I'm a goner, I guess.
Good by, Rosie ; you can have Dolly, and take care of her, for
she did all she could to save me. Good by, boys, — Yonder 's —
the Cimmarron. That's a good horse, Dolly."

"Delirium," said the surgeon gravely.

" Get out of the way — of the — United — States — mail — "

That was the end. The mail was safe, but the carrier was dead.

HOW A LETTER TRAVELS.

HE Bureau of the Railway Mail Service, the largest
and most important in the office of the Second
Assistant Postmaster General, has charge of the
§ movement of mails over all railroad routes, deter-
mines what trains shall carry the mails, directs
the dispatch, distribution, and separation of mail
matter in railway post offices and the principal post
offices, conducts the weighing of mails when ordered, prepares the
orders for appointment, removal, promotion and reduction of postal
clerks, has supervision of the discipline of the employees of that
branch of the service, and conducts the correspondence relating to
these matters. This branch of the Department has a general super-
intendent in immediate charge who, with the assistant general
superintendent, has his headquarters in the Department ; but in order
to supervise the innumerable details of such an extended service,
it is necessary to have division superintendents, each in charge
of a certain quarter of the country. At present there are
eleven division superintendents with headquarters respectively
in Boston, New York, WashingtoD, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Chi-
cago, St. Louis, San Francisco, Cleveland, St. Paul, and Fort
Worth; and these have chief clerks, stationed in other important
cities.

" The travelling postal car, " said Postmaster General Wanamaker
once, "though a familiar sight, has but few real acquaintances
among the people. It thunders on day and night, over every rail-
road, full of bustling clerks, taking up sacks of mail, sorting them
between stations, and laying them down at proper destinations.
Over six thousand men, full of intelligence and pluck, are on their
feet swinging to the motion of the train, exposed to danger,
deprived of their homes, making ready tons of letters and news-

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

papers for quick deliveries. The railway mail is the spinal colurrm
of the service."

"Railway postal clerks," writes Mr. George B. Armstrong of
the Chicago Evening Post, son of the George B. Armstrong whose
persistent genius caused the railway post office system to be estab-
lished, "are the most intelligent men in the Department. Theirs
is no perfunctory labor. It is intellectual , effort, if not of the
highest, then of a high order. * There is no creative talent required, but
a memory whose tenacity shall equal the jaws of a sturdy bull dog."

THE PONY EXPRESS — THE RELAY.

Yet the general public knows almost nothing of the railway postal
car. One sees the post office clerk, lives a neighbor to him, quar-
rels with him, perhaps, because he cannot do everything in no time.
But the railway postal clerks are travelling almost always, except
when they are sleeping. They are separated from their families,
they work at night cooped up in cars; yet they handle everybody's
mail, expedite it hours and days with singular quickness, accuracy,
and honesty. They perform, in short, the most arduous as well as
the most important part of the postal "work. The inspectors are the
eyes and ears of the service ; the railway postal clerks the deft, brain-
trained hands.

HOW A LETTER TRAVELS. 49

Even the largest figures that can be quoted out of the records of
the Department fail to give a notion of the magnitude of the railway
mail service. The 6,400 postal clerks traverse 160,000 miles of
railroad. They actually distribute mails on over 140,000 miles
(the service on the rest is performed by means of closed pouches,
carried by lines upon which no distributions are made). The roll-
ing stock of the railway post office lines consists of over 500 whole
cars in use and over 100 kept in reserve. 1,800 apartment cars are
in use and over 500 are kept in reserve. So that the total number
of cars under the control of the Department is almost 2,000. The
number of cars in use or in reserve increases at the rate of over a
hundred yearly. The departmental report for 1891 recorded that
nearly 8,000 miles of additional railway post office service had been
established, 1,300 miles in the Pacific Coast States, 3,500 in the
other Western States, 2,400 in the Southern States, and about 1,000
in the Northeastern States. At Chicago 145 mail trains arrived and
144 departed daily ; at Cincinnati the numbers were 70 and 73 ;
at St. Louis 65 and 72, and at St. Paul 75 and 74. The increase
in the number of pieces of mail distributed by railway postal clerks
is constant, and the decrease in the number of errors is equally
marked, as the following brief tables show :

For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1890: —
Number of pieces distributed ....... 7,865,438,101

Number of errors . . 2,812,574

I (Or one error for 2,797 correct distributions.)

j For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1891 : —

Number of pieces distributed ....... 8,564,252,563

Number of errors 2,042,049

(Or one error for 4,194 correct distributions.)

The fiscal year ended June 30, 1892, also showed a remarkable
improvement. The number of pieces handled was 9,245,994,775,
and the number of errors 1,691,389, or one error in 5,466 pieces
handled !

It shows how hard the men try and how well they succeed. They
are obliged to try and to succeed, for during an average year 15,000
" case examinations " are held, at which 15,000,000 cards are distrib-
uted; and the average per cent, correct is 93 or higher. And the
railway postal clerks correct the errors, supply the watchfulness and
brains, even, of the great public. For they withdraw from railway

* •* *

tter pouches earned by the Pony
ess were not opened between St.
ph and Sacramento.

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

post offices in a year and forward to designated post offices for treat-
ment perhaps 8,000,000 pieces of matter imperfectly addressed;
and under this treatment more than 2,500,000 pieces are returned to

wi|w*v w--^--- --

LOADING FOR THE FAST MAIL AT NEW YORK.

writers, and two millions and a ' quarter are corrected and for-
warded to addressees. This keeps out of the Dead Letter Office
almost 5,000,000 pieces of mail matter. And the number of
errors made by the public, as shown by the record, exceeds

HOW A LETTER TRAVELS. 51

those made by the railway post offices by over 5,000,000
annually !

At the head of the Railway Mail Service is Capt. James E. White
of Chicago, a gallant Iowa soldier, a clerk under Armstrong as early
as 1866, and for a long time division superintendent of the Rail-
way Mail Service at Chicago. The assistant general superintendent,
Mr. William P. Campbell, is also a Chicago man. He entered
the service in 1868, and was for a long time General Superintendent
Armstrong's secretary. Hardly a man in the service is more accom-
plished than he. The chief clerk of the service is Mr. Alexander Grant,
a Michigan man. He was a clerk in the service for a long time.
He is now accounted one of the most popular fellows in Washington,
as he is surely one of the most efficient of the postal officers. Cap-
tain White's room is on the second floor at the Seventh Street side
of the Department building. Mr. Campbell spends much of his
time in the very important work of examining personally the rail-
way service in various parts of the country. In the room next to
Captain White is Mr. Grant. Routine exactions keep him in
Washington most of the time.

Take a letter mailed in the post office at Exeter, New Hampshire,
and addressed to some person at Elk Lawn, Siskiyou County, Cali-
fornia. It is to go from the foot of the White Mountains to the
shadow of Mount Shasta. The mailing clerk in the post-office at
Exeter places this letter in a package marked "Western States. "
The package is enclosed in a pouch sent from the Exeter office to
the mail car running from Portland to Boston. The clerks upon
the line, upon opening this pouch, take the package in which the
letter for Elk Lawn has been placed and distribute it in what is
called the " Western Case, " which contains the separations for the
Western States and Territories. This is for the purpose of getting
together all mail for Oregon, Washington, California, and Nevada.
These packages, when "tied out," are placed in a pouch at Boston,
and sent to the postal car at the Boston and Albany Railroad station.
The pouch is taken direct from one depot to another by a messenger
who contracts to transport the mails between the depots and the
post office in Boston. Sometimes the time is so short between the
arrival of one train and the departure of another that if the pouches
had to go to the post office they would miss the train and be delayed

H
go

lj
<

H
O

«!

El,

O
K

HOW A LETTER TRAVELS. 53

from six to twelve hours. This is where the mail messenger ser-
vice comes in.

The package marked "Western States" has been "stated," as
they say. The clerks take these packages to a case where each box
is designated by a state, and they separate all that mail. This
separation is completed on the Boston and Albany line before the
train reaches Albany, and the mail is put in a pouch marked "No.
2 West." It is marked "No. 2," because it is the last matter that the
clerks have to handle. "No. 1" is the immediate mail to New
York and is worked first. "No. 3 West" (for sometimes they have
a "No. 3 ") would be mail for Michigan and the intermediate states.
The Boston and Albany usually has enough mail to make up one
pouch for Ohio, one for Michigan, and one for Indiana.

At Albany the Boston and Albany car is run up alongside the
postal car of the New York and Chicago line, and the mails are
transferred from one line to the other in short order by the postal
clerks and railway men. This connection at Albany is made four
times a day. After the mail train has left Albany, the clerks in the
New York and Chicago railway post office open this pouch that we
have followed, and separate the packages. California, Oregon, and
Nevada are put in different sacks, a sack for each state. There is
matter enough for that. The mail for California on this particular
line between New York and Chicago is distributed between Albany
and Syracuse. The mail for the southern part of the state, as for
Los Angeles and San Diego, is separated from that for the balance
of the state in order that it may be forwarded from Cleveland or
Toledo, by St. Louis, Kansas City, and Albuquerque. The mail
for the main portion of the State of California continues on the New
York and Chicago line and beyond to Sacramento, and our particular
letter for Elk Lawn would be put by the clerk running between
Albany and Syracuse in the package marked " Ogden and San Fran-
cisco, Cal."; and this package is not opened until it reaches the
clerks running between these two points. The mail for the southern
part of California is put up in packages as indicated above. The
mail for upper California is not handled between Syracuse and Ogden,
except as it crosses Chicago in a pouch. The pouch is transferred
at Chicago, of course, from the New York and Chicago postal car to
the Chicago and Omaha. Seven or eight two-horse loads are carted

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

across the city in this way at each transfer. The New York and
Chicago train, indeed, is made up of six postal cars, each sixty feet
long, all jammed full.

But to take up our Exeter letter again. At Ogden the pouch

POUCHING THE MAIL.

which was made up on the New York and Chicago line between
Albany and Syracuse is opened and the mail is distributed again.
The letter for Elk Lawn is placed in a package marked "Portland
and San Francisco, No. 2." The package mailed for the first sta-
tions on this line, those, say, between Sacramento and Red Bluff,
are marked "No. 1." This specialization of the work is to enable the

HOW A LETTER TRAVELS. 55

clerks to complete their distributions before passing the first impor-
tant stations. In making the distributions of mails (a simple sepa-
ration, such as is made of California mail between Albany and
Syracuse), the clerk is required to make direct packages for all cities
for which he finds sufficient mail to make it an object: for instance,

DISTRIBUTING THE MAIL BY STATES AND ROUTES.

for San Francisco, Sacramento, Stockton, San Jose, Los Angeles,
Santa Barbara, and San Diego; for where there are five or more
letters for one office they are tied up separately. Elk Lawn is
a very small office, and ordinarily there would not be enough
mail for it to require it to be made up separately. Consequently
our letter is put in what is called the "road package." The clerks of

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

the Sacramento and Portland line put the letter to Elk Lawn in a
special package marked "Sisson Dis." and this package is put off at
Sisson station. "Dis." means distribution, and the Sisson post-
master is to dispatch, by side or star routes, the letters embraced in
.the package which he has received, to their various destinations.
He makes up the letters for Elk Lawn and puts them in a pouch

THE INTERIOR OF A POSTAL, CAR.

with packages for other stations along the stage route, and sends
them out three times a week. The pouch is overhauled at every
post office on the stage route, and the letters that are left go on in
turn to their destinations. The stage drivers used to complain that
it delayed them at many of the post offices to wait for postmasters to
pick out from the general batch the letters intended for their offices,
and hence the recent order of the Department that the postmasters at
distributing points like Sisson should "tie out" the little packages
of letters, intended for offices on the radiating routes.

So the Exeter letter reaches Elk Lawn. It has been handled in all
these postal cars by all these clerks, and has travelled all these three
thousand miles and more. But the time has not been so very good.
The connection is not close at Boston, nor is it possible to have it
always close at a place like Sisson. But the division superinten-
dents and the chief clerks of the Railway Mail Service, under the
direction of the General Superintendent and the Second Assistant
Postmaster General, are always studying how these connections

HOW A LETTER TRAVELS.

may be made better, and contractors in almost innumerable instances,
and railroads even, have rearranged their schedules in order that
all the boundless, intricate network of transportation lines of all
sorts may be made a regularly, closely interwoven warp and
woof, and not mere shreds and patches. With the unvarying
increase in routes and post offices, the tasks for the railway postal
clerks to learn become harder and more numerous. But probably
more than a thousand of these sharp fellows could sit down and
recite the detailed travels of a letter, flying as if with wings from any
edge of the country to any other over dozens of different post routes.
" The New York and Chicago Fast Mail " has been passed over in
the above description with scanty notice. The finest train leaves
New York at nine at night. #

" It must not be supposed, "
writes ex-Postmaster Gen-
eral James, in one of his
graphic articles in Scrib-
ner's, "that everything has
been left until the last mo-
ment and that the mail-
matter has been tumbled
into the cars on the eve of
departure, to be handled as
best it may in the short run
to Albany; for under such
conditions the task would
be an impossibility even to
an army of trained hands.
Work has been in progress
since four o'clock in the
afternoon, and it has been
steady, hard labor every

minute of the time. The five cars have been backed down to the
tracks opposite Forty-Fifth Street, and have been so placed that they
are convenient of access to the big lumbering mail wagons which
are familiar sights in the streets of the metropolis. The crew of
nineteen men, skilled in the handling of mail matter, and thorough
experts in the geography of the country, reported to the chief clerk

CASES IN A POSTAL CAR.

THE STOKY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

A VERY DIFFICULT ADDRESS —
KNOWN AS "A STICKER."

and took up their stations \j
in the various cars at the
hour named. At the same time the
wagons began arriving from the
general post office with their tons
of matter which had 'originated'
in New York, and were soon trans-
ferring their loads to the cars, where agile hands were in waiting
to receive them.

44 Before we deal with the mail matter, let us look at the cars and
the men who occupy them. The train, as it leaves New York, is
made up of six, and sometimes seven cars which are placed immedi-
ately behind the engine, and are followed by express and baggage

HOW A LETTER TRAVELS. 59

cars and one passenger coach. The car next to the engine is devoted
entirely to letter mail, and the four following it to papers and pack-
ages. The letter car is fifty feet in length, while those for the
newspaper mail are ten feet longer. All are uniform in width, nine
feet eight inches, and are six feet nine inches in the clear. When
newly built, before long and hard service had told on their appear-
ance, their outsides were white in color with cream tinted border-
ings and gilt ornamentations, and were highly varnished. Midway
on the outside, and below the windows of each car, is a large oval
gilt finished frame within which is painted the name of the car with
the words, 4 United States Post Office ' above and below. The cars
used by the New York Central are named for the governors of the
State, and the members of President Garfield's cabinet. Along the
upper edge and centre are painted in large gilt letters the words,
4 The Fast Mail Train, ' while on a line with these letters at the other
end, in a square, are the words in like lettering, w New York Cen-
tral ' and 'Lake Shore.' The frieze and minute trimmings around
the windows are of gilt finish. The body of the car also contains
other ornamentation, including the coat-of-arms of the United
States. The running gear is of the most approved pattern. The
platforms are enclosed by swinging doors which when opened afford
a protected passage between the cars. This arrangement, no doubt,
suggested the modern improvement now known as the vestibule
train. The letter car is provided with a fc mail catcher,' which is
placed at a small door through which mail pouches are snatched from
conveniently placed posts at wayside stations where stops are not
made. Each car is divided into three sections, all fitted up alike
with conveniences for the service to be performed. The letter car,
however, is somewhat differently arranged from the others, to meet
the requirements of that particular branch of the work.

"In the first section of the letter car are received the pouches
from the general post office, which when opened are found to contain
letters done up in packages of about one hundred marked for Michi-
gan, Indiana, New York, Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, Montana,
Dakota, and California. When this mass of matter has been
emptied out of the pouches, and, in the vernacular of the service,
4 dumped up ' preparatory to distribution, the section is clear for
the registered mail which is worked in it. Before this is accom-

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

plished, however, much work is clone ; in fact, a sort of rough dis-
tribution is made. All -packages which are directed to one office
are distributed into pouches, which are afterward stored away until
the towns are reached. The other packages are carried into the
letter department for distribution, where a rack, similar to those
seen in almost every post office, although space is thoroughly econ-
omized, is used for the purpose. To give a slight idea of the work

done in this section it may
be mentioned that the dis-
tribution for New York
State alone requires 325
boxes. Still there is plenty
of space, otherwise the third
section of the car would not
be used, as it is, for the dis-
tribution of Montana and
Dakota newspapers. How
closely everything is packed
and all available space util-
ized may be imagined when
it is stated that for this
newspaper mail ninety-five
pouches are hung in the sec-
tion, and that there is still
sufficient room for the
storage of pouches locked
up and ready for delivery,
and also for the sealed
registered mail. A separa-
tion of the California mail
is also made in this car, so that when it reaches Chicago the
pouches into which the matter is placed are transferred without
delay, thus saving twenty-four hours on the time to the Pacific Coast,
not hy any means an unimportant accomplishment.

M There have been received in this car before it moves out of the
Grand Central station, between 1,000 and 1,500 packages of letters,
and in addition forty or fifty sacks of Dakota and Montana papers.
To handle this mass of correspondence there are six men in addition

POUCHING NEWSPAPERS FOR CALIFORNIA
IN CAR NO. 5.

HOW A LETTER TRAVELS. 61

to the clerk in charge. The second clerk handles letters for Ohio,
Dakota, and Montana; the third clerk takes charge of those for New
York State ; the fourth, Illinois ; the fifth opens all pouches labelled,
"New York and Chicago Railway Post Office,' distributes their
contents, and afterward works on Dakota and Montana papers ; the
sixth, Michigan State letters, and the seventh, California letter
mail.

"The second, or 'Illinois Car,' is devoted, as are the others which
follow it, to the newspaper and periodical mail. In it are handled
papers for Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, New York, Oregon, and Wyo-
ming. Two clerks and two assistants man this car. The first assist-
ant, who 'faces up' papers ready to be distributed, draws mails
from stalls to case, and removes boxes as fast as they are filled, has
gained the soubriquet of the 'Illinois derrick,' owing to the heavy,
nature of his duties. The second, who lends what aid he can in the
heavy work on the run between New York and Albany, has become
known on the train as the 'short stop.' The third section of the
car is used for storing the bags of assorted matter.

"The third car is used for storing through mail for San Francisco,
Omaha, and points west of Chicago. In it are also carried stamped
envelopes from the manufacturer at Hartford, Conn., to postmasters
in the West. This car is frequently fully loaded with matter from
the New York office when the journey is begun. The Michigan
paper car is the fourth. In it are handled papers for Michigan,
Iowa, and the mixed Western States. In the first section are piled
the Iowa pouches and those for points out of Utica, which have
been distributed in the centre section, and in the third section the
distribution for Michigan, Nebraska, and Minnesota, as well as for
points reached from Buffalo, is made. Two men perforin the work
of the car, one of whom has already handled all registered mail and
Indiana letters in the first car.

" The fifth, or California paper car, is the last mail coach on the
train, as it is made up when leaving the Grand Central Station.
Besides the papers for the Golden State the car carries through
registered pouches to Chicago and the West, which have been made
up in New York office, and, as a usual thing, a large lot of stamped
envelopes for postmasters in the West. The California letter man
from the first car looks after the papers for the same state, and has

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

an eye to the safety of the car. On reaching Albany another car is
added to the train, making six in all from that point. This last
addition comes from Boston, brings the morning mail from Bangor,
Me., and is manned by four men.

" The run to Chicago for post office purposes is divided into three

MAILING A LETTER AT THE LAST MOMENT.

divisions; from New York to Syracuse, from Syracuse to Cleveland,
and from Cleveland to Chicago. Each division has its own crew,
so that the men leaving New York are relieved at Syracuse by
others, and these in turn at Cleveland. The New York crew go to
work, as has been said, at 4 P. M., and if the train is on time at
Syracuse, as it usually is, they arrive there at 5.35 A. M., after
thirteen and a half hours of as hard work as men are called upon to
do. The same evening at 8.40 they relieve the east bound crew,

HOW A LETTER TRAVELS. 63

and are in New York again at six o'clock on the following morning.
Half an hour later they are to be found on the top floor of the
general post office building, comfortably ensconced in bunks in a
large and airy room, provided as a dormitory for their use by the
postmaster of New York at the time of the inauguration of the fast
mail service. Each crew makes three round trips and is then laid
off for six days, but its members are all this time subject to extra
duty which they are called upon to perform with unpleasant fre-
quency, particularly in holiday times."

A Chicago Tribune man travelled to the Pacific Coast and back
not long ago in mail trains. He covered 6,110 miles in fifteen days;
and this with a stop-over of a day and a half in San Francisco, a
day in Portland, two days and a half on Puget Sound, and a day at
the Great Shoshone Falls. The actual time spent on the mail trains
was nine days, or, by exact calculation, 214 hours, which gives an
average run, including all stops but those mentioned, of 650 miles a
day. If Nellie Bly or Elizabeth Bisland had kept up such a pace
they would have made the circuit of the globe in thirty-seven days.
If they had gone as swiftly as the mail does between Chicago and
San Francisco, and Chicago and Portland, they would have made the
circuit in thirty-four days.

To make such time and make it daily, as is continually done, the
speed must be continuously high. No loss of time can be allowed
in ascending the Rockies and Sierras on the way to San Francisco
or the Rockies and Cascades to Portland. Two engines are there-
fore provided on the steeper up-grades, and the light mail trains are
carried up the long acclivities at a rate rarely under thirty miles an
hour. In descending the mountains the fastest possible time con-
sistent with safety is necessary. A mile a minute is commonplace,
and fifty-eight seconds is enough on straight stretches of track.
The mail trains between Portland and Green River, a distance of
957 miles, make better time, in spite of the mountains, than any
limited express or mail train running in or out of New York a like
distance. In travelling the immense distances covered by the trans-
continental roads delays are, of course, unavoidable on almost every
trip. But the mails must arrive at the great distributing points
along the lines in time to meet the mail trains of connecting
roads. Not to do so may make the mail of a whole state or even

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

several states
twenty -four
hours late. Such de-
lays as occur must,
accordingly, be made
up.

So passengers on the
fast mail learn what
rapid tra ve Hingis. A

delay of half an hour has been caused by a hot journal at some point
in the alkali desert of Nevada. The traveller's first sensation on
getting off at a clipping pace is one of joyous relief. In a few
minutes he finds himself holding with both hands to his seat and
longing for rest even in the midst of the biting dust of the plateau.
He learns that the time lost must be regained in the one hundred

CATCHING THE POUCH FROM THE CRANE.

HOW A LETTER TRAVELS. 65

miles, and unless he has the resignation of a philosopher he will
discover that his nerves are badly unstrung at the end of the run.
One remarkable run was made on the Oregon Short Line from Soda
Springs, Idaho, to Grainger, Wyoming. Owing to a freight wreck
the fast mail was fifty minutes late at Soda Springs. It was neces-
sary to make up every minute of the loss before reaching Grainger
in order to connect at Green River, fifteen miles further on, with
the east bound fast mail from San Francisco. Division Superin-
tendent Green stepped aboard at Soda Springs to see that the
engineer did his duty.

The run began at once in earnest. A winding track of 146 miles
had to be ridden over in fifty minutes less than the new schedule
time, and the new schedule time was lightning. The track lay at
first along Ham's Fork. The valley was broad, the curves moderate,
and the imposing snowy mountain scenery on either side diverted
the attention of the passengers from the speed. But the indicator
kept a register of what was going on, and the record showed that
each of the first fifteen miles was made in fifty-seven seconds. In
forty-four minutes forty-six miles had been travelled, and the
curves had kept getting sharper.

When the track struck the Black Fork and began to follow its
writhing course, the passengers realized that they were making a
phenomenal run. Not one dared move from his seat. He was
moved about in it enough. The wonderful sphinx-like buttes which
rose from the cliffs of the Black Fork, as it passed into the Green
River, the unrolled scroll of mountain tablelands in the distance,
the soft touch of the setting sun on the snow-covered peaks —
scenery had no interest for the passengers. But when the train
drew up at Grainger a minute ahead of time the passengers went
forward and gave three hysterical cheers for the engineer.

A letter sometimes wanders all over this country, wanders around
the world, in fact, eagerly searching for its destination. It is some-
times maintained that the Post Office Department practises too much
care and patience in such cases. Mr. Robert J. Burdette tells a
story about a draft that he enclosed in a letter and sent to Bryn
Mawr, Penn. He himself left for California. He says :

" The letter went to Bryn Mawr, a distance of 850 miles, and found that my cor-
respondent also had gone to California on a wedding journey. The letter was

66 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

forwarded to Los Angeles, 3,000 miles, on January 10. The bridegroom had left
the city of Our Lady of the Angles and drifted into the Yosemite region, and
after vainly advertising for hifn, the letter went, on the 19th of January, to the
Dead Letter Office in Washington, 2,879 miles. The final obsequies were deferred
by the Government coroner and the dead letter was sent to Champaign, in search
of its father, on the 26th of January, 800 miles. On the 24th of February it
winged its weary way back to the Dead Letter Office and asked for Christian
burial. But the young lady who reads all the languages that were ever written,
and a great many that can't possibly be spoken, who has a way of finding where
a letter wants to go, when the man who wrote it hasn't the remotest idea where
his correspondent lives, sent it to Brooklyn on the 13th of March, if haply it
might find me. Two hundred and twenty-eight miles for nothing; the letter
deadheaded back to Washington, same distance both ways, and again knocked at
the cemetery gate. But the fair prophetess believed there was life in the wanderer
yet, and she sent it to Bryn Mawr May 10, 148 miles. Finding no rest for the sole
of its stamp, which is usually connected with a foot, it returned into the ark of
the Dead Letter Office May 11, 148 miles again. From there it once more sped
away to Los Angeles, 2,879 miles; back again after a while, it went to the Dead
Letter Office for the fifth time. But the Department was satisfied that it could
yet call back the departed message to life, and sent it to the writer in Bryn Mawr,
where, after journeying across the continent four times and going to the Dead
Letter Office and demanding burial five times, travelling in all 14,987 miles, it was
finally delivered into my hands on the 13th of September. All this, fellow-
citizens, for two cents, two cents ! For eight months this letter had been chasing
after its owner all over the United States, and never thought of getting lost."

Now and then, in spite of the regulations to the contrary, a letter
goes around the world. Some time ago a citizen of Bloomington,
111., sent a missive on this long journey, with the request written
on the outside that postmasters would please hurry it along. It got
as far as San Francisco. The postmaster there, being aware of the
prohibitory clause in the regulations, forwarded the letter to Wash-
ington. The Superintendent of Foreign Mails promptly had the
letter returned to the sender, and he informed the postmaster at San
Francisco, as he has told hundreds of others, that in conse-
quence of objections raised by the British and Hong Kong postal
departments, through whose hands this class of correspondence
would necessarily pass, it had been found necessary to intercept such
mail matter. Under the rules of the Postal Union such matter can
go around the world for one postage ; and these governments con-
cluded that the pay was not large enough for the work done to per-
mit idle experiments for the gratification of the curious.

Before this regulation was put in force, several around-the-world
letters were received at the Foreign Mails office which had made the

HOW A LETTER TRAVELS. 67

trip in eighty days. Once a Philadelphian was anxious to see how
long it would take a postal card to girdle the world and what would
be the route taken. An international postal card was purchased,
and mailed in that city, addressed to the sender at his residence in
Philadelphia, via New York, Liverpool, Paris, Marseilles, and
Naples, with the information on the back of it that the card had
been started around the world. After an absence of exactly four
months, the missive reached the sender. Every post office through
which the card passed had its postmark stamped upon it, and it bore
evidence that every post office official throughout its entire course
who handled the card took as much interest in the affair as the
sender did. After leaving Naples, the card started across Italy to
Brindisi, thence up the Archipelago to Venice, thence across to
Constantinople, Alexandria, Cairo, and Suez, through the Red Sea,
Gulf of Aden, and Arabian Sea to Bombay, thence to Calcutta,
from there down the Bay of Bengal, up through the China Sea to
Hong Kong, over to Honolulu, and thence across to the Pacific to
San Francisco, to Denver, and to Philadelphia. The entire dis-
tance travelled by the card was between 27,000 and 28,000 miles.
The Philadelphian had many imitators, and such a number of post
cards crept into the British mails that protest was made ; and so the
practice had to be stopped.

THE WONDERFUL RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE.

|HEEE are about 6,400 railway postal clerks in the
country all told. This number includes the men
who do the actual distributing in the cars, and also
men detailed at important points throughout the
country, as division clerks, etc. Of the total num-
ber there are 240 detailed to offices and 260 detailed
^^"Spi^^E? to transfer duty; and almost 5,900 are actually
employed in distributions on railway lines. The
fifty employed similarly on steamboat lines have regular quarters
and distribute mails just as on the railroad cars.

These last are peculiar in construction. A railroad company,
when it contracts to carry mails, contracts also for suitable room
with proper equipment such as letter cases, paper cases, storage
room, etc., for the proper treatment of the mails. When, however,
the Department requires an entire car the company is entitled to
additional compensation above the regular pay for transportation.
The Department pays for forty foot railway postal cars at the rate
of $25 per mile per annum ; that is, if the line over which the car
runs is 200 miles long, the company would be entitled to $5,000 a
year. A fifty foot car is paid for at the rate of $40 per mile
per annum, and a sixty foot car at the rate of $50 per mile per
annum .

These cars are built in accordance with plans and specifica-
tions furnished by the Post Office Department, and are equipped
thoroughly to fit the needs of the service upon the lines over which
they are to run. The full cars are built with reference to special
lines. Some of the requirements demanded on a line, say from
Washington to New York, are that the car shall be fitted up with
letter cases and with cases for paper distribution. Space for hun-
dreds of separations is required. On the New York and Chicago

THE WONDERFUL RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE. 69

and other fast mail lines, the number of separations of mail run into
the thousands. For all of these cars certain requirements for the
safety of the men are necessary. The postal cars must be well built
and extra strong.

The railroad company takes care of the cars ; sees that the lamps
are lighted and the fires attended to ; in fact, the company takes the
entire charge. They supply the cleaner. They put on a lamp man
at Syracuse, for instance, who takes care of the lamps on the Central
train at the necessary time. Conductors and train men are always
entitled to access to the postal car if engaged in the performance of
their duties.

The first duty of the railway postal clerk is, of course, to dis-
tribute the mail on the cars ; and these duties naturally vary accord-
ing to the line. If the clerk has a small run, on which lie has to
handle nothing but the mail for the offices on his own line, he has
that distribution to learn first; and first he has to learn where his
stations are ; how far they are apart; what mail goes off at each sta-
tion for each office, and whether it has to be sent into the country by
stage routes. He has to make himself familiar with the rules and
regulations. So far as the instructions are concerned his local dis-
tribution is in almost all cases covered during his probationary term
of six months. He is examined at intervals of thirty days during
these first six months. On the main lines in most of the divisions
the clerk is required by the end of his probationary term to dis-
tribute accurately 1,500 offices.

When the clerk is first appointed, he reports to the chief clerk of
a division superintendent; and he undergoes an examination in
reading addresses on about one hundred envelopes especially pre-
pared for that purpose. These addresses are not in any sense
obscure ; they are all fairly well written, much better written, in
fact, than the average of letters which the clerks must handle daily.
This examination gives the chief clerk or the superintendent an idea
of the new man's capacity. Ordinarily a good man will read the
addresses on one hundred envelopes in from seven to twelve minutes,
and he will probably make from five to ten errors ; that would be
considered an average record. If he takes the entire time allowed,
or if he makes more errors, he is below the average. If he reads the
addresses on one hundred envelopes within five or six minutes, he is

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

above the average. In a number of cases men have failed on the
reading test simply because they could not read; and a man who
cannot read, and read quickly and correctly, is of no use in the
Railway Mail Service.

The new clerk, having passed his first test, has a copy of the

book of instructions handed to
him. It is a small book com-
prising that part of the postal
laws and regulations which is
especially applicable to the Rail-
way Mail Service ; and he is also
supplied with what is called a
scheme of distribution. He usu-
ally has what is called " a local
scheme " of his line, then a
printed sheet showing the sta-
tions on his line and the offices
supplied from them; or he may
have a scheme of a state, as, for
instance, Ohio. This scheme
shows just how mail for the
state of Ohio is distributed, and
from what lines the offices are
supplied — and whether they are
stations on given lines or not.
Of course, a man working in
California would not have an Ohio scheme, but a clerk on a
trunk line in Ohio needs a California scheme and has to make
three separations of mail for that state.

Before the novitiate has entered the service at all, even for trial,
he has been examined by the Civil Service Commission (and for these
purposes examinations are held in various parts of the country), has
been certified to the central office of the Railway Mail Service in
Washington as one of the three men, examined for a given locality,
who have taken the highest stand in the examination, and has been
called for by the General Superintendent, through one of his clerks,
of course, to fill a vacancy or to take an entirely new place. The
classified Railway Mail Service, according to the rules of the Civil

CAPT. JAMES E. WHITE,
General Superintendent, Railway Mail Service.

THE WONDERFUL RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE. 71

Service Commission, embraces all superintendents, assistant superin-
tendents, chief clerks, railway postal clerks, transfer clerks, and other
employees of the Railway Mail Service. One general superintend-
ent, one assistant general superintendent, printers employed as such,
clerks employed exclusively as porters in handling mail matter in
bulk, in sacks, or pouches, and not otherwise, clerks employed exclu-
sively on steamboats, and transfer clerks at junction points where
not more than two such clerks are employed, are exempt from exami-
nation. All other places can be filled only by promotion, transfer,
reinstatement, or examination, as described in the civil service
rules. Superintendents of mails at classified post offices (offices at
which there are fifty or more employees) must be selected from
among the employees of the Railway Mail Service. These are the
absolute rules, and to try to get into the classified Railway Mail Ser-
vice without these examinations and these formalities, or to procure
or countenance such a thing, is to break a law.

It is worth while to explain the examinations a little. The fol-
lowing table gives the relative weights attached to the different sub-
jects upon which questions are asked in the railway mail clerks'
examination, and the time allowed for this examination is six con-
secutive hours :

RELATIVE
SUBJECTS. WEIGHTS.

First. Orthography 1

Second. Penmanship 1

Third. Copying 2

Fourth. Letter- writing 1

Fifth. Arithmetic 2

Sixth. Geography of the United States 4

Seventh. Railway and other systems of transportation in the United States 5

Eighth. Reading addresses 4

Total of weights 20

The following are samples of papers:

Fifth Subject. — Arithmetic.

Question 1. Add the following, placing the total at the bottom :

742,155.74

429.39

•6,873.68

397.49

1,956,374.20

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Question 2. Express in figures one thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine.

Question 3. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 1888, the postal clerks employed
on railroads travelled 122,031,104 miles, and those employed on steamboats 1,767,-
649 miles. How many more were travelled by railroad than by steamboat ?

Give work in full.

Question 4. If a railway mail clerk earn $800 in a year, how much will he
have left after paying his board at the rate of $16 a month ?

Give work in full.

Question 5. If a railway mail clerk spend ten cents a day for street-car fare,
how much will he spend in six months of 30 days each ?

Give work in full.

Sixth Subject. — Geography.

Question 1. Name two States crossed or in part bounded by each of the fol-
lowing named rivers, and give the capital of each of the States named

River.

State.

Capital.

State.

Capital.

Connecticut

Ohio . . .

Mississippi
Missouri.

Question 2. Name the State in which yOu live and the States or foreign coun-
tries or bodies of water which form the boundaries on two sides of that State.

Question 3. Name two important cities on each of the following named rivers
and lakes, and give the name of the State in which each of these cities is situated:
Hudson River, Ohio River, Mississippi River, Lake Erie, Lake Michigan.

Question 4. Name three cities on or near the Atlantic Ocean, one on or near
the Gulf of Mexico, and one on or near the Pacific Ocean.

Question 5. Name the State of the Union that extends farthest east and the
State that extends farthest west, and name the capital of each.

Seventh Subject. — Railway and other systems of transportation in the
United States.

Question 1. Name the three principal cities of your State and the principal
railway lines (three if there be that many) centering in each of them.

Question 2. Name the principal railways (not less than two) passing through or
terminating in your State, and give five of the principal connections (roads which
are crossed by them or terminate in the same city with them), made by either or
both of them.

Question 3. Name the roads which together form the most direct line from
your nearest railway station (give the name of that station) to the largest city in
any adjoining State. (Give the name of the city and of the adjoining State.)

Question 4. Name the road or roads connecting two of the most important
cities in your State and name ten of the largest cities (or important towns, if
there be not ten cities) situated on those roads.

Question 5. Name the two most important railway centres in each of the States
of your railway mail division (omitting your own State) and the road or roads or
steamboat lines connecting each of those centres with the capital of your State.

THE WONDERFUL RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE.

The eighth subject comprises reading addresses. Two samples
given in the last annual report of the Civil Service Commission are
worth observing; and a table, also given in this report, shows the
number examined for the Railway Mail Service, the number who
passed or failed (and their legal residence, average age, and educa-
tion) during the year ended June 30, 1891 :

Passed.

Failed.

60
cj
a
60
cj
■—
<±>
>
<

Education.

d
be

01
60

01
>
<

Education.

Legal residence.

"o
o

d
o
S

£
o
O

t3
03
U
<

o
o

ffl

"o
o

A
o

A
60

"o
O

o
g

o
O

a
s

"o
o

aj
A
60

"3
o
H

Alabama

30
51
16
28

2
15

9
42

2
168
194

162

9
20
93
73
87
32
187

3
78

6
20

194

9
262

132

4
23
12
67
94
11

7
66
29
16
59
14

23—
24

25—

24—

27—

24+

23+

26—

24—

23—

24+

24—

26—

25—

24+

26—

25—

24—

21+

26—

26+

24+

25—

24+

28+

25+

23—

24+

25—

22+

25+

27+

24—

23—

24+

25—

25+

23+

23-

24—

5
8
5
9

1
42
18

4
10

1
11
18
82

2
49
47

24+

25+

23+

22—

24+

25—

25+

26+

5
3

1
3
1
1

5
1
9

Arizona

Arkansas

"26

5
6
6
5

1
5
3
1

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

District of Columbia..
Florida

1
1
1

3
16

3
13

1
2
3

2
18

2
1

26
27

Georgia

124

Idaho

Illinois

15
23

61
61

23
41

3
1

2
6

6
2

217

Indiana

241

Indian Territory

Iowa

9
3
4

4
11

16
22
14

2
5
6
7
31

26—
27—

24+

24—

28—

24+

25—

28+

25—

26—

25—

27+

10
15
17

1
1

2
2
5

3
4

5
3
4
3
1

2
1
2
4

113

Kentucky

185
89

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

29
117

Michigan

Minnesota

1
2
8

4
5
8
9

9
3

108

Mississippi

252

Montana

Nebraska

101

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

"ib

62
9
3

3
4
1

75
7
3

2
13

1
53
46

2
63

7
44

1
50

5
58
81

28—

26—

22—

25—

27—

25+

23—

27+

24—

24+

1
10

29
12

2
33

5
24

1
17

5
25
32

7
12

5
3

7
6

New Mexico

New York

7
1

99
1
3

20
2
6
4

25
2
4

18
T5
2

28
7

8
9
1

36
1
4

"8
1
23
15
1
1
8
7
5
4
1

247

North Carolina

North Dakota

78
11

Ohio

6
3

3
3

325

Oregon

39
1
3
1
6

16
2
1

13
4
1
9
2

2
16

7
9
2

5
5

4
1

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

176
5

South Carolina

South Dakota

73
17

Tennessee

3
11

7
7

15
13

125

Texas

175

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

43
10

8
17

26+
25—
25+
25—
20

21
3
6

11
1

4
1

' 1

2
...

11
3

6
1
2

109

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

24
76

Wyoming

Total

2,581

24+

836

409

237

727

372

1,117

25—

564

114

209

145

3,698

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

The removals during probation for the period mentioned above
were 23, and the number dropped at the end of the probationary
six months was 6b. The number of substitutes appointed during
the fiscal year above mentioned was 965, the number removed 24,
the number who resigned 10, the number who declined tendered
appointments 126, the number who died 5, and the number appointed
on the regular roll 773. The following table discloses by states
and territories the large number of those examined who failed to
pass :

STATE.

Alabama

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

District of Columbia

Florida

Georgia

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana ,

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky .

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington .

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

Total

Number

of
examina-
tions.

6
1
5

10
4
3
1

89
2
9
1
9
9
5
5
7
6
3
2
8
9
7
5

12
2
8
1
2
1
1

26
5
2

14
1
2

18
2
6
2

11
9
2
3
5
2
3
5
1

352

Passed.

57
14
28

1
84

9
40

3
156
161
68
88
44
29

3
89
64
87
25
270

3
105

7
12

211

7
276

122

8
22
12
77
91
14

7
49
31
14
59
12

2,588

Failed.

9
48

2
43

4
73
80

1,118

Total.

124

1*2

201

210

100

114

115

352

139

272

344

170

150

171

, 70

3,706

THE WONDERFUL RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE. 75

The General Superintendent of the Railway Mail Service gives the
Civil Service Commission a "call" for a certification of eligibles
from the locality through which the line runs. The candidate is
supposed to be able more readily to become familiar with the region
nearest his home. If the man selected happens to live at some point
upon the line in question, the General Superintendent's office simply
makes up his appointment and sends it to the division superintendent
concerned, and the man is notified to report at a certain place. If,
however, he lives some distance off the line where he is needed, a
letter is sent notifying him that he has been selected for appoint-
ment to a certain line, that his salary will be $800 a year, and that
he is expected to take up his residence upon the line of the road
upon which he is to run — and asking him if he will accept the place.
A candidate may decline an appointment without losing his chance
of appointment. He may wait for a run nearer home ; and the prac-
tice of the bureau is to return to the first man, even though he has
refused, for the next vacancy. So it is, too, if the first man refuses
twice. A substitute holds no regular appointment, and he has no
pay except for the days actually run, which, however, yield him on
the average $2.30 a day. He may be called upon to work regularly
for six months, or he may not be called upon for thirty days.

A clerk is required to learn the scheme of the state in which he
runs, and in most cases the entire distribution of that state; and
when he has learned this thoroughly he knows in what way all the
mail for any office within the state reaches its destination. The
schemes themselves do not contain all the offices in a state. They
give a certain county, say Delaware County, Ohio, on the line run-
ning through that county that takes the most offices in it. Then
the other offices that are not on that line are entered on the scheme,
Avith county headings in the form of exceptions, exceptions to the
county supply ; then there are possibly three or four offices that are
supplied from the line from Delaware County to Columbus, and
three or four situated on the line from Columbus to Springfield.
When a man " takes the cards " for a scheme, that is, when he goes
up for examination on the post routes and offices in the region to
which he has been applying himself, there are no cards to be thrown
for offices, the names of which are not on the scheme. The cards
used in the examinations are of the size of a lady's calling card.

b 6 <>

p eg

J5 o

A*>

s'i

i4H

3 eg

I s

£co

c?|

P*^

*7? C3

.r4

£8

*fc

1 &

l£

1 w

05^

*ti

eg •
0>

1- -5

i M

"d.

£ a

? Oh

£-2

« Q

1 ^

«S

*S«

W -M

•^ Ci

•^ CO

H
P

W d

cjG

"3 9<

.Q 3

aco
s .

o> eg

S d

P-iPn

Cl+S

£3

«i

eg CO

d-*

>i ^

,sg>

.2 "3

«a

££

s 5
PQ.S

THE WONDERFUL RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE. 77

They are made small to save room. On each card is written the
name of an office, and the novitiate has to throw the cards as cor-
rectly as possible into a case with two hundred or more pigeon holes
in it.

Then there are schemes called "standpoint schemes." They are
used where a small and rough distribution is made of a state. One
would call the separation of the California mail that is made on the
New York and Chicago line a separation on the standpoint scheme.
All that the clerks have to know is what mail goes into the southern
part of the state and what into the northern. The number of all
the schemes in this country would be the number of all the lines,
plus the number of states, plus the number of standpoint schemes.
About eighteen out of every hundred of these probationary men fail
on schemes. That is the only examination given when a man first re-
ports for duty; but he is notified that he will be called for examination
on his line in thirty days. Then if the line to which he is assigned
is a one man line, that is, if there is only one man in the car, he is
told that he will be required to begin work on a certain day; to go
out and distribute the mail on a certain day. Of course, he is not
prepared to do that; so he takes somebody with him as instructor.
He is required to pay that tutor, and the length of time the instruc-
tor remains with him depends, of course, upon himself.

In a good many cases a man whose place is taken will stay behind
and teach the novitiate, and in all the divisions there are men who
stand ready to do that kind of work. Often they are substitutes
certified by the Civil Service Commission; in other cases they are
men who have not lost their interest in the service, but who like to
go out for a trip and renew old associations. On a heavy line like
that from New York to Pittsburg there are always roustabouts, as
they are called, who are beginners ; and there is always enough work
of an inferior sort to keep them busy till they have learned their
distributions. So that the men assigned to the heavy lines are almost
always relieved of the necessity of employing instructors.

After the new clerk has been on duty a month (and at stated
times after that) he is obliged to submit to a case examination.
Cards bearing the written address of each post office in a state are
furnished to the clerk, and he is required to distribute them from
memory, in a case provided for that purpose, according to the

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

general scheme of distribution, post offices to routes, post offices to
counties; or he tries the standpoint distribution, if the division
superintendent deems best. He is then questioned as to his knowl-
edge of connections and of his printed book of instructions. He
is required to make subdivisions of routes as between junctions, and
cards of junctions must be distributed to the routes supplying them.
The time consumed in distributing cards is noted and forms a part
of the record, and a statement of the result of the examination is
given to the clerk, and information as to what the subject of his
next examination will be is noted upon the reverse side of it, unless
there are special reasons why not, in which case this is also noted.
If the clerk has taken the required standing, he will be assigned to a

THE FULL RAILWAY POST OFFICE, GOV. MCKINLEY.

new distribution and a new scheme. The probationary clerk is
usually examined four or five times during his six months trial,
and if at the end of that time he has attained the percentage
required, his record is made up at division headquarters and for-
warded to the General Superintendent's office in Washington, with
a recommendation that he be permanently appointed. If he has
fallen short, the recommendation is that he be dropped.

In the year 1890 the averages of probationers varied from 65.15
in the second division up to 97.04 in the first; and the percentages
of permanent clerks varied from 81.65 in the third division to 99.04
in the first. The average per cent, for probationers for the
whole service rose from 80.35 in 1889 to 84 in 1890, and the per-
centage for permanent clerks for the whole service was 91.57 in
1889 and 94.11 in 1890. The average per centum of correct dis-

THE WONDERFUL RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE. 79

tributions for the clerks of both classes in the whole service rose
from 86.60 in 1889 to 90.24 in 1890, and to 92.39 in 1891. The
General Superintendent in his report attributed this improvement in
no small degree to the award in each division of a gold medal offered
by the Postmaster General.

The clerks are arranged in classes according to the difficulty of
the work required of them and the time necessary to perform it.
The salaries are: first class, $600 to $800 per year; second, $800 to
$900; third, $1,000 to $1,150 ; fourth, $1,150 to $1,350 ; fifth, $1,350
to $1,400. These men surely earn their money. Repeatedly Con-
gress has refused to reclassify the railway postal clerks and make
more equitable their stipend, and that, too, in face of the fact that
there has practically been no reorganization of the service for twenty
years. But any agitation is without avail.

There are numerous prohibitions which the railway postal clerks
must carefully observe. They are strictly prohibited from carrying
freight in postal cars or trafficking in merchandise in any way. Nor
are they suffered to go unpunished for imparting information con-
cerning letters or other mail matter passing through their hands.
The use of intoxicating liquors by clerks on duty or while in
uniform is absolutely prohibited, and the frequent and excessive use
of liquors when off duty renders them liable to dismissal from the
service. They are expected to pay all just and honest debts, and
persistent and wilful failure to do so is deemed evidence of untrust-
worthiness sufficient for removal. Clerks are required to use the
utmost vigilance in guarding the mails under their charge. They
must not leave their cars during the run, except for meals or for
some urgent necessity of the service ; and then they must see that
the car doors are locked, unless another clerk is left in charge. As
the Government is very economical in some things, clerks are cau-
tioned to preserve all waste paper and twine.

The integrity of the mail locks is carefully guarded. Clerks on
duty must always wear the mail key attached to them by a safety
chain. If stray mail keys are found, they must be immediately for-
warded to division headquarters ; and the division superintendent
as promptly forwards them to the Department. When a clerk sur-
renders his key, he is always careful to take a receipt for it. Clerks
are forbidden to have mail keys or locks repaired, nor must they pry

80 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

into the mechanism of locks. They are especially cautioned never
to expose the key to public observation, or place it where it may be
lost or stolen. It must not be suffered to pass even for a moment
into the hands of any person not a sworn officer of the Post Office
Department. The loss of a mail key, as it may afford easy facilities
a c ^^ for stealing from the mails, is an

(/cx^jto^A^ps* , r£^c6t^ T& • . ac t of carelessness likely to be

Jto^i^^e^r-ZQ^ZZ, %BZ more pernicious to the service

* than almost any other which a

/^£^J^A clerk may do> It ig t i iere f ore

c -^"5£ considered sufficient cause for re-

JYLu %^> 3 flj^U**^. moval. When a vacancy is about

si A - /I Jk/fctLtju ^° occur a cl er k must not let any-

/<i JHijfh wc Uu~ ' ^ hody know of it, nor must he take

UbpAJb^yf rLL 'i any part in procuring appoint-

J^gg ments. The removal of news-
papers or periodicals from their

ADDRESSES FOR CANDIDATES TO READ. r r r

wrappers for the purpose of read-
ing them is not allowable. Clerks are forbidden to request pro-
prietors of newspapers to send copies of their papers to them free.
Besides the clerks the only persons who have a right to enter the
postal cars are post office inspectors and persons who may be author-
ized by the General Superintendent or by division superintendents.
A permit to ride in a postal car is not a free pass ; and the clerk in
charge must notify the train conductor if there is anybody in his car
from whom a fare may be collected.

Besides the prohibitions, there are a good many ordinary things
which the railway postal clerk must learn to do almost mechanically.
He must know without a second's hesitation that all mail for states
of which no distribution is made is assorted "by states," and "fa-
cing slips" used; that is, letter and circular mail for each state is
made up in packages when there are ten or more letters for a certain
state, and newspaper mail in canvas sacks, and the name of the
state marked on the slips covering the package and also on the slip
in the label holder of the sack. Mail for delivery and mail for dis-
tribution at a post office are made up in separate packages, except
where otherwise ordered by the division superintendent. When a
direct package is made, all the letters for one post office are placed

THE WONDERFUL RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE, 81

together, faced one way, with a plainly addressed letter on the out-
side, and a facing slip covering the back of the package. The slip
is postmarked like all the letters, and is indorsed with the name of
the clerk making the package and with the direction in which the
mail is moving.

When it is necessary to include circular matter in a direct pack-
age, a letter is put on the outside. Letters are never placed in a
pouch loose. They are always "faced up," slipped, and tied in
packages. All official matter emanating from any of the depart-
ments of the Government is treated as first-class matter. Signal ser-
vice weather reports are dealt with in the same way. Receipts for
registered letters are found tied on top of the bundles of letters, but
the registered letters themselves are tied separately. An entry is
made in a record book every time the letter passes into new hands,
so that it may be traced without a moment's delay.

Registered packages are not tied up with the other mail. They
are put in loose, so as to be quickly discerned by the person opening
the sack. The registry book must show the number, postmark, date,
and address of every registered letter or package, as well as of the
lock and rotary numbers and labels of every registered pouch and
inner sack passing through the hands of the clerks. In all cases
they are required to obtain a receipt for registered matter from
the persons to whom it is delivered. Special delivery letters have
such attention as will insure their prompt transmission. The post
office clerks at their destinations find them placed on the top of each
package.

So the life of the postal clerk is anything but easy. It is a life
of constant physical and mental hardship. The motion of the cars
frequently gives him a sensation hardly distinguishable from that
caused by the rolling of a ship on the ocean. "Seasickness" is a
common incident of the work. Some clerks, like some sailors, have
a feeling of nausea with every trip, and others suffer little after the
first few days. At the end of each trip the clerk has a time for
sleep, sometimes long and sometimes short. In the large post
offices, or near the principal railroad stations, dormitories are
fitted up ; and in the New York post office there are scores of white-
covered iron bedsteads, ranged in rows in the rooms on the fifth
rloor. Visitors passing the open doors mistake these rooms for hos-

82 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

pital wards, but in both the day and the night hours they are occu-
pied by a particularly healthy and drowsy set of mortals.

Captain White says that experience has demonstrated that a man
endowed with a phenomenal memory cannot become a desirable
postal clerk unless this faculty is supplemented by that vigor,
vitality, and resolution necessary to continuous and protracted
hours of labor, — for the reason that physical strength is required to
handle the tons of mail matter which is received daily by the prin-
cipal railway post offices, and which, after being so treated, must be
distributed piece by piece, and then be handled again in bulk ; and
for the further reason that the greater portion of this work must be
performed while the trains are moving at a high rate of speed around
curves, over crossings, and past trains moving with the same
velocity in the opposite direction. The muscular exertion neces-
sary to maintain one's position at the racks so as to distribute mails
with rapidity and accuracy into the pigeon holes and sacks with the
fewest false motions possible cannot be appreciated by strangers to
the work, nor can any who have not gone through railway accidents,
or stood for hours over the trucks of a fast moving car, or been
required to memorize the distributions and connections of a large
number of states gridironed with railroad and star routes, realize
the mental strain which the clerk suffers at all times, and the
nervous shocks to which he is so often subjected during his tours of
duty.

One of the forms of application for civil service examinations
always contains ten questions which are to be answered by the physi-
cian who certifies as to the physical condition of the applicant; but
these questions are not full enough to determine the candidate's
physical adaptability for the service. The physician is not required
to make his statement under oath, and there are abundant reasons to
believe that friendship, personal obligations, family ties, or the
desire to accommodate acquaintances, sometimes impel him to be
too merciful; if this were not true, it would be impossible for the
deformed and ruptured or those afflicted with pulmonary diseases
even to secure appointments. Captain White has recommended
that at every place where civil service examinations are held one or
more physicians of acknowledged ability and trustworthiness be
designated to make the physical examinations required, and that

THE WONDERFUL RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE. 83

they shall receive from the applicants whom they examine, a reason-
able fee for their services. It is recommended further that the
physical examinations be made upon the following lines :

1. Minimum height, 5 feet 4 inches.

2. Minimum weight, 128 pounds.

3. Condition of sight?

4. Is his hearing defective?

5. Has he any defects of speech?

6. Has he any defects of limb?

7. Is he ruptured?

8. Has he any defects in the functions of the brain?

9. Has he any defects in the functions of the nervous system?

10. Has lie any defects in the functions of the muscular system?

11. State the measurement of the chest upon full expiration and inspiration.

12. Is the respiration full, free, and unobstructed in both lungs?

13. State the frequency of the heart's action; are its movements regular, or are
there indications of organic, muscular, or nervous derangements?

14. Any indications of derangement of abdominal viscera?

15. Any indication that the applicant is addicted to the excessive use of intoxi-
cants?

16. Do you believe him capable of prolonged and severe mental and physical
exertion, and equal to the demands of a very exhausting occupation?

17. Do you believe him to be free from any form of disease or disability which
unfits him at present or is likely to unfit him in the future for the performance of
the class of work described in question No. 16 ?

It maybe mentioned, perhaps, that the Civil Service Commission,
in examining candidates for the railway mail, makes no distinction
of sex. A woman may be examined just as thoroughly as a man,
and a woman has been. One was recently certified for work as a
stenographer at the Pittsburgh office. She would have been ap-
pointed but for the fact that her classification would necessarily
have been as a postal clerk, and as a postal clerk she might have
been obliged to do actual clerking on the cars. This was a practical
objection which precluded her appointment.

There is no doubt that the Railway Mail Service needs re-classifi-
cation. The organization of the present day is precisely that of
1882, yet since that time there has been an increase in railway
mileage of 60 per cent., an increase in annual postal clerk mileage
of '86 per cent., an increase in clerks of 69 per cent., and an increase
in pieces of mail handled of 148 per cent. The service has been for
five years under a terrible strain. The danger lies not in the
present, for the devotion and skill of the clerks, and the skill and

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

devotion of the chiefs as well, have kept the improvement constant.
But the growth of the volume of mail is inconceivably great, and
without a reorganization it will be next to impossible, as postal
experts freely predict, to prevent this matchless, indispensable ser-
vice from retrograding.

It has been held to be a good thing, too, to provide uniforms for
the men. It would be the insignia of an important branch of gov-
ernmental service, and
there would be a con-
sequent reluctance to
become unworthy of it.
The only way in which
a railway mail clerk is
designated at present
is by an obscure badge
worn upon the cap.
The ocean postal clerks,
few though they are,
suffer the most in this
respect, for they are
daily brought in comparison with the dignified uniforms of the
Germans. The comparison is odious.

With all his trials, the travels of the railway postal clerk are
often made pleasant. He is observing and clever; consequently he
knows a funny or a touching thing when he sees it. The clerks on
one of the New England lines were edified sometime ago to see a
small white kitten jump out of a mail bag. The terrier " Owney "
travels from one end of the country to the other in the postal cars,
tagged through, petted, talked to, looked out for, as a brother,
almost. But sometimes, no matter what the attention, he suddenly
departs for the south, the east, or the west, and is not seen again for
months. He will defend a mail sack against all comers, — except
the regular clerks. There is hardly a part of the United States or
Canada which he has not visited. He will ride in nothing but a
postal car. About a year ago he suddenly disappeared for several
months. The postal clerks regretfully observed that he was probably
dead; but one day he turned up on the Boston and Albany line with
an ear gone. He had been caught in a railroad accident in Canada.

OWNEY, THE RAILWAY MAIL DOG.

THE WONDERFUL RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE. 85

At North Germantown, N. Y., they have a dog, "Nero" (the gen-
tlest of collies, however). There are six "catch " mails at this point,
and six times a day " Nero " goes down to the track, looks gravely
in the direction of the train, jumps up and down excitedly as soon
as it appears, and when the pouch is thrown out catches it. Noth-
ing can induce him, however, to perform this valuable service on
a Sunday.

And so it goes, the sweet mixed in with the bitter. Many a pos-
tal clerk stands in the doorway of his car as the train pulls out, and
waves his hand to a group of fond ones who signal him Godspeed ;
and he cheerfully admits to his fellow, with a drop of moisture in
his eye, that they always see him off that way, and that he shouldn't
feel altogether right if they didn't. Perhaps a money package is
missing. The clerk who receives it does not know where it is, and
is not responsible in any way for its disappearance, but there is no
satisfactory explanation, and the man must go. And with the rush
and hurly-burly of railroad travel, of labor that seems never to
release its weight, it is not strange that now and then a man becomes
confused.

"I was allowed to make a trip alone," an Eastern clerk once
wrote. "It seemed as if the moment the train started my senses
left me. I was wild. Just before the train pulled out a man
came up to the door and threw about fifty letters over the floor. I
had to get down on my hands and knees and pick up those letters.
I got my hands full of splinters. After cancelling these, with about
three hundred more letters, and distributing them, I opened the
pouches. Then the trouble began. I put off the mail for the first
station at a water-tank five miles before reaching the station. I
kept putting off mail just one station ahead, and when I reached
the last station I had no mail to put off. I heard from that
trip. Every postmaster on the line reported me to the superin-
tendent."

It is this which causes the probationers to relent and go back to
their former duties. A Muncie man was assigned, not long ago, to
the Chicago & Cincinnati R. P. O. He never finished his first trip.
He went half way, and bought a ticket home as a plain passenger.
He was much annoyed by the questions of his friends, and had the
following card printed to show to people :

8ti

THE WONDERFUL RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE. 87

Question. What are you doing here?

Answer. Have quit the mail service.

Question. Didn't you like it?

Answer. No.

Question. Was the work hard?

Answer. Yes.

Question. What was it?

Answer. Lifting and unlocking two hundred pound pouches, shaking out con-
tents, arranging same, removing pouches, locking same, carrying same away,
jumping on and stamping on mail matter, rearranging sacks, then going over
same work, continuing same seventeen hours, without rest, with trains flying round
curves and slinging you against everything that is not slung against you.

But the actual dangers to be met, the bravery required to be
shown, these are the test and honor of the railway postal clerk.
Over and over again, as Mr. James has written, and notwithstanding
severe injuries received by the clerks, the scattered mail matter has
been collected and transferred to another train or to the nearest
post office. Several times trains in the West were held up by rob-
bers, who, after sacking the express car, visited the postal car,
introducing themselves with pistol shots. One clerk was seriously
wounded in the shoulder. An instance of self-possession reported
in Arkansas, was where the robbers, before visiting the postal car,
had secured $10,000 from the express safe. When they came to
Clerk R. P. Johnson he suggested that they had secured booty
enough, and that under the circumstances they had better let the
mail matter alone. The masked men liked him and agreed with
him. On the Wabash road once a train south bound from Omaha
was thrown wholly down an embankment. J. C. Cuff was one of
the four injured postal clerks. His hands were terribly burned
by seizing a lamp and holding it to keep it from upsetting
and firing the mail matter. These valorous examples are not
unusual.

The Postmaster General has reported that the total number of rail-
way post office car wrecks in the year 1891 was 319. In these
thirteen clerks were killed, sixty-eight severely injured, and eighty-
four slightly injured. The percentage of killed and wounded in the
railway postal service is greater than the American army suffered in
the war with Mexico. The following table gives the figures for the
last six years (and seven railway postal clerks were killed in last
September alone)':

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Number of

Number seri-

Number slightly

clerks.

casualties.

clerks killed.

ously injured.

injured.

1887

4851

244

1888

5094

248

1889

5448

193

1890

5836

261

1891

6032

319

1892

6440

345

112

The Department does all it can to provide for strengthened and
well-equipped cars. There are -saws, axes, hammers, and crow-bars,
as usual, and safety bars extend overhead the whole length so that
the clerks may swing from them if trains leave the track. But the
position of the postal car, commonly next the tender, is unusually
dangerous, and there is no way of preventing the carnage. Legis-

THE WRECK OF TWO POSTAL CARS

On the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern R. R., at Tipton, Ohio, April 18, 1891, in which

six postal clerks lost their lives.

lation has been repeatedly asked of Congress, but there is strong
aversion to a civil pension list in this country, and no legislation
has resulted. It has been repeatedly recommended that the Post-
master General be authorized to use the fund arising from deductions
because of the failure of clerks in the Railway Mail Service to per-
form duty, and for other causes, in paying to the widow and minor
children of each permanent railway postal clerk killed while on duty
the sum of $1,000, and that in the event that there is not a sufficient
amount arising from deductions, the Postmaster General shall be
authorized to make up the deficiency from the regular appropriation

THE WONDERFUL RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE. 89

for the payment of railway postal clerks. But this has always
failed. Captain White is of opinion that the best interests of the
service, the clerks, and the public can be secured by a law to be
known as the Railway Mail Service Superannuation Act, to provide
for the retirement of all permanent clerks on one third or half pay
who have become incapacitated for further service by reason of age,
injuries received while in the discharge of their official duties, or
other infirmities not attributable to vicious habits ; the fund out of
which the clerks so retired shall be paid to be created by withhold-
ing a sum equal to one half of one per cent, per annum of the salary
paid every permanent clerk employed in the service, and one per
cent, of the annuity paid those placed upon the superannuated list.
This deduction would be slight for each individual, but would in
the aggregate amount to about $31,000 per annum, and as but little
of it would be drawn from the fund thus created during the first few
years succeeding the passage of the act, it would reach by accumu-
lation sufficient proportions to make the act effective as fast as retire-
ments became necessary. That the deduction would not work even
temporary hardship to those coming under its operations is shown by
the fact that it would amount to but fifty cents on each $100 paid
the clerks in active service and $1 on each $100 paid those placed
upon the superannuated list.

The term "nixies" embraces all mail matter not addressed to a
post office, or addressed without the name of the state being given,
or otherwise so incorrectly, illegibly, or insufficiently addressed, that
it cannot be transmitted. Matter of this kind is always withdrawn
and sent to the division superintendent. The following are the
only exceptions to this rule : mail addressed to military and naval
posts and stations of the signal and life-saving services which are
not post offices is sent to the proper post office, if known. Mail
addressed to discontinued post offices, or to offices whose names have
been changed, or to watering places and summer resorts which are
not post offices, is sent to the nearest post office known. Mail
addressed by the Department to new post offices, marked on the
envelope "new office," is sent to its destination in the best manner
practicable. When clerks know that matter addressed to a post
office where the name of the state is not given is intended for the
principal city of that name (being, for instance, addressed to a

90 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

well-known citizen, firm, newspaper, corporation, or institution of
that principal city, or to a street and number which can be found in
it), it is sent to that city. Mail is not treated as nixies on account
of incorrect spelling when the destination is undoubted. All nixies
sent to the division superintendent are postmarked on the back, and
are accompanied by a slip bearing the full name of the clerk sending
the same, the postmark of his line, with date, and the word " nixies "
in the upper left-hand corner.

Take the experience of any large post office with nixies. Take
Buffalo. The five thousand recognized nixies do not include the city

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE WRECK AT TIPTON.

nixies which every large post office has. Each day Postmaster Gentsch
draws off a list of Buffalo nixies, letters misdirected, or addressed
to names not in the directory or in such a way as to afford no clue
as to their destination. The carriers inspect this list and pick out
any names which they happen to know about, and so some of the
nixies are disposed of. And the errors in addresses are not confined
to hurried business men and illiterate people. One suspected to be
from such a dear lady as Mrs. Grover Cleveland herself was observed
to be addressed: "Mrs. Henry E. Perrine, 107 Delaware Avenue,
New York City." At New York it was classed among the nixies
and the word Brooklyn was written on it in red ink. At Brooklyn
it fell into the same classification, and finally reached Buffalo, as

THE WONDERFUL RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE. 91

the writer intended it should, of course. There are some twenty
different Buffalos among the post offices of the country, and some
thirty more post offices whose name is compounded from Buffalo,
like "Buffalo City," "Buffalo Mills," etc. The names of dozens
of other cities are as abundantly duplicated. Hence much of the
trouble.

And there seems to be no end of pains taken by the Department
people, and by the railway mail people also, to trace and forward
missent mail. A Nebraska paper complained vociferously in a
double-leaded, smutty-looking "editorial," that one of its numbers
dated February 12, 1892, did not reach its destination until May 9,
1892. The complaint was referred by General Superintendent
White to Division Superintendent Troy, at Chicago. Mr. Troy
referred it to the chief clerk at Omaha, who in turn referred it to
the postmaster at the town where the paper is published. The post-
master reported to the chief clerk just mentioned that the complain-
ing editor sent out, on the 7th of May, a " boom " edition ; that to
make as large a showing as possible he gathered up all the old copies
of his paper to be found ; that he happened to send out one dated
February 12 (this on the 7th of May); and that there was no delay
whatever in the transmission of the paper. Then the postmaster at
the point to which the paper was addressed furnished information
that there was no delay in the delivery. The chief clerk at Omaha
sent these facts forward to the division superintendent at Chicago,
who in turn sent them to the General Superintendent at Washington.
So it is with letters and papers in thousands of cases every year.

An important recent development of the Railway Mail Service is
the more extensive and specific distribution on trains of matter for
city delivery. As Mr. W. B. Stevens has written:

If the postal clerk can carry in his mind the schedules for 12,000 or 15,000
post offices in a region of country, why cannot a local distributor fit himself to
throw the mail for routes in two or more cities ? This proposition can be made
plainer by a practical illustration. On the Wabash there are St. Louis, Lafayette,
Fort Wayne, and Toledo with carrier service. Why cannot a distributor be sent
over this route with the mail to divide it up for the different carrier routes in each
city ? When the mail for Lafayette reaches that city it will be ready for the
carriers to start out on their routes ; so at Fort Wayne and so at Toledo. On the
return trip the distributor will assort the Fort Wayne matter for Fort Wayne
carriers, the Lafayette mail for the Lafayette carriers, and then the St. Louis
mail for the St. Louis carriers. Such work as this will necessitate a knowledge

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

on the part of the distributor of the mail routes of each of the four cities ; that is
a good deal for one man to carry in his head. But it is no more than some of the
postal clerks carry.

A travelling man finished up his work at Kansas City one afternoon, wrote out
his orders, and mailed them shortly before train time. He reached St. Louis for
breakfast and started down town. On the way he dropped into a restaurant and
got a cup of coffee. Continuing he went into the store and reported, saying:

" I mailed a lot of orders at Kansas City last night; they will reach you in a little
while."

"They are here already," said the manager, pointing to a clerk who was even
then going over the orders. The travelling man walked up to the post office to
find out how the mail could beat him. He learned what many do not know, that
local distributors travel on the route between St. Louis and Kansas City.

YET ANOTHER VIEW OF THE WRECK AT TIPTON.

The weights of mail upon which the railroads are paid for trans-
porting it are taken once in four years, except in urgent cases;
and this weighing fixes the compensation for that period. In order
to distribute the work, the United States is divided into four sec-
tions, as with the contract division. Mr. Richard C. Jackson, the
versatile division superintendent of the railway mail at New York,
has written, more entertainingly than any layman may, about these
railroad weighings. He says: —

"After the receipt from the Department of an order, weigh, and the issuance
of the preliminary notices to all concerned, the first step is to ascertain exactly on
what trains mails are carried and between what points. This is simple enough
for unimportant roads, and would be even for trunk lines, if the mails carried
were only from and for stations, but mail bags often come by branch roads in

THE WONDERFUL RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE. 93

charge of train baggagemen, which reach a main line at points where they do
not pass under the observation of a postmaster, or of any employee of the Post
Office Department. These dispatches are usually well known to the superin-
tendent by his records; but as it is possible that a postmaster somewhere might
happen to start a dispatch without orders from the superintendent, it is cus-
tomary to institute extensive inquiries to make sure that none is overlooked.
When completed, a chart is prepared of the results, which serves as the basis of
all subsequent action. If the line is a small one, the weights are taken solely by
the postmasters, and no one is put on the train as specially employed. This
sometimes puzzles railway officials, who, as they see no evidence of a weighing
on the trains, or at stations, write to complain that the weights, or some of them,
are not being taken, for it is at times done far away and on other lines.

"On important roads, weighers are provided on some trains, and these weighers
must then be selected and their schedules of trips arranged which are often ex-
tensive and complicated. In the meantime scales are provided by the company
and blank weighing cards printed, one sort for the men on the trains, another
kind for postmasters, and still another for transfer clerks. Besides these, there
are many details not necessary to enumerate.

"When the work begins, the reports are checked off as soon as received, to
make sure that none is wanting or is imperfect. This is in order that a defect
may be known and investigated while the matter is freshly in mind. Sometimes
reports are called for from more than a single source, so that one will serve as a
check upon the other. When all is found to be going on smoothly these duplicate
reports can be dropped. The most troublesome difficulties are on long lines,
where there are loups, or where trains diverge, and then come together again,
and it is impracticable to take the mails out of the cars to weigh them and put
them aboard again, or to weigh them in the cars in such cases, on account of the
quantity. Frequently, too, it is necessary to weigh beyond the terminals of a
route, to avoid ' balancing back ' as it is called.

" When the tabulation is completed, and the final results are prepared, showing
the weights put on and taken off at each station, a statement of the same is for-
warded to the Department, and a copy furnished to the railway company. At
Washington, the Adjustment Division figures the weights from station to station,
and the average thus obtained is paid for at the legal rates already explained.
This, it will be noticed, produces quite a different result from the average weight
when starting from the principal terminal which is what an ordinary observer is
apt to notice. The weighing for small lines continue nominally thirty days, and
for trunk lines sixty days, but these periods are extended to enough days to give
the companies the benefit of Sunday, although the weights are averaged on the
thirty and sixty days."

Extra and unusual things are continually occurring in the Railway

Mail Service. They tax the ingenuity of the superintendent and his

assistants, tax the tired hands and brains of the clerks. There was

the census mail in 1890. Tons and tons of matter going out or

coming in crammed the postal cars as well as the large post offices

and made in reality a freight transportation business of the post.

The summer resort service, always put on for the watering places,

94 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

is notable every spring and summer, especially in New England,
whither most of the exodus is. The past summer service was estab-
lished by boat between Machiasport and Rockland, and it was the
first distribution of mail ever authorized on a steamboat in New Eng-
land. The mails went straight in consequence, and not by hook or
crook inland, as best they might. Boston mails for the White
Mountains left an hour earlier in the morning, and the northern
cities as well as the mountain resorts were benefited. Old Ply-
mouth had new service, and the postal car penetrated to Rangeley.
The New York papers reached Brattleboro three hours earlier than
ever before. The new Bar Harbor express took all the Boston

and western mail

•GENEEALOEDEENO. 208— FIFTH PAQF along tWO hOLirS

s« ° earlier than for-

43. Mount Pleasant House. N. H.— Will receive and send mail as .follows : Newport & SpriDgfield, Night, due at 9.25

a. m. Reiuro with mail »t 10.25 p. m. Lancaster & Boston, due at 4.43 and 5.50 p. m. • Return at 7.45 a. tv^otIxt A v» r\ •fl'i Q

m..— one with mail, the other empty. Lancaster & Montpelier, due at 1 1.50 a. m: Return with . mail at 12.55 IllClly. XTlIILI LilfcJ

p. m. .BostoD. Springfield & New York and Woodsville & Boston, due at 8.35 p. m. Return 'the Woodsville "

& Boston empty at 10.25 p. m. aod the Boston, Springfield & NewYork einptv at 7.45 a. ro.'.-properlv labeled. "1 i P ~\ "I i 1 •

Portland & Swanton. West, due at 12.48 p. m. Return with mail at 4.52 ' p. in. Portland & Swanton, Kae-t, DeaUtV 01 all tUlS

due at 4.52 p ro. Return with mail at 12.48 p. ra. Mondays, St. Albans .& Boston, Night, dne at 9.25 a.m. J

Return with mail Sundays at 10.25 p. ro., labeled •• St. Albans & Bostoni South ofConcord." . -. , . -

44. Proflle House, N. H.— Will receive and Send mail as follows: Newport & Springfiold. Night, due at 8 42 a. m. IS tliat "JUSt SO

Return with mail at 7.20 p. in. Lancaster & Moutpelier. due at 1 1.50 a. m Return with mail at 12.50 p. id. «*

Lancaster & Boston, due at 4.35 and 6 p. in. Return at 7 35 a.,m..— one with mail, the other empty Boston, • "I

Springfield & New York and Woodsville & Boston, due at 8.30 p. m.. " Return empty at 7.35 a. m., labeled to HlclIlV IQOre mai IS

the R. P. O. received from. Portland & Swanton. Weet. due at 2.05 p. rn. Return with mail at 3.25 p. m. J

Portland & Swanton, East, and Portland & Swanton, Short Run, due at 6 p. oi. ' Return one with mail at 10 '' 11"

o. m., the other empty. Mondays, .St. Albans & Boston, Night, due at 8.42 a. th. Return empty at 7 "* £LTP WOrKPCl 111

25. Twin Mountain, N. H.-Will receive and Bend mail as follows: Newport & Springfield. Night, due

Return witb (nail at 10.42 p m. Lancaster & Montpelier, due at 1 1.30 a. m Return wit> i * J_ 1 "I*

Lancaster* Boston, due at 4.14 and 5.31 p. m. Return at 8.02 a. m.,— one with ro» - " XranSlL ailQ CLlS -

ton. Springfield & New York and Woodsville & BostoD, due at 8.06 p.m. Retur- ia.uii*wi« **, ~» ^

at 10.42 p. m.. and the BoBloh. Springfield & New York empty at 8.02 a -,-. -. -. ...

con'cord."' al8 ' 27a ' m ' lteu, ° wiih ™ u sund ^ 8 at io " p- ,n - ' ' patched to all points in

i6. General— "I i! 1

MAIL addressed to Maplewod, Maplewood House, n- CLOZeilS OI CaS6S OUC DUSllieSS

Maplewood, N. H. .

ALL offices South of Concord, N. H.. sen-' 1 1 •

offices in Vermont to said R. P CiaV CaillCr .

pelier, Groton, Groton P-- v

North Montpelier, Qr»

RaTdoi P h ontpe ,e Terrible floods occurred this year along" the

MAILS for G- J <->

b. *" Mississippi. The interruptions to the regular move-

ment of mails into St. Louis began with the trains of
the C. C. C. & St. Louis, Wabash East, and Chicago & Alton
lines from both Chicago and Kansas City, and the C. B. & Q.
lines east of the river first shut out from entrance into East
St. Louis, and the approach to the bridge even, and necessarily run-
ing these trains into Alton. Division Superintendent Lindsey went
to Alton and made temporary arrangements with the Eagle Packet
Company to carry the mails and the clerk accompanying them, on
their steamer, " Spread Eagle, " one round trip daily, between Alton
and St. Louis. This relieved the blockade at Alton. But after
trains were unable to get in and out of St. Louis from the east side
of the river, the situation gradually grew worse until at one time
there was but one track from the east affording entrance to and from

THE WONDERFUL RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE. 95

the Eads Bridge, namely, the Ohio & Mississippi. The trains of
as many contiguous lines as practicable ran over this line from con-
venient junction points; and the Vandalia lines also accommodated
the trains of some of the neighboring roads. The movement of the
mails was provided for, as was practicable from day to day, by tele-
graphing officers of the service at Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago,
and elsewhere, in order to divert the mails to such lines as could
best keep it moving. A free accommodation was secured from the
Merchants Bridge terminal officers at St. Louis to use their line in
places where no mail service was regularly authorized; and for two
or three days mails were taken over the new bridge to the viaduct
crossing of the tracks of certain lines, and there these mails inward
were carried up some improvised steps, arranged for accommodating
passengers, by laborers of the railroad companies. Many of the
railway post office men were on duty all of the twenty -four hours.
A great many changes in distributions on the cars and in the St.
Louis post office were of course necessary. But the railroad officials
were alert, and the complaints very few.

The yellow fever plague at Jacksonville was a far more momentous
interruption of the mails than this. On the eighth day of August,
1888, Mr. H. W. Clark, then postmaster of Jacksonville, who had
just arrived in New York on leave of absence for a month, saw in the
morning papers the news that the yellow fever was breaking out in
Jacksonville, and a day later that it was assuming epidemic form. He
at once left New York for home. The city was terror stricken. All
had fled except those whose sense of duty caused them to remain.

The first matter which Postmaster Clark found to arrest his atten-
tion was the condition of the free delivery. The secretary of the
local board of health had instructed the superintendent of mails
to prevent the carriers from making their daily rounds, as their pas-
sage through the city would spread the disease. Proclamations had
been issued stopping services in the churches and the congregation
of people in large crowds. But about twenty mails a day were
received at Jacksonville, and the lobby of the post office was jammed
daily with an indiscriminate crowd. The postmaster's first action
was to reverse this condition. He sent the carriers out on their
routes as usual.

The next few weeks were devoted to getting the mails out of the

96 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

city. Nearly every part of Florida was quarantined against Jack-
sonville. Mr. Clark obtained permission from the Department to
establish a station at La Villa Junction for the fumigation of all
mail matter. The Jacksonville people were thus enabled to send
letters to every part of the Union; before this few towns in Florida
would consent to receive Jacksonville letters or newspapers. Only
one clerk of the twenty-five or twenty-six in the office resigned
through fear, and though many were stricken with the sickness there
were fortunately but two deaths, Mrs. Fannie B. Hopkins, the
stamp clerk, and Capt. W. J. Merritt, who had charge of the fumi-
gating station. Thorough discipline was kept up throughout the
entire term of the epidemic of between four and five months. The
postmaster, as a member of the Sanitary Association, was chairman
of a special committee for the establishment of a baggage fumigating
station, which was erected near the other.

The fumigation at La Villa Junction was done in a box car of the
Florida Central & Peninsula Railroad, which had been loaned.
With Captain Merritt was a railway postal clerk. All of the mails
for Florida were fumigated here, and all for other states were sent
direct to another fumigating station at Waycross, Georgia, which
was in charge of Major R. E. Mansfield, then and now chief clerk
in the Railway Mail Service at Charleston. The different railroads
niade arrangements by which an engine and a baggage car, under
certain precautions, were run into the city as far as the fumigating
station, and the Jacksonville mails were put off and the fumigated
mails taken on at that point.

All mail matter accumulating in the letter boxes or post office at
night was sent early in the morning to the station for perforation
and a six hours smoke. At noon another load was sent: All had
previously been made up to routes, and afterwards so arranged in
the fumigating car that as little time as possible would be lost in
re-routing it after the smoking. Notwithstanding all this, the
bundles of The Daily Times-Union, published in Jacksonville, were
occasionally burned alongside the track at some station where they
were thrown off. But the desire for yellow fever news generally
overcame the fear of contagion and the bulk of the papers went
through. The amount of newspapers utterly refused by some of the
offices and returned to Jacksonville filled up a room originally used

THE WONDERFUL RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE. 97

by railway postal clerks. All "these refused papers were sent out
when the epidemic was declared over, and it took several days to
work them off. No ill effects were ever reported from them.

In the office proper the regular routine was followed, except that
each morning it was necessary to have an inspection of the force ;
and the work was given out as best it might be among the well. As
a preventive against the fever, the floors of the office were sprinkled
twice each day with a solution of carbolic acid, kept in a large
cask, and furnished by the board of health. Every clerk and car-
rier in the office also used medicine either externally or internally,
and generally both, as a preventive ; but liquor as a beverage in any
form was refused to all. One of the clerks had a handful of sulphur
in each shoe ; but that this did not make him proof against the fever
was evident, for Captain Merritt, in charge of the fumigating car,
who was breathing sulphur fumes for several hours each day, died
bravely at his post. The employees never complained at the known
dangers which they encountered daily, or were liable to encounter,
except once. It was when several prominent citizens vigorously
urged that the large hall in the third story over the post office be
turned into a yellow fever hospital, as more room was needed. The
postmaster interfered with this plan, arguing that it would not do to
have a hospital so near the mails that were to be sent out through
the country. For Mr. A. E. Sawyer, the superintendent of mails,
the greatest admiration was expressed on all hands. He had never
had the fever, but he served faithfully; and when the postmaster
insisted that he take a vacation, which he did, he returned promptly
to the scene of the pestilence.

Major Mansfield volunteered to take charge of the fumigating
station at Waycross. All mails from Florida had been stopped at
that point since the 8th of August. When Major Mansfield arrived
there on the 12th, some eight or ten tons of matter had accumulated,
stored in a freight car on a siding. Four postal clerks had freely
volunteered to do service as assistants. They all went to work at
once, assorting and perforating each piece separately except the
papers, until the fumigating cars, which were still in the railroad
shops at Waycross, should be ready. Two freight cars were brought
into use, each partitioned off into two air-tight compartments, in
which were constructed shelves of wire netting to spread the mail

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

on. The mail, after being perforated by means of an iron punch
designed for the purpose by the chief clerk in charge, was placed on
the wire shelves in the fumigators. An iron kettle containing five
pounds of sulphur was placed in each compartment, ignited, and
allowed to burn for four hours, when the doors were opened, and the
mail taken out, re-assorted, and , tied up in packages and sacks, and
dispatched. For the first ten days Major Mansfield and his men had

nothing to work with except what they could devise themselves, and
nothing to eat except what they could buy in a sparsely settled
country ; and they often travelled miles to a farm house only to be
disappointed, for the country was swampy and poor. No provisions
could be had at any price, and as the men were not permitted to enter
Waycross on account of the quarantine established there, it began
to look rather serious for them. They had nothing but warm and
slimy surface water to drink, and nothing to sleep on except the
bags of infected mail. It was during these trying hours that the
camp was dubbed "Camp Destitution." In the midst of their woes,
however, a good Samaritan appeared in the cheery person of Dr.

THE WONDERFUL RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE.

F. M. Urquhart of the Marine Hospital Service, who, seeing the
deplorable condition of the men, immediately telegraphed to Wash-
ington that the Government must provide for their comfort, or
death would surely result from exposure and want, if not from
the plague. Immediately came a dispatch authorizing him to
purchase the necessary outfit for a camp, and as quickly there came
from Waycross stoves, cooking utensils, dishes, etc., and a good
supply of ice, with positive orders not to drink the swamp water
unless it should first be boiled.

By September 1 the camp was in thorough working order and
each day the trains from Jacksonville brought their deadly load and
deposited them at the camp ; and they were fumigated and sent for-
ward within twenty-four hours. The train between Jacksonville
and Waycross was in charge of Postal Clerk W. J. Balentine, of
Waycross (who was stricken with the fever and laid up for over a
month), and Substitute Clerk J. M. Doty, of Charleston, both volun-
teers. "Camp Destitution" was established August 12, and closed
November 30, and the following table shows the amount of mail
handled during that period:

Month.

Pouches
received.

Number of

letter
packages.

Sacks of

papers

received.

Registers.

Pouches
fumigated.

Canvas

sacks

fumigated.

August . . .
September . .
October . . .
November . .

564
420
235

282

13,624
12,177
11,229
11,989

1,646
1,800
1,525
1,641

3,346
3,640
4,186
4,389

894
882
809
921

6,996
6,818
6,151
8,100

Totals . . .

1,501

49,019

6,612

15,556

3,506

28,065

The average number of letters to a package was forty and the
average number of papers to a sack one hundred and fifty; so the
total number of pieces fumigated was within a dozen of 3,000,000.

A record was kept of all registered matter passing through the
station by Clerk Allen, and not a single loss was known. A period
of one- hundred and eleven consecutive days of continuous duty
night and day, standing between the yellow fever and the whole
North, and West, and South, is the record of the resolute men who
did this service. A single incident occurred to disturb the har-
mony of the little camp. A notice was received from the General

100

THE STOKY OF OUR "POST OFFICE.

Superintendent of the Railway Mail Service by Chief Clerk Mansfield
to the effect that: "The interests of the Railway Mail Service would
be promoted by the tender of your resignation as chief clerk at
Charleston, S. C, to take effect Sept. 1, 1888"; also at the same
time a request "to remain in charge of the station, until the need
of your presence at that station has passed, when you will be assigned
to duty on the line, vice M. A. Davis promoted"; and also, "that an
order has been issued reducing your salary as a clerk of Class 5 from
$1,400 per annum to $1,300 per annum, to take effect Sept. 1^
'88." And this for politics. After the station closed each clerk
applied for and was granted thirty days' leave of absence with pay.
This was their only recognition.

THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.

HE Railway Mail Service has a daily paper. It is
the Daily Bulletin, and its circulation is almost
1,100. It is printed in the basement of the Post
Office Department; and printers set over 4,000,000
ems of matter for it in a year. At this departmental
printing office work for the third division of the
railway mail is also done, like the semi-weekly
issue of the "general orders" about changes in the service of that
division, and the "facing slips," of which about 600,000 are printed
yearly. Each of the other divisions has a small printing office
of its own. The printers employed at headquarters in ten of
the divisions, and in the Department, make up 1,500 forms in a
year, set 9,000,000 ems of matter, and print over a million impres-
sions. The work consists chiefly of the facing slips, bulletins, and
small pieces of job work, as required for technical and immediate
use. For example, Division Superintendent Jackson makes his
annual report on a small circular; and Division Superintendent
Ryan, at Boston, issues eight good-sized pages or more filled with
announcements, for the beginning of the summer resort season,
that new service has been put on in perhaps a hundred places. The
printing offices, though very small, are all well equipped. Superin-
tendent Troy lately issued his annual report very tastefully in
colors.

For several years prior to the birth of the Daily Bulletin (which
occurred without mishap February 3, 1880), a synopsis of the princi-
pal orders affecting the Railway Mail Service, such as the establish-
ment, discontinuance, or change of site of post offices, the establishment
of mail routes by star, steamboat, or railway service, and such other
orders from the First and Second Assistant Postmaster General's
offices as directly affected the operations of the Railway Mail Ser-

101

DAILY BULLETIN

ORDERS AFFECTING THE POSTAL SERVICE.

VOL. XIII. POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C, TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1892. NO. 3788

$tje postal Bulletin.

ISSUED FROM THE OFFICE OF

3EH'L SUP'T BAIXWAY MAIL SERVICE
JAMES B. WHITE. Gen'l SUP'T.

" Postal Card* Mailable to South African

Destinations."

Post Office Department,
Office of Postmaster General.

Washington. D. C August, 1st, 1892.

The International Bureau of tbe.Unl-
versal Postal Union having officially an-
nounced that by virtue of an arrangement
between the Postal Administrations of
Great Britain and the Cape Colony, postal
tarda may now be admitted to the mails
exchanged, via Great Britain, between the
Cape Colony and the countries and Colo-
nies embraced In the Universal Postal
Union. '

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED: That
United States postal cards addressed for
delivery In any Colony or Interior State of
South Africa, be hereafter admitted to the
malls for those countries or Colonies, de-
spatched via Great Britain, at the rate of
postage applicable to postal cards ad.
dressed for delivery within the Universal
Postal Union, viz: 2 cents for each single
card.

8. A. WHITFIELD",
Acting Postmaster General.

Samples of liquids, etc., Vnmailable to
Any Australasian Colony.

Post Office Department,
Office of Foreign Mails,
Washington, D. C August 1st, 1892.

Referring to the latter part of paragraph
J of the circular Headed "The Universal
Postal Convention of Vienna*' on pages
17-19 of the Postal Guide for the month of
May, 1892, In which notice is given that
"Samples of liquids, etc., may be sent to
the Australasian Colonies of Victoria and
Tasmania;" postmasters and o.thers are in-
formed that this Department has been
officially advised that at a conference of
all of the Australasian Colonies/said Colo.
nies decided not to allow the transmission
of the samples in question in the malls ex-
changed between any of said Colonies and
the other countries and Colonies embraced
in the Universal Postal Union.

Consequently, packages or samples of
liquids, fatty substances and powders are
net transmissible by mall to the Colonies
of Victoria, Tasmania, or any other Aus-
tralasian Colony, and should not be re-
ceived by United States postmasters when
addressed for delivery in any of said Colo-
nies.

By direction of the Postmaster General,
N. M. BROOKS,
Superintendent of Foreign Malls.

POST OFFICES ESTABLISHED.

LOUISIANA.
Troy,. Lincoln Co.. special from Lisbon
Route 48235, 7 ma, N. W. [80 June 92
MONTANA.
Richland. Missoula Co., special from Kal-
ispeU, Route 88242. 40 ms. E. {SO June 92
NKW MEXICO.
Canjilon, Rio- Arriba Co., special from
Tlerra ArnarlUa, Routs 67175, 18 ms. S. E.
( 18 June n

Saint Patrick Sun Ml jiel Go., special from
Las Vegas, Route (67007, 00 ms. W.
127 June 92

POST OFFICES ESTABLISHED

NEW YORK
Cahooozte, Orange Co., Route 7557 Spar-
rowbush, 4 ms. s., Rio, 3 ms. N.
[22 July 92

OREGON.
Aberdeen, Linn Co. ,-Koute 73331. Lacomb,
4 ms. S. E., Lebanon, 6 ms. S. W
(13 June 92

PENNSYLVANIA.

Haafsvllle, Lehigh Co., special from Fogels-

Ille. Route 8428, 2 ms. E. [28 June 92

SOUTH CAROLINA.

Calhoun Falls. AbbeviJle»Co., Route 121071,

Dry Grove, V-A ms. N. W., Hester, 3 ms.

S. |7 July 92

TENNESSEE.
Ohurches.Hancock Co., Route 19148, Clinch
River, iy, ms. E.. Upper Clinch, 5 ms. W.
[30 June 92

VIRGINIA.
Klncald, Highland Co., special from Will-
iarasvllle. Route 11488, 6 ms. 3. [31 may 92
WASHINGTON.
Martin, Kittitas Co., Route 171011, Easton,
9 ms. E.. Hot Springs, 16 ms. W
(7 June 92
Wabash, King Co., special from Osceola,
Route 71219, 4 ms. S. E. [30 June 92

POST OFFICE SITE CHANGED

MISSOURI.
Seek man, Jefferson Co., ^ m. N W. on
Route 45455. [1 aug 92

POST OFFICES DISCONTINUED.

The following to take effect August 15, 18921:

ALABAMA.

Merritt, Pike, Co., Route 24609. Mail to

Shady Grove. [I aug 92

ILLINOIS.

Berry too, Cass Co., Route 35326. Mall to

Virginia. [I aug 92

KENTUCKY
Burgess, Lawrence Co., Route 129027 Mall
to Georges Creek. [1 aug 92

Stony Point, Bourbon Co., special. Mall to

Austerlltz. [I aug 92

TEXAS.
Hlnde, Crockett Co., Route 51059. Mali to

Hembrie. fl aug 92

SPECIAL SERVICE CHANGES.

INDIANA.
Doerun, Jefferson Co., from Brooksburgh.
From August 1, 1892, change base of sup-
ply to Home. [29 July 92

Marling, Jackson Co., from Langdon.
From Angust 1, 1892, change base of sup-
ply to CrothersTllle. [at July 82
OHIO.

Philander, from Sheridan. From August
1, 1882, change base of supply to Kallda.'
[39 July 82

WEST VIRGINIA.

Mount Tell, Jackson Co., from fielgrove.
From August 1. 1892, change base of sup-
ply to Uoldtown. [29 July 92

SPECIAL SERVICE DISCONTINUED

ARKANSAS.
Flynn, Woodruff Co., from Railroad Sta-
tion (n. o.). From July 30, 1892, office

discontinued. [29 July 92
Selah, Ashley Co., from Fountain Hill.

From July 30, 1892, office discontinued.

(29 July W

NEW YORK.
Black Lake, St. Lawrence Co. From July

30,1892, discontinue special supply from

July 1 to September 30 of each year.

[29 July 92
GalUlee, St. Lawrence Co., from Ogdens-

burgb. From August 13, 1892, on Route

7812. [29 July 92

PENNSYLVANIA.
N ashes. Forest 'Co., from Pigeon. From

January 31. 1892, on Route 110088.

(29 July 92'

-STAR SERVICE ESTABLISHED

KENTUCKY

Route 29678. Jackstown to Carlisle;^ ms.
and back, three times a week, by a
schedule of not to exceed 2 hours run-
ning time each way. From August 1
1892, to June 30, 1893. [28July92

Route 29879. Kenton to Morgansvllle, 3
ms. auti pack, three times a week, by a
schedule of not to exceed 1 hour running
time each way. From August 1, 1892, to
June 80, 1893.. [28July92

Route 29880. Baker to Potter's Fork, 4 ms.
and- back, twice a week, by a schedule of
not to exceed 1% hours running time
each way. From August 1, 1892, to June
30,1893. [28 July 92

Route 29881. Grand Rl vers to Smfthianci
19 ms. and back, six times a week, by a
schedule of not to exceed o% hours run-
nlng time each way. From August 1,
1892, to June 30, 1893. [28 July 92

NEW YORK

Route 7811. Black Lake to Hammond, 2*4
ms. and buck, twelve times a week, by a
schedule of not to exceed 45 minutes run-
ning time each way during August and
September. 1892, and June, 1893.
[28 July 92

TENNESSEE-

Route 27916. Pine Mountain to JelUco, 10
ms. and back, three times a week, by a
schedule of not to exceed 8 hours run-
ning time each way. From August 1,
1892, to Juno 30, 1893. [28 July-92

yiRGINIA.
Route 10794. Bagleys Mills, by Lambert to
South Hill, 16 ms. and back, three times
a week, by a schedule of not to exceed 5
hours running time each way. From
August 8. 1892, to June 30, 1893. [29 July 92

STAR SERVICE CHANGES.

(ARKANSAS.
Route47635. Wolf Bayou to Coras. Modify
order of July 2.J892, (Bulletin 3760), so as
to stale an increase In distance of 1 m.
by supply of Coras at the site authorized
June 25. 1892. [28 July 92

INDIAN TERRITORY
Route 53276. Baxter Springs, Kans., to
Miami. Ind. Ter. From August 15, 1892,
Increase service to six times a- week.
Schedule to be* dally except Sunday,
same hours as at present. [28 July 92
NORTH DAKOTA.
Route 61250. Hatton to Sharon. From
August 6, 1892, Increase service to tbree
times a week. Change schedule to Tues-
day, Thursdays and Saturday. (28 July 92
WI8C0N8IN.
Route 39321. Marytown to Kiel. State
original distance as 6M ms. Modify
order of May 10, 1802, (Bulletin 3720), so
3#

STAR SERVICE DISCONTINUED.

ARKANSAS.
Route 47517. Galena to Umpire. From
July SO, 18921 [29July92

INDIAN TERRITORY,

' ' NEW YORK

Route 6722. Morrlstown- to Edwardsvllle-

From August 13. 1892. (29 July 92
TENNESSEE.
Route 27170. Morrlstown to Marshalls.

From August 1< 1892. [28 July 92
Route 27487. Ambro to Rutledge. From

August 14, 1892. [28 July 92
Route27188. Tate Springs to Morrlstown.

From August 14, 1892. |28 July 92
VIRGINIA.
Route 11941. South Hill to Lambert, From

August 6. 1892. 129 July 92

R. P 0. SERVICE CHANGES.

Attalla and Sylacauoa. Ala.— R. P.
clerks extend run jobs to end atCalera,
Ala,, increase 10 distance 33.66 ins.,
making whole distance 122.46 ms. To
take effect August 15,' 1892. The line to
be known as the

Attalla & Caleka r. P O [2 aug 92

RAILROAD SERVICE ESTABLISHED

OREGON
Route 173017. Baker City to McEwen Sta-
tion (o. c), Oregon. 8umpter Valley
Rwy., 26.00 ms. and back, six times a
week, or as much ofteDer as trains may
run. From August 15, J892. [aug 1 92

PENNSYLVANIA
Route 110213. Newport, by Ferguson, El
llottsburgh, Ureen Park, Loysvllle, Blx-
ler, Centre, Cisma's. Run and Anderson-
burgh, to Blaln, Peon. Newport A Sher-
man's Valley R. R.,25.47 ms. and back,
six tiraesa week, or as much oftener as
trains may run. From September 1, 1892.
[1 aug 92

RAILROAD SERVICE CHANGES.

FLORIDA.
Route 123037. Klsstmmee to Narcoossee.
Saint Cloud Sugar Belt Rwy., 16.07 ms.
Recognize service due or to become due
In the name of the South Florida R. R.
Co., evidence of change of title having
been submitted. 130 July 92

MICHIGAN.
Ronte 137098. Williamsburg to Bay View.
Chicago & West Michigan Rwy., 68.79 ms.
Amend order of July 29, 1892, (Bulletin
3787),* so as to state the date of beginning
of service as August 8, 1892. Instead of
September 1, 1892. [1 aug 92

SOUTH CAROLINA.
Route 120041. Savannah to, Columbia.
South Bound R. K., 142 ms. From Au-
gust 1, 1892, embrace GlOord. Hampton
Co., S. C, on this route, between Sue-
belle and Fairfax, and North, Orange -
burgh Co., S. C, between Slella and
Senn. [30 July 92

MAIL MESSENGER SERVICE DISCONTINUED.

NEBRASKA.
Route 257042.^ Matson, Platte Co., from
Omaha & Republican Valley Rwy. Route
157017. From July 30, 1892. (28 luly 92

PENNSYLVANIA.

Route 210641. Grove City, Mercer Co..

trom Pittsburgh, Shenango & Allegheny

R. R Route 110051 From August 6.

1892. [28 July 92

VIRGINIA.
Route 214239. Patterson, Wythe Co., from
Norfolk <i Western R. R. Route 114052.
From August 6, 1892. [29 July 92

POSTMASTERS COMMISSIONED

Commissioned July 28, 1898

Fourth Class offices.

Eliza E. Orcutt _ Orcutt. Cal

Henry H. Threemann Somes Bar, Cal

Altred Parker .,. .Cimarron, Colo

Rose M. Colcord-...„ Kokorao, Colo

Martin H. Strelt Parachute, Colo

Arthur C. Hartho.. Swaozy, Midi

Francisco R. Y. Boca El Pueblo, N Met

Pascal Craig _ Monero, N Mel

Isaac W. Cookson. ...._.. Kansas, Ohio

John A. Harter Linnvllle, Ohio

George C. Roberts „ Carlton, Oreg

Peter W. Mess _ Mount Angel, Oreg

Wm. E. Mulbollen Langdondale, Pa

George W. Snider Wardensville, W Va

New Oflleet.
Chrlstaln L. McKlnnon, Red Bay,

Walton Co. Fla.
Charles S. L. Patton, Troy, Lincoln Co., Lit
Wm. H. Orr, Richland,

Missoula Co., Mont
Fidel Martinez, Canjilon,

RIO Arriba Co., N Me.t
Manuel A Sanchez, Saint Patrick.

San M Iguel Co., N Me*
Hamilton Hulse, Cahoonzle,

Orange Co., N Y
Mary Flaugber Abberdeen, Linn Co., Ores
Llewellyn E. Haaf, Haatsvllle,

Lehigh Co., Pa
Edward Kleser, Calhoun Falls,

Abbeville- Co., SC
Hiram Church, Churches,

Hancock Co., Teuu
Annie B. Hopraan, Klncald,

Highland Co., Va
Hattle L. Laird, Martin,

Klttltass Co., Wash
Wm. F Eckhart, Wabash, King Co,, Wash

A FAC SIMILE OF THE DAILY RAILWAY MAIL BULLETIN.

102

THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.

103

vice, were copied daily upon manifold sheets by a clerk named
William H. Powell, who was detailed from the office of the First
Assistant Postmaster General for the purpose. Naturally many mis-
takes were made, and a mistake once made (from fourteen to sixteen
manifold impressions were written at a time) it was almost impos-
sible to correct it; and moreover, whatever errors crept into these
manifold sheets were, of course, repeated in the offices of the division

THE PRINTING OFFICE OF THE DAILY RAILWAY MAIL BULLETIN.

superintendents. The growth of the Railway Mail Service, too,
called for a more expeditious system of disseminating this informa-
tion; and accordingly, in February, 1880, Mr. Thomas B. Kirby,
then private secretary to Postmaster General Key, consulted with the
Postmaster General, with Mr. William B. Thompson, then General
Superintendent of the Railway Mail Service, and with General
Tyner, then First Assistant Postmaster General. All agreed that
if orders could be distributed in printed form to the division
superintendents, it would be a great convenience not only
to the Railway Mail Service, but also to nearly every branch

104

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

i)f the Department, for each would know what the other was
doing.

The way was cleared and immediately the Bulletin was sought by
nearly every branch of the Department, and especially by the First
Assistant Postmaster General and the Sixth Auditor, to obtain correct
lists of new postmasters. It soon began to be used for the orders of
the Postmaster General, which it was important to have in the hands
of the leading postmasters, as well as the division superintendents,
in advance of the publication of the Monthly Guide. February 3,
1880, the printing of envelopes and mailing lists was begun, and
on March 4, 1880, the first issue of the Daily Bulletin left the press.
It was intended at first to issue it every evening, so as to catch the
10 P. M. mail out of town, but that was not found satisfactory, as
many newspaper correspondents desired to have it in the afternoon
_^ _ for clipping purposes. The Bul-

letin has been of the greatest use
in emergencies; for once the De-
partment was without the supple-
ment to the Postal Guide, and had
it not been for the Daily Bulletin,
the mail service generally would
have been wholly at a loss.

The Bulletin is put to press at
three in the afternoon. It is
ready for mailing or for distribu-
tion among the correspondents by
four or five ; and probably this lit-
tle daily is more clipped from than
any other Washington publication.
Every day, of course, postmasters
are appointed or commissioned,
and orders putting on new railway
and star mail service are issued,
and these are all of local interest,
and are consequently culled by the newspaper men and telegraphed to
their papers. The Bulletin is printed only on one side of the sheet
to accommodate them the better, and so that it may be the better
posted in conspicuous places. This paper first had a circulation of

MR. JAMES S. GRAY,
Editor, the Railway Mail Bulletin.

THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.

105

200 copies daily. It has now over 1,000. Of this issue 100 or
more are mailed to division superintendents, 300 to important post-
masters, 50 or more to newspaper correspondents, 200 to the differ-
ent bureaus of the Department, and 400 or more to various per-
sons throughout the country.

Mr. James S. Gray now edits the Bulletin, and Mr. A. J.
Crossfield is foreman of the Bulletin office. Mr. Gray was ap-
pointed a clerk in the Railway Mail Service in 1873, and soon
after detailed to the office of the General Superintendent. At first
one printer was em-

ployed; now there RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE

are five. When the
Bulletin was first
issued the press-
work was done by
foot power, but cir-
culation increased
so rapidly and mis-
cellaneous job work
for the Department
was necessarily put
upon the printing
room so much, that
in April, 1887, a four horse-power engine had to be procured.
Steam is communicated from the engine room of the Department.
The machinery consists of one Gordon extra (i) medium, 11x17,
and one Universal (£) medium, 10 x 15 press, a Dewley paper
cutter, a proof press, a mailing machine, two imposing stones, one
cabinet of twenty-two cases, and a full assortment of type.

The topographer's office is directly attached to the office of the
Postmaster General, and is chiefly of use to the Railway Mail Service
and the other divisions of the Second Assistant's office. The topog-
rapher, Mr. Charles Roeser, of Wisconsin, occupies with his clerks
the second and third floors of a rented building on Ninth Street not
far from the Department. Mr. Roeser has graduated at engineering
from the Lawrence University in Wisconsin, and at law from the
Columbia Law School in Washington. He entered the public ser-
vice soon after his service in the war was over, under the patronage

SECOND DIVISION

COMPRISING

New York. New Jersey Pennsylvania. Delaware, and Peninsula of

Maryiai

K FROM

ad and Virginia

ANNUAL REPOR

(Abstract o* {Statistics Showing Pboobess in Second Drvisio

188b to 1892..

No. 1086 NEW YORK, JULY 16th. 189a

Appendix

FISCAL TEAR-JULY

1ST TO .lUNfc 30TH

188b

1891

1895s

Equipment :-

No. ofR. P O. Line* .-.-...'...- _

No of R P Clerk*

S6S

077
8.758

177
7H
Ml

ra»

No of Port Offices .

Increase in No. of Clerk* Id & yean.

Man. Distributed .-

No of Letters, (including City leftw* -
No of Paper*

106

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

of Senator Sawyer. He was soon chief draughtsman of the General
Land Office, and in 1876 he prepared for the Interior Department the
centennial map and the centennial atlas, and later the annual map
of the United States which is still in use. In 1882 Postmaster

General Howe called Mr. Roeser
to the topographer's office to re-
organize it. The new officer
changed the process of reproduc-
tion to photo-lithography, made
the issues timely and uniform,
and for half the money published
four times as many maps.

The work of the topographer's

MR. CHARLES ROESER,
Topographer of the Department.

office consists of projecting and
compiling the original drawings
of post-route maps of the general
edition to replace old, worn-out,
and inaccurate maps, and of trac-
ing and lettering them for photo-
lithography, preparing special
drawings of enlarged sub-maps of
the evirons of the principal cities,
making sample diagrams of special
editions of states and territories
for the Railway Mail Service to
exhibit the different lines and their connecting side mail routes;
and testing new photo-lithographic maps received from the con-
tractors. In the preparation of the successive bi-monthly
editions of sheets of the printed maps, all the recorded orders
about the sites of post offices and their mode of supply are
transferred to the working maps, correction sheets, and sam-
ple sheets. This exhibit is also regularly transferred to the
numerous maps or diagrams required for daily reference at the
Department. Miscellaneous routine work consists of issuing copies
of printed post-route maps to the agents of the Department, pur-
chasers, Members of Congress, and others, and the correspondence
connected with all this; computing and certifying post-route dis-
tances for the settlement of questions of mileage required by public

THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.

10T

officers, furnishing lists of counties and lists of the distances of post-
routes between the more important points ; mounting maps in dif-
ferent forms ; keeping up to date the published editions by the map
correctors; preparing color guides, which show the frequency of
service, and county and state boundaries, for the contractors; and
entering in duplicate the es-
tablishments and changes in
post offices in books classi-
fied by states for the use of
the draughtsmen.

This bureau publishes
twenty-six maps. They are
found to be especially val-
uable for their large scale
and their accuracy without
any superfluity of detail.
They form, in reality, pic-
torial outlines setting be-
fore the eye the great feat-
ures of the postal service
for extended regions ; and
as a knowledge of geogra-
phy and of post routes is
most easily acquired by the
study of authentic maps,
they are a most important
auxiliary for the intelligent
performance of the duties
of the postal employees.
The maps are not only in constant and urgent demand by the dif-
ferent offices of the service, but they are also in great requisition
by the other departments, and by publishers, commercial agents,
and others. The Department, of course, finds itself unable with the
limited appropriation always allowed by Congress, to supply the
post-route maps in large numbers. Each Senator or Representative
is entitled to one map per session free under the law. The number
distributed to the Post Office and the other departments is very
limited, too. Maps are disposed of to general applicants at the

EXTERIOR, TOPOGRAPHER'S OFFICE.

FAC SIMILE OF PART OF POST-ROUTE MAP.

108

THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.

109

cost of printing plus ten per cent. The Department issues a small
sheet showing what the maps are, and what their prices. These
last vary from 33 to 66 cents in sheets to $1.10 to $2 for maps
backed and mounted on rollers.

The topographer's office furnishes from 1,500 to 2,000 maps to
postmasters annually, perhaps 2,500 annually to the Railway Mail
Service, probably 1,500 annually to the offices and clerks of the

INTERIOR, TOPOGRAPHER'S OFFICE.

Post Office Department, and about 1,000 each to public officials and
institutions and to the general public ; and the topographer receives
over 5,000 letters a year and writes almost 7,000.

The money appropriated for the Postal Gruide is, of course, insuf-
ficient, and it is often with difficulty that publishers of responsi-
bility are induced to bid for the publication of it at all. The Annual
Guide is a book of nine hundred pages or more. It is issued each
January, and contains an alphabetical list of postmasters by states
and counties (and the county seats are indicated), information about
the registry system, lists of life-saving stations and army posts,

90S

Copyrighted, 1S92.*

Order No. 129. Post Office Department, Washington, D. C, September 15, 1892.

During the remainder of the fiscal year ending June 30th 1893, all postmasters and railway postal clerks
will be supplied monthly by this Department with the United States Official Postal Gnitle. the only
Official Bulletin of the Post Office Department JOHN WANAMAKER, Posimaster-General

SECOND SERIES.!
Vol. XIV. No. 10. J

nOTHRPD IQQO T PRICE, $2 00. Per Annum.

UUIUDLn, lOyZi (.Including large January Guide.

CONTENTS.

Rulings.

The President's Proclamation — The
Four Hundredth Anniversary of
the Discovery of America.

Treatment of Pensioners' Official
Letters.

Reward for Hail Robbers.

Endorsement of Private Enterprise
by Postal Officials Forbidden.

Orders, Circulars and Statistics.

ENTERED AT THE POST OFFICE AT PHILADELPHIA PA. AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER.

FAC SIMILE, FIRST PAGE, MONTHLY POSTAL GUIDE.

110

THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT, 111

other matter for the assistance of postmasters and the public, orders
for all the postal people to follow, regulations about foreign mails^
money orders, lotteries, mail bag repairs, exchanges of mails with
Canada, and so on. Each postmaster is provided with a copy and
the publisher sells them in paper covers at $2, and in cloth
covers at $2.50. These prices include the monthly supplement.
The annual and monthly Guide are also found to be of considerable
use to business men and organizations accustomed to use the mails
profusely.

The monthly Postal Guide contains information supplementary to
that printed in the Annual Guide. The Postmaster General and his
assistants communicate to postmasters and the public rulings, orders,
parcels post or money order conventions, etc., in addition to the lists
of new post offices ; and now and then, some really original observa-
tions dare to creep in. The Department not long ago arranged
with the publisher of the Guide to supply the monthly supple-
ments at one cent a copy. The former price had been five cents
a copy. But this effort to popularize the publication met with
small success. Matter of some real interest and value was injected,
but it was out of the run of the cobwebs, and the appropriation
(which has to be specific for the Postal Guide, as for every object
in the Post Office Department, and in all the departments) was
promptly cut down. And now the old time liver-pill advertisement
has to be admitted in order to secure a publication at all.

So the efforts to make the Guide a real medium between the
Department and the people failed. It remains merely a medium
between the Department and the postmasters, and it is a poor one at
that, for postmasters, finding that it lacks interest, do not read it, or
reading it, they do not understand it all. For those who try to
improve the Guide, however, there is one small source of satisfac-
tion. The educational methods which Postmaster General Wana-
maker has so much desired to infuse into the service, the information
upon postal topics which the press has of late so generously and so
generally imparted, the invitation to all persons freely to criticise
the service, — these things, supplemented a little perhaps by the
partial popularization of the Guide under the distressing circum-
stances above mentioned, have perceptibly improved the service.
For the letters that go wrong or slowly (which are the test of

" DON'TS."

Don't mail any letter until you are sure
that it is completely and properly ad-
dressed.

Don't place the address so that there
will be no room for the post-mark.

Don't fail, in the hurry of business, to
write the name of the State you intend
and not your own — a very common
error.

Don't fail to make certain that your man-
ner of writing the name of an office or
State may not cause it to be mistaken
for one similar in appearance. It is
often better to write the name of the
State in full.

Don't fail, if you are in doubt as to the
right name of the office for which your
letter is intended, to consult the Postal
Guide, which any postmaster will be
pleaded to show you.

Don't fail to give the street and house
number of the person for whom mail
matter is intended in addressing it to
a city or large town.

Don't mail any letter until you are sure
that it is properly stamped.

Don't fail to place the stamp in the upper
right hand corner.

Don't write on the envelope " In haste,"
"Care of postmaster," etc. ; it does
no good, and tends to confusion in the
rapid handling of mail matter.

Don't fail to bear in mind that it is un-
lawful to enclose matter of a higher
class in one that is lower ; e. g., mer-
chandise in newspapers.

Don't mail any letter unless your ad-
dress, with a request to return, is upon
the face of the envelope ; so that in
case of non-delivery it will be returned
directly to you.

Don't fail to give your correspondents
your full address, so that a new post-
man cannot fail to find you.

Don't fail to notify your postmaster of
any change in your address.

Don't trust to the fact that you are an
" old resident," " well-known citizen,"
etc., but have your letter addressed in
full.

Don't fail, if you intend to be away from
home for any length of time, to inform
your postmaster what disposition shall
be made of your mail.

Don't delay the delivery of any mail-
matter that you may take out for
another.

Don't fail to sign your letters in full, so
that if they reach the Dead Letter
Office they may be promptly returned.

Don't, when you fail to receive an ex-
pected letter, charge the postal service
with its loss, until you have learned
from your correspondent all the facts
in regard to its mailing, contents, etc.

AS TO PARCELS.

Don't mail a parcel without previously
weighing it to ascertain proper amount
of postage.

Don't wrap a parcel in such manner that
the wrapper may become separated
from the contents.

Don't seal or wrap parcels in such man-
ner that their contents may not be
easily examined.

Don't mail parcels to foreign countries
without special inquiry concerning the
regulations governing foreign ad-
dressed mail matter.

Don't attempt to send merchandise to
foreign countries, other than Canada
and Mexico, in execution of an order
or as a gift, unless the postage is pre-
paid at five cents per half -ounce.

Don't attempt to send merchandise to
foreign countries by "Parcels Post,"
unless your postmaster be consulted
concerning the country addressed and
the manner of mailing matter thereto.

Don't fail to put the address of the
sender on each parcel before mailing.
This to facilitate a return to the sender
in the event of non-delivery.

A PAGE OF MATTER FROM THE POSTAL. GUIDE.

112

THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT.

113

irregular or inadequate service) have decreased in numbers so much
that the Dead Letter Office, the index of this business, has actually
cleared its desks of work; and this fact proves that it would be
actual economy, in columns of indisputable figures, if there might
be some official or semi-official countenance of these educational
methods. For the expense involved in rectifying the errors of the
public would surely be decreased ; and in addition, the public would
not be inconvenienced in the meantime.

AMONG THE MAIL LOCKS AND THE BAGS.

Z^ HE Mail Equipment Division of the Second Assist-
ant's office provides the service with mail bags
of all kinds, mail locks and keys, and mail bag-
catchers, and the various devices, like cord fas-
teners, label cases, etc., which pertain to these
equipments. It prepares advertisements invit-
ing proposals for furnishing these articles, re-
ceives the proposals, and prepares contracts. It
issues orders for the purchase of new materials, receives, inspects,
and accepts them, and issues them again whenever and wherever they
are needed. This division controls and cares for all these things
after they have been put in service,, sees that they are economically
and properly used and are not allowed to accumulate and lie idle at
places where they are not needed, and provides that the damaged
stock shall be repaired and restored to service. There are three
funds at the disposal of the division: one of $260,000 for the pur-
chase and repair of mai] bags and mail catchers; another of $35,000
for the purchase and repair of mail locks, keys, and chains ; and yet
another of $6,500 for the rent, fuel, and lighting of the mail bag
and mail lock repair shops in Washington. The Mail Equipment
Division is presided over by Maj. R. D. S. Tyler, who served in
the Rebellion with the 81st New York Infantry. He won promotion
to a captaincy and was wounded at Cold Harbor and breveted a
major for bravery. He was engaged in the publishing business in
Detroit for fifteen years before his appointment. Major Tyler is an
enthusiast in his work. The mantels, shelves, and walls of his
office are tastefully decorated with mail bags, locks, etc.

There are nine different styles or classes of mail bags in use by
the Post Office and from one to five sizes of each class. The first s
the ordinary mail pouch, made of leather, and in five sizes. They

114

AMONG THE MAIL LOCKS AND THE BAGS.

115

are intended for the transmission of ordinary first-class mail matter in
vehicles of any kind. The No. 1, or largest pouch, is being with-
drawn from use. The No. 2 pouch, the largest size now made, costs
$4.95, and the smallest size, the
No. 5, costs $1.71. About five
years ago as many as 16,000 new
leather pouches were annually re-
quired, but now, notwithstanding
the tremendous increase of mails,
only about 10,000 are purchased
yearly. This reduction is due to
the excellent work performed in
the bag repair shop. It is believed
that pouches made of canvas, in-
stead of leather, will be found
more durable as well as handier and
a great deal cheaper, and it is not
improbable that before long the
leather pouches may be entirely
superseded by the canvas ones.

The second class of mail bags
comprise leather horse bags; and
they are intended for use on star
routes where it is found necessary to carry the mail on horse-
back. There are three sizes of them, and they are made so
that they may be conveniently buckled on behind a saddle.
They cost from $4.83 to $3.51, according to size; and it is
found necessary to purchase about 1,200 new ones each year.
The third class consists of jute canvas sacks. They are used only
for the transmission of second, third, and fourth class matter, not
registered. They are made in three sizes, the first two sizes of jute
canvas cloth, and costing from 43 to 50 cents each, and the third
size of cotton canvas cloth and costing about 27 cents apiece. It is
proposed to have the No. 1 and No. 2 sacks also made of cotton can-
vas instead of jute, and 1,500 of these are now on trial on trains
between New York and Chicago. All these sacks are used without
locks, and are closed by means of a cord, with a cord fastener and
label case attached to it. About 9,000 of them are needed daily for

MA J. K. D. S. TYLEE,
Chief, Mail Equipment Division.

116

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

the New York post office alone, and about 162,000 new ones of the
large size, No. 1, 20,000 of the No. 2, and 10,000 of the small size
are purchased annually.

The fourth kind of mail bag, the catcher pouch, is used on trains
in exchanging mails with stations at which the trains do not stop.
The pouch is hung upon a crane by the side of the track, and is
caught from the crane, as the train passes, by an iron arm called a

REJECTED LOCKS IN THE MAIL EQUIPMENT DIVISION.

catcher, attached to the postal car. These pouches are of but one
size, are made of canvas strengthened by leather bindings around the
top and bottom and with a leather strap around the centre, and cost
$3.27 each. As these pouches are used only upon fast lines and for
small stations, the number in use is not large, but the wear and tear
upon them is very great; so that it is necessary to purchase about
6,000 new ones annually. About 150 damaged ones are sent to the
repair shop daily. The division superintendent of the Railway Mail
at New York has to be supplied with about 500 of these pouches
every fortnight.

AMONG THE MAIL LOCKS AND THE BAGS.

117

The fifth class of mail bag is the through register pouch. No. 2
is the size chiefly used, and there is no contract now for making the
small size, the No. 3. This is the most expensive of all the pouches.
It costs $8.43 for size No. 1 and $6.87 for No. 2. It is made of

LOCKS AND BAGS IN THE MAIL EQUIPMENT DIVISION.

canvas, but it has a leather bottom. It is used, where special
authorization is had, to convey registered matter between large cities
at the terminals of railroad routes. Formerly it was the practice to
condemn and cut up these pouches as soon as they were damaged in
the slightest respect, even by a hole big enough for a pencil ; and it
was then necessary to purchase about 2,000 of these pouches yearly.

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118

AMONG THE MAIL LOCKS AND THE BAGS. 119

But now they are repaired with such care and skill that the repaired
pouch is as safe as a new one ; and in the past five years, since the
system of repairing began, only 1,000 through registered pouches
have been bought.

These bags are closed with a peculiar lock which costs $2.50.
Each lock is lettered and numbered, and has besides a rotary num-
ber which changes whenever the lock is opened. Every man who
handles a through registered pouch while it is in transit is required
to give a receipt for it under the letter and number, and also the
rotary number, of the lock with which it has been closed. It can
thus be readily traced ; and it can be ascertained in whose care it
was if at any time it should be opened.

The sixth class of mail bag is the inner register sack. This is
intended for the transmission of registered matter between offices
not situated at the terminals of railroad routes. These sacks are of
light canvas, red striped, and of four sizes, and they are always used
inside the ordinary leather mail pouches of the same numbered size.
They cost from 57 to 97 cents apiece, and about 1,000 new ones
are bought each year. No post office may exchange either through
register pouches or inner register sacks with another office until
specially authorized to do so by the Third Assistant Postmaster
General.

The seventh and eighth classes of mail bags are the foreign canvas
sacks and the foreign registered sacks, the first used for ordinary
mail and the second for mail registered to foreign countries. They
are made of light canvas, those for ordinary mail blue striped, and
those for registered mail red striped. These sacks have no lock,
but are closed by sealing. About 1,500 new ones are required each
year. The ninth kind of mail bag is the coin sack, a very small
cotton affair, about ten by twelve inches, used by postmasters at the
smaller offices for sending their money to the larger offices for deposit.
These sacks are made in the mail bag repair shop.

The mail catcher is a heavy iron arm, which is furnished by the
Mail Equipment Division to the division superintendents of the Rail-
way Mail to be fitted to the side doors of all postal cars, and used to
catch pouches hung from cranes at stations while the train is in
motion. The catcher first used cost $15, but now it costs only $3.25,
and its durability and form have been much improved upon. From

120

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

three hundred to four hundred catchers are spoiled in a year. For
the past two years these damaged catchers, sent to Washington by
mail, have been repaired by the Department in a small blacksmith
shop, employing two good men, in the rear of the bag repair shop.
The utmost care has to be used in the repair, as well as in the manu-

THE BAG AND LOCK REPAIR SHOP.

facture, of these catchers, for if one should fly to pieces it would be
pretty sure to kill the railway postal clerk who happened to be
manipulating it. The cost of repairing the catchers is about
twenty-five cents, whereas formerly they were repaired by the con-
tractor at a charge of $1 each ; and he received free, into the bar-
gain, all the material of those not worth repairing.

The jute canvas sack is closed by means of a cord running through

AMONG THE MAIL LOCKS AND THE BAGS. 121

a row of eyelets punched around the mouth of the sack, and the ends
of the cord are clamped together and fastened by means of a small
metal device called a cord fastener, which has a case for a label on
the back of it. The cost of the cord fastener used to be a little less
than ten cents apiece for the manufacture, and five cents apiece for
royalty. But about two years ago the owner of the patent, having
already received royalties amounting to more than $80,000, in con-
sideration of an additional order for the manufacture of 100,000
cord fasteners, assigned his patent to the Department; so that now
no royalty is paid. The 100,000 then ordered have been used, and
it has been found necessary to purchase 170,000 more, which were
obtained at the reduced cost of a little over five cents apiece. About
100,000 new cord fasteners are required annually. Some time ago
fifty new devices for cord fasteners, submitted by as many inventors,
were examined by the Department, but no improvement upon the
present device was found. These inventors asked royalties varying
from one and one half cents to seventy-five cents apiece; or they
were willing (quite as generously) to sell their patents outright for
from $5,000 to $50,000.

Before 1875 all the repairs to mail bags were made in a few of the
larger cities under direction of the postmaster, who made contracts
with private individuals. Twenty-five cents was paid for each
leather patch upon a mail pouch. It was discovered, however, that
gross frauds were perpetrated upon the Department, for patches were
put upon many sound bags that were in need of no attention at all,
and bags still serviceable, but requiring a little attention, were con-
demned and cut up. So in '75 and '76, when Marshall Jewell was
Postmaster General, the entire system was changed, and there were
established five repair shops in Washington, New York, Chicago, St.
Louis, and Indianapolis. These were situated in the post offices
and were under the immediate supervision of the postmasters. Each
shop had from six to fifteen employees who received stated salaries.
This was a great improvement. But shortly after assuming charge
of the Mail Equipment Division, Major Tyler discovered that very
large numbers of mail bags of all kinds lay idle and useless through-
out the country for the need of slight repairs, and that, indeed, there
were about 400,000 such in the post offices at New York and Wash-
ington alone. The Department accordingly discontinued the repair

122

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

shops at New York and Indianapolis, and later the one at St. Louis.
The repair shop in Chicago has twelve employees, who repair about
200,000 mail bags in a year at a cost of something less than

$10,000. But only light re-
pairs are made in Chicago;
all mail bags that need heavy
repairs, or that ought to be con-
demned, are sent to the Wash-
ington shop. Formerly every
person who repaired bags was
at liberty to condemn them at
his own sweet will. There was,
of course, great waste. But
now they have inspectors, whose
duty it is to examine all bags
sent in, to condemn such as
actually ought to be condemned,
and distribute the others equi-
tably among the workmen. It
is their duty, too, to see that
the work has been properly done.
The repair shop in Washing-
ton is now very well equipped.
It has a superintendent of its
own, and is under the supervis-
ion of the Mail Equipment Division and the Second Assistant. The
superintendent is Mr. Franklin B. Kirkbride, son of the late Dr.
Thomas S. Kirkbride, for more than forty years physician-in-chief at
the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane, and grandson of the late
Benjamin F. Butler, of New York, who was Attorney General and
Secretary of War under Jackson and Attorney General under Van
Buren. Mr. Kirkbride was born in Philadelphia in 1867, graduated
from Haverf ord College in ' 89, and studied abroad. In August, '91, he
was appointed stock-keeper of the bag shop, and in a few months he
was promoted to be superintendent of both the bag and lock shops.
These two occupy a large brick building at 479 and 481 C Street,
N. W., fifty feet wide by one hundred and forty feet deep. It was
formerly of three stories, but two new ones have just been added.

MR. FRANKLIN B. KIRKBRIDE,
Superintendent, Bag and Lock Repair Shop.

AMONG THE MAIL LOCKS AND THE BAGS. 123

There are about two hundred and thirty employees in the whole
place, one hundred and twenty of whom are men. The women are
jute sewers, and patch and otherwise repair and restring the jute
canvas sacks. They receive three and one half cents apiece per
bag, and are expected to average thirty-eight bags a day. The
men are a superintendent and two assistant superintendents, leather
and canvas workers, and laborers. The leather workers are skilled
mechanics and repair the leather mail pouches, horse bags, and the
leather parts of catcher pouches and through register pouches. They
are paid $75 a month each, when they have attained the required pro-
ficiencv; and they can repair twenty to twenty -four leather pouches
each a day. The canvas workers are skilled workmen in canvas and
also receive $75 per month. They repair catcher pouches, through
register pouches, and foreign mail bags. The laborers receive $50
a month and are occupied in receiving, shaking out, handling,
packing, and reshipping the mail bags. The amount of work
required is greater than ever before and the efficiency of the shop is
proportionately greater. About 35,000 jute sacks, four hundred
leather pouches, and one hundred catcher pouches are repaired each
day. A large amount of surplus stock besides the damaged stock is
shipped hither from all over the country, to be overhauled, packed,
and reshipped where needed. About 200,000 mail bags are received,
overhauled, and reshipped from this bag shop with every thirty days.

A few mail bags are repaired by postmasters in small country
places. When a bag containing mail in transit is received by a
postmaster in a damaged condition, and he has on hand no sound
bag to substitute for it, he is authorized to have repairs made ; and
he presents his bill to the Equipment Division for auditing. The
total annual cost of such repairs for the whole country, however, is
less than $400.

The business-like methods of the repair shop have greatly reduced
the amount of new stock required to be purchased. During the past
two years only 23,000 leather mail pouches and 1,000 through
register pouches have been bought, while during the preceding three
years 49,500 leather pouches and 3,400 through register pouches
had to be purchased; and there were almost 25,000 fewer jute sacks
bought in the past three than in the preceding three years. About
$160,000 is spent annually for new mail bags and catchers, and

124

AMONG THE MAIL LOCKS AND THE BAGS. 125

about $100,000 for repairing them. If it were not for the repair
shop it is almost certain that the cost of the mail equipment would
be twice $260,000. All mail bags are purchased under contract
that run for a period of four years. A contract ends on March 3,
1893, for example, and new contracts have to be advertised for; and
so on.

There are about fifty mail bag depositories scattered through the
country where more or less surplus stock is kept to supply the adja-
cent region upon orders from the Mail Equipment Division. Eleven,
of these depositories are at the eleven headquarters of the division
superintendents of the Railway Mail, and it is at these principal
depositories that all the surplus equipment from the surrounding
states is turned in, — and it is at these points chiefly that the new
stores are needed.

The locks used by the Post Office Department had best be divided
for purposes of description into two classes : those used for securing
mail matter while it is in transit in mail bags, and those used for
securing the safety of mail matter that has been deposited in street
letter boxes for collection. There are three kinds of locks of the
first class. One, the general mail lock, is made of iron, and is
used in locking leather mail pouches and horse bags, which contain,
ordinary first-class mail. There are far more locks of this kind iu
use than of any other. Probably as many as 500,000 of them are
scattered over the United States. The second, the brass lock, is
used to secure through mail in pouches passing over star routes.
Brass lock service is used over only a very small number of these
and is authorized by the Third Assistant Postmaster General where
the through registered mail is very heavy. Probably not more than
1,000 of these are continually in use.

The third kind of lock used to secure mail in transit is the
"rotary" or "through register" mail lock. This is used on every
through register pouch and inner register sack whenever exchanges
are authorized by the Third Assistant. There are probably about
12,000 of these locks in use. They are made of brass, are of a
cylindrical shape, and have upon one side a "spring-cat," which,
upon being pushed back, exposes, beneath some mica, four figures.
These figures number from to 9999 and vary consecutively,
advancing one every time a lock is opened. As pouches fastened

126

THE STORY OF OUft POST OFFICE.

with these locks are receipted for under the rotary number of the
lock, it is readily ascertained if the pouch has been improperly
opened and also, as has been hinted, who is responsible.

The street letter box locks are either padlocks attached to the out-
side of the collection boxes, or else inside street letter box locks,
which are not padlocks, but are attached to the inside of the collec-
tion box. There are many different combinations of the inside
street box locks. They cost eighty cents apiece originally, and the ser-
vices of a regular
mechanic are re-
quired to put them
on and take them
off. But they are
more durable and
safer than the pad-
lock. They are
used only in a few
of the larger cities.
There are about
10,000 of them in
all.

THE FIBST CEEW IN THE LOCK SHOP. • ™ e S ^ ree ^ ^^~

ter box padlocks
there are very many different combinations. They formerly cost
$1.25 each, but later the price was reduced to fifty cents.
There are about 25,000 of them in use. The necessity for a
good many different combinations of street letter box locks is
readily apparent. If a key should be stolen, or a lock stolen
and false keys fitted to it, the thief would have access to the
collection boxes all over the country, if there were but one combina-
tion in use. But as there are very many, the loss can be pretty
effectually stopped by changing the combination of locks in the
city in which the theft occurred. The distribution of the various
combinations of locks is kept a deep secret.

All locks and keys, like mail bags, were formerly purchased, and
the locks were formerly repaired, under contract, and it was thought
necessary to change the locks in use every ten or twelve years. The
contracts for locks were made for periods of four years, with the

AMONG THE MAIL LOCKS AND THE BAGS.

127

privilege reserved to the Department of extending the contract for
four years twice. Before the termination of this twelve years, a new
lock would be introduced and a new contract made. The work of
changing the general mail lock is very expensive and laborious. If
locks were purchased by contract at prices heretofore paid, it would
cost at least $200,000 to make the change; and it would require
much additional labor, as, besides distributing the new locks, every

THE BLACKSMITH SHOP WHERE CATCHERS ARE REPAIRED.

office in the country has to be first supplied with a new key, and
each key must be charged to the office by its number.

The method of providing new locks and keys has recently been
changed, however. In 1889, upon the recommendation of Major
Tyler, the Second Assistant Postmaster General obtained from Con-
gress an appropriation of $10,000 for establishing and fitting up a
mail lock shop in Washington. This shop has now $20,000 worth
of machinery and tools in it, and employs fifteen skilled mechanics
and about thirty other men and boys ; and it is stocked to furnish
all articles needed in repairing both mail locks and mail bags, a

128

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

thing which, besides its great economy, is of very great convenience
to the Department. Mail locks of all kinds are repaired here at
about one quarter of what it would cost to repair them by contract;
and this lock shop furnishes such new keys as are necessary.

In 1890 the Department thought it necessary to change the gen-
eral mail lock then in use. As already stated, such a change, if
made by purchasing a new ]ock by contract as heretofore, would
have cost the Department about $200,000. But there were on hand

PUNCHING EYES OUT OF SACKS.

about 200,000 old "Eagle locks " which had been in use as a general
mail lock prior to 1882, when the present iron lock was adopted.
It had been proposed, in accordance with former custom, to destroy
these 200,000 locks and sell them for old iron, in which transaction
they would have brought $135. But the Second Assistant had
these locks all sent to the lock shop, where they were altered,
repaired, and fitted with a new style of key made of steel, instead of
cast iron, as heretofore. The cost of changing the locks was about
six cents each, and of adding the new keys about nine and one
half cents each. They were turned out at the rate of 1,500

AMONG THE MAIL LOCKS AND THE BAGS.

129

daily. The saving to the Government by all this is between
$125,000 and $150,000. The dies and tools for this import-
ant work, and those needed for the street letter box locks, are
all made by the men in the shop.

The iron lock is being gradually withdrawn from service ; and it
is believed that after six or eight years, when it is thought neces-
sary again to change the general
mail lock, these old iron locks
can be sent to the lock shop,
altered and fitted with a new
and different key at a compara-
tively small cost, and then re-
stored to use in place of the
Eagle lock. If so, it will not be
necessary to purchase a new lock
for twenty or thirty years. The
changes of locks are made neces-
sary by the circumstance that in
half a dozen years a stray key, or
a score, or perhaps a hundred of
them the country over, get into
the possession of persons who
try to use them dishonestly.

Locks and keys have to be
guarded with the greatest strin-
gency. Not long ago a Philadelphia carrier lost his letter box key.
He was suspended for ten days, until the lost key was found. After-
wards another carrier, who collected mail in Germantown, lost a key.
He was removed by the postmaster. It was a more serious matter than
one would think, for the key would fit any letter box in German-
town, or in Philadelphia for that matter, and hence the mails might
have been made unsafe until all the keys of the city had been
changed. Just before the Republican National Convention at
Minneapolis, the city was entirely supplied with new locks and
keys, this for protection against the mail thieves known to flock to
such large gatherings. Probably there is no lock in use by the
Department, or commonly in use anywhere, that cannot be picked,
for there are fellows who make it their business to study how to

AT THE COFFEE WINDOW.

130

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

pick locks. But the trouble that they can make for the postal ser-
vice is necessarily very little. They have no means of knowing
whether it will pay or not. Here is a letter box, say. The thief
who robs it goes to prison, if he steals nothing more than a news-
paper. With the general adoption of Mr. Wanamaker's proposi-
tion to put letter boxes on all doors in free delivery localities where
citizens desire them, not only for delivery to them, but for collec-

A STORE BOOM IN THE BAG SHOP.

tions from them, comes additional safety for two reasons : there is
smaller chance of securing plunder, and surer and quicker chance
of detection.

One of the glass cases in Major Tyler's office is filled with locks
that have been or are at the present time in use by the Department.
Another is still more numerously filled with locks that have been
offered and have been rejected, each, of course, according to the firm
impression of the inventor, because favor has been shown to some
competitor with a perfectly inferior invention. Surely one of the
prize rejected locks was sent in by a Texan. He said that he had

AMONG THE MAIL LOCKS AND THE BAGS. 131

this little thing, but he didn't want to go to the trouble of making
a shield for it, and he would like it if the Mail Equipment Division
would work oat successfully that part of the invention. But, tired
of the resulting delay, this inventor completed his lock and used it
to make fast his horse's neck and fore leg as a protection against
horse thieves.

The defective bags are sent in to the repair shop from all parts of
the country by mail. They are received in great lots at the front
door and carried inside. The inspectors find some mail matter,
mostly newspapers and circulars, but once in a while a letter. In
25,000 will come, perhaps, a peck of this matter. The postal people
are continually warned to be careful to shake the sacks thoroughly,
but sometimes in the tremendous hurry required to make connec-
tions a piece of mail will lodge. The letter pouch has this advan-
tage over the jute sack, that it does not hold a circular or paper in
the bottom as often. The good bags are put in a separate pile for
storage and the wholly bad ones are cut up and the useless parts
sent to the junk dealer. The others are piled on an immense ele-
vator and lifted to the fourth floor. The foreman hands them out
as the women are ready for them, and as the bags are finished they
are collected by the foreman and the proper credit is given. It is
Hobson's choice with the bags. The women do not see them and
hence are willing to take them as they come, the hard ones with the
easy. The labor is tiresome and the pay not large, perhaps thirty
dollars, perhaps forty dollars a month. But scores, hundreds, even,
of applications are constantly on file at the Second Assistant's office
for places in the bag shop. The women talk a little and joke a
little, but they must apply themselves sedulously to the work, or
they do not earn enough, or worse yet, lose their places. The
large room in which the women are employed has conveniences for
making a cup of coffee or tea ; and the employees may drink as
much as they please for nothing. The hundred women (who alone
repair over 2,000 bags a day) are supposed to repair thirty-eight
bags a day, or give way to others. The average earning is $38
a month. A woman once made $95 in a month, but the highest
figure now is $55.

The third floor is used by the leather workers who repair the
leather and catcher pouches and for storage. The nooks and corners

132

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

have much the appearance of a shoemaker's, or a harness maker's, or
a trunkmaker's, or a sailmaker's shop. Indeed, most of the men who
work on the pouches have followed these occupations previously.
A man used to repair a dozen bags a day. The average now is
twenty. The workmen have been appointed mainly on the recom-
mendations of influential persons, but influence has never been
allowed to interfere with the efficiency of the room, for only a

CROCHETED BY THE BLIND GIRL.

skilled workman could be employed, and hence they alone are
recommended.

The second floor of the bag shop is mainly used for storage pur-
poses. Perhaps 20,000 bags are commonly on hand waiting to be
mended. The number has risen as high as 50,000. These are
spread out in great piles ; or, if waiting to be spread out, they have
been left in still bigger piles, bags within bags, heaped one upon
another. On the second floor most of the inspecting is done. Bags

AMONG THE MAIL LOCKS AND THE BAGS. 133

not worth repairing are cut up and the pieces saved for patches or
for double bottoms. The eyes of the jute sacks are punched out by
a machine made for the purpose manned by an active boy. Worth-
less bags are stripped of cords or cord fasteners, and the cord and
the cord fasteners are separated into good and bad. Nothing is
wasted that can possibly be saved. The waste, indeed, is ninety
per cent, less than it was six years ago. On the second floor are
the sail makers, who repair the catcher and through registered
pouches and other canvas sacks. Here, too, is the office of the
superintendent, in which the visitor may see the equipment for the
beautiful little model of the modern postal car, which has been
made for the German post office. It shows exactly one sixth of the
measurement of the full postal car, and is provided with a perfect
equipment in the minutest detail, — with racks, catchers, pouches,
cords, and cord fasteners, all exactly as if they were big ones.

In the machine shop, which occupies the fifth floor, are shapers,
drills, grinders, dogs, forges, lathes, grindstones, anvils, dies, chucks,
and all that, and a very busy dozen men, making rivets, eyes, tools,
and everything, almost, that is required for use in the shop. The
value of the machinery is about 820,000. Every man and boy in
this room is sworn. Every piece of material handed out, every
piece of finished product, must be accounted for; every spoiled piece
of work must be carefully given up. One man repairs all the
through registered locks. There in a secret little room in which
only three persons may go — the Second Assistant Postmaster Gen-
eral, the chief of the Equipment Division, and the man himself who
does the work. The lock repairers are all sworn employees of the
Government. The men know the combinations of locks, because
they put the locks together and have the keys; but everything
which they require during the day is provided for them, and when
work ceases, everything which they have been working upon, raw
material, pieces of locks, keys, etc., is turned over rigorously to the
foreman and locked up in the big safe. If a key were lost, all
the locks to which it could apply might have to be called in
immediately, and the number might be 10,000.

Upstairs among the women is one who has sewed at the mail bags
for seventeen years, ever since the shop was organized. But the
most interesting person in the bag shop, as every other person in

134

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

the bag shop cordially admits, is Miss Hattie Maddux, a girl who
has been totally blind for years. She sits during the regulation
hours every day by a great heap of mail bags which have defective
cords. With wonderful deftness she finds the knots, weak spots,
ravelled ends, and what not, in all these, makes them good again or
supplies new ones, knots the ends in the cord fasteners, and puts the
bags in another heap, as reliably equipped for use again as if Argus

A BLIND GIRL STRINGING BAGS.

himself had inspected them. Her face is happy with contentment
and intelligence. Another woman is required to do piecework of
this sort. She has both her eyes and earns $30 a month. Miss
Maddux earns $40. In the evening she works on children's cloth-
ing and makes tasteful silk stockings, rarely clocked. She won
her present place in a wonderful way. She showed Colonel
Whitfield, who was then the Second Assistant, some samples
of her crocheting one day. He engaged her instantly. If
any woman in the bag shop gets out of patience trying to

AMONG THE MAIL LOCKS AND THE BAGS.

135

lftg.fr,:. ,. - 1 v

j ; , "V-

*mMi

T^WT JFS

-11$!* ^illl

W-

A BEADED CHAIR MADE BY
THE BLIND GIKL,.

thread a needle, she takes it promptly to the poor, happy-
blind girl.

It is believed by experts that it would be economical in every-
way if an inspector or two could be employed under the direc-
tion of the Second Assistant to
visit post offices and search them
thoroughly for bags and sacks
that need repairing. A f mail sack,
and especially a partly worn-out
one, is not an object of much
interest to the average clerk in a
post office or the average railway
postal clerk. The neglected sacks
are used for waste paper, and for
beds, of course; they are used
for aprons, window curtains, and
waste luncheons. But the in-
spector cannot be had because a
specific appropriation is required for it. The Second Assistant's
office must therefore do the best it can by issuing from time to time
in the Postal Guide directions to postmasters and others how the
mail equipment is to be taken care of. They must forward surplus
locks, keys, cord fasteners, chains, and label cases to the Second
Assistant's office each Saturday of every week, and every division
superintendent is directed to send all defective mail catchers and
rubber springs as fast as they become defective to the mail bag store-
house in Washington. Postmasters are not allowed to cut the
shackles of a lock or in any way deface it, but they may cut the bag
staple when the lock cannot be opened with the key. Postmasters
are especially prohibited from using pouch locks, new or old, on any
letter box inside or outside of post offices. Postmasters reclaim any
pouches or bags, locks or keys which they find in unauthorized hands
or put to an unauthorized use by anyone, and forward them to
Washington. When a pouch is received without a lock and the
postmaster has no mail lock, he locks the pouch with any safe pad-
lock which he may have and sends the key in a sealed envelope by
the mail carrier to the next postmaster, who, if he has no mail lock,
uses the same padlock on the pouch and forwards the key to the

136 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

next postmaster, in a sealed envelope, and so on. The first post-
master who happens to have a mail lock pnts it on the pouch and
immediately returns the padlock and key to its owner. If a post-
master has no padlock, he purchases an inexpensive lock, which he
sends, together with an explanation, to the Second Assistant's office.
The bill for such a lock is presented, like other accounts, in his
quarterly statement to the Auditor. All this seems very finical ; it
all seems wound up in red tape ; but it is all very necessary.

The repaired bags are mostly shipped to eastern points. They
go to eleven distributing points in the whole country, and these
distributing offices send bags, upon the orders of the Second Assist-
ant Postmaster General, to other points as they are required. The
great currents of mail run East and West, and hence almost all the
bags come in on East and West lines, though small lots of five, or
ten, or fifteen, arrive in Washington from all parts of the country.
It is the hardest to supply the distributing points of the East, in
New England, say, for the natural amounts of mail eastward are not
sufficient to counter-balance the natural amounts of mail westward
from that region. Not long ago 10,000 bags were required for
Augusta, Maine. These were mostly for second-class matter, and
there could be no compensating advantage, of course, in the receipt
of Western mail at that point.

It has appeared already that it is an economical and wise thing
for the Department to do repairing. Up to the time when repairing
was begun, orders for new supplies came in with the greatest regu-
larity, and pouches, bags, locks, keys, cord fasteners, label cases,
key chains, all seemed to go out of use on a sort of schedule. As a
consequence, the entire appropriation, no matter how large it might
be, was never more than adequate to the demands ; all which was very
fine for the contractor.

AMEKICAN MAILS UPON THE SEA.

HE bureau of the Second Assistant Postmaster Gen-
eral's office next in importance to the Railway
Mail Service is the Bureau of Foreign Mails.
It has been of unavoidable growth, rather than
an enterprising, creative, typical branch of the
postal system. It is, because it has been obliged
to be. In the present administration, however,
the very important subsidy legislation has been
enacted, and if the development of this policy is pursued to its logi-
cal ends (and many public men think it inevitable that it shall be),
the Bureau of Foreign Mails may rise in importance to the level of the
Railway Mail Service. Many consider the beginning of the subsidy
policy the historical event of Postmaster General Wanamaker's admin-
istration. At all events the credit for the labor performed in induc-
ing American steamship owners to bid under the act is wholly his.
The Superintendent of Foreign Mails has the details of the exchange
of mails with foreign countries, of course ; he prepares postal treaties
and conventions, except money order conventions, which are prepared
in the Money Order Division of the First Assistant's office ; he remits
erroneous or excessive postage, and adjusts rates for the transporta-
tion of mails through the United States to be paid by foreign coun-
tries ; he charges customs duties on mail matter, prepares a monthly
schedule of the sailings of mail steamers, and examines accounts and-
recognizes payments. Now and then, the dry routine is relieved by
the announcement in the Postal Guide that packages of queen bees,
or something of that sort, may be received and forwarded by post-
masters for the Danish West Indies, or some other place, under such
and such mystic restrictions.

The post office at San Francisco has a large foreign mail business
with the countries of Asia, Australia, and Australasia. But the

137

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138

AMEBICAN MAILS UPON THE SEA. 139

great bulk of this work is performed in New York. The post office
in that city has been called the clearing house for foreign mails.
The method of dispatching and receiving foreign mails at New York
has been well described recently by a writer in the New York Times.
Mails leaving the United States for Europe are assigned to steamers
upon a plan in vogue for years. In cases where two steamers leave
New York at about the same time, the mails are put on board the
one which, in accordance with the record of her three voyages just
preceding the assignment, delivered the mails in the shortest time
in London. The records upon which these assignments are made are
based upon the trip reports made to the American Postmaster General
by the agents of the vessels upon the termination of each voyage, in
connection with statements furnished weekly by the British post
office showing the exact time of the arrival of the mails at the Lon-
don post office.

Great Britain does not go to the same amount of trouble to insure
the most rapid dispatch of mails to the United States. The Eng-
lish Department pays a handsome subsidy to two steamship com-
panies ; and to these two lines, the Cunard and the White Star, the
London post office consigns all mail matter. Steamships of the
other lines only carry letters which are expressly addressed to go
by them. The steamships carrying mails from the United States
to Queenstown and Southampton are selected by the American
Post Office Department under a contract for a single voyage
only, for the fastest steamer which is sailing on a particular day
receives the mails quite irrespective of the company to which it
belongs.

The United States Post Office sent letters to Great Britain last
year by two hundred and sixty-six steamers, which gives an average
rate of mail dispatch of five steamers a week. Something like
three hundred and fifty steamships sailed from Queenstown or
Southampton for New York, and mails were dispatched on one hun-
dred and four of them, which left Queenstown, — an average rate of
sailing of two steamers per week. Of the steamers employed in
the transportation of ocean mails, ninety-six were capable of making
less than a seven days voyage to Queenstown, and all of these
carried mails for the United States. The English post office
authorities, on the other hand, while able to select an equal number

140

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

of swift steamships, forwarded their mails in but thirty-four of
them ; in sixty-two the letters were forwarded by private ship bag.

The German lines carry mails to and from London via Southamp-
ton more speedily than the Liverpool lines. Last year the most
rapid service from New York to London, as in the year preceding,
was performed by the new steamers of the Hamburg- American Com-
pany. The White Star greyhounds to Queenstown came second ;
next the Inman racers ; then the fastest of the North German Lloyd's,

and last the Cunard's best steamers. The quickest trip to London
via Southampton was run by the "Furst Bismarck " of the Hamburg-
American line, in seven days, and the other ships of this company
were but a few hours behind her. Next in point of time came the
White Star ships, the "Teutonic" and the "Majestic." The mail
they carried reached London by way of Queenstown in about seven
and one half days. The two "Cities " of the Inman were but a few
minutes behind. The best time made by the North German Lloyd's
was that of the "Havel," about seven days and eighteen hours.

AMERICAN MAILS UPON THE SEA. 141

The " Etruria, " of the Cunarders, reached the London office scarcely
an hour later. All told, there were one hundred and thirty-six
steamers carrying American mails that delivered them at the London
post office, via Southampton; and no less than one hundred and ten
of them flew the burgee of the North German Lloyds. On the
Queenstown route the Cunard line dispatched forty-nine steamers
with mails; the White Star followed with forty-five sailings; the
Inman carried the mail only seventeen times.

The American Post Office Department received for foreign postages
about $1,700,000 annually, and the outlay for this service did not

THE PACIFIC MAIL, S. S. CO.'S STEAMSHIP " NEWPORT. "

exceed $600,000 per annum. In these facts was one of the
chief arguments why the foreign postage rates should be reduced
from five cents to two. It was one of the arguments also why
some of this money, at least, might reasonably be appropriated for
the encouragement of American shipping. The United States Post
Office Department depended almost wholly upon steamers flying flags
of other nations for the transportation of mails leaving this country.
It was pointed out by Postmaster General Wanamaker that dif-
ferences might unexpectedly arise with foreign steamship com-
panies that would break off all mail intercourse with Europe. It
was argued in the Fifty-First Congress, which passed the Subsidy Act,

142

THE STORY OF OTJR POST OFFICE.

that this country annually paid out for passenger and freight trans-
portation across the Atlantic about 1125,000,000, and almost all of it
to foreign vessels owners. In other words, it took about all the

THE PACIFIC MAIL S. S. CO.'S STEAMSHIP "COLOMBIA."

surplus grain of this country to pay the foreign shipping bills of the
United States. That immense sum of money was nearly all spent
on the other side of the Atlantic and was a dead loss to the United
States. It was argued, too, that until 1815, ninety per cent, of our

... ■...■ ,

THE PACIFIC MAIL S. S. CO.'S STEAMSHIP "PAEA

foreign trade was carried under the Stars and Stripes, and as late as
1850, seventy-five per cent, of it was thus carried. Now the amount
was less than twelve per cent. According to the New York Produce
Exchange, there were, in 1883, 44,205,000 bushels of grain in New

AMERICAN MAILS UPON" THE SEA.

143

York awaiting shipment abroad, and of the 1,190 steam vessels
which carried this product not one was of American register. Out
of the 1,190 vessels referred to, 786 of them were owned by Eng-
land, and carried away 29,441,951 bushels. Ninety-three Belgian
ships carried 5,734,018 bushels, and 170 German vessels carried
away 4,284,485 bushels.

Other arguments for the Postal Aid Law were that during thirty
years England had paid $32 a ton in subsidies to secure the construc-
tion and maintenance of her merchant marine. In 1889 her mer-
chant tonnage was estimated to be worth $1,000,000,000, and it had

THE PACIFIC MAIL, S. S. CO.'S STEAMSHIP "PEETJ.'

been estimated that to put this inconceivable sum into ships, proba-
bly not more than ten per cent, was expended for ore and timber, the
raw materials out of which they were constructed, and that the other
$900,000,000 represented labor. Thus English labor had received
$900,000,000 in one industry alone. The shipyards of England
steadily employed 240,000 men, while to man her fleet employed in
the carrying trade required 220,000 more ; and America had annu-
ally paid to English vessel owners about $100,000,000 to assist them
in constructing and maintaining their vessels.

And again — and worse still. Foreign governments not only
paid increasing subsidies, but these, being chiefly for the extension

144

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

of commerce, were granted for trips or tonnage, and not for letters
carried; while the basis of pay for American vessels, the sea and
inland postages, made American vessel owners suffer with successive
reductions of international postage rates, as voted by the Postal
Union ; for in this international assembly the United States had no

larger voice than any other
government, and foreign repre-
sentatives never hesitated to
make reductions which worked
no hardship to their own ves-
sel owners. Thus, while the
American Postmaster General,
under his power to make con-
tracts for carrying domestic
mails, might pay a steamboat
line, running daily from Woods
Holl to Nantucket, a trip of a
few hours, $18,000 a year, say,
he could only pay the United
States and Brazil Mail Steam-
ship Company, upon the sea and
inland postage basis and under
the reductions of the Postal
Union, $8,000, say, for twenty-
six trips a year from New York
to Rio, a voyage of twenty-
eight days. The compensation of American steamships, therefore,
was really regulated by foreigners — so long as the amount of sea
and inland postage continued, under the enactment of Congress, to
be the American basis of pay.

Another source of complaint was that the foreign mail service,
which had constantly been an increasing source of revenue to the
American Post Office Department, should support at least to some
extent transportation in American ships. Mr. I. D. Rich, postmas-
ter at Liverpool, not long ago told ex-Postmaster General James "that
he, as a clerk in the British post office when a boy, put the foreign
mail on board the steamship k Great Western," about the year 1840,
and it amounted to two sacks ; at the present time it amounts to five

AMERICAN MAILS UPON THE SEA. 145

or six truck loads." "In 1873," says Mr. James, "the English
outgoing mail was considered very large if it reached 20,000 let-
ters. At the present time over one hundred thousand foreign* letters
are sent from New York every sailing day, and nearly the same
number are received." And as the mails grew, the complaints grew
that such a profitable business could not be turned to account for
Americans.

So the Fifty-First Congress passed the Postal Aid Bill. The idea
was to change the foreign mail system radically, paying American
vessels, built, owned, and manned by Americans, for the service.
Paying on the basis of sea and inland postage on mail carried was
done away with; paying according to speed, tonnage and mileage
was substituted. Four classes of vessels were provided for; the
first class to be iron or steel screw steamships capable of main-
taining at sea a speed of twenty knots an hour in ordinary weather,
and of a gross registered tonnage of not less than eight thousand
tons ; the second class to be iron or steel steamships capable of main-
taining a speed of sixteen knots an hour and of a gross tonnage of
not less than five thousand tons ; the third class to be iron or steel
steamships capable of maintaining a speed of fourteen knots an hour
and of not less than two thousand five hundred tons ; and the fourth
class to be iron, steel or wooden steamships, capable of maintaining
a speed of twelve knots and of not less than fifteen hundred tons.
None but the first class were to be contracted with for carrying the
mails between the United States and Great Britain. It was pro-
vided that all vessels of the first three classes thereafter built should
be constructed on plans agreed upon between the owners and the
Secretary of the Navy, and built with particular reference to their
economical and speedy conversion into auxiliary cruisers ; and to be
of sufficient strength and stability to carry and sustain the working
and operation of at least four effective rifled cannon of a caliber not
less than six inches, and further to be of the highest rating known
to marine commerce.

The rate of compensation fixed for carrying the mails on each of
these classes was for vessels of the first class four dollars per mile ;
of the second class, two dollars; of the third class, one dollar; and
of the fourth class, two thirds of a dollar for every mile required
to be travelled on each outward-bound voyage. It was required that

146

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

the vessels should be officered by American citizens, and that during
the first two years of the contract for carrying the mail at least one

11 fourth of the crew

should be American
citizens, during the
next two years at
least one third, and
for the remainder of
the contract time
one half should be
Americans. It was
permitted to offi-
cers of the Ameri-
can Navy to accept
positions on board
such vessels ; and
it was required that
for every one thou-
sand tons of regis-
ter one American
boy should be taken
who should be edu-
cated in the duties
of seamanship and
rank as a petty of-
ficer.

There were ac-
tual months of hard
labor ahead for the
Postmaster General
and the steamship
owners; and not a
contract but en-
gaged the notice of the President. The Department issued a sched-
ule of routes required to be covered, instructions to bidders, classifica-
tions of vessels, etc., and after the advertisements had stood for two
months in two papers in each of the chief coast cities of the country
— paid for out of the general advertising fund of the Department,

The following is a copy of the advertisement for service on the Pacific
Ocean as it appears in newspapers in San Francisco, Tacoma, and Port-
land, the numbers of the routes not forming a part of said advertise*
mentt

OCEAN MAIL LETTINGS.

NOTICE TO BIDDERS.

Post-Office Department,

Washington, D. C, July J.5, 1891.
In accordance with the provisions of an act of Congress, approved March 3, 1891,
entitled " An act to provide for ocean mail service between the United States and
foreign ports and to promote commerce," proposals will be received at the Post-Office
Department, in the City of Washington, until 3 o'clock p. m., on Monday, the 26th
day of October, 1891, for conveying the mails of the United States by means of steam-
ships described in said act, between the several ports of the United States and the
several ports in foreign countries which are specifically named in the schedule of
routes published herewith.

Proposals are invited for service on said routes, under contracts for ten years each,
except where otherwise particularly specified, -which shall commence within three
years from the date of the execution of the contract, and at one of the periods named
below, to wit : ,

1st. Two months from execution of contract.
2d. Fourmbnths " " " "

3d. Six months " " " "

4tb. Twelve months " ■" " l

5th. Eighteen months " " '"

6th. Twenty-four months " " "

7th. Thirty months " ** /«

8th. Thirty-six months " M ••

Preference will be given, all other things being equal, to the proposal which names
the earliest date for the commencement of the service.

Under the law the right is reserved to the Postmaster-General to reject all bids not,
in his opinion, reasonable for the attainment of the purposes contemplated by the
act.

SCHEDULE OF ROUTES ON THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

No. 44— "0. M. S." From San Francisco' to Panama, touching twice each raonih,
going and returning, at the following ports: San Diego, Cal.,
Mazatlan, San Bias, Manzauillo, Acapnlco, Port Angel, Salina
Cruz, Tbnala. San Benito, Ocos, Champerico, San Jos6, Aca-
jutla, La Libertad, La Union, Amapala, Corinto, San Juan, and
* Pnnta Arenas.

Three times a mouth — thirty -six trips a year, time sixteen days,
in vessels 'of the fourth class for the first three years, and
the remaining seven years, once a week, fifty-two trips per
year, time fifteen days and a half, the increased service to be
performed in vessels of the third class, the bid to specify the
rate for each class.
Bond required with bid, $12,000.
No. 45—" O. M. S." Same route.

Three times per month, thirty-six trips per year, in vtssels of
the third class for the first three years, time fourteen days,
and for the remaining seven years, once a week, fifty-two
trips per year, the additional service in vessels of the second
class, time twelve days, the bid to specify the rate for each
class.

Bond required with bid, $15,000.
No. 46 — " O. M. S." From San Francisco to Valparaiso, Chili, by San Diego, Cal., and
Panama, touching at Buena Ventura, United States of Colom-
bia, Guyaquil, Ecuador, Callao, Pern, and Iquique, Chili.
Once in 2 weeks — twenty-six trips per year in vessels of the
third class for the first 3 years, and for the remaining 7 years
in vessels of the second class, the bid to specify the rate for
each class.
Bond required with bid, $20,000.

A FAC SIMILE PAGE OF OCEAN MAIL LETTINGS.

AMERICAN MAILS UPON THE SEA. 147

for, though the Subsidy Bill had provided for this advertising, it
Jiad not appropriated any money for the purpose — contracts were
made with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company dating from Febru-
ary 1, 1892, with a Galveston and La Guayra line dating from
April 26, 1893, and with the Red "D " line dating from March 1,
1892. As the law required that contracts for Great Britain should
only be made for vessels of the first class, and as there was no vessel
of that class of American build and register afloat, no bid for the
trans-Atlantic was expected. The service from San Francisco to Hong
Kong was to be shortened. For the first two years of the new
contract it was required that vessels should sail every twenty-
eight days and make the trip in sixteen days instead of eighteen,
as before. During the remaining eight years of the contract the
sailings were to be once a fortnight and the time was to be reduced
to thirteen days. To accomplish this great change the Pacific Mail
Steamship Company undertook to spend from six to seven million
dollars in building new ships in American shipyards. This fort-
nightly service displaced an English line.

But no prospect opened up for an American line across the
Atlantic. The trans- Atlantic trade had been held for so many years
by foreign vessels, and the cost of building ships of the first class
had been so great, that it was feared the amount of subsidy offered
would not tempt American citizens to make the venture. The
two fastest steel ships in the trans-Atlantic service, the " City of
Paris" and the "City of New York," were owned by American
citizens, though the vessels had been built in England. They
were under an annual subsidy of $52,000 from Great Britain, and
bound to do naval service for that country in time of war. To
change their registry was to forfeit the subsidies received from
England; but the owners finally determined to make the change, if
the United States would accept the two vessels and give them an
American register. The proposition was made to Congress that if
the " City of Paris " and the " City of New York " were accepted,
their owners would at once begin the construction, at a cost of
18,000,000 or $10,000,000, of four new vessels in American ship-
yards that should equal these ocean racers in every respect. The
United States would at once have in return two of the largest and
fastest vessels afloat as an auxiliary addition to the American

148

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Navy and insure the speedy construction of at least four more.
Congress naturalized the Inman ships, new trans-Atlantic routes, as>
well as other new ones, were advertised for, and in September the
Postmaster General had the pleasure of awarding contracts for the
transportation of American mails under the American flag to Eng-
land and the continent, to Brazil and the River Platte, and to Havana
and Tuxpan. It is very entertaining to see, at the office of the
builders, Messrs. J. and G. Thomson, Clyde Bank, Scotland, the
pictures illustrating the building of the * k City of New York " and

THE BEAZIL S. S. CO.'S STEAMSHIP " FINANCE."

the "City of Paris." It will be still more so to see ocean palaces
like these building on the banks of the Delaware. The famous
Cramp shipbuilding concern of Philadelphia has received orders
for new vessels that require an addition of fifteen hundred
mechanics to their working force. Other yards have felt a similar
impetus, and the activity extends to the manufacture of all kinds of
supplies used in ship building. The London Illustrated News has
expected "a revolution in the American mercantile marine," and
has been of opinion that " its former depressed condition will soon
be a thing to be wondered at."

The following table shows the result of the Act of March 3,
1891: —

AMERICAN MAILS UPON THE SEA.

149

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150

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

For nearly half a century the boys of America had been practi-
cally shut out from employment on the seas except in the coasting
trade. Most of the large steam vessels were of foreign register,
officered by citizens of the country under whose flag they sailed.
American youths could not hope to secure an officer's berth on any
one of them. The few boys who could obtain appointments to
Annapolis might hope for a position in the Navy, but others were

THE BKAZIL S. S. CO.'S STEAMSHIP "SEGUEANCA."

barred from any prospect of ever becoming anything more than able
seamen. The Postal Aid Law, by providing that all vessels
reaping its benefits should be officered wholly by American citizens,
and should take a certain number of American boys as cadets, opened
up once more the chance to follow the calling that Americans made
glorious in the old-time days. The Pacific Mail Steamship Company
decided to select the graduates from the school ships in the
service of the States of New York and Pennsylvania, the "St.
Mary's" and the "Saratoga." This company gives notice that it
will be glad to know of any desirable young men who wish to follow
a sailor's life. The pay is $20 per month the first year, $25 per

AMERICAN MAILS UPON THE SEA. 151

month the second, and $30 per month the third, when, if com-
petent, the boys will be eligible for promotion. The Red "D"
line received the applications of boys from different parts of the coun-
try. Usually those were selected who had served on state training
ships. Each of the Red U D " steamships carries three boys, one in
the engine department, and two in the deck department. Rooms
are fitted up for them apart from the sailors.

The relation of the Foreign Mails Bureau of the Post Office Depart-
ment to the Postal Union are naturally close. Usually the super-
intendent of the bureau is one of the two delegates sent by this
country to represent it. Capt. N. M. Brooks, the present superin-
tendent, and Mr. William Potter, of Philadelphia, were the two
United States delegates to the last Postal Union at Vienna. It is
essential that one of the delegates at least should know a foreign
language or two, especially French, in which the proceedings of the
Union are carried on. The delegates from foreign countries are
treated with eager hospitality by their hosts. A large and luxurious
eating place is provided, with every personal and business con-
venience. The postal officials of the visited country spend more
time providing entertainment and recreation for their visitors than
they do in the deliberations of the Congress, and the diplomatic corps
resident in the visited city, naturally spend all their time in enter-
taining the guests from home.

The two most weighty subjects which came before the last Postal
Congress were the postal tariff and the rates of transit; that is to
say, on the one side, the charges which the post offices of the Union
levy from the public ; and, on the other, the rates which one country
pays to another for the conveyance of correspondence over alien terri-
tory, or by alien ships. But the event which most directly marked
the Congress at Vienna was the accession to the Universal Postal
Union of the Australasian colonies. These comprise, under one vote,
New South Wales, Victoria, Southern Australia, Western Australia,
Queensland, Tasmania, New Zealand, British New Guiana and the
Fiji Islands. In order to secure the adhesion of these colonies, the
Congress offered to place them in the same position as to voting
power with British India and Canada, and to postpone until the
next meeting in Washington the consideration of the important
question of reducing, or abolishing, payments for transit, and of

152

AMERICAN MAILS UPON THE SEA. 153

altering the letter rates of postage. The next Union is to be held
either in 1895 or 1896, as may be hereafter decided. The represen-
tatives of the postal and telegraphic authorities of almost all civi-
lized countries will form this "parliament of the world," and it
cannot fail to be an event at once of public and social interest, and
of immense business importance to the United States.

The Vienna Congress decided that every country of the Union
should in future supply the public with a reply postal card. An-
other decision agreed upon was that a postal card of one coun-
try, posted in another country, should not, in future, be suppressed or
destroyed, but should be sent to its destination, charged as an unpaid
letter. The opportunity was taken of legislating on the subject of
letters posted on board mail packets, on the high seas, or in foreign
ports. In future, postage on letters posted on board a packet at sea
should be prepayable, by means of stamps of the country to which the
packet belongs, while, for letters posted on board ship in a foreign
port, the sender should use the stamp of the country to which the
port belongs. A concession was made to the large mass of people
who use postal cards ; so that, in future, the name and address of the
sender may be either written or stamped on the address side.
Formerly they might stamp, but not write, the name. A very satis-
factory concession to commerce was the relaxation of the rule as to
the dimensions of merchandise allowed through the mails. The
increased dimensions adopted were practically equivalent to one
foot in length, eight inches in width, and four inches in thickness.

The two United States delegates agreed to urge upon Congress
legislation concerning three important questions. The first was
that of indemnity for lost registered letters. The United States of
America and two or three South American republics are the only
countries which do not, in their domestic service, recognize responsi-
bility for a lost registered letter. The second question was the
uniformity of charge for registered letters. All countries in the
Union (except the United States and two or three South American
republics, which charge the equivalent of ten cents) charge for a
registered letter the equivalent of five cents. In order to carry out
the central idea of the Postal Union, to have it universal in prac-
tice, as well as in name, the American representatives agreed to
urge this reduction. The third question was the treatment of frauds

L'UNION POSTALE

Abonnements
(I ne peat etre pris que des
abonuemeuts aimuels concur
<1antavec I'aunfeeastrouuujique
Prix de I'abonnenient, port com-
pris.fr 3 40 pour la Suisse, fr 4
pour les autres pays Prix du
ouinero. 35 cts port compris

JOURNAL PUBLffi PAH

LE BUREAU -INTERNATIONAL

L'UNION POSTALE UNIVERSELLE.

Avis. Le moutaui 4e
I'abonnenient dolt etre crAis-
mis franco au Bureau inter-
national de I'Uuion postale
universeile a Berne, au moyea
d'uu mandat-poste on d'nue
traite a rue sot la Suisse.

XVU" volume.

N°8.

Berne, l er aout 1892

Sommaire. Francois dp. Taxis, le createur de la poste moderne, et son neveu Jean-Baptiste de Taxis

DO RAPPORT (IE GESTION OU POSTMASTER GENERAL DE L'lLB DE CE7LAN, POUR 1890 BlBLIOQRAPHIE POSTALE.

E STRAIT

Frangois de Taxis, le createur
de la poste moderne, et son
neveu Jean-Baptiste de Taxis

1491—1541. ')
Par M le D r Joseph Rubsam. a Ratisbonne.

Francois de Taxis, fils de Simon
et petit-fils de Roger de Taxis, qui
entra au service de la maison de
Habsbourg sous le regue de lem
pereur Frederic III et que celui-ci
nomtna chambellan et premier ca-
pitaine des chasses, etait issu d'une
famille bergamasque tres ancienne,
qui portait dans ses armoines un
blaireau (en italien tasso) passant.
Torquato Tasso, Tauteur de la Jeru-
salem delwree, est de la meme fa-
mille que Francois de Taxis, le
createur de la poste dans le seus
moderne du mot, ainsi que labbe
Pierantonio Serassi 2 ), I'auteur qui
a etudie Tasso le plus a fond, le
prouve d'accord avec Giambattista
Manso ), marquis de Villa, I'ami in-
time et le premier biographe du
poete *).

') D'apres des sources authentiques ti-
rees principalement des archives centrales
de la famille prmciere de la Tour et Taxis,
a Ratisbonne

*) Serasst, La Vita di Torquato Tasso
Rome 1785. 4°, p. 7 s. s

*) Manso, Vita di Torquato Tasso- Rome
1634. 12". p ft

') Voir eotre autres V Union postale,
I6« vol., 198, observation 4, et Hopf, Atlas
historico-glnialogiquc. Gotha 1858, 1. 434

Franz von Taxis, der Begrdnder
der modernen Post, und sein
Neffe, Johann Baptista von Taxis;

1491—1541. ')
Von Henn Dr Jos Riibsam In Regensburg.

Franz von Taxis, Sobn des Simon
und Enkel jenes Roger von Taxis,
welcber aoter Kaiser Friedrich III
in die Dienste des Hauses Ilabsburg
trat und von demselben zum
Kammerer und Oberstjagermeister
ernannt wurde, entstammte einer
uralten bergamaskischen Familie,
welcbe in ihrem Wappenscbilde einen
schreitenden Dachs (italieniscb lasso)
fiihrte. Torquato Tasso, der Schopfer
des befreiten Jerusalem, ist mit Frauz
von Taxis, dem Begrunder der Post
im modernen Sinue des Wortes,
glekhen Stammes, wie Abate Pier-
antonio Serassi 2 ), der gruudlichste
Tassoforscber, im Einklange mit
Giambattista Manso 9 ), Marchese di
Villa, dem vertrauten Freunde und
ersten Biographen dieses Dichters,
darthut 4 )

') Nacb autbentischen vorziiglicb deui
fiirstlich Thurn und Taxisschen Ceotrat-
archiv zu Regensburg entnommenen
Quellen.

*) Serassi, la vita di Torquato Tasso,
Roma 1785. 4° S. 7 ff.

') Manso, la vita di Torquato Tasso. Roma
U634. 12" 5 5.

M Vergl. u a. Union postale XVI, 198,
Anmerkung 4 und Hopf, historisch-genea-
logischer Atlas Gotha 1858. 1, 434

Francis von Taxis, the Founder
of the Modern Post, and Johann
Baptista von Taxis, his Nephew.

1491—1641. ')
By Dr Joseph Riibsam in Regensburg

Francis von Taxis, son of Simon,
and grandson of Roger von Taxis
who had entered the service of the
House of Habsburg during the reign
of the Emperor Frederick. Ill, and
been appointed by him Chamberlain
aud Chief Master of the Huntsmen,
was an offspring of a very ancient
family of Bergamo whose escutcheon
displayed a badger passant (tasso
in Italian). Torquato Tasso, the author
of < Gerusalemme Liberata >, had
the same ancestors as Francis von
Taxis, the founder of the Post in
the modern sense of the word, as
is clearly shown by Abate Pier-
antonio Serassi 3 ), the most compe-
tent student of Tas9o, as well as
by Giambattista Manso 3 ), Marcbese
di Villa, the intimate friend and first
biographer of the poet 4 ).

Whether Roger von Taxis, the

') Aocording to authentic documents,
for the greater part in the Archives ot the
Princes von Thurn and Taxis, Regensburg

8 ) Serassi, * La Vita di Torquato Tasso »
Rome 1785 4°. pages 7 and following.

*) Manso, « La Vita di Torquato Tasso •
Rome 1634 12°, page 5.

4 ) See tL' Union Postale; XVI., 198,
Remark 4, and also Hopf, < Historisch-
genealogischer Atlas » Gotha 1858. I., 434.

A FIRST PAGE OF i/UNION POSTALE.

154

AMERICAN MAILS UPON THE SEA. 155

upon the postal revenue by fictitious or cleaned stamps. An Eng-
lish delegate gave full credit to Postmaster General Wanamaker
for laying before the Vienna Congress a definite plan for an inter-
national postage stamp, but the differences of currency, variations
of exchange, and various incidents of the money market were suffi-
cient to cause the defeat of this proposition. America goes to the
front, nevertheless, in everything.

Before the establishment of the Postal Union all mails destined
for one country that had to be transported through another were sent
to the port of the first intermediary country, and there opened and
assorted ; but the Congress provided for what is now known as the
"closed mails " system. By this system the mails intended for any
country are put up in closed pouches duly marked, and are never
opened until they reach the country of their destination, being
transported by all intermediary countries in the pouches in which
they were first enclosed; and all the intermediary countries are
required to see to their prompt and safe transit, the country dispatch-
ing the mails becoming responsible for the charges of intermediate
transportation. If, by any means, a closed pouch is delayed in
transit, the office receiving it notifies the dispatching office, and all
intermediate countries are called upon for an explanation until the
fault is fully placed.

The benefits of the registry system have also been extended so as
to make that an international affair. Under the old system, when
a letter was once placed in the mails and had started on its journey,
the writer lost all control over it, and it could not be recalled under
any circumstances. Now, in all countries except England, a letter
may be recalled by the writer at any time before delivery. It often
happens that this circumstance is of great moment, especially to
banks. A year or two ago a firm of ' German bankers had forwarded
a large remittance by registered letters to a bank in Philadelphia.
Before the letters reached this country news was received in Ger-
many that the American bank had failed. Application was at once
made to the postal authorities of Germany and the letters were
described so that they could be identified. The cable was brought in
use, and a request made upon the American postal authorities to stop
the delivery of the letters and return them to the postal authorities
in Germany. The letters were intercepted and returned. England,

156 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

however, holds to the doctrine that when a letter has been deposited
in the post office it no longer belongs to the writer, but is the prop-
erty of the addressee, and must be delivered to that person alone.

Another important feature of the universal postal service is the
greater effort now made to find the addressee under all circumstances
and deliver his letter promptly. By a rule of the Union, if the
addressee of a letter cannot be found after a reasonable effort, the
letter must be returned to the office of dispatch, with the cause of
failure duly endorsed on the cover. If a letter is returned by the
office of destination without the cause of its non-delivery duly noted,
it is at once sent back with a special request that a search be made
for the addressee ; and attention is called to the fact that it was
improperly returned. Another marked improvement introduced by
the Union is the rule requiring all short-paid letters to be for-
warded. If one full rate is paid on a letter it must be forwarded
to its destination ; but on its delivery double the amount of the full
postage is collected. This is in the nature of a fine to reduce to
the minimum the amount of short paying postage. Each country
being entitled to all the postage it collects, and being responsible,
too, for the transportation of all its outgoing mail, the fine is added
and collected from the addressee as it would be impossible in most
cases to discover the sender.

The organ of the International Postal Union is U Union Postale^
a monthly publication printed, in parallel columns, in French, Ger-
man, and English. It is extremely interesting to the general reader
as well as to the postal expert, and is very generally contributed to
by all of the members of the Union of consequence except the United
States. A result of the last Postal Congress is an effort to bring
together in one publication the names of all the post offices in coun-
tries embraced within the Union. This is a development of the
special directory idea, and of the directory of all the streets in free
delivery cities in this country, as published by the Dead Letter
Office. It is to facilitate the delivery of foreign mail which has
been improperly or insufficiently addressed by the public.

The application of the railway post office system to ocean steamers
had been advocated for years, but the realization of the departure has
only lately been brought about. The proposition was simply that
travelling post offices should be established on the ocean lines, in

AMERICAN MAILS UPON THE SEA. 157

charge of experienced clerks, who should, while on the trip across,
sort and distribute the mails into pouches properly marked according
to a " scheme " to be furnished ; so that on the arrival of the vessel
at its destination the mails would be ready for forwarding, and if
necessary, could be taken at once to the railway post office and be
speeded on. Germany sent to this country one of her highest postal
officials to perfect the details of the plan, and Mr. Potter, whose
distinguished service in this affair caused him to be chosen one of
the American delegates to the Postal Union, made a special trip
abroad, upon the request of the Postmaster General, to conduct the
negotiations for the United States. Contracts were made with the
North German Lloyd's and the Hamburg- American steamers plying
between New York, Bremen, and Hamburg, for the transportation
of the postal clerks. Each country, it was agreed, should furnish
one postal clerk for each vessel. This arrangement admitted of
the receipt of mail destined to any foreign country, for which Ger-
many is the intermediary country, up to the last moment before the
sailing of the vessel. There was also a gain of time for mail for
forwarding, which amounted to several hours ; for it had already
been prepared; and here was an even greater advantage to those
engaged in commerce. Postmaster Van Cott of New York says:

The sea post offices westward prepare for the direct delivery to carriers at the
general post office and branch post office stations, the mail for all parts of this
city, thus securing its almost immediate delivery to addressees on the day of the
steamer's arrival, in many cases, where, under the old arrangement, from two to
fourteen hours would have elapsed between the arrival of the steamer's mail
at the general post office and its delivery to addressees. Again, in the case
of distribution for other than city delivery matter, the advantages derived are
even more decided. By the establishment of the sea post office service, trunk
line connections in this city have been secured by which from four to twenty-four
hours have been gained in the delivery of mails to addressees on the direct lines,
and from several days to a week at points served by branch railroads and star
route lines; as in the last case failure to make a trunk line connection here in-
creases the difference in time of delivery to addressees from hours to days,
according to the frequency of the special service. Business men in Chicago and
St. Louis have been enabled to send answers by the same steamers from which
they received the original communication.

There is small doubt that this system will soon be extended to the
British and French lines. The cost is small. The average number
of letters handled by the clerks on each trip is over 60,000, — be-

158

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

sides from one hundred to two hundred sacks of printed and general
matter. The American clerks make one error in about 4,000 dis-
tributions and average well up with the railway postal clerks. A
secondary development of the ocean service would be the employment
of a tug to receive the inward mails from the steamers as they pass
Sandy Hook. Separations would be made on this boat for the trunk
line railways, and the mail would be delivered at the piers nearest to
the different railroad stations. Hours are sometimes consumed by
steamers waiting for the port physician, or in docking, and some-
times 1,500 pouches arrive on a single steamer. Unquestionably

much delay is caused if the Western and Southern pouches have to
go to the city post office. But the steam tug would require a con-
gressional appropriation.

The American clerks in the ocean post offices have invariably been
appointed from the Railway Mail Service or from the body of clerks
in post offices who have been accustomed to handle foreign mails.
A smaller number of applicants than might have been expected came
forward; but it was hard, nevertheless, for many to understand that
familiarity with the particular class of work required, as well as a
certain seaworthiness, were assumed to be indispensable qualifica-
tions. It has been reasonably suspected that some clerks have been
fortunate enough to be appointed and have made a trip or two merely
for the sea voyages. They have fallen by the wayside. The men
who have not been accustomed to the sea have grown salty and now

AMERICAN MAILS UPON THE SEA. 159

behave like real deep-water fellows. There have been several
changes in the force of ocean post office clerks, however, and
the not infrequent changes due to seasickness, or to some general
inability of the clerk to endure ocean travel, necessitates the em-
ployment of a substitute. Young r .„_„__. r

unmarried men of good habits are

preferred for this service. Some of

the German clerks have left the ^tt" ^%^

sea post offices to enter the military M |PI

service of the Kaiser. The new m

German appointees are invariably W -Ute ^ h - : \

Improvements can be made in ^

the accommodations for the sea

post offices. Many of the work- ^^^%

ing rooms are small. They are I ,^^1-/^^^, ^^

waste rooms, so to speak, poorly J/t **' : "•' /' Mfa^ 11 %£w.

ventilated, and situated over the >. m.

screws, or opposite the steerage p,j : - ak J

kitchens, at some distance from ■§&! W ■

the storage rooms, and likely to j§^^% W*m ?

be obstructed by passengers. The

-' . MK, C. H. OLEK, SEA POSTAL CLERK.

letter cases are sometimes incon-
venient, and there is insufficient room for handling the large
amount of printed matter inward ; and these defects (which
will disappear with time, no doubt) are the more to be ob-
jected to, because the ocean post office is an important feeder
of the great trunk lines. The American postal clerk is also
without a uniform, and, insomuch as his appearance is due
to his habiliments, compares unfavorably with the stalwart
German.

Mr. Chas. H. Oler, one of the ocean postal clerks, and the winner
of the Postmaster General's railway mail medal, awarded to the
clerk of best record in the whole service, has written to the R. M. S.
Bugle about the duties of the ocean postal clerk :

"On the trip from New York to Hamburg or Bremen they are called United
States-German sea post offices, and the United States clerk is supposed to be
clerk in charge, and all mail, both letters and papers, are distributed, the distri.

160 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

button comprising something near twenty railway post offices and ' directs ' for
all towns and cities deserving it. On the trip from Germany to New York, the
lines are called ' Deutsch-Amerik ' sea post offices, and the German clerk is in
charge. On this trip we open not only the German mails, but closed mails from
countries beyond Germany, including Sweden, Norway, Russia, Denmark, and
Austria. But we are only required at present to State the mail, and make up the
principal cities, and work New York City into stations. The mail averages about
seventy-five thousand letters and fifty bags of papers on each trip, and had we
the facilities that are to be had in a railway post office, would only be a matter
of a day or two to distribute all of it, but as it is at present, we labor at quite a
disadvantage, owing to a lack of room. Our office for work is about ten by
twenty feet with a case in either end containing each sixty boxes. In these sixty
boxes we must make our distribution of papers as well as letters, for we are not
blessed with even the ' Harrison rack.' We have now and then a hook around
the wall on which we can hang a bag.

"All the bags are brought from the storage-room by the deck hands and are
opened by the waiter, and all packages opened and placed on the table, also tied
out, and bags closed and sealed by him, so that we can get rid of most of the
laborious part of the mail service. Another important feature of this business is
that all slips are stamped by the waiter, which is usually a source of annoyance
to postal clerks unless their wives come to the rescue. Our food is of the best
and in great supply, and what is better we get it at regular hours, and only five
times a day. Twenty-seven cents a day is allowed us by the German
Government for ' sacramental ' purposes. Every evening we have a concert and
dance lasting two and one half hours, and one night of each trip a regular dance
equal to the average society ball.

" On arriving at Hamburg we pay our respects to the director of the post, and
are then free until the day we return. We have seven days there and our ex-
penses are paid at a hotel, as the ship lies so far from Hamburg, that it is im-
possible to stay aboard. In New York we only have five days off. We have no
work to do during the time, neither are we dodging telegrams for fear of extra
runs.

" As to the German clerks, I can only speak of one with whom I am associated.
I find him a very able and proficient man, very careful and painstaking. He has
more than the average intelligence, having taken an eight years' course in college
preparatory to the work, besides having been in active service for five years.
They are required by their government to appear in military uniform when not on
duty, and when they sally forth with their blue coats with brass buttons and the
sword by their side, we, with our little regulation cap, sink into utter insignifi-
cance. Taking the work as a whole, I find it much easier and cleaner work than
in a railway post office. One can stand and work with perfect ease in an ordinary
sea, and during high sea the smoking-room is the best place to pass away time."

The mails have been thought a very effective way of spreading
cholera, yellow fever, and small pox. When a disease like either
of these makes its appearance in a household, it is, of course, the
bounden duty of some member of the family to write to friends in
other localities about it all. Paper, like clothing, is a fine vehicle

AMERICAN MAILS UPON THE SEA. 161

for the deadly disease germs. Health officers are quick to put up
flags on infected houses and shut off the inmates from personal con-
tact with outsiders, but they seldom take adequate precautions
against the mailing of letters. Indeed, they have themselves been
known to post such letters themselves. Of late years it has
been a common practice, at our Southern ports especially, to fumi-
gate mails received from the West Indies, or Central or South
America, at every recurrence of yellow fever. This is a very
necessary precaution; yet never has adequate provision been made
properly to perform the work, and no post office in the whole country
is furnished with proper materials or appliances.

In England fumigation is performed by puncturing each letter or
paper with a number of holes, small enough so that they will not
destroy or make illegible the contents; and it is next subjected to a
strong dry heat. The sacks or bags are then disinfected both by dry
heat and by sulphur fumes. In this country the usual process has
been simply to burn sulphur under the mail bags. This is a very
incomplete method. With the exception of those received by the
North German Lloyd's and the Hamburg- American lines all the for-
eign mails that reach this country come in closed pouches, and are
not opened after leaving the dispatching office until received at the
post office on this side. No one except duly authorized agents of
the postal service has any authority to open a closed mail pouch.
Hence all that health officers can do is to fumigate the pouch itself.
It is almost impossible to find any method by which such fumiga-
tion may be made complete. The mails do not belong to this coun-
try until they are officially turned over at the completion of the
voyage, and the United States authorities are therefore powerless.

It has been suggested that the Postal Union ought to provide that
in times of pestilence no mails shall be forwarded from an infected
country until they have been thoroughly disinfected, and further,
that on arrival at their destination, if quarantine has been estab-
lished, they shall be at once turned over to the postal authorities of
the port at quarantine. It is generally accepted that a high dry
heat is the only sure destruction of disease germs, and as no such
heat can be applied to mail in a closed pouch, it follows that the
pouches should be opened and the contents subjected to the fumiga-
ting process, so that each separate letter or package may receive the

162 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

application. One of the methods now employed at some of the
offices is to suspend the letters in a wire basket and burn sulphur
underneath. That method is better than none, but it is very imper-
fect; and moreover, the application of dry heat, unless great care is
exercised, is liable to injure, if not destroy, parts of the mail. A
patented method of disinfecting mails thoroughly without injury to
them is a fortune to its possessor.

Reformers delight to advocate a reduction of ocean postage to two
cents. Hon. J.- Henniker Heaton, member of Parliament for Can-
terbury, is at the head of this movement on the other side. He has
visited this country in order to solicit the support of Postmaster
General Wanamaker for a reduced ocean postage rate. The Post-
master General has maintained that, while the change would be a
proper and valuable advantage to foreign-born citizens who have left
friends behind in Europe, it is a change that will come shortly and
it ought to be delayed until a one cent domestic rate is a certainty.
Mr. Heaton' s arguments are that the people have no right to
expect the post office to be self-sustaining, that greater postal
facility encourages commerce, that a cheap postage is of benefit to
all without regard to condition, and that cheaper postage rates
would promote a more brotherly feeling between England and her
colonies.

THE PAY AND WORK OF POST OFFICE CLERKS.

HE position of First Assistant Postmaster Gen-
eral has been made famous by Hon. Acllai E.
Stevenson and Hon. James S. Clarkson. But
the duties in the performance of which they
became chiefly notable are now performed by the
Fourth Assistant Postmaster General. He now
appoints the fourth class postmasters. But while
the First Assistant's office has been relieved of this
labor, it has become more important in a purely
business way. It k . : ^

has long been the ^^mk

idea of Postmaster
General Wanamaker that the
Post Office Department needed
a better business compactness,
regularity, and promptness.
Early in his official career he
recommended the appointment
of a comptroller, or actuary, of
the Department, who should be
a permanent officer paid $10,000
a year. His proposition was
not received with favor by Con-
gress. Mr. Wanamaker did se-
cure, however, the creation of
the office of Fourth Assistant
Postmaster General, in order
that the Divisions of Appoint-
ments, Bonds, and Inspection might be consolidated in it, and the
office of First Assistant left to deal with the important bureaus of

163

HON. ADLAI E. STEVENSON.

164

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Salaries and Allowances, of Post Office Supplies, of Free Delivery,
of Money Orders, of Dead Letters, and of Correspondence.

Col. Smith A. Whitfield, a New Hampshire boy who went to war
and became a real soldier and who was afterwards collector of internal

revenue and post-
master at Cincin-
nati, and later Sec-
ond Assistant Post-
master General, was
the First Assistant
when these changes
were brought about,
and his familiari-
ty with the service
and all its branches
was an important
factor in the rear-
rangement of the
departmental rou-
tine. The chief
clerk in the First
Assistant's office is
Mr. Edwin C. Fow-
ler. He went to
the public schools
of Baltimore and
was a bookkeeper.
In 1869 he entered
the Department. In 1876 he was "principal clerk of appoint-
ments." When the Division of Appointments was created Mr. Fow-
ler was promoted to the chief's place, and in 1889 he was appointed
chief clerk to the First Assistant. Mr. Fowler has exhibited un-
usual tact in handling the very troublesome appointment cases
incident to the changes of administration which he has seen, and
has won the friendship of scores of public men.

The division of the First Assistant's office naturally considered
first is that of Salaries and Allowances. The most important duties
assigned to this division are the annual adjustment of the salaries

HON. JAMES 8. CLARKSON.
(From a photograph in the First Assistant's Office.)

THE PAY AND WORK OF POST OFFICE CLEKKS.

165

of postmasters; the consideration
of allowances for clerk hire, rent,
fuel and light, for first and second
class post offices, and for *' sepa-
rating " clerk hire for the third
and fourth class post offices at
intersecting mail routes ; the allow-
ance of rent, fuel and light for
third class offices, and of miscel-
laneous incidental items, including
furniture and advertising for first
and second class offices; the exam-"
ination of the quarterly returns and
accounts of postmasters before they
are finally passed by the Sixth
Auditor; the adjustment and reg-
ulation of the salaries and duties
of clerks at first and second class
offices; the leasing of premises for

COL. SMITH A. WHITFIELD,

Late First Assistant.

ME. EDWIN C. FOWLEE,
Chief Clerk to the First Assistant.

post offices; the establishment of
postal stations; the classification
of clerks; the adjustment of
money order clerk hire ; the super-
vision and regulation of box
rent rates and of deposits for
keys for lock boxes ; and the man-
agement of the correspondence
involved in all these affairs. The
appropriations of Congress under
the charge of this division com-
prise chiefly the compensation of
postmasters and of clerks in
post offices, and amount to over
twenty-five million dollars annu-
ally. The post office appropria-
tion bill for the current fiscal
year, for example, comprises the
following items:

166 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

For compensation to postmasters $15,250,000

For clerks in post offices 8,360,000

For rent, fuel and light, first and second class offices 747,000

For rent, fuel and light, third class offices 610,000

For miscellaneous items, including furniture 110,000

For advertising (office of Postmaster General) 18,000

For canceling machines 40,000

$25,135,000

The method of making allowances for clerks in post offices varies
somewhat with local conditions. The postmasters at the first and

THE FIRST ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL'S OFFICE.

second class offices are required by law on the 1st of July of
each year to submit rosters of their clerical force, and these rosters
are reviewed to ascertain all facts as to the number of persons
employed, their age, compensation and character of duties, and
whether the duties and compensation are in harmony with the terms
of what is known as the Classification Act passed by Congress in
1889. For instance: The postmaster at New York has a list, or
roster of clerks, involving about sixteen hundred employees, with

THE PAY AND WORK OF POST OFFICE CLERKS.

167

salaries aggregating an annual allowance of over $1, 300, 000, a force
nearly three times as large as that employed in the Post Office
Department at Washington. His application for increased help
must of necessity always receive unusual consideration. So it is
with Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and all of the more important
first class offices. It is a matter of great moment to decide how the
demands for increased clerical help at offices of such importance
can be met, for hundreds of other cases are meritorious, and the
annual appropria-
tion applicable for
this purpose is, of
course, always lim-
ited.

The Department
is ob] iged to make
the closest exam-
ination of the ap-
plications made for
allowances, com-
paring the growth
of receipts from
year to year with
the increase of
force asked for;
and this examina-
tion sometimes in-
volves the appoint-
ment of a commis-
sion of postal ex-
perts or post office
inspectors, who
visit the office in question and go over the ground item by item with
the postmaster. The reports of these officers are properly briefed,
prepared with the latest data obtainable, and laid before the First
Assistant, or perhaps the Postmaster General himself, and acted upon
as the facts warrant. If approved, the recommendations contained
in the reports are put in operation by the fixing of allowances in the
sums agreed upon from a specific date, and the postmasters are

OLD TOM,
The First Assistant's Faithful Messenger.

168 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

advised accordingly. Sometimes, as a result of these investigations,
allowances have been reduced, as it has been found that a rearrange-
ment of the clerical force could be made to meet the requirements
of the service without additional cost.

The postmasters at presidential offices of the third class are not
required to furnish yearly rosters of clerks. Postmasters at third
and fourth class post offices at intersecting mail routes are allowed,
out of the appropriation for clerk hire, certain sums for what
is known as separating service, or service performed in separating
the mails for star routes. The making of allowances of this nature
is governed largely by the local conditions surrounding the offices,
and it is all subject to a fixed law.

For allowances for rent, fuel and light at post offices there are
two distinct appropriations made by Congress, one for offices of the
first and second classes, and the other for offices of the third class.
The Department exercises much deliberation in fixing the allow-
ances for these items also, and the applications of this nature are
generally examined by inspectors, who receive very full instructions
in the premises. Under the present methods buildings are secured
in many cases, especially at offices of the first and second classes,
under leases for terms ranging from one to five years, at fixed
annual rentals, placed in some instances at the nominal sum of one
dollar. In others the sums are much larger. At Denver the rental now
paid for the post office is at a rate of $10,000 per annum. When a
post office is moved into a Government building, the allowances for
rent, fuel and light are discontinued by the Post Office Department.

The minor articles required by postmasters at first and second class
offices in conducting the business of their offices, known as "mis-
cellaneous items," are fixtures, furniture, directories, towels, stoves,
telephones, typewriters, and so on ; and all the requisitions are care-
fully scrutinized before being passed. Items of this kind are gen-
erally estimated for each quarter in advance, and postmasters are
instructed to make their purchases accordingly. The advertising
of letter lists by postmasters, the expense of which, on account of
the limited appropriation, is allowed only to the larger first class
post offices, is also made a subject of searching review.

The Division of Salaries and Allowances is one of the busiest arms
of the whole Government service and is very widely known. The

THE PAY AND WORK OF POST OFFICE CLERKS.

169

average postmaster has not, unfortunately, a very exalted opinion of
this division, as the always limited annual appropriation, coupled
with the fact that the postal service cannot be prevented from grow-
ing, necessitates the closest scrutiny of his applications for increased
allowances. Generally his application is scaled down to what seems
to him a very unsatisfactory sum, if it is not declined altogether.
In hundreds of cases, consequently, postmasters pay salaries out of
their own resources. The Salary and Allowance Division is the
Mecca of the hustling Congressman. If he is successful in demon-
strating the merit of his postmas-
ter's case, he goes away feeling that
life is really worth living after all ;
but if the application is rejected,
he is not half so charitable as
he would be if he stopped to re-
flect that the reason why money
cannot be allowed to post offices
in the necessar} r proportion is
simply because it is not voted by
the Congressman himelf and his
patriotic colleagues. The appro-
priations are, in fact, always inad-
equate, and to this immovable
fact is to be attributed not only
the overwork and the under-pay
of clerks in post offices, but also
the payments of salary by post-
masters who are determined to
furnish some sort of service, Con-
gressional appropriation or no Congressional appropriation. The
Salary and Allowance Division is overwhelmed with work so
much that it cannot discharge work quickly, and doubtless hun-
dreds, if not thousands, of letters have to be written every year
saying, not that possible things have been done and impossible
not done, but rather that all sorts of things will receive con-
sideration.

The operations of this Division are tremendous. Witness a sum-
mary of them for the year ended June 30, 1892 :

MR. ALBERT H. SCOTT,
Chief, Division of Salaries and Allowances.

170 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Letters received 89,629

Letters written 58,182

Circular letters sent out 34,239

Allowances made :

Clerk hire 11,553

Rent, fuel and light 18,562

Miscellaneous items 19,459

Advertising 594

Allowances declined :

Clerk hire 4,226

Rent, fuel and light 2,671

Miscellaneous items 4,042

Advertising 586

Amounts allowed :

Compensation to postmasters $15,249,565

Clerks in post offices ■ . . 7,933,639

Rent, fuel and light 1,230,523

Miscellaneous items 120,456

Advertising 14,072

The chief of the Salary and Allowance Division since 1883 has
"been Mr. Albert H. Scott. He entered the postal service nearly six
years previous to this appointment, and was rapidly advanced through
the different grades of clerk. He was born in Ohio, of sturdy
Scotch Presbyterian stock. While yet a boy, he went with his
parents to Iowa. After the war the family were united in Wash-
ington, however. Mr. Scott earned his own education. He became
a civil engineer, and served over six years in the coast survey, win-
ning frequent approval for his work, and was a member of the expe-
dition which determined the longitude of Washington, Cambridge,
Paris and Greenwich. A year later, in 1874, he was an assistant
astronomer of the Chatham Island Transit of Venus party, and his
services here were especially commended by Admiral Davis, presi-
dent of the commission. During Mr. Scott's connection with the
postal service the revenue has increased from $27,531,585 to $70,-
930,476, orl58i percent.; the expenditures from $32,522,504 to
$76,490,734, or 136| percent.; and the appropriations under his
immediate charge from $10,825,000 to $25,135,000, or 1321 per cent.
The number of presidential post offices has grown from 1,397 to
3,221, or 131 per cent., and the total number of post offices from
37,345 to 67,105 or 80 per cent.

There are about one hundred and seventy-five Government build-

THE PAY AND WORK OF POST OFFICE CLERKS. 171

ings in which post offices of the first, second, third, and even fourth
classes are located. The items of rent, fuel and light for offices of
the third class, or offices where the gross receipts range from $ 1*900
to not exceeding $8,000, and the salaries of the postmasters conse-
quently from 11,000 to $1,900 a year, are about $600,000 annually.
The maximum sum for rent is limited by law to $400 a year and the
maximum for fuel and light to $60 a year. There are about 2,300
offices of the third class. The fourth-class postmaster personally
has to pay for his quarters, his fuel and his lights ; for there is no
authority in law for allowances of this kind.

Where post offices are located in Government buildings, post
office boxes are provided by the Treasury Department. At first and
second class post offices the lessor, by agreement in the lease, fre-
quently furnishes the box outfit. Patrons of post offices may provide
lock boxes or lock drawers for their own use under certain condi-
tions. In all other cases boxes must be furnished and kept in repair
by the postmaster. The fixing of box -rent rates is supervised by
the Department, but depends largely upon local conditions. Boxes
are rented for sums ranging from five cents to fifty cents per quarter
for call boxes, and from ten cents to five dollars per quarter for
lock boxes and drawers.

The introduction of the free delivery service has always increased
the revenues of the post office affected — because increased facilities
always cause an increased volume of letter writing. But many
business firms want to send for their mail oftener than the carriers
can deliver it, and the deliveries of the Department cannot imme-
diately be made frequent enough entirely to accommodate them.
Postmaster General Wanamaker has therefore proposed a uniform
price for box rents, to be "fitted by the Department, at which boxes
are to be rented by the quarter to persons residing wi'thin the free
delivery district." He adds:

" Those persons living outside the free delivery district, and yet within the
delivery of the office, should be provided with boxes free of charge. At second
and third class offices, where the free delivery is in operation, there are many
unoccupied boxes all the year that could be assigned to patrons of the office at a
saving of clerk hire, for it is less labor for a postmaster to distribute mail matter
into an assigned box and deliver it from there, than to thrust it into the general
delivery, which means the separation of the letter mail of a family, under the
various alphabetical methods, into many receptacles, the regular and transient

172 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

papers into overfilled cases that for want of time are sometimes inaccurately
searched; and the result is late delivery, and sometimes none at all."

" It would seem but simple justice that the patrons of an office who are denied
the free delivery by carriers should have extended to them the next best service
obtainable, and at the same rate, which is undoubtedly the box delivery. I am in
favor of free delivery wherever it can be put into operation; but until that is pro-
vided for by law I would meet the justifiable complaints of patrons in the rural
districts, who charge the Government with discrimination, by assigning to each
head of a family living outside of the free delivery of the office a free box ; and
this, in my opinion, will not require more than three hundred boxes as an average
for second and third class offices. At offices where there is no free delivery I
propose to abolish box rents altogether."

There is a very unbusinesslike thing which the Division of Salaries
and Allowances wastes valuable time upon, because the laws of
Congress compel it. Fixtures in many of the post offices are inade-
quate and shabby, not half fit for a country as glorious as the United
States, not suitable at all for the quick and accurate handling of
mails. The postmaster, when he is appointed, either buys new
fixtures of the manufacturer at such prices as he himself may name
(and if he is extra economical, the fixtures will be extra inadequate),
or else he buys the old fixtures of his predecessor sometimes by a pre-
arranged transaction which has affected his appointment favorably.
There is no question that it would be business economy and good ser-
vice for the Government to provide post office fixtures and furniture.
Another unbusinesslike thing is the matter of the rental of presi-
dential post offices. About fifteen per cent, of these are quartered
in premises which have to be leased. The leases run from one to
five years, and eighty per cent, occupy premises for which the rental
is renewed annually. Moreover, the hundreds of postal stations
occupy leased quarters. In all this leasing much local contention,
and sometimes a good of local scandal, result; for political and
social, as well as illegitimate business influences are brought to bear
to change locations and hold up prices. All this irregularity, both
in leases and in furniture, would be done away with by the erection
of small post office buildings by the Government ; and that plan has
been advocated in Congress, as well as by officers of the Department,
in and out of season, to no purpose.

The annual appropriation made by Congress for the advertising of
the Department was once $80,000; now it is but $18,000. This
decrease in the allowance has been found unpleasant enough by

THE PAY AND WORK OF POST OFFICE CLERKS. 173

hundreds of newspapers in the past few years; for not only is the
Department circumscribed in its power to advertise widespread such
matters of general importance as proposals for material use by the
Department, but the local letter lists, in scores of cases, have had to be
cut down, published free, or thrown out entirely. It has been con-
tended by many that the advertised letter lists ought surely to be paid
for by Congressional appropriation, especially since the recent efforts
of the postmasters, with the help of the Dead Letter Office directories,
have greatly decreased their size ; and it would seem impossible really
to throw the matter of bidding for material open to public competition
without really advertising that the material was wanted and offering
intending bidders a chance. But the Subsidy Law provided for
some $ 14, 000 worth of advertising, at the least calculation, without
so much as a thought of providing the money with which to do it.
So that it is perhaps not strange that the every-day advertising of the
Department is repeatedly overlooked.

"The ordinary good clerk of the Government," said Postmaster
General Wanamaker recently, "might suit perfectly well in any
other of the civil places, but for post office work he must almost
learn a trade. There ought to be a kind of apprenticeship with pro-
motions that would produce motion throughout the ranks from
lowest to highest place. The post office should be a school for the
railway mail, the railway mail for the Department, the Department
for the division chiefs, and the highest places in the service. The
qualities that make a good postal clerk are of a high order — on his
memory, accuracy, integrity hang the engagements of the business
and the social world. An idle minute on the railway postal car may
be felt across a continent. The unready pouch carried past the rail-
road junction goes to the next station to be returned to await the lost
connection. That one wasted minute often means a mail ten hours
late all the way along the run of 10,000 miles. The postal service
is no place for indifferent, or sleepy, or sluggish people."

The postal clerks inside the offices, as well as on board the rail-
way postal cars, all know this. They know what hard work is.
They know what it is to be continually alert, and active, and accu-
rate. Yet thousands try for entrance into the service ; try to pass
the examination, wonder why they fail, wonder why they are not
appointed when they succeed, and finally give up all hope of secur-

174

THE PAY AND WORK OF POST OFFICE CLERKS.

175

ing places, — or else secure appointments after they are little wel-
come. The tables of the Civil Service Commission show the
number of persons examined, the number that failed, and the per-
centage of failures, the number that passed, the number appointed,
and the per cent, of those that passed who were appointed, during
periods mentioned, in the Kailway Mail Service, in the classified
postal service, and in the whole classified service (which includes
as well as these two branches the departmental service and the cus-
toms service) as follows :

Examined.

Failed.

Per cent.

of
failures.

Passed.

Appointed.

Per cent,
appointed

of those
that

passed.

BAILWAY MAIL SERVICE.

May 1, 1889, to June 30, 1889..
July 1, 1889, to June 30, 1890..
July 1, 1890, to June 30, 1891 ..

2,236
4,463
3,706

434

1,334
1,118

19.4

29.8
30.2

1,802
3,129

2,588

125
1,400
1,062

6.9
44.7
41.0

Total

10,405

2,886

27.7

7,519

2,587

34.4

POSTAL SERVICE.

July 16, 1883, to Jan. 15, 1884..
Jan. 16, 1884, to Jan. 15, 1885 ..
Jan. 16, 1885, to Jan. 15, 1886..
Jan. 16, 1886, to Jan. 15, 1887..
Jan. 16, 1887, to June 30, 1887 ..
July 1, 1887, to June 30, 1888..
July 1, 1888, to June 30, 1889..
July 1, 1889, to June 30, 1890..
July 1, 1890, to June 30, 1891 ;.

1,941
3,233
4,113

I 7,467

6,103
10,702
11,193

8,538

822

971

1,160

2,245

2,471

4,087
4.289
2,698

42.3
30.0

28.2

30.1

40.5
38.2
38.3
31.6

1,119

2 262
2,953

5,222

3,632
6,615
6,904
5,840

372
1,249
1,473

3,254

1,924

2,938
2,850
2,861

33.2
55.2
49.9

62.3

53.0
44.4
41.2
48.9

•Total

53,290

18,743

35.2

34,547

, 16,921

49.0

SUMMARY.

July 16, 1883, to Jan. 15, 1884..
Jan. 16, 1884, to Jan. 15, 1885 ..
Jan. 16, 1885, to Jan. 15, 1886..
Jan. 16, 1886, to Jan. 15, 1887..
Jan. 16, 1887, to June 30, 1887 ..
July 1, 1887, to June 30, 1888..
July 1, 1888, to June 30, 1889 .
July 1, 1889, to June 30, 1890..
July 1, 1890, to June 30, 1891 ..

3,542
6,347
7,602

| 15,852

11,281
19,060
22,994
19,074

1,498
2,206
2,568

5,106

4,413

7,082
9,047
6,288

42.3
34.8
33.8

32.2

39.1
37.2
39.3
33.0

2,044
4,141
5,034

10,746

6,868
11,978
13,947
12,786

489
1,800

1,881

4.442

2,616
3,781
5,159
5,395

23.9
43.5
37.4

41.3

38.0
31.6
37.0
42.0

Total

105,752

38,208

36.0

67,544

25,563

38.0

176

THE PAY AND WORK OF POST OFFICE CLERKS.

177

The figures show, therefore, that for the Railway Mail Service
two fifths are appointed who pass, and that less than three quar-
ters pass ; that for the classified postal service perhaps one half are
appointed who pass, and that 65 per cent, pass ; and that for the
whole classified service 38 per cent, are appointed who pass and
about 65 per cent. pass. In the departmental service 25 per cent,
are appointed w r ho pass, and 62 per cent, pass; and in the customs
service 23 per cent, are appointed and not quite 60 per cent. pass.

The subjects, and the relative weight given to them, for the
clerical examination are as follows :

Subjects.

First: Orthography

Second: Penmanship

Third: Copying

Fourth: Letter-writing

Fifth: Arithmetic

Sixth : Geography and local delivery
Seventh : Reading addresses . . .

Total of weights

Relative
weights.

A sample examination paper, say for the fifth subject, arithmetic,
is as follows :

Question 1. Express in words the following: 990,050,006.0021.

Question 2. Express in figures the following, avoiding the use of common (or
vulgar) fractions : —

One million three thousand seven hundred and one and one ten-thousandth.

Question 3. Express in words the following signs and figures: 201b. 8 oz. @
2c. per oz. = $6.56.

Question 4. If a railroad car runs 41^ miles per hour, how far would it go in
12 days running 10^ hours per day ?
Give work in full.

Question 5. If paper is worth 40 cents per pound, what is the cost of one sheet
of paper weighing six pounds to the ream ? (480 sheets = 1 ream.)
Give work in full.

Question 6. The following table shows, in part, the amounts appropriated for
and the amounts expended in the office of the First Assistant Postmaster General
for the year ended June 30, 1886. Kequired: (1) the total amount expended,
(2) the total amount appropriated, and (3) the unexpended balance.

178

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Items.

Postmasters' salaries
Clerks' salaries . .
Carriers' salaries, etc.
Wrapping paper

Totals

Total expenses brought down
Unexpended balance . . .

Amounts
expended.

$11,348,178.17

4,977,663.47

4,312,296.70

28,766.49

Amounts
Appropriated.

$12,300,000.00

5,150,000.00

4,485,000.00

35,000.00

Question 7. Three gross of lead pencils are divided equally among the clerks
in a post office, giving to each clerk eleven and leaving a remainder of fourteen
pencils. How many clerks are there in the office ?

Give work in full.

Question 8. Find the value of each of the following items and the total value
of the whole : —

28,155 one-cent stamps $

3,200 two-cent stamps

12,200 live-cent stamps

25,500 one-cent stamped envelopes @ $11.30 per M. . . . . . .

31,500 two-cent stamped envelopes @ $21.30 per M

Total $

Question 9. An office uses 98 pounds of twine per year in tying packages.
Allowing 178 yards to the pound, how many packages are tied if each requires an
average of 1% f ee ^ ?

Give viork in full.

Question 10. Multiply 693.6 by 785.09 and divide the product by 25.
Give work in full.

The messenger examination, which is also used for the examina-
tion of applicants for the position of porter, piler, stamper, or junior
clerk, is as follows :

Subjects.

First: Orthography
Second: Penmanship
Third: Copying . .
Fourth: Arithmetic

Total of weights

Relative
weights.

THE PAY AND WORK OF POST OFFICE CLERKS. 179

A sample examination paper, say for arithmetic, the fourth sub-
ject is this :

Question 1. Add the following, placing the total at the bottom: —

210,286.36

188,763,129.37

490,206.57

6,433,132,873.68

8,856,764,397.49

563,097,579,084.03

3,235,603,007.70

Question 2. The area of New Hampshire is 5,955,200 acres; the area of South
Carolina, 19,564,800 acres; and the area of Pennsylvania, 28,937,600. By how
much does the area of Pennsylvania exceed the areas of New Hampshire and
South Carolina combined ?

Give work in full.

Question 3. During the year 1886 a postmaster rented a building at the rate of
$100 a month, and paid two clerks $45 each per month, and had left out of his
annual salary $200. What was his salary ?

Give work in full.

Question 4. Write in words the following numbers and abbreviations : 903,014
lbs. and 15 oz.

Question 5. Write in figures the following number: one million twenty-three
thousand and five.

Question 6. A mail package contains 4,992 letters averaging one half ounce
each. How many pounds of mail in the package ?

Give work in full.

Question 7. The postmaster at Pitts field, Mass., made requisition for 98 sheets
of 1-cent stamps, 54 sheets of 2-cents tamps, 32 sheets 3-cent stamps, 12 sheets
5-cent stamps, and 6 sheets 10-cent stamps. What was the total value of the
stamps required, each sheet containing 100 stamps ?

Give work in full.

Question 8. The total weight of a newspaper mail is 918 pounds. What is the
weight in ounces ?

Give work in full.

Question 9. Write in sign and figures: Eight hundred and twenty-rive thousand
and twenty-five dollars and seven cents.

Question 10. A postmaster buys 5 gross of pencils at $21.60. What is the cost
of each pencil ?

Give work in full.

The following table shows the number of appointments and sepa-
rations in the classified service, the service at the post offices of
cities which have fifty employees or more, for an average year, say
the one ended June 30, 1891. It has local interest everywhere:

180

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Location of post-office.

Albany

Atlanta

Baltimore

Boston

Brooklyn

Buffalo

Chicago

Cincinnati

Cleveland

Columbus

Dallas

Denver

Des Moines

Detroit

Grand Kapids . . .

Hartford

Indianapolis . . . .

Jersey City

Kansas City . . . .
Los Angeles . . . .

Louisville ,

Memphis

Milwaukee . . . . ,
Minneapolis . . . ,

Nashville ,

Newark

New Haven . . . .
New Orleans . . .
New York ....

Oakland

Omaha

Philadelphia . . .

Pittsburg

Portland, Me. . .
Providence ....

Richmond

Rochester

St. Louis

St. Paul

San Francisco . .
Springfield, Mass

Syracuse

Toledo

Troy

Washington . . .
Worcester

.~2
J< o

4
7

11
5

27
3

17
7
3
7

16
13

1
3
1
1

175

16
1
1
1
9

21
3

Total

509

3
3

18
7
9
7

2
1
1

Appointments.

' 2
2

272

Original.

Clerks.

104

182

219

. .

, ,

. .

1,015

18
16
103
95
64
15
83
27
22
15

8
33
27
24

8
11
16
10

8
19

5
11
16

5
25

160

141

100
38

6
12
13
11
34

6
72

3
20
13

2
35

1,277

5
117

5
36
1
7
1
1

' 1

397

26
34

143

168
84
37

329
62
35
25
12
60
36
43
13
9

16
23
19
16
46
8
15
27
6
33
12
62

469

319
66
11
24
22
26

*82
15

124
5
25
16
4
95
14

2,731

Separations.

2
4
3
20
6
3

2
16

42
3

130

26
34

144

170
88
40

349
68
38
25
12
62
37
43
13
10
18
23
20
16
46
8

16
27
6
33
12
64

485

361
69
11
26
22
26
87
16

129

100
14

2,861

152

1
2
4
2
3
3
4
9
1
5
3

19
146

1
106
1
8
1
4
6
24
2
5
1

1
14

703

114

12
3
2
2
6
9
9

11
2
2
3
1

11
6

148 23
1 . .

10
5
7
1
3

25
4
3
2
3
5
1

21
2

20
77
68
28
20
273
62
26
15
1

317

195

668'74| 1,445

THE PAY AND WORK OF POST OFFICE CLERKS.

181

A sight-seer chances to enter the mailing department of the
Chicago post office, the basis here as everywhere, of post office
work. There are, perhaps, four hundred regular employees. Of
these seventy-five give their time to the distribution of letters and a
hundred to the distribution of newspapers. There are five kinds of
mail matter handled each day, 25,000,000 pounds of paper and
periodical mail each year, and 10,000,000 of miscellaneous matter;
and all this weight represents
125,000,000 individual pieces
distributed.

"The men in this depart-
ment, " said a writer for the Chi-
cago Evening Post recently, " are
not worked any harder than they
are in other parts of the office.
The average hours of duty are
not less than eight and generally
not more, although the clerks are
willing to work twelve, when
during the holiday season there
is an unusual use of the mails.
In one sense the boys in the
mailing department do not have
so good a time as in other branch-
es, because they are required to
undergo examination at stated
periods, much like the clerks in
the Railway Mail Service. There
are changes constantly being made in the nomenclature of the offices
and new offices are sprouting up all over the country; the distrib-
utors of letters and papers have to master this fresh knowledge all
the time. Examinations follow, so that the authorities may get a
good idea of the retentive capacity of each man's memory. It is
absolutely necessary to the efficiency of the service that only men
with good gray matter within their skulls shall be kept at this
work, and the periodical examination is the only way of determining
this fact satisfactorily.

"The mailing department is the bee hive of the office. No drones

LOUIS STEENBEEGEE & WM. H. HOGAIST,

The big man and the little man in the
Chicago office.

182

THE PAY AND WORK OF POST OFFICE CLERKS.

183

are permitted to draw their salaries there. So much depends upon
promptness and dispatch. The big mails that come in from the
East must be assorted in time for the fast out-going Western trains.
Delay would not be tolerated, because a letter must have the same
rapidity of transportation as is given to the passenger; all of which
is quite right from the point of view of the correspondent. When
the mail comes in the entire force is alert, and when once they bend
their energies to the work it is a deft man, indeed, who can manage
to get a word in edgeways."

One of the clerks in the New York office not long ago described
in good set terms the disadvantages and dangers, even, under which
the clerks in large post offices labor.

"The clerk is held strictly accountable," he says, "for every
moment of lost time. He has to work from ten to twelve hours per
day and every holiday and
Sunday without any extra I Itfll I flll'
compensation in an at-
mosphere laden with the
most pestilential microbes
brought by the sacks con-
taining the mail matter,
besides the most intolera-
ble stenches which prevail
for want of proper and sci-
entific ventilation. Now,
after standing from ten to
twelve hours throwing off
this matter for dispatch-
ing, is it any wonder
that postal clerks are ex-
hausted? Is it any sur-
prise that germs of the
most virulent diseases are
inhaled, thus shortening
the lives of the men at
least ten years ? The men
employed at this business must pass a severe examination according
to civil service requirements, all for the munificent sum of $50 per

BIG, BUT LIGHT FINGERED.

184

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

month. From the moment one enters until he emerges from the

post office pest hole not a ray of God's luminary is seen, which is

so necessary to the quick-
J( r ■:-;" "-" !:,i, ~ ening of the natural func-

tions."

The remedy, as almost
always, is undeniably with
Congress; or rather, it is
with the people who do
not understand that the
post office clerks work in
cramped, unhealthy quar-
ters, often in basements,
without the sunlight, and
do not express their pro-
tests in the liberal votes
of their representatives.
Postmaster General Wan-
amaker has repeatedly ad-
vocated the construction
of public buildings of
fewer stories, or perhaps
of only two or three at

the most, in large cities; this, so that light might come down from

overhead and air escape that way.

The postal clerks who work inside, out of the sight of the public,
have just been discussed somewhat. Around the edges of the big
post offices are the stamp clerks, the registry clerks, the general
delivery clerks and the inquiry clerks. They meet the great, sover-
eign people, and they must possess good tempers. The stamp clerk
meets almost every day the man who wants his stamp put on for
him, the wit who thinks a stamp or two ought to be thrown in with
a dollar's worth, and the gentleman who, when he lays a hundred
copper cents down and has them refused, insists upon standing in
the way of a line of twenty people and doling his coin out copper by
copper and taking his stamps in payment one by one. There is the
hog who will never stand in line, and the hog who always insists on
waiting to stamp his letters at the very window. There is the

DISTRIBUTING LETTERS.

THE PAY AND WORK OF POST OFFICE CLERKS.

185

woman with no end of questions. Her letter is the lightest that
can possibly be written, and yet she wants to know how many
stamps it will take. The clerk has to weigh that letter. Then the
woman keeps the line in waiting to ask how long it will be before
her missive reaches its destination, a thing which anybody is sup-
posed to know better than a stamp clerk. It was recorded recently
in New York that a middle-aged woman, after she had purchased a
five-cent stamp with which to send a letter to Scotland, asked if five

IN THE ROUTING ROOM.

one-cent stamps would do as well ; and when she was informed that
they would she handed back the single stamp and took the five one-
cent stamps. Then she wanted the stamp clerk to stick them on for
her. Often the story is about a man. Not long ago (this happened
in New York also) a man waited twenty minutes in the wrong line
and at last found himself before the window.

"Well, mister," he cried, "I suppose you have got time to 'tend
to me now. I just want this postal order cashed."

When he was informed that postal orders were cashed at another
window, he called the clerk a liar and asked him to step outside.
The police removed him.

The general delivery clerk in the smaller office has quite as hard

186

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

a time of it. He cannot talk back, because the person who excites
him to righteous anger may be the leading banker, or the leading

politician, or even
the smart clergy-
man of the town;
or he may be —
simply a fool.
Here the good
temper comes in
again. The gen-
eral delivery clerk
has to deal with
the family that will never
allow its mail to be de-
livered by carrier, and
with the . man who brings
his family with him to the
post office two or three
times a day and inquires
for the mail for each one,
of which, of course, there
isn't any. He has to deal
with the stray African,
who has from two to six
names, all of which, in calling for let-
ters, he is sure to use; and frequently he must
read their long-expected missives for them. He has to deal, indeed,
with the sweet Irish lass who does not give her name, and when
the innocent clerk asks for it, thinks it is her lover's name he
wants, and will not tell. If he is a new man, some one tells him
every day that his predecessor was a "perfect gentleman."

A visitor to the Inquiry Division of the Boston Post Office ran
across some queer things. He found a pair of boots, and a bag of
rutabaga turnips, both unmailable, of course; and a broken box,
bearing the Queen's stamp, directed only "Boston, America," and
this could not be forwarded, for there are at least a dozen Bostons
in these United States. In another broken box an ideal hair curler,
sent from Philadelphia to a Maine girl, reposed, and it seemed to

THE PAY AND WORK OF POST OFFICE CLERKS. 187

have been intended for a Christmas gift. There was other unmaila-
ble stuff, — and heaven does not know how it might ever be
returned to its multitudinous owner. There was a big collection of
Christmas cards, beautiful in design and tender in sentiment, but
never to reach their destinations, because the addresses were "To
Charley and Tricksey, with love from their affectionate Aunt
Lillie." A card or book in a ragged wrapper read "Julia with a
Merry Christmas to all; from Joe." "To Maud from Nellie,"
read another, and in the miscellaneous basket there was a heap
of stuff, a box of fern fronds, a book entitled " Daily Food, "
music rolls, a pair of socks, a black feather fan, a cyclopedia of
medicine, a silver perfume bottle, a silver button hook, a metal
match box, several rings and American coins, an ugly looking
razor, advertising cards, a pair of kid gloves, a package of posters
announcing "Ten Nights in a Barroom," a box of caramels, a pack-
age of marking ink, a roll of yellow satin ribbon, a rubber rattle
for "Baby Henry."

The great, surging torrents of business for the postal clerks come
at Christmas -time. Besides the immense volumes of additional mail
of the ordinary
sort, and of bun-
dles and packages
without number of
the extraordinary
sort, there are hun-
dreds of commu-
nications to a gen-
tleman who never
wrote a letter in
his life, and who
never answers a
letter that he re-
been left for the

THE BOSTON STAMP CANCELLING MACHINE.

/Sun to discover,

— and what other paper should discover it? — that the home of

Santa Claus is in New York, despite the fact that he is constantly

188 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

pictured driving reindeer and sledge over a snow-bound country
covered with fir trees. For this reason nearly all of his letters go
through the local post office there and are forwarded to Washing-
ton. The letters come from all over the country. Most of them
come from places outside of New York. It is interesting to look
over Santa Claus's mail. Of course one cannot open it any more
than it would be allowed to open the mail of any other private or
public citizen. The addresses are so curious, and written with
such evident pains, and the parenthetical remarks, which are often
added as a last reminder on the envelopes, so appealing, and there
is such an air of confidence and sincerity about them all, that it is
not necessary to examine the contents for entertainment.

The letters come in all sorts of envelopes, and some of them in
none at all. There are delicately tinted letters, with crests on the
back, from children who plead for a pony or a carriage. Then there
are the letters of another sort from destitute little ones, who plead for
a stockingful of candy or a rattle for the baby. Eighteen letters for
Santa Claus were received at the New York Post Office one day in
last December. No two were directed exactly alike. The first was
the only one in which a definite address was given. It was :

MR. SANTA CLAUS,
444 Cherry Street,
New York.

This was written in a scrawling hand, but the numbers were quite
plain. It was probably the only one of the lot that did not go
directly to the Dead Letter Office. There was the name, a definite
number, on a definite street, in a definite city, and in the lower left-
hand corner was the regular United States two-cent postage stamp.
So the letter was given to the proper carrier, who took it to the
Cherry Street address. When it came back the legend was stamped
in red ink across the face :

REMOVED. PRESENT ADDRESS UNKNOWN.

One letter dated at Haverstraw was addressed like this on a thick,
creamy envelope :

MR. SANTA CLAUS,

New York City.
P. S.— If not called for by Xmas please return.

THE PAY AND WORK OF POST OFFICE CLERKS. 189

This was the only one in which Mr. Claus was addressed
familiarly. The majority of the letters were addressed strangely.
There were numerous variations in the spelling of Claus, and not a
few, probably Germans, wrote it with a K. Here was one :

TO DEAR SANTA CLAUS,
New York City.

This was dated from Stanfordville, N. Y. It was not quite so
fervent as the next:

DEAR MR. POSTMASTER.

Bring this to dear Santa Claus.

Sometimes when the envelope was carelessly sealed, or when there
was no envelope at all, the missive being held in shape merely by the
stamp, it came apart and the contents were disclosed. Under these
circumstances it was, perhaps, permissible to read them. Under any
other, there would be a manifest impropriety in prying into the con-
fidences of these youngsters. There was one such letter among the
eighteen. It came folded and turned down at one corner, and the
stamp was placed so as to hold the folded corner down. It read as

follows :

Chitenango, N. Y.

Bear Mr. Santa Claus: — I only want a pare of skates for Christmas and if it aint
cold a sled will do My old ones bust. If they aint no snow I would like ennything
you think of. My mama says you are poor this year.

Yours truly,

C N .

There are stamp clerks and stampers. It had been noticed in the
larger post offices that at certain hours of the day it was hard work
for the complete force of stampers to keep up with the tremendous
accumulations of mail. The Postmaster General consequently caused
stamp-cancelling machines to be examined by commissions, and a
year ago September a contract was made with the Hey & Dolphin
Company, of New York, for one hundred machines. This machine
has cancelled, post-marked, counted and stacked 5,000 postal cards in
four minutes and fifty seconds, and has performed similar work on
24,000 postal cards in an hour. In two hours and two minutes it
cancelled, post-marked, counted and stacked 46,480 letters and
postal cards, of which 21,000 were letters. An average speed of

190

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

30,000 letters and postal cards per hour is claimed for it; but with
the great variety of mail matter required to be cancelled, and with
the delays incident to a high rate of speed, this figure is probably
too high. The object of the machine is not only to relieve the stress
at the close of business hours in the large offices, but to enable the

clerks who have
been required to
do the stamping
by hand to address
themselves to oth-
er duties. Indeed,
a cut of $140,000
was made in the
clerk hire item
in the appropri-
ation bill of last
year on account
of the appropria-
tion of $40,000
made for the one
hundred cancel-
ling machines.

It was lately con-
tended for a new
electrical stamp
canceller, placed
on trial in the
Washington post
office, that it could
attain a speed of
40,000 cancellations per hour; and the machine not only noted the
year, month and day, but the hour and minute when the letter
passed through. The Postmaster General has encouraged the intro-
duction of these devices which register the exact time when mail is
deposited and dispatched, in order that the blame for all delays may
be placed just where it belongs, and the service generally quick-
ened. The Hey & Dolphin machine is compact in form, light
running, and practically noiseless. It is driven by a one-sixth

THE CONSTANTINE STAMP-CANCELLING MACHINE.

THE PAY AND "WORK OF POST OFFICE CLERKS. 191

horsepower electric motor. The machine embraces six different
classes of inventions — a hopper, a combined feed and separator, a
printing apparatus, an inking device, a counting mechanism and a
delivery apparatus. The Boston machine, so-called, in use in sev-
eral post offices, is somewhat simpler in construction ; the Constan-
tine machine, to be seen in the New York office, larger and more
complex.

CONUNDRUMS ANSWERED BY THE HUNDRED.

UT to get back to the First Assistant Postmaster
General, though. One of his divisions awards
the salaries and allowances, as has been said; and
there are the great divisions of the Free Deliv-
ery, the Money Order system, and the Dead Let-
ter Office attached to his office. He also has in charge the
Division of Correspondence. The head of this, Mr. James
R. Ash, might be called the great conundrum man of the Depart-
ment. It is easy enough to imagine that he answers all sorts
of letters that ask for information upon all sorts of points;
he uses forms for answering many of these, of course, but many
require patient search into the laws and regulations, or the usages
of the Department, and much tact to know what to say and much
skill to know how to say it. Most of the rulings of the First
Assistant Postmaster General — for he, and not the Assistant Attor-
ney General for the Department, issues the rulings now, — are based
upon these replies. Many are printed in the Postal Guide and
become the law and gospel of the postmasters.

A funny person recently caused to be printed somewhere a new
set of post office rules. They were : —

1. Feather beds are not mailable.

2. A pair of onions will go for two scents.

3. Ink bottles must be corked when sent by mail.

4. Over three pounds of real estate are not mailable.

5. Persons are compelled to lick their own postage stamps and envelopes; the
postmaster cannot be compelled to do this.

6. An arrangement has been perfected by which letters without postage will
be immediately forwarded — to the Dead Letter Office.

7. Persons are earnestly requested not to send postal cards with money orders
enclosed, as large sums are lost in that way.

8. Nitro-glycerine must be forwarded at the risk of the sender. If it should
blow up in the postmaster's hands he cannot be held responsible.

192

CONUNDRUMS ANSWERED BY THE HUNDRED. 193

9. When letters are received bearing no direction, the persons for whom they
are intended will please signify the fact to the postmaster, that they may at once
be forwarded.

10. A stamp of the foot is not sufficient to carry a letter.

11. As all postmasters are expert linguists, the address may be written in
Chinese or Choctaw.

12. Spring chickens, when sent by mail, should be enclosed in iron-bound
boxes to save their tender bodies from injury.

13. It is unsafe to mail apple or fruit trees with the fruit on them, as some
clerks have a weakness for such things.

14. It is earnestly requested that lovers writing to their girls will please con-
fine their gushing rhapsodies to the inside of the envelope.

15. Ducks cannot be sent through the mail when alive. The quacking would
disturb the slumbers of the clerks on the postal cars.

16. When watches are sent through the mail, if the sender will put a notice
on the outside, the postmasters will wind and keep in running order.

17- Poems on Spring and Beautiful Snow are rigidly excluded from the mails.
(This is to catch the editorial vote.)

18. John Smith gets his mail from 674,279 post offices, hence a letter directed
to John Smith, United States, will reach him.

19. When candy is sent through the mails it is earnestly requested that both
ends of the packages be left open, so that the employees of the post office may
test its quality.

20. When you send a money order in a letter, always write full and explicit
directions in the same letter so that any person getting the letter can draw the
money.

21. Alligators over ten feet in length are not allowed to be transmitted by mail.

22. Young ladies who desire to send their Saratoga trunks by mail to
watering-places the coming summer, should notify the Postmaster General at
once. They must not be over seven feet long by thirteen feet high.

23. The placing of stamps upside down on letters is prohibited. Several
postmasters have recently been seriously injured while trying to stand on their
heads to cancel stamps placed in this manner.

But the real rulings of the Department are full of interest. These
are some of them:

It is not necessary for the sureties to take charge of the post office when the
woman who is postmaster changes her name by marriage. If the postmaster
referred to desires to remain in charge of the post office she may continue to
conduct the business under her former name until she shall have been commis-
sioned under her new name.

Every postmaster must keep his post office open for the dispatch of business
every day, except Sundays and holidays, during the usual hours in which the
principal business houses in the place are kept open, and the office should not be
closed during meal hours.

Publishers of second class matter have the right to print or write on the
wrappers requests for its return if not delivered within a given time, and post-
masters are required to comply with such requests.

194 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

A bulk package of franked articles may be sent in the mail to one person, who
on receiving and opening the same may place addresses on the franked articles
and remail them for carriage and delivery, to the respective addresses. Each
article must, however, bear the frank of the Senator or Representative entitled
to use it.

Contractors and mail carriers have no right to refuse to carry packages of
mailable matter which, on account of size and shape, cannot be put into the mail
pouch. It is their duty to carry the mail, and every part of it.

It is not contemplated that postmasters shall make use of their cancelling and
post-marking stamps elsewhere than at their post offices; nor does the law permit
postmasters to take credit for cancellations not actually made at the post office.

Letter boxes in post offices are restricted to the use of one family, firm, or
corporation.

Letters from the Pension Office at Washington may be delivered to the
pensioner himself, to a member of his family, or to any responsible person known
to the postmaster in whose care they may be addressed. Under no circumstances
must the letters of pensioners, sent from the Pension Office, or from any United
States Pension Agent, be delivered to any attorney, claim agent, broker, or any
other person, except as stated above.

A postmaster residing near the state line may be appointed postmaster at a
post office in the adjoining state, provided he resides within the delivery of the
post office.

When publishers of newspapers and periodicals persist in sending copies of
their publications to given addresses, after having been notified by the postmaster
at the office of address that the same are not taken out of the office, the post-
master cannot do otherwise than consign such copies to the waste-basket, after
holding them for thirty days.

Postmasters at non-classified offices, where the number of employees is less
than fifty are responsible for the acts of their assistants and clerks, and may,
therefore, select them without regard to age, provided they are capable of per-
forming the duties devolving upon them. The Department does not, however,
permit a postmaster to retain anyone in the post office who is discourteous to the
public, or is habitually careless or negligent in the performance of official duty.

All matter intended for delivery must be so arranged that when application is
made for mail, newspapers, as well as letters, may be readily and promptly
delivered to the applicant.

When a postmaster provides his office with letter boxes at his own expense, it
is understood that he does so for the accommodation of the patrons of the office,
and such boxes are recognized by the Department as the property of the post-
master, who, upon retiring from office, may either remove the same or dispose of
them to his successor upon such terms as may be agreed upon. When a private
individual, however, by permission of the postmaster, erects a box in the post
office for his individual use, the box becomes the property of the Government,
and cannot be removed or disposed of except as directed by the Department.

Telegrams deposited in a post office for delivery are subject to postage as other
written communications are.

Postmasters are forbidden to furnish lists of the persons receiving mail from
their post offices. When a request for such information is received, accompanied
by a postage stamp or stamped envelope for the prepayment of return postage.

CONUNDRUMS ANSWERED BY THE HUNDRED. 195

the postmaster should return such postage stamp or stamped envelope to the
writer, under cover of a penalty envelope, at the same time politely advising him
that he is forbidden by the regulations of the Department to furnish the informa-
tion desired.

A postmaster must, in a spirit of accommodation, deliver letters from lock
boxes to the owners of them, when such owners have forgotten to bring their keys.
He is not justified, however, in delivering mail from a lock box to any person
other than the owner, unless he be presented with a written order therefor. If
the owner of a lock box desires some one else to take the mail from the box, he
should provide him with a key.

Officers in oharge of the exchange at military posts are entitled to use the
penalty envelope in conducting their official correspondence. They are not
authorized, however, to send penalty envelopes or labels to merchants for the
purpose of having merchandise purchased for the exchange transmitted free of
postage.

The depositing of a letter, readdressed for forwarding, in any letter box es-
tablished by the Post Office Department within the delivery of the post office of
original address, is equivalent to its being deposited at such post office, and it is,
therefore, entitled to be forwarded, without additional postage — provided at
least one full rate has already been prepaid on it.

Minor coins, such as nickels, pennies, and three-cent pieces ar.e legal tender in
sums not exceeding twenty-five cents.

After a letter has been returned to the sender from the office of address as not
delivered, in accordance with the card request of the sender, it cannot be re-
mailed to a new address except on the payment of a new postage.

When a letter is presented at a post office for mailing after the mail pouch has
been closed, it may be sent outside of the mail pouch, by the hands of the carrier,
for mailing at the next office on his route, provided the stamp thereon has not
been cancelled.

A postmaster has no right to open a letter deposited in his office, without any
address thereon, for the purpose of ascertaining the name of the writer. It
should be sent to the Dead Letter Office.

When a person requests a postmaster to forward his letters to another office,
and to hold other classes of mail matter addressed to him until the same shall be
called for, the request must be complied with.

When a postmaster is called upon to express his opinion concerning the finan-
cial standing of a patron of his office, he must decline to do so, especially in his
official capacity.

It is not regarded by the Department as a violation of the statute for banks to
notify persons by postal card that they hold drafts against them.

Every post office of the third and fourth classes must be provided with a box
for the posting of letters.

Postmasters are not required to receipt for any letters deposited for mailing,
except such as are offered for registration.

Postmasters are forbidden to deliver pension checks to merchants, either upon
the written or verbal order of the pensioner.

A simple statement of account may be written upon a postal card, and sent in
the mail, when the same is unaccompanied by any scurrilous, defamatory, or
threatening language.

196 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Postmasters are required to collect one-cent postage upon all letters advertised,
whether by posting or otherwise, which are subsequently delivered.

It is not the business of a postmaster to attach stamps to letters and packages
submitted for mailing. This may be more properly done by the person mailing
such letters, or packages, but where he is unable to do so, by reason of infirmity
or other cause of incapacity, the postmaster may assist him, if requested to
do so.

When letters are deposited at a post office for mailing after the mail pouch has
been locked and sent to the train, the postmaster may cancel the stamps thereon
and hand the letter to the postal clerks on the cars ; but, if they are taken to the
cars by any person other than himself, or his sworn assistant, the stamps thereon
must not be cancelled by the postmaster.

Postmasters are not authorized to make use of the penalty envelope in order-
ing copies of the Postal Guide for the public. When practicable, they should
transmit several orders to the publisher at one time, but if this cannot be done,
the purchaser must pay the postage upon his order.

Postmasters are not permitted to make public any information obtained by
them in the discharge of their duties.

A clerk of a court has no authority, unless when acting under orders from the
court, to issue instructions concerning the delivery of mail not addressed to him-
self, or that over which he has no control.

Neither husband nor wife can control the delivery of letters addressed to the
other, but letters addressed to the one may be delivered to the other in the
absence of orders from either to the contrary.

No one can lawfully be appointed postmaster who has not attained full, legal
age.

Postmasters are required to forward the oaths of assistant postmasters, clerks
and other employees of their offices, to the office of the Fourth Assistant Post-
master General (Division of Bonds and Commissions), where they are examined,
and, if found to be correct, placed on file.

A duly commissioned postmaster is, by virtue of his commission, authorized to
administer the oath of office to any person, whether employed in the postal ser-
vice, or in any other department of the Government. His authority is, however,
restricted to the administration of the oath of office. He is not empowered,
under the provisions of the section referred to, to take affidavits, or acknowledg-
ments, or to perform such other duties as usually pertain to the office of the
justice of the peace or a notary public.

An assistant postmaster is not a commissioned officer of the United States, and
is therefore not authorized, by virtue of his position as such assistant, to admin-
ister the oath of office.

When persons holding boxes in post offices refuse to pay the rent thereon, their
mail must be placed in the general delivery.

Mail matter upon which an indefinite address is written or printed, such as
" The Leading Vegetable Dealer," or "Any Intelligent Farmer," is not deliver-
able.

A letter bearing the card of the sender if undelivered at the expiration of time
named in the card, must not be advertised. It must be returned to the sender
with the reason for its non-delivery endorsed thereon.

Postmasters at money order offices must not accept from any express company,

CONUNDRUMS ANSWERED BY THE HUNDRED. 197

banking institution, or other corporation or firm, any agency for the issue and
payment of money orders, drafts, bills of exchange, or similar instruments for
the transmission of money; hence a postmaster at a money order office cannot
serve as cashier of a bank.

A post office box rented by a society or association is not available for the use
of individual members of such society or association, except the officers of it
when addressed in their official capacity.

A postmaster whose annual compensation is less than one thousand dollars is
not prohibited from accepting and holding another office under the government
of the state, territory, or municipality in which he resides, provided his duties
as postmaster suffer no interference in consequence.

Letters addressed to "A. B.," or other initials or fictitious names, in care of a
letter carrier at a free delivery office, are not deliverable and must be treated as
improperly addressed mail matter.

Postmasters at post offices of the fourth class are permitted to transact other
business in the room in which the post office is located, when the same is kept
separate and distinct from that of the post office.

When a letter intended for one person is delivered to another of the same
name and returned by him, the postmaster will reseal the letter in the
presence of the person who opened it, and request him to write upon it
the words, " opened by mistake," and sign his name. He will then replace the
letter in the post office. When an erroneously delivered letter is opened, and
dropped in the office through the receptacle for letters, and the postmaster is un-
able to ascertain who opened the same, he must, after resealing the letter, endorse
thereon the words " opened by mistake by persons unknown to the postmaster,"
and then replace the letter in the office.

A postmaster who is also a notary public may, in his notarial capacity, take
affidavits in pension cases, but he must not be concerned in the prosecution of
such cases, or any other claims against the Government.

There is nothing in the postal laws or regulations concerning the liability of a
subscriber for the subscription price to a newspaper or periodical.

Postmasters are not required to open their offices on Sunday when there is no
mail arriving after the closing of the office on Saturday, and before six o'clock p.
m., on Sunday. When a mail arrives between these hours, the office must be
kept open for one hour or more if the public convenience require it.

Matter addressed for delivery at hotels must be returned to the post office as
soon as it becomes evident that it will not be delivered.

The Post Office Department cannot authorize mail carriers to carry firearms.
Such permission can only be obtained from the local authorities.

Postmasters are prohibited from disclosing to the public the names of persons
owning or renting boxes in their offices.

It is not allowable, under the regulations of the Department, to locate a post
office in a bar-room or in any room directly connected with one, nor to open or
deliver any mail matter in any room in which liquor is sold at retail, except the
same be sold by a druggist for medicinal purposes only, and not to be drunk on
the premises.

It is provided by law that no box at any post office shall be assigned to the use
of any person until the rent thereof has been paid for one quarter in advance.

If a postmaster has a store in connection with the post office and the same is

198 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

attached and closed for debts incurred by the postmaster, he must provide
another room for his office ; as the Department will not protect him against the
enforcement of state laws by allowing him to plead interference with the mails.

A postmaster has no right to use the boxes or the general delivery of his office
for the distribution of bills or circulars, relating to his own private business,
without prepayment of postage thereon.

The regulations of the Department require in the appointment of a married
woman, or widow, as postmaster, that she must be appointed and commissioned
under her own Christian name, and not that of her husband.

If a postmaster should cause loss to a publisher because of failure to comply
with a plain provision of law, his liability is determined in the courts and not by
the Post Office Department.

Postmasters must examine the return request upon letters not promptly
delivered, so as to comply with the request, and endorse undelivered letters with
the reason for their non-delivery. Frequent complaints are made of such
failures by postmasters, and the answer that the "time "' was overlooked is not
satisfactory.

A postmaster summoned as a witness must obey the summons and go into
court, but should refuse to testify in regard to the delivery of mail matter. He
then abides by the order of the court, as the Department will not hold a post-
master responsible for making public information obtained by him in the dis-
charge of his duty, when the same is done in obedience to an order of the
court.

A postmaster has no right to withhold the delivery of any mail matter on the
ground that the person named in the address is indebted to him.

When mail matter is delayed in transit at a post office by reason of high water,
so that it cannot be forwarded by the regular carrier, it may be delivered to a
sworn messenger sent for it by the postmaster of the office to which it is ad-
dressed.

Should a postmaster and his assistant both be subpoenaed for attendance at
court the postmaster must have a temporary assistant sworn in to take charge of
the post office during their absence.

If the owner of any copyright granted by the United States, or his authorized
representative, should file an authenticated list of publications thus protected by
law with any exchange office, requesting the postmaster to prevent the forward-
ing of any of them in the mail, the postmaster must examine imported publica-
tions, to see if any such protected list is included, and if such be the case, he
must advise the person so interested and hold the copy or copies, for a reasonable
time to permit proceedings for confiscation.

Postmasters cannot lawfully accept postage stamps in payment of postage
remaining due on letters. The amount due must invariably be paid in cash.

A postmaster may erect a box at a railroad station for the reception of mail
matter, but he must not claim credit for stamps cancelled upon such matter,
unless said stamps are cancelled in the post office.

Distillers are not entitled to make use of penalty envelopes in transmitting the
amount of their taxes to collectors of internal revenue.

There is no provision under which postmasters or assistant postmasters are
exempt from the requirement of state laws to perform jury duty or duty on the
public highways.

CONUNDRUMS ANSWERED BY THE HUNDRED. 199

The Post Office Department has no control over letters prior to their being
deposited for mailing, or after they have been delivered to the addressee or
according to his order.

There is no law or regulation requiring postmasters to attend to the business
of private individuals ; they may, however, do so as an act of courtesy, when
perfectly convenient to themselves. Private individuals, when addressing post-
masters on their own business, should enclose a postage stamp for reply.

Postmasters are expected to extend to all persons the courtesy of a respectful
reply to inquiries upon postal business, for which they may use penalty envel-
opes. They may use their own discretion about replying to letters upon the
private business of the writers.

If order cannot be maintained at a post office, the only remedy in the hands of
the Department is the discontinuance of the office.

The writer of a letter may recover the same after mailing before its delivery to
the addressee, it having been held that the ownership of a letter rests in the
writer until the delivery thereof. Application for the return of a letter should
be made to the postmaster at the mailing office.

An individual member of a firm is entitled to have the mail of his family
placed in the post office box rented by the firm. If the box will not accommodate
all the mail, the firm should rent another.

At colleges and similar institutions, where students have been placed in the
charge of the principal by their parents or guardians, and where the rules of
the institution provide that the principal shall have control of the mail matter
addressed to such students as are minors, postmasters should make the delivery
in accordance with the order of the principal. If, however, the principal has not
authority from the parent or guardian to control the mail of the pupils placed
under his care (which authority is understood by an acceptance of the rules —
that being one) the Department cannot direct the delivery to be made to the
principal against the wishes of the pupil.

Postmasters must deliver mail to persons calling for the same in their order,
whether they be box-holders or not.

A mail carrier cannot receive letters to be carried outside of the mail beyond
the next post office on his route, unless the same are enclosed in Government
stamped envelopes and properly sealed and marked.

Stamps cut from Government stamped envelopes are not receivable for postage
and letters or packages bearing the same must be held.

Postmasters are not liable for the breakage or destruction of matter passing
through their offices. If a postmaster through negligence or wilful neglect
should cause loss to a patron of his office, his liability therefor is a question be-
tween the party suffering such loss and the postmaster to be decided in the
courts.

The financial condition of a candidate for appointment to the office of post-
master does not affect his eligibility to such office. He is required, however,
to furnish a good and sufficient bond, with two or more sureties, before he can
be commissioned and authorized to assume the duties of the office.

If the agent of the addressee of the latter is robbed of the same after he has
taken it from the post office, complaint should be made to the local authorities,
as the jurisdiction of the Post Office Department ceases after the letter has been
properly delivered.

200 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

It is not a violation of the postal laws to send dunning communications by
mail, when the same are sent under cover of envelopes which, themselves, do
not bear written or printed words or display objectionable to the law.

United States senators and members of the United States House of Represen-
tatives entitled to the franking privilege, have the right to exercise the privilege
until the first Monday in December, following the expiration of their term of office.

The Department does not consider the usual legal notices sent out by tax
collectors that tax is due, or about to become due, written or printed upon postal
cards, to be unmailable.

It is not the practice of the Department to reply to inquiries of a hypothetical
nature concerning the conduct of postmasters or the management of post offices,
but when complaints of a specific and definite nature are submitted, prompt
attention is given.

The hours during which clerks in post offices are required to be on duty are
regulated by the postmasters in whose offices they are employed, and not by the
Department.

A postmaster whose compensation is one thousand dollars or more per
annum, is prohibited from holding the office of alderman of his city or town.

The surety of a postmaster has the right to examine his accounts, but he has
no right to examine mail matter awaiting delivery, or passing through the office,
unless the required oath has previously been administered to him.

When a minor is not dependent on a parent for maintenance and support, and
does not reside with a parent or guardian, or with some one placed in charge by
the parent or guardian, such minor has the right to control his or her correspon-
dence.

When a letter arrives at a post office addressed to one person in the care of
another and the postmaster has received no instructions from the person to whom
it is intended, it is his duty to deliver it to the first of the two persons named in
the address who may call for it.

A postmaster cannot properly refuse to sell postage stamps to a person who
intends to mail his letters elsewhere than at the office where such stamps are
purchased.

Packages of matter mailed at less than the letter rate of postage cannot law-
fully be forwarded from the office of mailing, except upon full payment of
postage.

When anything whatever, except an addressed label, is attached to a postal
card transmitted in the mail, the same becomes subject to additional postage.

No person engaged in the prosecution of claims against the Government may
lawfully hold the office of postmaster, or be employed as assistant postmaster or
clerk in a post office.

Postmasters are expected to examine postal cards passing through their offices
only for the purpose of ascertaining if they contain any matter forbidden by the
law to circulate in the mails; and under no circumstances must they make
public any matter written or printed thereon.

When a female employee of a post office changes her name by marriage, and
remains in the employ of the office, she must take the oath anew under her new
name.

An alien who has in due form of law declared his intention to become a citizen
of the United States, is eligible to appointment as postmaster.

CONUNDRUMS ANSWERED BY THE HUNDRED. 201

When a letter has been deposited in a post office for mailing, the writer may,
upon identifying the same to the satisfaction of the postmaster, withdraw it
from the post office; but if the stamp thereon has been cancelled, it cannot be
remailed without the prepayment of postage anew thereon.

There is no provision of the Postal Laws and Regulations under which the
addressee of a newspaper or magazine is made responsible for the subscription
price of it.

One having a lien against horses for their keep cannot enforce the same in
such a manner as to stop the United States mail in a vehicle drawn by such
horses; but it is not an offence to detain the horse in the stable until the keep is
paid.

It is highly improper for the employees of post offices to importune the attaches
of travelling or local shows for tickets of admission when calling at the post office
for mail or on other business.

MONEY ORDERS AND SUPPLIES.

HE domestic money order system went into opera-
tion in 1864 in 141 post offices. $100,000 was
appropriated from the public treasury to defray
the expense. Of this amount the sum of
$7,047.97 only was expended. The Postmaster
General was authorized by the above mentioned
Act "to establish and maintain, under such
rules and regulations as he may deem expedient,
a uniform money order system at all suitable post offices."
He was further authorized by Act of July 27, 1868, "to con-
clude arrangements with the post departments of foreign
governments, with which postal conventions have been or may be
concluded, for the exchange, by means of postal orders, of small
sums of money at such rates of exchange and compensation to
postmasters, and under such rules and regulations as he may
deem expedient." The object of the money order system is "to
promote public convenience and to insure greater security in the
transfer of money through the mails." The Act of May 17, 1864,
provided that the Postmaster General should furnish money order
post offices with printed or engraved forms for money orders, -and
that no order should be valid unless drawn upon such form;
that he should also supply money order post offices with blank
forms of application for money orders, which each applicant for
a money order should fill up by entering the date, his name and
address, the name and address of the payee, and the amount; and
that all such applications should be preserved by the j)ostmaster
receiving them for such time as the Postmaster General might
prescribe.

The advantages of the money order system over any and all other
modes of transmitting money through the mails consist in its cheap-

202

MONEY ORDERS AND SUPPLIES.

203

ness and in its almost perfect security against fraud or loss. The
cost of issuing and paying money orders for the last twenty-five
years has been the subject of thoughtful investigation; and care-
fully collected statistics have from time to time led to the adoption
of more approved methods for reducing expenses, as well as dimin-

THE MONEY OEDEE BUILDING ON THE LEFT, THE INTERIOR DEPARTMENT IN THE
DISTANCE, AND THE SIXTH AUDITOR'S OFFICE BEHIND THE AWNINGS.

ishing frauds, errors, and losses, to the lowest possible minimum,
and for increasing the efficiency and popularity of the service.
From the date of the organization of the system it has been the
policy of the Department to secure such a schedule of fees for the
issue of money orders as should make the system self-sustaining
under the most economical management. During this period seven
different schedules have been adopted and adhered to for terms of
two, two, four, three, eight, three, and five years respectively. The

204 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

rates of commission or fees charged for the issue of domestic orders
at present are as follows :

For sums not exceeding $5 5 cents

Over $5 and not exceeding $10 8 cents

Over $10 and not exceeding $15 10 cents

Over $15 and not exceeding $30 15 cents

Over $30 and not exceeding $40 20 cents

Over $40 and not exceeding $50 25 cents

Over $50 and not exceeding $60 30 cents

Over $60 and not exceeding $70 35 cents

Over $70 and not exceeding $80 40 cents

Over $80 and not exceeding $100 45 cents

The principal means employed to attain safety consist of an
advice or notification containing full particulars of the order — its
number, date and amount, with the name and address of the remitter
and the name and address of the payee — which is transmitted by
the first mail after issue by the issuing postmaster to the postmaster
at the office of payment; and the latter is thus furnished with infor-
mation which will prevent its payment to any person not entitled
to it. From the items contained in the application, and in con-
formity therewith, the issuing postmaster makes out the money order
as well as the corresponding advice. The money order, when com-
pleted, and upon payment of the sum expressed therein, and the fee
chargeable therefor, is handed to the applicant, to be by him trans-
mitted to the payee. The issuing postmaster is required to transmit
the advice, by the first mail, to the postmaster at the office drawn
upon, and the latter is thereby, before the order itself can be
presented, placed in possession of the information necessary to insure
correct payment.

When a money order is presented for payment, the paying official,
to satisfy himself that the person presenting it is the one entitled
thereto, and that the order is correct in all respects, compares it
with the advice. If the applicant for payment is unknown to him,
he questions him as to his name, and the name and address of
the sender, and may require him to prove his identity by the testi-
mony of another person present, who may be required to write his
name and address on the back of the advice, under a statement that
he knows the applicant to be the person he represents himself to be.
In case of a discrepancy between the order and the original advice,

MONEY ORDERS AND SUPPLIES. 205

or between the advice and the statement of the holder of the order
(unless the difference be evidently accidental and trifling), payment
will be deferred until a second advice can be obtained from the
issuing postmaster by the postmaster at the office drawn upon. A
double form termed, a ' 4 letter of inquiry and second advice " is em
ployed in cases of this kind. The postmaster or clerk at the paying
office, setting forth the nature of the discrepancy, fills out the letter
of inquiry, which occupies one side of this blank, and transmits it to
the issuing postmaster, who in response furnishes a second advice on
the other side of the same sheet after referring to the remitter's
application and causing him to amend it if necessary.

Postmasters understand that every person who applies for pay-
ment of a money order ordinarily should be required to prove his
identity, unless known to the postmaster to be the rightful owner of
the order, and that if a money order be paid to the wrong person,
through lack of necessary precaution on the part of the postmaster,
the latter will be held accountable for such payment and required to
make the amount good to the owner. The regulation provides,
however, that the remitter of a money order may, by a written
declaration across the face of his application for the issue of the
order, waive the requirement as to identification of the payee, or of
the endorsee, or attorney of the payee, and by such declaration
assume the risk ; and that he, or the payee, or his endorsee, or attor-
ney, shall, in such case, be precluded from holding the postmaster
responsible in the event of wrong payment, provided the latter took
all the proper means, except identification by another person, to
satisfy himself that the one presenting the order and claiming pay-
ment was entitled to it. The remitter who desires, by such
course, to relieve his correspondent from the inconvenience of pro-
ducing at the post office of payment proof of his identity by the
testimony of another person present, may do so by writing across
the face of his application for a money order the words " Identifica-
tion of payee, endorsee, or attorney waived," and by signing the
same. In such case the issuing postmaster writes the same words
across the face of the money order, and across the face of the cor-
responding advice, and signs both statements.

Money orders are frequently presented by payees who are entire
strangers at the place of payment, and who are also remitters of the

20G

MONEY ORDERS AND SUPPLIES. 207

same orders, having purchased them for protection against the risks
incident to travel. It is enjoined upon postmasters issuing orders
in such cases to obtain the signatures of the remitters on the advices
of the orders. Observance of this precaution, by enabling the paying
postmasters to compare signatures, affords aid in identifying payees
who are in the situation described. Cases of this kind, in which
remitters and payees are identical, serve to illustrate the utility of
the money order system as affording not only a substitute for letters
of credit to persons travelling, but a secure depository. Not only
is it a fact that itinerant actors, showmen, vendors, workmen and
others use the money order system extensively in this manner, pur-
chasing orders for the maximum amount of $100 each generally; but
cases have been known, and, it is believed, are not rare, in which
persons permanently abiding in localities where there are no
reliable banks, have, for security, invested their savings in
money orders issued upon application made by themselves in their
own favor.

Although money orders are often lost, and sometimes stolen, not
one in a hundred thousand is paid to another than the lawful owner.
One hundred and forty-one cases of alleged wrong payment investi-
gated and disposed of during a recent average year were settled as
follows : Post office inspectors recovered the amounts of twenty-one
orders, $329.50 in all, from the persons to whom payment had been
improperly made, and paid the same over to the true payees or
owners; in fifty-two cases, involving $1,416.55, it was ascertained,
upon investigation, that the claims were not well founded, the
orders having been properly paid in the first place ; in thirty-nine
cases, where the orders amounted to $951.54, the paying postmas-
ters, for failure to exercise the precaution enjoined upon them by
the regulations as to identification, were required to make good the
amounts to the owners ; in two cases, of orders drawn for $45, it was
found that the issuing postmaster was mainly at fault, and he,
therefore, was required to make the amount good; in two cases
where the amount was $10.21, the payee, being at fault, was made
to sustain the loss ; the remitter for like reason in one case where
the amount was $50 was required to bear it; and in twenty -four
cases, where the aggregate amount involved was $1,627.08, the
Department assumed the loss, the evidence not being sufficient to

208 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

fix the responsibility upon either the postmaster, the payee, or the
remitter. The number of cases in which during that year it was
ascertained that the orders had actually been paid or re-paid to the
wrong persons was eighty-nine, being in the ratio of one to every
131,212 of the payments and re-payments made within the same
period.

Whenever a money order has been lost in transmission, or other-
wise, a duplicate will be issued by the Superintendent of the Money
Order System on receipt of an application therefor from either the
remitter, payee, or endorsee of the original, bearing the certificate of
the issuing and paying postmasters that the original has not been
paid or re-paid, and will not be paid or re-paid if afterwards pre-
sented. The mere loss of a money order, therefore, never involves
a loss of the amount to the owner. Any money order which is not
presented for payment until after the expiration of one year from the
date of it is declared invalid and not paj^able. To obtain pay-
ment of the amount of such invalid order, the owner must send the
same, through the issuing or the paying postmaster to the Superin-
tendent of the Money Order System, with an application for the
issue of a duplicate. If the duplicate be lost, a triplicate will be
issued by the Department, after application for it. During the year
ended June 30, 1892, nearly 27,000 duplicates were issued.

The payee or the remitter of a money order may, by his written
endorsement thereon, direct that it be paid to another person ; but
it is provided by law that more than one endorsement on a money
order shall render the same invalid and not payable. Hence the
postmaster, to whom a money order thus illegally endorsed is pre-
sented by a second or subsequent endorsee, must refuse payment,
and such endorsee, to obtain payment of the amount, must forward
the order to the Superintendent of the Money Order System with an
application for renewal, and with a statement, under oath or affirma-
tion, of two responsible persons, that the endorsements are genuine.
But if a money order which has been endorsed twice, or oftener, is
presented by the first endorsee, with the second or subsequent
endorsements stricken out, it may be paid to him; or if presented
by the remitter or payee, at the issuing or paying office, with all
endorsements stricken off, it may be re-paid or paid, as the case may
be. In all cases of lost or invalid money orders, the owner of the

MONEY ORDERS AND SUPPLIES. 209

order, whether remitter, payee, or endorsee, may make application
through the issuing or the paying postmaster, for a duplicate ; and
it is the duty of the postmaster to fill up and dispatch the proper
forms for it.

The maximum amount of a single money order is limited to $100,
and in the regulations postmasters are instructed to refuse to issue
in one day to the same remitter, in favor of the same payee, more
than three money orders payable at the same post office ; the primary
object of the money order system being, not to furnish facilities for
making remittances of large amounts, but to insure safety in the
transfer of small sums of money through the mails. On the one hand
it would not be practicable to provide at small and remote offices for
the prompt payment on presentation of money orders amounting in
the aggregate to large sums, without these restrictions ; and on the
other, the accumulation of considerable sums at such offices would
be unsafe.

The current of the international money order business with
European countries is continually in favor of those countries, the
money orders issued in the United States for payment in Europe
greatly exceeding in number and aggregate amount those issued in
Europe for payment in the United States. This is due to the well-
known fact that emigrants from those countries frequently send a
portion of their earnings to their relatives at home. The balances
arising from this excess against the United States are liquidated by
banker's bills of exchange purchased in New York, drawn to the
order of the Postmaster General of the United States, and by him
endorsed to the chief of the foreign postal administration to which
payment is to be made. The Money Order System is one of the
heaviest purchasers of foreign exchange. It bought last year bills
to the amount of about $10,000,000. Every morning in New York
the bankers send proposals to the postmaster. For example, one firm
offers a bill on Paris at a certain rate, and another firm offers a sim-
ilar amount at a less rate ; needless to add, the order goes to the
lowest bidder. In similar manner purchase is made of bills payable
in London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Basle, Berlin, Stockholm, Chris-
tiania, Copenhagen and Lisbon.

The whole amount of money orders issued in this country for pay-
ment in the United Kingdom during a recent average year was

210 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

$5,438,926.07, and the amount issued there for payment in the United
States was only 1907,857.57. The amount issued in this country
for payment in Italy was $1,206,972.01, and the amount sent here
from the latter country by money orders was $63,575.06. The
amount remitted to Sweden by money orders was $1,188,008.23,
and the amount received from Sweden was $137,877.54. But in
some instances these remitters, no doubt, sent their money to be
deposited in Government savings banks abroad, there to remain until
their return to their own country.

During the year 1891 the aggregate amount of remittances by money
orders to the United States from the British West Indies, Jamaica,
the Hawaiian Islands, and the Australasian colonies of Great Britain
was much in excess of the amount of money orders issued here for
payment in those countries. For instance, the amount of money
orders issued in this country for payment in the Windward Islands
was $5,049.70 only, while the amount of the orders issued in the
Windward Islands for payment here was $98,393.35; the amount of
the orders issued in the United States for payment in Jamaica was
$3,869.16, while that colony issued for payment in the United States
money orders amounting to $43,320.54; and money orders amount-
ing to $11,743.73 were issued in this country for payment in New
South Wales, the latter country issuing for payment here money
orders amounting to $24,989.16. The excess of money orders from
the above-named countries paid in the United States is explained by
the circumstance that these money orders were sent mainly in pay-
ment for goods and miscellaneous small articles purchased in this
country, there being but very few emigrants from the countries in
question residing here.

In the international money order business between this country
and Canada the difference between the amount of orders issued in
each country for payment in the other is comparatively small ; the
amount of orders from the United States paid in Canada during
the fiscal year ended June 30, 1891, being $1,486,428.03, and
the amount of orders from Canada paid in the United States being
$1,471,737.42; a difference of $14,690.61. Although there are
numerous Canadians living in the United States who send remit-
tances to relatives in their native country, the amount of money
orders remitted to this country from Canada in payment for articles

MONEY ORDERS AND SUPPLIES. 211

purchased here, and of subscriptions to newspapers, periodicals, etc.,
almost counterbalanced the amount of what may be termed "family
remittances " sent home by Canadians residing here. Note, too, the
transactions in domestic issues and payments at the larger post offices.
In Chicago, for example, about 65,000 orders were sold last year, but
the payments reached the enormous number of 1,200,000. In New
York about 50,000 orders were sold, but the number paid was 30,000
in excess of the transactions at Chicago. At Chicago, where a great
number of small offices deposit funds, about 90,000 separate remit-
tances were received last year. None were of an amount less than
$20, but the aggregate reached 10,000,000 of dollars. And a
station, although the name implies an office of a subordinate
kind, is not necessarily a small office. One of the stations in
New York transacts a money order business amounting to about
$800,000 per year.

The fees charged for the issue of international money orders in
the United States are as follows :

For sums not exceeding $10 10 cents

Over $10 and not exceeding $20 20 cents

Over $20 and not exceeding $30 30 cents

Over $30 and not exceeding $40 40 cents

Over $40 and not exceeding $50 50 cents

Over $50 and not exceeding $60 60 cents

Over $60 and not exceeding $70 70 cents

Over $70 and not exceeding $80 80 cents

Over $80 and not exceeding $90 90 cents

Over $90 and not exceeding $100 1 dollar

The money order, affording an almost absolute security to those
who have occasion to remit money through the mails, fulfilled every
reasonable requirement or expectation on the part of remitter or
payee where the amount sent is considerable. But a strong demand
arose, after the withdrawal of the fractional paper currency from
circulation and the substitution of the subsidiary silver coinage, for
some device by which amounts under $5 could be remitted at less
cost and with less trouble than by money order. To satisfy this
demand the Postmaster General in his annual reports for 1881 and
1882 recommended the adoption of the postal note, which had pre-
viously been introduced in England, and there shared with the
money order the favor of the public, becoming the favorite, even for

Models Showing how Postal Notes should be issued and torn from stub.

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POSTAL* NOTE

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POSTAL 3STOTB

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If .you tear the uole from the stub between the wrong coupons, do not attempt to correct the error bv plstiog. Treat tbe note as "not issued" and draw aootncr.

212

MONEY ORDERS AND SUPPLIES. 213

remittances of very small sums. A bill in which Congress gave its
sanction to the trial of this device was approved by the President
March 3, 1883, and the issue and payment of postal notes there-
under, at money order offices, commenced Sept. 3, 1883. A sub-
sequent act of Congress, approved Jan. 3, 1887, authorized the
Postmaster General to designate, for the issue (though not pay-
ment) of postal notes, offices which are not money order offices, and
thus broadened the field for their use by admitting of their issue and
employment in remittances from places too small to secure the more
extensive facilities of the money order system.

A postal note may be drawn for any amount less than $5. In the
issue of a postal note, the written application and advice, so charac-
teristic of the money order, are dispensed with. There is no need
or room for these in the issue of a postal note, as the note is by law
payable to bearer at any money order office. There being no written
application, a record of the date, number and amount of each note
issued is made and kept by the issuing postmaster on a stub resem-
bling the stub of a bank check. As a safeguard against alterations
of amount, no advice being employed, coupons representing the
number of dollars for which the note is drawn are left attached
on one margin, while from two columns of figures represent-
ing dimes and cents on the opposite margin the figures expressing
the fractional portion of the amount, or ciphers if the note is for
even dollars, are removed with a punch. Should the coupons and
the punched figures in any case not agree with the amount expressed
in writing in the body of the note, payment would be refused until
the true amount could be ascertained by communicating with the
issuing postmaster.

Being payable to bearer, a postal note may be passed from hand
to hand without endorsement. It is payable at any time within
three calendar months from the last day of the month of its issue.
If not paid within that time it becomes invalid, and the holder, to
obtain payment, must forward it to the Superintendent of the Money
Order System, through the postmaster at a money order office, with
an application for a duplicate, for the issue of which a fee of three
cents is deducted as required by law. As a postal note is by law
payable to bearer, no argument is required to show that a duplicate
cannot be issued until the original is surrendered. The fee charged

214 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

for the issue of postal notes is uniformly three cents. Last year
the holders of no less than 8,279 postal notes allowed them to
remain in their possession longer than three months from the date
of issue.

The postal note is considered safer than paper money for remit-
tances, in that it must be signed by the person who receives
payment, even if previously signed by another person ; and more con-
venient, for the reason that it may be drawn for any odd amount or
fractional part of a dollar. It is found to be of special utility in
sections of the country where silver enters largely into circulation,
and where bills of small denominations are scarce. It is believed
that instances of payment fraudulently obtained on postal notes lost
in transit through the mails are rare. Moreover reports of the loss
of postal notes often turn out to be erroneous, or the loss to be
temporary only. The notes are not unfrequently found subsequently,
having been mislaid or overlooked by the recipient, or having been
received at the Dead Letter Office in imperfectly addressed enve-
lopes, and thence forwarded to the intended addressee, or returned
to the sender.

Money order post offices are divided into two classes, first and
second. Those of the first class are depositories of the surplus
funds accumulating at offices where receipts exceed payments in the
transaction of money order business. The second class comprises all
offices not designated as depositories for such funds. The post-
master at every money order office, excepting that at New York, is
required by the regulations to transmit daily to some other post
office, designated as the depository therefor, his surplus money order
funds, comprising all money order funds in his possession in excess
of the sum of the unpaid money order advices on hand not more
than two weeks, or in excess of the fixed sum which he is authorized
to retain for the payment of orders drawn upon him, and of postal
notes, and which is termed his "reserve." Postmasters at postal
note offices (that is, offices which issue but do not pay postal notes)
are likewise required to remit daily, or as often as practicable, to
a designated post office in sums of $20 or more, the entire sum derived
from the sale of postal notes. The offices designated as depositories,
being located at paying centres, usually need more funds than they
receive from the issue of money orders and postal notes. But,

MONEY ORDERS AND SUPPLIES. 215

should a surplus accrue at any one of these offices from sales and
deposits in excess of payments, it is transmitted to another deposi-
tory designated to receive it ; and thus, by transfer from one post
office to another, the actual surplus of all the offices at which the
receipts exceed the payments eventually reaches the postmaster
at New York, whose office is the central depository, and upon
whom drafts are drawn by postmasters at offices where the re-
ceipts from sales, or from deposits and sales, are less than the
amount of orders presented. The postmaster at New York has a
reserve of $125,000 to meet the requirements of business, and
deposits the residue daily with the Assistant Treasurer of the
United States in that city.

Payment of money orders and postal notes presented when the
amount thereof exceeds that of the money order funds in the posses-
sion of the postmaster drawn upon is provided for by means of trans-
fers of funds from the postage account to the money order account,
i. e., transfers, to the money order account, of funds received from
the sale of stamps and stamped envelopes, as well as by drafts
upon the postmaster at New York City. The postmaster who is
called upon to pay money orders or postal notes exceeding in amount
the funds in his hands derived from the sale of orders and notes is
required to transfer such sum as may be necessary and available from
his postage account to his money order account, or if the money
order and postage funds together are insufficient, or the postage
funds are not available for transfer in such emergency, to make
application to the Superintendent of the Money Order System for a
draft on the postmaster at New York for the requisite amount. If
the receipts of the post office ordinarily suffice for the payment of
money orders drawn thereon, the postmaster is furnished, upon such
application, with a single draft only for the occasion. But if the
current of business at any post office is such that the postmaster is
continuously or often called upon to pay orders for amounts exceed-
ing the receipts of his office, he is furnished with a book of fifteen
blank drafts, and a letter of credit for a suitable sum, upon the
postmaster at New York, against which he may draw as occasion
requires. The postmaster's bond, if not already large enough,, when
a letter of credit is granted, is increased in amount sufficient to pro-
tect the Government on account of this additional trust ; and the

216 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

credit is renewed from time to time, when necessary, as is also the
supply of blank drafts.

Postmasters are required to render to the Department, weekly r
semi-monthly, or monthly, statements of all the money order busi-
ness transacted by them, entering therein the particulars of every
money order and postal note issued, paid or re-paid, and the date
and amount of each deposit of surplus money order funds made or
received during the period reported upon. These statements, after
a preliminary examination in the office of the Superintendent of the
Money Order System, are turned over to the accounting officer, the
Auditor of the Treasury for the Post Office Department. To obtain
allowance of credit claimed in any such statement for payments
made or for remittances of surplus money order funds to his deposi-
tory, the postmaster must in all cases forward the proper vouchers,,
which are the paid orders or notes, properly receipted, or the certifi-
cates of deposit. These vouchers are also compared in the Auditor's
office with the entries in the issuing postmaster's statements, and
any error of amount in the latter or any failure to account properly
for the issue of money orders or postal notes (the forms for which,
numbered consecutively in separate series for each post office, are
furnished by the Department) is thus detected.

The total revenues from all branches of the money order and postal
note business are deposited quarterly, according to law, with the
Assistant Treasurer of the United States at New York, to the credit
of the Treasurer of the United States, for the service of the Post-
Office Department. The amount thus deposited, however, must not
be regarded as net profit, but as gross revenue less the amount of
such of the expenses as were paid out of the proceeds of the busi-
ness, which expenses include the large item of commissions paid to
postmasters at third and fourth class post offices. A large portion
of the expense of conducting the system each year is paid out of
appropriations made by Congress ; but the revenues deposited in the
manner stated, for a like period, will usually balance, or nearly so,
the expenditures met by such appropriations, and the Government is
thus reimbursed. The chief items of expenditure defrayed from
appropriations are, salaries of employees in the superintendent's
office and in the money order division of the Auditor's office, print-
ing, rent and service for the money order building, and allowances

MONEY ORDERS AND SUPPLIES. 217

to postmasters at first and second class offices for clerk hire (over
half a million dollars a year), all of which amount to $850,000 or
more annually.

The Superintendent of the Money Order Division, Dr. Charles F.
Macdonald, is a scholarly gentleman, bred in the shadow of Bun-
ker Hill, a former school teacher, the promoter and organizer of the
money order bureau at its inception' in the administration of Mr.
Blair. Ask him for the record of his life and he will say: "Nee
male vixit, qui natus moriemque fefellit"

Before December, 1891, it was the practice of the Department not
to extend the postal money order system to any post office where the
compensation of the postmaster was less than $250 per annum, and
not then, unless application was made for the extension. But a
year ago Postmaster General Wanamaker issued an order for the
extension of money order facilities to all post offices, though appli-
cation might not be made for them, where the compensation of the
postmaster is $200 or more per annum ; and it was not left optional
with the postmaster whether or not his office should be made a money
order office. There were about five thousand post offices yielding
this amount of compensation, which rapidly became money order
offices. To establish a money order office entails an expense of just
$4.90. The blanks cost 86 cents; the bound registers $1.80; the
envelopes $1.27; the postal note punch 63 cents; and the dating
stamp and pad 44 cents. All these supplies are obtained under
contracts, and the competition enables the Department to procure
printing at rates very much below those paid by the general public.
More than 500 different blanks are used, and some are ordered in
quantities of 20,000,000 per year.

A postmaster whose office is designated as a money order or postal
note office is required by law, before he can be authorized to com-
mence business of that kind, to file in the Department a new bond,
with at least two sureties. This new bond is conditioned for the
faithful performance of the duties and obligations imposed upon him
by the laws relating to the postal as well as the money order busi-
ness. It therefore takes the place of his former bond and is not in
addition to it. Until lately the amount of the money order penalty
of such new bond was usually $3,000, and the amount of the postal
penalty was $1,000, making $4,000 in all. Postmasters at small

218

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE,

offices in some quarters of the country frequently encountered great
difficulty in furnishing a bond of this amount, so that they might
be authorized to transact money order business. Now a bond for
$2,500 in all, of which the money order penalty is $1,500, is deemed
sufficient in the case of newly designated money order offices, in
view of the fact that the supply of blank money orders sent at one
time to the postmaster at a small office has been reduced from one

THE DIVISION OF SUPPLIES.

hundred to twenty-five, a number which cannot be issued for a larger
sum in the aggregate than $2,500. If a larger supply of such forms
is required later, the postmaster may be called upon to give bond for
a correspondingly increased amount.

This extension of the money order system has meant a total num-
ber of offices in operation of 20,000. The amount of money trans-
mitted by money orders and postal notes is about $150,000,000
annually; and soon the total value will be at least $200,000,000.

The Division of Post Office Supplies, under charge of the First
Assistant Postmaster General (along with the Money Order System

MONEY ORDERS AND SUPPLIES. 219

and the Divisions of Salaries and Allowances and Dead Letters) is
charged with the duty of furnishing each post office throughout the
country with supplies, as follows: Those of the fourth class with
eight-ounce letter balances, plain facing slips (and they may procure
at their own expense printed facing slips upon application to the
contractors for furnishing the same), cancelling ink, stamping pads,
postmarking, rating and cancelling stamps, thirty-seven forms of
blanks, and, if the receipts of the office are $100 or more per annum,
with twine and wrapping paper; of the third class (in addition to,
the articles above stated), with 72 forms of blanks, four-pound
scales, and, when necessary to weigh matter of the second class, 62
and 240 pound scales ; and first and second class offices are furnished
with all the above-named articles, when application is made for
them, and, in addition, with test weights, 600 pound scales or larger
when required to weigh newspaper and periodical matter, 110
forms of blanks, and 217 articles of stationery, under the 92 con-
tract items. All facing slips, both plain and printed, are supplied
to offices of these classes at the expense of the Department. The
Department proper is furnished with blanks, blank books, labels,
records, and 235 articles of stationery, under the 117 contract items.
Blanks and books, as well as stamps, used in the transaction of the
money order business, and postal note plyer punches, are furnished
on application of the Superintendent of the Money Order System.
Blank postal notes are likewise furnished to that officer. There
is no fixed rule as to the quantity of money order supplies which
may be furnished, for the reason that the money order business bears
sometimes but slight relation to the salary of the postmaster and the
extent of the postal business. Each money order office is supplied
according to its special necessities.

The operations of this division are conducted in the skating rink,
half a block away from the Department, on E Street. They are
tremendous. The Department and the postal service require about
41,000 reams of manilla wrapping paper yearly, involving an
expenditure of $58,000. 14,470 reams of 20 x 29 manilla facing slip
paper, making 250,041,600 3 T 3 g x 5 slips, are furnished to the
Government facing-slip printers each year for the 800 first and
second class post offices, the printing of them paid for by the De-
partment, upon vouchers; third and fourth class offices, as has been

SUPPLY BOOM CONTAINING WRAPPING PAPER AND TWINE.

SUPPLY ROOM CONTAINING EVERY BLANK USED IN EVERY POST OFFICE.

220

MONEY ORDERS AND SUPPLIES.

221

stated, are allowed printed facing slips, from the Government facing-
slip printers, at their own expense. Every postmaster and railway
postal clerk in the United States is required to use one of these slips
on each letter or package of letters leaving his office, bearing his
postmark and name, or the number of the person putting up the
packages, an almost perfect safeguard in every way to prevent
letters from being lost or missent in transit. 9,000 reams of 20 x 29

TONS OF PAPER.

are sent to the Railway Mail Service yearly for plain facing slips,
which are equal to 155,520,000 3-^x5 slips, printed at its own
expense, when required. 7,000 reams of 20x29 are furnished to
the Government printer yearly to be cut into 3y 3 g x 5 plain facing
slips, which equal 120,960,000 slips, or about 600 reams of 20x29
every thirty days for the above purpose.

Five hundred and sixty-three reams are used every year by the
Division of Post Office Supplies in wrapping its packages; 9,000
reams of 20x24 and 967 reams of 26x40 are sent yearly to the

222

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

post offices whose gross receipts are $100 and over, throughout the
country, for wrapping purposes; or the weight of wrapping paper
sent out and consumed by post offices equals 1,127,180 pounds, or
about 564 tons, or 56 carloads yearly. This constitutes the dif-
ferent sizes of wrapping paper issued, making the total number of
reams issued each year 41,000, or 19,680,000 sheets, or the
enormous weight of 1,148,432 pounds of paper; the quantity being

THE STATIONERY ROOM FOR FIRST AND SECOND CLASS OFFICES.

so great that it would require a 164-inch " Fourdrinier " machine
running night and day the year round to keep up the supply.

The division requires 1,348,000 pounds of jute, cotton, hemp,
and flax twine, or about 67 cars, yearly. The jute twine is put up
in one-half pound balls, and, in accordance with the specifications,
the inside end of the string is to be fastened on the outside of the
ball, so as to unwind from the inside. By this device employees
start unwinding the ball from that end. Formerly they began from
the other, so that each ball unwound with a tangle, and a quarter

MONEY ORDERS AND SUPPLIES. 223

of the twine, on the average, was wasted, and the loss in the aggregate
was very great. This twine costs each year $84,900, and every
sixty days 25,000 pounds of jute twine are received and issued.

It requires about 8,000 scales of the following capacities — 8 oz.,
4 lbs., 62 lbs., 240 lbs., 400 lbs., 600 lbs. and 1,000 lbs, —to supply
the 67,000 post offices yearly; and the expense is $9,506. A room
with a floor space of 7,650 square feet is required for the wrapping
papers, twines and scales, and owing to the vast amount of stock
obliged to be carried the manilla papers, twines and scales have to
be piled to a height of ten feet, in order that the room may contain
what is required to be issued from da}' to day.

The item of black cancelling ink for cancelling postage stamps,
post-marking and back : stamping letters amounts to about 40,000
pounds, or 5,000 gallons, or 122 barrels yearly; and the expense is
$8,000. With this cancelling ink 25,000 inking pads, 4ix5, are
required, the base consisting of printers' roller composition, with a
felt cloth top to retain the ink. These pads cost $7,000 a year.
39,300 steel and rubber stamps are furnished to the service yearly
at an expense of $17,666.05. 80,000,000 blanks of various descrip-
tions and sizes, 220,798 blank books, and 5,056,380 letter heads
and envelopes are required every twelve months.

The supplies furnished exclusively to the 800 first and second-
class post offices are as follows: 13,000 gross, or 1,872,000, steel
pens, at an expense of $5,052; 20,540 dozen, or 246,480, lead pen-
cils consumed annually at an expense of $3,440; 10,500 pounds,
or 50,200 gross, of rubber bands required yearly at an expense
of $13,091.50; 1,140 dozen quarts of writing fluid and copying and
black ink required each year, or 3,420 gallons, or 83 barrels,
at an expense of $2,072; and 10,000 pounds of pins, involving an
expense of $463.63. *

There are sent in a year b}^ mail from the Supply Division 56,600
mail sacks and pouches filled with supplies; 10,350 cases of scales
and stationery; and 230,300 packages of blanks and stationery. It
requires 27,000,000 3 x 5 J registry package receipts, registry return
receipts, and registry bills for the 67,000 post offices, at an annual
cost of $20,000. It has been estimated carefully that there are six
tons and more of stationery, blanks, books, twines, wrapping papers
and scales mailed every week-day in the year. It requires ten trips

224

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

each day of large double-team mail wagons, filled to their utmost
capacity with supplies, to ship the articles necessary to conduct
the postal business. The supply division is now occupying, by
actual measurement, a floor space containing 21,384 square feet.

In 1866 three post office agencies for furnishing blanks, twine
and paper were established, one in Buffalo, one in Cincinnati, and
one in the Department Building in Washington. Mr. W. S. Davis

THE STATIONERY ROOM FOR THE DEPARTMENT PROPER.

was in charge of the Washington agency. This supplied the
Southern States; the other two agencies supplied the rest of the
country. All purchasers of supplies had to show vouchers for them,
and have them approved by the Department, in order that pay might
be had. In 1867 the offices at Buffalo and Cincinnati showed
vouchers for supplies alleged to have been sent to the state of
Alabama, which was outside their territory. Mr. Davis insisted
upon a prompt investigation. It showed that the agencies in
Buffalo and Cincinnati were making false vouchers. The agent

MONEY ORDERS AND SUPPLIES.

225

at Cincinnati was arrested; the agent for Buffalo, in Europe at the
time, was arrested on his return ; they both confessed, and the United

States recovered nearly $300,000. ,..„. _ —- _ ,.,_

The result was that the three
agencies were combined, and the
blank agency, as it was called, was
established in Washington City.

The present Superintendent is
Major E. H. Shook of Michigan.
He is a member of the Grand
Army, the Union Veteran Union
and the Loyal Legion. He was
born in Dutchess County, N. Y.
He worked five years as a printer
boy. He saw thirty-one heavy en-
gagements in the war. He was
Assistant Adjutant General on
General H. G. Berry's staff, and
Assistant Inspector General of
General Byron R. Pierce's bri-
gade, of the Third Division of the
Second Corps. He was taken
prisoner in 1863, but escaped. He was wounded in the top of his
head at the battle of Mine Run, was severely wounded in the
Wilderness, and was knocked down by a shell at Sailor's Creek.
Major Shook was handling printers' supplies and stationery for a
large Detroit house up to the time of his appointment.

MAJOR E. H. SHOOK,
Chief, Division of Post Office Supplies.

THE CARRIERS, THE SPRIGHTLY MEN IN GRAY.

HE free delivery of mail matter by carriers took
effect July 1, 1863, and was put in operation at
forty-nine offices with about four hundred and fifty
carriers at an aggregate annual compensation of about
$300,000. Postmaster General Blair, in his annual
report for 1863, said : —

M Our own experience and that of Europe demonstrates that

correspondence increases with every facility of its conduct, and

free delivery in the principal towns and cities has been proved

in the mother country to be a facility attended with very remarkable results.

Further time will be required to prove whether it will operate in the same way

here, but as far as ascertained, the results are highly satisfactory."

In the city of New York, for the first quarter, there were delivered
by carriers 2,069,418 letters, with 1,810,717 collected, or an increase
of about twenty-five per cent, over the preceding quarter. But the
growth of the service was slow until 1887 and 1888, when the num-
ber of offices was nearly doubled. Previous to January 3, 1887,
the requirement for free delivery was that a city should have a
population of 20,000 within the delivery of its post office. The
law of January 3, 1887, made any place eligible that had a popula-
tion of 10,000, or a revenue from its post office for the preceding
fiscal year of $10,000.

There are now over six hundred free delivery offices in the
country, and the letter carriers attached to this service deliver
and collect mail from twenty millions of people. The annual
expense is between ten and eleven millions of dollars. A law has
been repeatedly proposed to Congress to extend the service to towns
of five thousand population or of $5,000 receipts for the latest
fiscal year. This would add one hundred and seventy-five places or
more to the number served with the free delivery, and a million and

226

THE CARRIERS, THE SPRIGHTLY MEN IN GRAY. 227

a half of people would be accommodated. The annual cost would be
perhaps $400,000.

When a town becomes entitled to the free delivery service, either
by reason of population or revenue, and it is deemed advisable
favorably to consider its claims, the postmaster is informed that
before the service can be established the sidewalks must be paved,
streets lighted, houses numbered, and names of streets placed at
intersections. When this is done, an inspector is sent to look over
the field, lay off the carriers' districts, locate the street letter boxes
and instruct the postmaster as to details. Letter carriers are
appointed by the Department, on the recommendation of the post-
master, except at civil service offices, of which there are forty-five.
At these offices they have to pass a competitive examination and
are selected from the list of eligibles in their order. At these offices
they are appointed as substitutes first, and promoted when their turn
is reached.

Carriers are entitled to a vacation of fifteen days in each year,
without loss of pay; they cannot be removed by the postmasters, but
for serious offences may be suspended and recommended for removal
to the Department. Generally the Department obliges the postmas-
ter. A postmaster, for offences not involving removal, may suspend
a carrier for thirty days or less. Postmasters are forbidden to
to employ carriers as clerks in their offices, and if carriers work
over eight hours a day, they are to be paid proportionately for
the overtime. As it is impracticable to assign carriers to eight
hours consecutive work, they are assigned by schedule so that
the actual time of service is not more than eight hours a day.
The intervals between trips are the carriers' own. Postmasters
are required to furnish monthly to the Superintendent of Free
Delivery a report showing the number of deliveries and collec-
tions made, the total number of hours of free delivery service
rendered during the month, and the average daily hours of service
per carrier.

At cities of 75,000 or more carriers are paid $600, $800, and
$1,000. In free delivery cities having populations smaller than that,
carriers are paid $600 and $850 per year. Appointments are always
made to the class having the minimum rate of pay, and promotions
are made from the lower to the higher grades at the expiration of

228

THE CARRIERS, THE SPRIGHTLY MEN IN GRAY. 229

one year's service on certificates of the postmasters of efficiency and
faithfulness. A bill is now before Congress to create an additional
class of carriers whose compensation for the fourth year shall be
$1,200. Postmasters may grant additional leaves of absence for not
exceeding thirty days in cases of sickness, disability received in the
service, or other urgent necessity. Substitute letter carriers are
appointed like the others at a compensation of one dollar per year ;
for vacation service they receive $600 per annum, and for any other
leave of absence the pro-rata pay of the carrier whose route they
serve. They are required to give bonds, as the regular carriers are,
and must be ready to respond to the postmaster's call for service
at a moment's notice. At the classified post offices substitutes are
promoted in the order of their appointment; at the non-classified
offices this is not compulsory. The substitutes are taken from
lists of eligibles who have passed the competitive civil service
examination, made by the local board of examiners, duly author-
ized by the civil service commission to make it. Their first
appointment is for a probationary term of six months. At non-
classified offices the postmaster nominates and the Postmaster Gen-
eral appoints.

Carriers must be citizens of the United States, physically fitted
for the service, and temperate ; they must be at least eighteen years
of age and not over forty, though this limitation does not apply to
honorably discharged soldiers and sailors. The carrier's bond is for
$1,000, with two sureties at least, and he has to take the oath.
Carriers are forbidden to solicit, in person or otherwise, contribu-
tions of money, gifts, or presents, to issue addresses, complimentary
cards, prints, publications, or any substitutes for them, intended
to induce the public to make gifts or presents, to sell tickets on their
routes to theatres, concerts, balls, fairs, picnics, excursions, or places
of amusement of any kind, to borrow money on their routes, or to
contract debts which they have no reasonable prospect of being able
to pay. Every carrier, before entering upon his duties, is required
to provide himself with a uniform (made of cadet gray cloth), and
to wear it at all times when on duty. He is held strictly to account
for the keys entrusted to him, and for the loss of them he is liable
to removal. He must promptly report broken boxes or defective
locks or keys.

230

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

The subjects and relative weights for the carrier examinations
made by the examiners of the civil service commission are as fol-
lows:

Subjects,

First: Orthography . .

Second: Penmanship .

Third: Copying . . .

Fourth: Arithmetic . .

Fifth: Local delivery . .
Sixth: Reading addresses

Total of weights . .

Relative
weights.

The following is a typical examination paper for the fourth sub-
ject, arithmetic :

Question 1. Express in sign and figures seventy-two millions five thousand and
eighty-two dollars, ten cents and two and one half mills.

Question 2. Express in words the following: 5,312,209.521.

Question^. Express in words the following: 10 mi. 8 fur. 640 rd. 760 yd.
10,560 ft. 6 in.=16 mi. 6 in.

Question 4. A carrier makes 4 trips a day, carrying 64 letters and 32 papers
each trip. The letters average in weight % oz. each and the papers 2 oz. each.
How many pounds of mail does he deliver in a day ? (16 oz. to the pound).

Give work in full.

Question 5. ► Multiply 26.32 by 3, and to the product add 2.04.

Give work in full.

Question 6. Add the following, placing the sum at the bottom: —

5,321,792.18

329,212,175.75

11,515,666.66

2,919,286,554.55

115.25

999,510.45

4,786,452,369.38

29,236,111,522.73

75,775,016.15

90,187,236,541.02

Question 7. A carrier delivers in one day 254 letters, 423 papers, and 27 pack-
ages. Each letter has on it a two-cent stamp, each paper a one-cent stamp,
and each package a four-cent stamp. How much would the Government make
or lose on this mail, supposing the whole cost of transportation and delivery to
be $11.42?

Give work in full.

THE CARRIERS, THE SPRIGHTLY MEN IN GRAY. 231

Question 8. A carrier walks a distance of 20 squares on each trip, each square
being 400 feet in length. If he advance 20 inches each step, how many steps will
he take on the trip ?

Give work in full.

Question 9. A carrier who makes 1,200 trips a year rides on the street cars
twice every trip, the fare being five cents a ride. What is the cost of street-car
fare for the year ?

Give work in full.

Question 10. In an office employing 35 carriers, each carrier loses 20 minutes a
day in idle talk. Suppose the average salary of each to be $2.50 for ten hours
work, what is the cost to the Government of the lost time each day, and what,
will it amount to in a year of 313 working days ?

Give work in full.

For the fifth subject, local delivery, the following is a typical
examination paper :

Question 1. Name the principal railroads (not exceeding five) which pass
through or terminate in this city, and give the location (the street or streets on
which situated) of the principal depot or ticket office of each.

Question 2. Name four streets which pass nearest to the building in which this
examination is held, and mention one public building or prominent business
house on each.

Question 3. Name the principal hotels in this city (not exceeding five) and the
location (street or streets on which situated) of each.

Question 4. Name some street or streets by which one could pass from the
extreme northern to the extreme southern portion of this city, and mention five
prominent buildings, places, or parks which would be passed on the route
given.

Question 5. Name a street-car line (or connecting lines) by which one could
travel nearly or quite across this city, and name the principal streets over which
it or they pass.

The frequency of carrier service depends upon the importance of a
locality and the arrival and departure of mails, and business districts
have more frequent deliveries and collections than the resident quar-
ters. Regulations require that citizens supplied by letter carriers
shall be requested to provide receiving boxes at their houses and
places of business. This is done to a very limited extent, however,
for the reason probably that householders or occupants of business
offices understand that the mail will be delivered to them anyway,
and it is no affair of theirs, or at least only a small affair, to save the
time of letter carriers by providing a receptacle to receive mail
without delay. The plan inaugurated by Postmaster General Wana-
maker to provide for the collection from every house and business
office of mail from letter boxes, as well as the delivery of it to boxes

232

THE CARRIERS, THE SPRIGHTLY MEN IN GRAY. 233

in every one of them, supplies the householder with a facility which
he really wanted and was willing to pay the price of a box for.

In the course of a year the 11,000 or more letter carriers of the
country deliver five and one half million of registered letters, a
billion and a third of ordinary letters, perhaps two hundred and
seventy-five millions of postal cards and almost six hundred mil-
lions of newspapers. They collect in an average year three hundred
millions of local letters and three quarters of a billion of mail let-
ters. They collect also perhaps one hundred and fifteen million
local postal cards, one hundred and fifty million mail postal cards
and nearly two hundred million newspapers ; all of which is to say,
that the 11,000 letter carriers handle in a year the inconceivable
number of three and three fourths billions of pieces of mail.

The postmaster at Concord, New Hampshire, Mr. Henry Robin-
son, once wrote of the letter carrier:

"There is no discount on him; he is held up to the highest standard of excel-
lence. He eats his three hearty meals a day, walks his twenty miles, and sleeps
like a top. If you could see him lazily stretch out his legs and fill his old ' T. D.'
after he has filled out his daily report, given up his key and hung up his leather
bag that he wears hung from his shoulder when on duty, you would not imagine
that he ever felt any considerable responsibility. But his is an exacting work,
indeed. He has taken a solemn oath and is under bonds to do this important
mission quietly, diligently and perfectly in all its imperative details. Under no
circumstances is he allowed to loiter on his route. He cannot stop to converse,
except in the line of his business. Trivial talk, singing, whistling and smoking
are diversions that he cannot indulge in when in charge of the mail.

" He has to exercise the greatest care in everything that he says and does. He
is forbidden to deliver letters in the street even to the owner, unless the owner
is personally known to him and the delivery can be made without reasonable
delay. It is against the rules for him to throw mail into windows or hallways*
unless he is instructed to do so. He is to rap or to ring the bell at the door, and
wait patiently a reasonable time for an answer. Sometimes he has to go back to
make a second call at your residence or place of business, because there was no
one there at first to receive the mail and no place to put it. He is not to enter
any house while on his trip, except in the discharge of his official work, and he
cannot deliver any pieces of mail that have not first passed through the post-
office. He cannot exhibit any mail entrusted to him, or give any information in
regard to it or to any person other than those to whom it is addressed or who are
authorized to receive it."

Or again :

" He will not make any unnecessary comment upon the character of the mail
carried by him. He does not read postal cards nor interest himself in what i&
entrusted to him, except so far as it becomes his official obligation to do so. He>

234 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

handles so many letters of all kinds that he becomes indifferent to their contents,
except to be careful to the utmost degree of caution in the handling of every one.

" It is none of his business what your letters contain, if they are properly mail-
able, and he doesn't care if you get a hundred letters a day from the same person,
or whether you get only one letter a month, or no letters at all — it is all the
same to him. He will not tell you anything about anybody's mail. He can't tell
you whether Mrs. So-and-So got a letter from Mr. So-and-So this morning, or
whether Sarah Jane's fellow in the West is still corresponding with her or not.
He carries a straight, clear, well-regulated head on him, but is as non-committal
as the Sphinx and as reticent as an Egyptian mummy on most subjects. He is
not expected to discuss religion or talk politics. He lays great claim to a civil
tongue, and endeavors never to allow himself to be exasperated or annoyed in
the least, however great the tax put upon his unvarying civility.

" He is not allowed to put letters into his own pockets to carry them nor to
throw away even the slightest piece of mail, however valueless and unimportant
it may appear. He must return to the office everything that is undelivered, and
after every trip must bring back his satchel and his key, and make his compre-
hensive written return in detail of the number and character of all the pieces
handled by him. He keeps a considerable post office of his own, having nearly
two thousand patrons. He has a perfect directory of his route, free from blot and
as neat as wax, with the name of every letter receiver in his district, alphabeti-
cally recorded, with special instructions noted in reference to each. He has a
* case,' as it is called at the office, which is divided into convenient compart-
ments, and should you ask him there if he has a letter for you, he can find it in a
moment if there is one. Do not imagine that when the mail clerk's signal bell
strikes for him to get ready that he then jumbles all the letters into his leather
bag in a confused mass. Such is not the fact. Every piece of mail entrusted to
him has its particular place and all is arranged with a system and order very
commendable. He is forbidden under all circumstances to return to any person
whatever letters deposited by them in the street mailing boxes from which he
makes collections, but if the sender of the letter wishes it back, he must report
to the office, where may be found exclusive discretion to return it to the writer."

Said Postmaster Anderson of Cleveland, not long ago, in address-
ing his letter carriers on their semi-annual inspection day :

" There are many temptations thrown around you, not only in the office but
upon your routes. I want you to shun these as you would so many vipers. I
know you do, but I wish you could have been in my private office the other day,
and seen the mental anguish of an arrested carrier. If you could have seen his
clenched hands and tear-ridden face; if you could have seen his deep humiliation
as he acknowledged that he had betrayed the confidence reposed in him by me and
his friends, and violated the laws he had solemnly sworn to obey, and observed
how wretchedly he seemed to feel when he admitted that he had contrived a plan
to steal that would seem to exculpate him and throw the suspicion upon other
innocent and honest men, you would remember and fully appreciate the familiar
old maxim: ' Honesty is the best policy.' This man made an appeal to me for
leniency, asked that his crime should be ' settled,' and appealed to my sympathies
as a husband and a father. He told me about his honest, economical wife and

THE CARRIERS, THE SPRIGHTLY MEN IN GRAY. 235

his three little boys whom an hour or two before he had parted from with a
loving kiss. I told him I pitied his wife, but he should have thought of them
before and while he was committing the crime that brought disgrace and shame
upon the helpless and the innocent. As the responsible head of the office, as a
sworn officer of the Government, of that department which is so near the people,
to whom they entrust their money, their missives of business, society and
affection, I cannot afford to be lenient to a man who wilfully and deliberately
transgresses the law."

To look down from the long, shutter-covered balcony that extends
around the main room of a great post office, as at Chicago, is to see
big leather mail sacks, with yawning mouths kept closed bjr snappy-
looking padlocks, stacks of letters on a wide, roomy table, with the
force of stampers beating with monotonous regularity a double
"tump-tump " so rapidly that the ear must be acute to note that it
is not a continuous sound; busy clerks, with a steady, unceasing
movement of the hands and eyes, placing a letter here, another
there, nine hundred and ninety-nine times out of one thousand with-
out a slip, working as if their lives depended on getting through
before their neighbors. Here are the men who are classifying the
mail for the carriers, and here are the carriers themselves, engaged
in "routing" the mail. Back and forth, in and out of the aisles
they come and go, like bees hovering around a hive. To the layman
all is confusion and disorder. But better harmony never existed.
A clock is not more evenly and accurately adjusted. It is a
system that has well-nigh reached perfection. There is never a
moment's hesitation. The finger tips of the carriers and clerks
seem imbued with independent minds ; the streets, the districts and
the divisions, are within a call that responds as quickly as a flash
of lightning.

In a big city like Chicago, of course, thousands and thousands of
letters are received where it is almost impossible to make out the
addresses. One of the Chicago clerks has tabulated the different
spellings of Chicago ; and he finds without much trouble that they
numbered one hundred and ninety-seven. Only a short time ago a
Finnish letter writer addressed his brother at Zizazo; and other spell-
ings in the list were : Jagjago, Hipaho, Jaji jo, Schechacho, Hizago,
and Chachicho. Then wrong addresses are given, and great diffi-
culty is found in finding the person for whom the letter or paper
was intended. Several months ago a paper was addressed to Mrs.

236 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

M. Kracky, 612 Dixon Street, but the carrier could not find her.
All the people interested were Polanders, including the carrier, and
they had a time of it. Here is the carrier's story in his own report:

Mrs. M. Kracky does not live at 612 Dixon Street. Six hundred and twelve
Dickson is a two-story house, occupied by four families, to wit: On the first floor
in front lives Mr. Pafelski, an uncle of Mrs. Kracky; with him also lives his
mother, or grandmother to Mrs. Kracky; above them lives Mr. Riszewski. In
the rear on the top floor lives Mrs. Kilichowski, and below her lives Mrs. Pin-
kowski, a mother of Mrs. Kracky, whom the latter calls on about twice a month,
more or less. Now, when this January number came to me I am positive that I
asked three times in front of both families, and I am also positive that I opened
Mrs. Pinkowski's door at least twice and asked there, as I had to pass her door
four times in order to see Mrs. Kilichowski, who was asleep twice. The third
time she was out, the fourth time I got her at home, and each time I called out
the name loud enough for Mrs. Pinkowski to hear. The November number I
must have delivered in October, but I can't remember it. The December number
was delivered by the substitute, as I was on my annual vacation from Nov. 1 to
Nov. 16. To-day as I called there Mrs. Kracky happened to be there washing for
her mother, and I delivered her magazine. Mrs. M. Kracky, whose proper name
is Mrs. M. Krajecki, lives at 596 Holt Street. p p p OTf)lsrSKT «oo

Many claims for over-time service of letter carriers have been filed
with the Department. They aggregate about half a million dollars,
and many have been carried by the claimants to the Court of Claims
for adjudication. Under the statute the carrier's day is eight hours,
and work required of him beyond that period is reckoned as over-
time. Official blanks are furnished to all of the free delivery offices
for keeping the individual time of each carrier while on duty.
Where the force is limited, there is, of course, a liability that extra
time will be required of the carriers ; but when the force is sup-
posed to be competent for the service the working of over-time is
discountenanced. The position of the Department is that letter
carriers should be required to work eight hours on week days and as
many hours on Sundays as the service at the respective offices may
require, and not in excess of forty-eight hours any week of six days
where Sunday service is not required. A desired amendment to the
postal laws provides for an additional class of carriers, so that after
four years' service, carriers may, upon a certificate of their respective
postmasters that they have been especially faithful and efficient, be
promoted from $1,000 to $1,200 per annum, and that when letter
carriers become inefficient, or unfitted for active work, they shall,

THE CARRIERS, THE SPRIGHTLY MEN IN GRAY. 237

upon the certificate of their respective postmasters to that effect, be
reduced to a lower grade commensurate with their service or
removed, as the equities of the case may suggest. Such an amend-
ment would not only provide a just compensation to faithful and
deserving carriers, but it would tend to enlist in the service more of
the finest young men, and stimulate all the carriers to better efforts.
It would also provide a just way of continuing in the Government
employ carriers who have rendered efficient service, but who, by
reason of infirmities or advancing years, are unable to perform the
maximum service of a carrier.

The collection service, as the First Assistant Postmaster General
has observed, requires men chiefly of physical strength. $600 per
annum, as it is held by many, would be adequate compensation.
Now all are treated alike, and promotions of collectors are made
from $600 to $800, $850, and $1,000 per annum, as with delivery
carriers. The carriers become more efficient and are able to handle
and deliver their mail with greater facility from year to year, while
the collectors can perform, as a rule, as satisfactory service the first
year as afterwards. The creation by law of a grade of collectors with
a salary of $600 per annum, and not subject to promotion, would
enable the Department to separate the deliveries and collections at
all the large offices, and thus insure better results in both branches
at a decreased cost. It has never been intended to recommend a
reduction of the salaries of old carriers who may be performing col-
lection service at the time the law might take effect, or prevent their
promotion under existing law. Provision would be made for new
men only. The proposition is a measure of tardy justice to the
overworked and poorly paid carrier. But nothing like this has a
chance to become law. Mr. Cummings of New York introduced in
the last session a bill to fix the pay of letter carriers at $600 for
the first year, $800 for the second, $1,000 for the third, and for the
fourth, and thereafter, $1,200. Neither did this measure have any
chance of passing, for it would cost per year perhaps a million and
three quarters ; and when it is an impossible task, notwithstanding
the steady and inevitable growth of the country and hence of the
postal service, to secure any additions at all to many of the items of
the postal appropriation bill, it is not strange that the item for car-
rier service should be cut down, as recently, by $300,000. This

238

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

MAIL, DELIVERY CART USED IN CHICAGO.

reduction, if the Senate had permitted it to be made, would have
left the service to get along as best it could during the next year
without any additional carriers, and that, too, though it had been

repeatedly stated that in Chi-
cago alone two hundred new
men were required for the act-
ual needs of the service.

In most of the large cities
the carriers going out for deliv-
eries are transported in cars,
omnibuses, or sometimes in
elevated trains, out to their
routes, in order the more
quickly to begin their distri-
butions. Collections are ex-
pedited by similar means. In
Chicago they have a unique cart system for collection. The territory
covered by the cart system is about forty-four square miles, and it
is collected from six times daily. There are forty-five men on
the cart collection force, each covering from eighteen to twenty-
two miles per day. There are sixteen districts with three men as
a rule attached to each. Two or four cart men meet at a central
point about two miles from the central office, and the mail is trans-
ferred to one of the carts and
driven to the central office.

The street letter boxes in use
by the Post Office Department
are selected after open compet-
itive bidding for a contract
term of four years; but during
that time the contractor is
obliged, if the Department sees fit to ask it, to make improvements
which seem to be of value. The box at present in use is considered
clumsy and expensive by many, but it was selected from one hun-
dred and forty designs as the best. There is no doubt that the recent
competition among some sixteen hundred designs for house letter
boxes, which was in progress under Postmaster General Wanamaker's
direction for two years to find the best collection and delivery box,

ANOTHER MAIL DELIVERY CART USED
IN CHICAGO.

THE CARRIERS, THE SPRIGHTLY MEN IN GRAY.

239

has drawn much attention to the defects of the street letter box.
The old letter box used to have a slot in the end. In the new box
the mail is dropped, as is well known, through a tray which opens
down at one side of the top. But persons may be seen almost any
time looking for the old slot at the end and wondering whither it
has disappeared.

A year ago, perhaps, a clever fellow came to the Department with
an estimate that the present United States mail system is responsible
for one half of all the lies that are told; for, said he, when a man
neglects to write to his dear lady, or a husband neglects to write to
his dear wife, or an impecunious young man to his dear tailor, it is
the custom for him to picture himself the pink of punctuality and
to lay all the blame upon the mails. The clever fellow declared
that a business man with a golden opportunity wanted him to
become a partner in a scheme. He wrote a letter accepting the
business man's proposition. He wrote the
letter on Tuesday morning. The man sailed
on Wednesday morning for Europe. He
should have got the letter Tuesday after-
noon, but he did not get it at all until he
returned from Europe. The man had made
arrangements in the meantime with another
partner, and they made $5,000,000 together.
The delay had been in the street letter box.
The nickel-in-the-slot machine came out
about that time, and the " check-on-liar "
machine was soon devised. It is five feet
six inches in height and two feet in diameter,
and is meant to stand without the aid of a
lamp post. There is a clock, which is guar-
anteed to keep correct time, on its face.
Back of this clock is the "check-on-liar"

device. It operates after the fashion of all check-on-liars letter
slot machines. The letter, falling in the BOX '

slot, is stamped, and one knows where the letter was posted, the
number of the box in which it was posted, the date of the month
and the time of day and the year. The box is cumbersome, is use-
less, perhaps; but it is thought by many that the time when all

240 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

mail matter is dropped will yet be recorded mechanically, so that
more and more, all through the service, the exact responsibility
for delays may be laid. With the advent of the house collec-
tion box the need of the " check on liars " is practically removed,
of course.

There are funny things always coming to light with regard to the
peculiar uses to which street letter boxes are put. An Indianapolis
lover who was rejected by his sweetheart set fire to the contents of a
letter box to prevent his rival from receiving favorable attention to
a proposal. There are circumstances just as funny illustratiDg the
uses to which the boxes are not put. A rural visitor in New York
succeeded in causing a great stir in the neighborhood of Fourth
Avenue and Twenty-Fourth Street. He wished to open up com-
munication with home and accordingly prepared his letter. Instead,
however, of putting it in a letter box, he opened a fire alarm box.
The reply was prompt, unexpected and startling.

A common, and yet a curious thing, is to find pennies, sometimes
in large numbers, dropped in the ordinary street letter box. Very
often a person wants to mail a letter and has not a stamp at hand ;
what more simple than to drop a letter, along with a couple of pennies,
into the nearest box, taking it for granted that the good-natured post-
man will buy a stamp and go to the trouble of sticking it on. Again,
a person mails a letter and remembers afterwards that he failed to
stamp it, and, feeling a little doubtful about it, he goes back and
drops a couple of coppers in. That would be all right if there were
twice as many pennies collected as there are letters. But this is not
the case. Many forget to stamp their letters and then fail to drop
the two pennies into the box afterwards. So, the letters and money
are brought to the post office and the pennies are carefully preserved
and eventually transmitted to the Department. A Washington car-
rier once collected $6 in three months in this way.

There is more praise for the reliability of the carrier. And here
it is : A Western lady complained to her postmaster that when she
asked her carrier to take fifty cents to the post office and buy stamps
for her he refused.

"There is no law to compel the carrier to bring you stamps,
madam," said the postmaster, "but I am sorry he was not obliging
enough to do it without being compelled."

THE CARRIERS, THE SPRIGHTLY MEN IN GRAY.

241

The incident gave the postmaster an idea. He thought : " If we
get our house door collection box, why can we not have an arrange-
ment whereby people can drop a certain kind of envelope in the box
enclosing money for stamps, which the carrier can bring back from
the office on his return trip and drop in the box like any mail
matter ? "

"What's to prevent the carrier from pocketing the money and
saying he never got it ? " was asked.

"Nothing," replied the postmaster with the idea. "But what's
to prevent the carrier from opening any letter? It is possible to go
on the theory that every man is a thief until he is proved honest,
but isn't it better to suppose every man is honest till he is proved
guilty?"

It is a feature of the house collection system that stamps may be
obtained in this convenient way.

DEAD LETTERS AND LIVE ONES.

EARS ago, in one of the leading periodicals, a
highly imaginative writer depicted the Dead Let-
ter Office in the most sombre shades. The clerks
were described as performing their duties with the
solemn deliberation of a funeral director, while gloom
and silence reigned with oppressive weight through-
out the shady domain. In the good old days "befo'
the wan," when the postal system was less than
half as large as it is now, the work per capita in this office
was doubtless less exacting. To-day the Dead Letter Office is by
no means a dead-and-alive place, but the busiest bureau of the
entire Department. Many of the clerks, notably those at the open-
ing table, are in the habit of measuring off their work by the clock,
that not a moment may be wasted. The force of the office had
not for several years been large enough to do its legitimate work
without extra effort and occasionally extra hours of service; but
now the work is always practically up to date, with no increase in
the number of clerks, — the natural result of careful supervision and
a high degree of individual efficiency. Certainly no more earnest
and faithful body of employees can be found in the public service
than the one hundred and seven clerks of this office. Three have
been connected with it more than thirty years, Mrs. A. K. Evans,
the first woman appointed in this bureau, Mr. A. F. Moulden, for
many years in charge of the inquiry branch, and "Brother" D. S.
Christie, a veritable father in Israel.

The total number of errors in the transmission of mail matter in
the United States is very small compared with the correct deliveries
(for letters alone in the ratio of about one to three hundred and
twenty-five) ,* yet so long as the blundering public make voluntary
contributions daily to this office of over 20,000 letters and packages,

242

DEAD LETTERS AND LIVE ONES. 243

just so long will it be necessary for the Government to " exercise pater-
nal functions " in the correction of those blunders, nine tenths of
which are made by the people themselves. If those who use the mails
would only be careful to observe a few simple requirements, trifles
in themselves, but in the aggregate of vast importance, the work of
the Dead Letter Office would soon be greatly reduced. If all letter
writers would take the simple pains to place their names and
addresses upon the envelopes, there would be few undelivered let-
ters. Cultivation of the habit of scanning the address of the letter
after it has been written would prevent nine tenths of the mistakes
due to deficient or erroneous addresses. It is purely a matter of
business habit and the remedy is the simplest. This habit would at
least correct one absurdity, viz., the annual receipt by the Dead
Letter Office of about 33,000 letters bearing no superscription what-
ever, most of which are written by business men and contain
enclosures of business value. There is no law or regulation to
compel affectionate relatives to put their full names and addresses at
the close of every letter, but if they would do this there would be a
million and a half more letters restored to their owners every year.
It is a mistaken idea, though a natural one, that the Dead Letter
Office deals with dead letters only. All undeliverable letters fall
into two classes, unmailable and unclaimed. The former, compris-
ing about ten per cent., are not dead letters at all, but thoroughly
alive, having never left the office of mailing until sent to the Dead
Letter Office ; that is, they were not sufficiently prepaid, or were so
incorrectly, insufficiently, or illegibly addressed that their destina-
tions could not be ascertained. These unmailable, or "live," letters
are always sent to the Dead Letter Office with a list, which is care-
fully verified as it passes from one clerk to another. When possible
the addresses of misdirected letters, both foreign and domestic, are
corrected by interesting processes, to be described hereafter, and for-
warded to destinations ud opened. The larger number, however, are
opened and subjected to the same treatment that dead letters receive.
In the general disposition of all opened letters, whether unmailable
or unclaimed, the first care is given to letters containing matter of
value, all of which are properly classified and carefully recorded,
with the view of supplying the necessary data with which to respond
to future inquiry. Thus, in a single year, the office receives and

244 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

disposes of letters containing money amounting to nearly $50,000,
ninety per cent, of which, without unnecessary delay, reaches the
hands of the owners. Postal notes and negotiable paper of various
kinds aggregate nearly two millions and a half annually, while the
number containing various articles of merchandise, photographs,
postage stamps and miscellaneous papers is, of course, vastly
greater.

The second class of undeliverable letters, the unclaimed, or
"dead," comprise those letters that, being properly prepaid and
legibly addressed, reach the office of destination, but are not taken out
by addressees, although thoroughly advertised for the usual period of
fifteen or thirty days, according to the size of the office. These
letters are forwarded to the Dead Letter Office with the words,
" advertised" and " unclaimed " clearly stamped upon , every en-
velope. This broad distinction of unmailable and unclaimed applies
equally to packages, and in short to every form of undeliverable
matter, excepting that which bears the address of the sender with
or without special request for its return.

The Inquiry Division is admirabty conducted by Mr. Ward Bur-
lingame, who was private secretary years ago to four western Gov-
ernors and two senators, and one of the prominent newspaper men in
Kansas. The general purpose of the Dead Letter Office is to deliver
to owners, as promptly as possible, all valuable letters and parcels
received; so this division, though the smallest in clerical force, is
of the first importance to the inquiring public, for here are con-
ducted the correspondence and other business relating to missing
mail matter. All applications are classified and recorded by a
system of double entry, so to speak, one record making especially
prominent the name of the applicant, while the other record begins
with the name of the addressee, both entries giving the nature of
the missing matter and the general character of the application.
The applicant is, of course, promptly notified that his inquiry has
been received and will have the necessary attention. Fully one half
of the applications fail to give all the particulars indispensable to
an intelligent search. Dates are frequently omitted, the character
of the enclosures is imperfectly or not at all described, sometimes
even the complete address of the letter or parcel sought for is
omitted, and more frequently there is a failure to state whether the

DEAD LETTERS AND LIVE ONES. 245

missing letter contained anything of value or not. Accordingly, a
circular with searching questions, together with a leaflet containing
useful information, is sent to the applicant, who learns that only
letters containing valuable enclosures can be traced. All other let-
ters not forwarded are opened and returned to writer, or, where the
addresses of the writers are not given, are destroyed. Whenever it
is shown that the letter or parcel inquired for contained matter of
obvious value, and all other necessary data are furnished, search is
made in the particular division to which this matter has been prop-
erly distributed. If the missing letter or parcel has already been
treated and disposed of, this fact, with all necessary particulars, is
communicated to the applicant. When no satisfactory information
can be found, and a loss is clearly shown, the case is then referred
to the Chief Post Office Inspector for final treatment, and the appli-
cant advised to this effect. This, of course, closes the case in its
relation to the Dead Letter Office. By far the larger portion of the
extensive correspondence necessary to the transaction of this busi-
ness is conducted by means of printed circulars and notices, vari-
ously modified as conditions may demand. There are, however,
many exceptional cases, in which no printed form is found adequate,
and therefore a large number of written communications are neces-
sary. In correspondence with the postal administrations of foreign
countries, and generally with individuals residing abroad, written
communications are frequently employed.

The Opening Division, Mr. C. P. Bourne, principal clerk, has
only twenty clerks; but it receives, assorts, counts, opens and
otherwise disposes of an average of 18,000 letters and parcels every
day. This immense quantity of unclaimed mail from 68,000 post-
offices, in weekly or monthly returns, finds its way first to the pass-
ing table, where third and fourth class and foreign matter (and
occasional errors of careless postmasters) are rapidly separated, and
the dead letters are counted, tied up in bundles of one hundred
each, and passed to the opening table. This is a long table, sub-
divided into eight sections, each amply supplied with pigeon holes
and other conveniences, and always furnished every morning witk
a formidable pile of dead letter bundles just received from the pass-
ing table. The "letter-rip" division, as it is sometimes called,
attracts much attention from visitors. Here, and at the unmailable

246

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

opening table near by, are the privileged few out of 65,000,000
American people who can legally open and search into other peo-
ple's letters ; and yet this liberty is subject to certain restrictions
for absolute safety. These clerks may not be entirely dead to the
sin of undue curiosity, but the volume and exceedingly monotonous
character of the work would leave little time or inclination for culti-
vating any closer familiarity with these letters than is absolutely
necessary to the proper discharge of duty.

THE DEAD I/ETTEK OFFICE MUSEUM.

The activity required of each clerk to open, examine, record
valuable enclosures, and otherwise dispose of over 2,000 letters in
about six hours, though not particularly obtrusive, is sufficient to
attract much interest. Most people in opening a letter hold the
envelope face down and sever the end with knife, finger, or scissors.
This slow process is discarded the first day at the opening table.
By one stroke of a keen blade the envelope is cut open lengthwise,
under the flap, and, the knife still in hand, the letter is taken
out, every fold carefully examined for possible enclosures and treated

DEAD LETTERS AND LIVE ONES. 247

accordingly. Thus, if any enclosure of obvious value is found in a
letter, it is carefully recorded and separated from the ordinary letters
for special treatment. If money is found, the amount is endorsed
on the envelope, together with the date, name of opener, etc., and
the same sum also entered, with name of addressee, in a small
account book. The money itself, with the letter, is replaced within
the envelope and turned in to the clerk in charge, who in turn, after
having made proper record, transfers it to the Money Division for
return to owner where possible. When nothing is found of suffi-
cient value for record the envelope is placed within the sheet for
possible aid to the address, and piled up with others of like charac-
ter, to be carefully tied into a bundle labelled with the date of open-
ing, name of opener, and number of letters, which is, of course, the
original one hundred, less the eight or ten valuable letters taken
out. These bundles are sent to the Returning Division for final
treatment. Enclosures of obvious value, besides money, are money
orders, postal notes, drafts, deeds, wills, mortgages, photographs,
receipts, certificates, legal papers, postage stamps (if of the value of
more than one two-cent stamp), small articles of property, etc., all
of which are carefully recorded and returned to senders or delivered
to parties addressed, as far as practicable without application.

The general character of these enclosures remains about the same
from year to year except in what used to be a very conspicuous item,
namely, lottery tickets, the receipts of which have decreased in the
past three years from over a thousand a month to a monthly average
of fifteen. So much has been done in the past few years towards
improving the general efficiency of the postal service that as a natural
result actually less undeliverable matter was received at the Dead
Letter Office during the year ending June 30, 1892, than for the
previous year, although the volume of postal business had increased
eight per cent., and the blundering public sent in its usual increased
percentage of errors. Three years ago the increase of mail matter
received at the Dead Letter Office was five per cent., two years ago
four and three fourths per cent. Six, five and four years ago,
respectively, the increased receipts were five, eleven and sixteen
per cent.

This gratifying exhibit is largely due to a very successful campaign
of education. Two years ago a circular of suggestions to the public

248

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

was carefully prepared by the Dead Letter Office and sent to all the
postmasters, through whose personal efforts it was published generally
(and very generously) by the local press of the country. As aids
to better delivery postmasters were encouraged in the work of

compiling supple-
mentary directo-
ries. One post-
master prepared a
delivery directory
of 18,000 names
a town where

the latest gen-
eral directory con-
tained the names
of 4,000 persons
only. About a
year ago the Dead
Letter Office is-
sued an enlarged
edition of a very
useful street di-
rectory, containing
nearly 800 pages
of valuable infor-
mation, systemati-
cally arranged,con-
cerning the names
and extent of num-
bering of all the
avenues, streets,
alleys, etc., in all
the 474 towns where the free delivery was in operation when the
book was published. Every postmaster of a free delivery office is
supplied with a copy of this work for use in correcting the addresses
of such letters and parcels as may reach his office, though evidently
intended for delivery elsewhere, and the practical utility of this
directory has been repeatedly demonstrated in the largely increased
number of the deliveries.

VALENTINES AND OTHER PRESENTS.

DEAD LETTERS AND LIVE ONES. 249

There is something about what is technically known in the postal
service as a " dead " letter that impresses an observer with a sense of
duty well performed. Such a letter has been forwarded to its desti-
nation fully addressed, the postmaster has used every effort to find
the addressee, it has been properly advertised, marked "unclaimed,"
as required by the regulations, and, failing of delivery, is sent to the
Dead Letter Office ready for the knife of the opener. No such feel-
ing of resignation can surround the letters handled in the Unmaila-
ble and Property Division. Hither the carelessness of letter writers
sends thousands of letters lacking in address or postage, and before
the deadly opening knife is brought into requisition all known
devices are used to deliver them unopened to their owners.

For convenience all advertised dead letters are sent to the Open-
ing Division for disposition, and all that are not advertised at the
post offices to which they are directed, except registered letters, are
sent to the Unmailable and Property Division, Mr. Charles N.
Dalzell, principal clerk. The last-mentioned letters comprise, in
addition to " held for postage, " " foreign short paid, " " misdirected, "
" unaddressed" and " fictitious " letters, those which have been
addressed to the care of hotels, colleges, or public institutions ; and
being unclaimed by the addressees they are returned to the post
offices of origin for restoration to the senders. These so-called
hotel letters are not advertised because the unclaimed ones are
usually addressed to persons only temporarily stopping at the places
of destination and an advertisement would not, therefore, assist in
delivery. Postmasters are required to send all letters not advertised
to the Dead Letter Office, accompanied by lists giving a description
of each and the reason of its non-delivery. These lists are carefully
verified and are used as records of the contents or disposition of the
matter which is enclosed with them.

Take unadvertised letters in the order named. It is of interest
to note the many causes of failure to deliver them and the careful
treatment accorded them before an attempt is made to deliver them
to the senders. If a letter is deposited in the mails, addressed to a
post office in the United States, and no stamp has been affixed
thereto, the postmaster at the mailing office is required to stamp it
"held for postage," and to notify the person to whom it is addressed
that on receipt of the necessary stamps it will be forwarded. It is

250

THE STORY OP OUR POST OFFICE,

then placed on file for a length of time, limited by the regulations,
to await a reply. If no remittance is received, the letter is listed and
sent to the Department stamped "unclaimed." Many of these let-
ters are addressed to well-known business concerns that practically
refuse to receive mail matter on which postage is due, while some
persons engaged in a fraudulent business, such as the "green goods "
swindlers, resort to the practice of depositing unpaid letters, hoping

THE OLD OFFICIAL RECORD OF VALUABLES RECEIVED FROM 1776 TO 1787;
MEDALS, MINIATURES AND MEDICINES.

their victims will pay the postage due. Nevertheless, there is some-
thing about a letter properly addressed, lacking only one thing
essential to its delivery — a stamp — which may well cause some
feeling of hesitancy before it is subjected to the knife.

It will be observed that unpaid letters, addressed for delivery in
the United States, are called "held for postage." If, however, an
unpaid letter is mailed, addressed to a foreign country embraced
in the Universal Postal Union, it is not detained, but forwarded to
the country addressed, charged with double the deficient postage.

DEAD LETTERS AND LIVE ONES. 251

If the country addressed is not in the Postal Union, and no stamp
has been affixed, it is called a "foreign short paid" and sent to the
Dead Letter Office at once to be opened. The exceptions to this
rule are letters directed to Canada, for, although letters addressed
to that country are assimilated generally with letters in the domestic
mails, yet if the persons addressed were notified by the postmasters
throughout the country, the reply would in most instances be accom-
panied by a foreign postage stamp, not available by the postmasters
in payment of postage. To assist in the delivery of unpaid
Canadian addressed letters the Dead Letter Office classifies them
as "foreign short paid "and notifies the addressees of their deten-
tion, an arrangement having been made with the Canadian postal
administration for the reciprocal exchange of stamps collected from
this source.

Under the title of " misdirected letters " are included all letters
upon which the postage has been paid, but which are so illegibly,
insufficiently, or incorrectly addressed as to prevent their prompt
delivery. Little does the writer know when he omits to add the
name of the state for which his letter is intended, or, naming the
state, gives the name of some hamlet or locality not honored with
that title in the Postal Guide, how much work he entails on the
postal service. Still more troublesome is the man who, in the hurry
of the moment, addresses his letter so illegibly as to require trained
experts to decipher the directions. The tired, overworked railway
postal clerk puzzles his brain with these letters before they are con-
signed to his assortment of "nixies " for division headquarters. The
" nixie " clerks at the post offices examine Postal Guides and bulle-
tins to complete what negligence has omitted, and although they
deliver many thousands of incorrectly addressed letters, nearly half
a million are sent annually to this division as undeliverable, because
" there is no such office in state named, " or they are " insufficiently
addressed" or "illegibly addressed." To be sure, they are only sent
in when trained employees have failed to ascertain their destination;
but still one more trial must be made before their contents are
examined. To this work are assigned women peculiarly fitted by
quickness of perception, education and long experience finally to
revise the work of others who have tried in vain to correct the mis-
takes of the senders. Two women in the Unmailable and Property

252

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Division secured the delivery last year of over 55,000 of these let-
ters, unopened, to the persons for whom they were intended. Con-
sider the work involved. A letter is addressed to a person in
" Beardstown, Pennsylvania." There is no office of that name in

the state. There
is a place local-
ly named "Bairds-
town," but it is not
a post office. The
expert forwards the
letter to B lairs ville
post office, where
it is delivered, for
B lairs ville is the
nearest post office to
Bairdstown, which,
in this instance was
misspelled "Beards-
town." All this
work is done to
preserve letters in-
violate and deliver
them to owners
in the condition in
which they were
mailed. The cor-
rections are not
only made on the
letters themselves, but the entries on the lists are corrected to corre-
spond, so that record may be had of the disposition of each letter
thus forwarded.

Over 30,000 letters are received yearly in the Unmailable and
Property Division and entered under the heading "without address."
They are not all, however, simply letters in envelopes bearing no
directions, but include packets containing money found loose in the
mails. Almost equally as careless as the man who forgets to place
any address whatever on the envelope of a letter when it is posted
is the one who puts copper, nickel, silver, or gold coins in a frail

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, BANNERS, ETC.

DEAD LETTERS AND LIVE ONES. 253

wrapper and consigns them for dispatch in the mails. Of course
the coins cut the envelopes and drop out, some of them in the post-
offices, and others in postal cars. Then often follow accusations of
dishonesty or incompetency against employees of the service. This
loose money is received in this division accompanied by little slips
telling where and when it was found.

Of fictitious letters there is a great variety, from those received
at Christmas-time written by some sweet little believers in the good
old superstition and addressed to "Santa Claus," to the man who
wants to meet an honest friend to tell him how to get rich at the
expense of the Government, — in other words, the dealer in " green
goods," who has assumed a fictitious name for evil purposes.
There are others simply addressed to initials, without box or street
number. These cannot be delivered because the addressee cannot
be identified.

The undeliverable parcels received at the Dead Letter Office (and
thejr are all sent to the Unmailable and Property Division for treat-
ment except those originally registered) furnish a very fair sample
of what the postal service carries for the million at reduced rates of
postage. They embrace a most curious aggregation of almost every-
thing. Business and sentiment run side by side. The whole range
of domestic life finds full expression here : tiny little socks, deli-
cately colored and ornamented; the juvenile necktie and the
message-bearing valentine; the jewel box with its engagement ring;
wedding cake in fancy boxes ; infant's apparel again; soothing syrup ;
cholera mixture ; little shrouds ; coffin plates inscribed " at rest" ;
flowers from a grave, — all come here when misdirected, unclaimed,
with postage unpaid, without address, or not prepared for mailing
in accordance with the regulations; and there are packs of playing
cards, dice, gambling devices, instructions how to swindle, bi-
chloride of gold, and pocket knives, samples of cloth, electro-
types, surgical and dental instruments, to say nothing of live toads,
snakes, beetles, or tarantulas. Here may be found the unpoetic
washboard ; the capacious travelling sack ; the hat box ; the merci-
less accordeon; glass bottles and vials filled with every conceivable
concoction ; photographs, probably the grossest of libels ; a stuffed
alligator from the sunny South; objects given up by the sea from
the wreck of the Oregon; fire crackers; fancy work of various

254

THE STORY OF OTJTl POST OFFICE.

descriptions, wrought with patient assiduity by the tender hands of
loved ones, perhaps long enrolled with the dead.

The employees become quite indifferent to the sentimental value
of the matter handled. The bundle of old letters tied with a ribbon
is examined for the usually present finger ring and the last note

bearing the address
of the sender and
saying, " I return
herewith your let-
ters ; all is over be-
tween us," with as
much business-like
nonchalance as the
sample of yarn or
cloth and the mes-
sage, " Will furnish
these at so and so."
The pair of woolen
socks that " dear
old mother knit for
absent John " at-
tract no particu-
lar attention ; rath-
er will the clerk
pause for a second
to tickle the horned
toad from Texas
found in the next
packet, just to see
if it is alive. Here
the "fads" of the
day may easily be recognized, — the decline of the bustle in
popular favor and the advent of suspenders for womankind; the
jewelled snake as an ornament, following Bernhardt's "Cleopatra,"
only to give way to packets containing pins and rings made into
bow knots or lover's knots. In books a deluge of " Ben Hurs "
and "Robert Elsmeres " is followed by thousands of the paper-cov-
ered kind.

A CORNER IN ONE OF THE CASES.

DEAD LETTERS AND LIVE ONES. 255

All parcels of merchandise are received in this division accom-
panied by lists giving their full address, or, if they are without
address, a brief description of their contents. The parcels and lists
are numbered to correspond after the entries are verified. These
numbers serve to identify each package with the records, as the lists
are sent to the recording clerks, where they are entered in books
indexed under the initial letter of each surname. The clerks
engaged in the treatment of merchandise are furnished with sheets
giving the number of the parcels delivered to them in numerical
order. Their duties are to examine each package to ascertain the
reason for its detention or non-delivery; to write a full description
of the contents on the sheets furnished them ; to send the proper
notice of detention either to the person addressed or to the sender
with the request for a remittance sufficient to pay postage for the
return or forwarding, and to send all parcels for which these notices
have been sent and all which are to be placed on file because no clue
to ownership can be ascertained, to the store rooms of the office to
await reclamation. The sheets, endorsed with the number of each
notice and the necessary descriptions of contents, are then delivered
to the recording clerks for proper entries opposite their correspond-
ing numbers on the records.

If the varieties of causes which render parcels undeliverable are
considered, some idea may be had of the necessity of good judgment,
intelligence, and a thorough knowledge of the postal laws and
regulations on the part of these employees. A large part of their
work consists in treating parcels which senders have attempted to
mail as gifts to friends residing abroad, without first ascertaining
the rules and regulations to which such matter is subjected by the
postal conventions. If it were generally known, that aside from
printed matter, articles sent as gifts cannot be forwarded to foreign
countries unless the postage is fully prepaid at the rate applicable to
letters addressed to the countries of destination, or that, where a
parcels post has been established with the country addressed, the
technical requirements of the convention should be fully observed
as to customs declaration, address of sender and payment of postage,
fully 20,000 fewer parcels would be received yearly at the Dead
Letter Office. Nearly ninety per cent, of these parcels contain arti-
cles not absolutely forbidden transmission in the Postal Union mails,

256

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

and the addressees are requested by circular letters sent by the
employees engaged on this work to furnish the address of the senders
in the United States or to return the communications with a remit-
tance sufficient to pay full foreign letter postage. Many of these
foreign addressed parcels, however, contain articles of jewelry or
such as are especially forbidden transmission in the mails abroad.

The addressees in
these cases are asked
to furnish the ad-
dress of the senders
to enable the office
to return the par-
cels, or, if they so
desire, to authorize
them to be for-
warded by express,
charges to be paid
on delivery. About
ten per cent, of the
parcels addressed to
other countries are
forwarded outside
the mails in re-
sponse to these re-
quests.

By careful treat-
ment over 30,000
parcels sent to this
office by postmas-
ters as un deliver-
able are annually
restored to owners. There would be no need, however, for the
labor involved, nor any necessity for filing the large number which
cannot be delivered, if each sender would take the precaution to
request by endorsement on the wrapper the return of the parcel to
him in the event" of its nondelivery; for while third and fourth
class matter requires the payment of additional postage for its
return, it will be returned upon request direct to the sender at the

PICTUKES AND BIRTHDAY REMEMBRANCES.

DEAD LETTERS AND LIVE ONES. 257

expiration of the time named in such request, or, if no time be
named, at the expiration of thirty days, subject to the payment of
the necessary postage.

In addition to the addressed parcels there are received at the
"D. L. O." about 17,000 articles annually which have been found
without wrappers in the mails. If a little less negligence were used
in wrapping and tying parcels containing third and fourth class mat-
ter, there would be less cause for complaint of the loss of valuable
matter in the mails. Many of the articles received were doubtless
enclosed in wrappers properly addressed at the time of posting, but.
others were evidently deposited without any effort to wrap or direct
them. A few years ago a very handsome gold watch was sent in
from a Western city, with the statement that it had been found
without a wrapper in a street letter box in the seventh ward of that
city. The postmaster stated that the finding of this watch had been
thoroughly advertised, but no clue to the owner had been ascer-
tained. The daily papers had commented on the matter, one of them
advancing the theory that a pickpocket, closely pursued by an officer,
had dropped the watch in the letter box to get rid of the evidence
of his crime. A rival paper, however, ridiculed the idea thus
advanced, saying that it was ridiculous to presume that a police
officer in that city ever closely pursued a thief ; rather, knowing the
peculiarities of the residents of the seventh ward, should it be sup-
posed that some trusting wife had given her husband a letter to mail.
En route for the mailing he had encountered a friend, then another
friend, and yet still others, until, leaning heavily against a lamp
post, with a confused idea of an errand to perform for his wife, he
dropped his watch in the letter box and walked valiantly home with
the letter in his pocket!

Complaints of the loss of parcels deposited in the mails are referred
to the recording clerks, who, in addition to entering the address,
description of contents, and 'disposition of all articles received, are
required to ascertain from the records whether any trace can be
found of the detention of parcels for which inquiry is made. If
found, the complaint is endorsed with the letter and number of the
entry and sent to the store rooms with notices of detention which
have been returned with remittances for postage. In the store
rooms the parcels applied for are taken from the file cases and sent,

258

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

with all correspondence relating thereto, to the mailing clerk, who
restores them to the owners. A memorandum of this disposition is
then delivered to the recording clerks, who make the jDroper entries.
The store rooms consist of two large apartments fully provided
with suitable cases. On one side of these apartments all parcels

for which circular
letters of deten-
tion have been sent
are arranged al-
phabetically ,while
on the other side
those which fur-
nish no clew to the
proper address of
either sender or
addressee are sim-
ilarly arranged.
About 80,000 par-
cels are constant-
ly stored in these
rooms. It is nec-
essary, in appli-
cations for any
of these packages,
that the full ad-
dress of both the
sender and the ad-
dressee be given,
together with a description of the contents and the date of mailing,
as they are recorded under the initial letter of the surname of the
person addressed and entered from day to day as they are received
at the office. The number on file is so large that without explicit
information it is impossible to identify them, and delay in restoring
them to applicants is often caused by want of sufficient data con-
tained in applications. A case occurred recently, where a resident
of a Western city applied for a missing set of false teeth. He did
not furnish the exact date of mailing, and there were sent to the
postmaster at his office several sets of teeth found about the time

GROUPS OF REVOLVERS ; OTHER INSTRUMENTS MORE
PEACEFUL IN CHARACTER.

DEAD LETTERS AND LIVE ONES. 259

mentioned in his application. They were all returned to the office,
accompanied by an indignant communication from the complainant,
stating that the teeth sent to him were " just common Texas store
teeth and could not by any possibility belong to so refined a mouth
as mine." With the correct dates a further search was made and
the missing parcel was delivered to its owner.

Sometimes foreign addressees, not understanding the reason for
the detention of parcels addressed to them, are unjustly impa-
tient at the delay. A few years ago a parcel containing infant's
clothing, addressed . to a woman missionary in Africa, was de-
tained, and in reply to the notice sent to her of its detention, she
wrote angrily:

" The child for whom these garments were intended has not yet been eaten by
the cannibals, but has quite outgrown them, and they may be returned to the
sender, whose address I enclose."

All addressed matter remaining in the store rooms for a period of
two years, and all matter without address on file over six months, is
sold annually. Many of the parcels contain small articles of insuffi-
cient value to be sold separately. Indeed, so great is the number to
be prepared, nearly 45,000, and the proportionate value so small, it
has been found necessary to include the contents of several parcels
as originally mailed in one package for the sale, their identity being
preserved, as required in the regulations, by recording their original
number as entered in the indexed records, when first received. The
average proceeds of each parcel at the sale are about sixty cents, and
it is attempted to include articles of at least that value in each sales
package. The original wrappers are removed from the parcels and
new ones substituted, upon which are endorsed a brief description
of the contents. This description is entered in a sales book, which
is used by the auctioneer, and from a copy of the entries in this book
the catalogues furnished to purchasers are printed. It has been
found inexpedient to expose the contents of these parcels at the time
of sale, because they consist of so many articles that, in a crowded
auction mart, they would become separated and lost, while too much
time would be consumed by the purchasers in examining them.
The description in the catalogue is therefore relied upon to furnish
sufficient information to enable a person to make an intelligent esti-
mate of the value of what he is buying. The descriptions are made

260

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

as brief and plain as possible, but the variety of articles is so great, —
ranging from plasterers' tools, plumbing materials, kitchen utensils,
watchmaker's findings and jewelry, to all kinds of women's wear-
ing apparel and men's furnishings, — that occasionally odd and
humorous misdescriptions are made.

After the parcels are properly prepared for sale the government
invokes the intervention of professional auctioneers, and submits its

miscellaneous col-
lection to the eager
competition of bar-
gain hunters. The
sale takes place in
December, prior to
the holidays, and
usually exhibits
many of the stir-
ring characteristics
of that interesting
season, when the
accumulation of to-
kens of good-will
and affection, and
their proper distri-
bution, engross so
large a share of
popular attenti on .
About a week is
required to dispose
of the stock, and
during this period
the auction mart is
thronged, day and
evening, with good-natured but earnest people, women usually pre-
dominating, who, apparently undismayed by previous disappoint-
ments, seem to be impressed with the conviction that articles of
great commercial value, or at least of superior artistic attractiveness,
are included in the mass of matter upon which the Department asks
them to submit their estimates. Many of the articles are confided

SKULL,, HARNESS AND TRAPPINGS.

DEAD LETTERS AND LIVE ONES. 261

to the mails in a manner contravening the law, and, it is to be
feared, with the express purpose of defrauding the postal reve-
nues. The enclosure of articles with newspapers or other printed
matter, without adequate postage, is the cause of a large number
of failures of delivery, the offence in these cases insuring its own
punishment; and in general there would be little occasion for
these sales, if the public heeded the injunctions of the postal regu-
lations.

In the Money Division, Mr. A. T. McCallum, principal clerk,
are treated all letters and parcels that, having been opened in other
divisions, have been found to contain money and papers of
monetary value, such as postal notes, money orders, checks, drafts,
deeds, etc. All of this matter is carefully verified and receipted
for as it passes from one clerk to another. These letters are
entered in index records for ready reference, the arrangement
being alphabetical as to the initial letter of the surname of
the addressee. The entry embraces a complete description of the
letter, its contents, and final disposition. When the address of the
writer is found, the letter is at once forwarded under cover to
the postmaster, who then becomes responsible for it, and upon de-
livery must return a receipt for it to the Money Division. Letters
addressed to foreign countries containing coin are unmailable, and
find their way to this division to be returned to writer with a cir-
cular explaining the reason for detention. On the failure of a post-
master to return either the letter or a receipt at the expiration of
thirty days, a circular of inquiry is sent to him. When letters
that have failed of delivery by this process are returned to the office,
they are still further examined for some possible clew, such as the
name of a person or place where further inquiry may be made ; and
perhaps another attempt is made to deliver. Letters which cannot
be restored to owners are kept on file for three months, when the
money is separated and delivered to the Third Assistant Post-
master General for deposit in the United States Treasury. The
letter is carefully filed and, with its original money contents,
may be reclaimed within four years. All money realized from
the annual sale of unclaimed articles is also received by this
division and turned over to the Third Assistant's office for deposit
in the treasury.

262

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

The receipts of the Money Division are greatly increased through
the attempted fraud of persons claiming to deal in counterfeit money.
Letters addressed to these dealers in "green goods" are withheld
from delivery as soon as their fraudulent purpose is known, and
sent to the Dead Letter Office as fictitious. A peculiarity of this
class of letters is the failure of any attempt to deliver them to the
writer, although they contain a considerable amount of money, the

enclosures ranging
fi'om five to fif-
ty dollars per let-
ter. The senders
refuse to receive
them when they
are returned to the
post offices, doubt-
less fearing crim-
inal prosecution.
This fear is in a
measure ground-
less, because at any
time before deliv-
ery the contents of
a sealed letter can-
not be used as evi-
dence against an
offender in a crim-
inal action ; but
subsequent to de-

livery, if the let-
ter were found in
the possession of
the sender, bearing
evidences of its

having been conveyed in the mails, it might, perhaps, be used as

evidence; and the fear of some such mishap may account for the

failure of owners to reclaim such letters.

The money found loose in the mails is restored to owners usually

upon recommendations received from post office inspectors who trace

POLYGLOT SHEET, CONTAINING LOED'S PEAYEE, SO-
CALLED DYNAMITE MACHINE, ETC.

DEAD LETTERS AND LIVE ONES. 263

and identify it as belonging to letters, the loss of which has been a
subject of complaint to them. A few years ago a lady in a Western
hotel gave the bell boy a package of money to pay her bill at the
clerk's desk. In a moment of thoughtlessness he deposited it in the
mail. It was sent to the Dead Letter Office, without address, and
subsequently restored to the owner, but not until accusations of dis-
honesty had resulted in the bell boy's loss of employment, and
in serious doubts of the integrity of the clerk. The care with
which letters are handled in this division is illustrated by the
frequent delivery of this class of letters to owners who have supplied
the Chief Post Office Inspector with full particulars and data con-
cerning their loss.

The following table shows the number of letters restored to owners
during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892, or in course of restora-
tion, with the character and value of contents :

DESCRIPTION. NUMBER. VALUE.

Letters containing money restored to owners . . , . . 16,004 $28,144.57

Letters containing money outstanding in the hands of post-
masters for restoration to owners 1,600 4,761.66

Number of letters containing drafts, checks, notes, money-
orders, etc., restored to owners 27,190 1,138,873.10

Number of letters containing drafts, checks, notes, money-
orders, etc., outstanding in the hands of postmasters
for restoration to owners 1,347 153,882.94

Number of letters containing postal notes restored to

owners 2,987 4,443.23

Number of letters containing postal notes outstanding in

the hands of postmasters for restoration to owners . 429 676.51

The amount of revenue derived from dead mail matter during the
year and delivered to the Third Assistant Postmaster General for
deposit in the treasury is shown by the following statement :

Amount separated from dead letters that could not be restored to

owners $12,423.85

Amount realized from auction sale in December, 1890, of parcels of

merchandise which could not be restored to owners 3,498.33

Total $15,922.18

All valuable enclosures of relatively minor importance to money
and negotiable paper are referred to the Minor Division, in charge
of Miss A. R. Thurlow. This division, with its seventeen women

264

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

clerks, disposes of all letters containing postage stamps, photo-
graphs, unsigned deeds, wills, contracts, paid notes, business
papers, etc., etc., with substantially the care and system of the
Money Division.

Another important work is performed. " Hotel " and " ficti-
tious " letters, opened in the Unmailable Division, are received here,
with their accompanying lists, verified, returned when possible, or
forwarded, or destroyed. The disposition of the letter in every case
is recorded in alphabetical lists for future reference. Blank letters,
or those bearing no superscription whatever, are entered with special
care to facilitate search when application is made. Held-for-postage
letters, addressed to Canada, are numbered and recorded, and a

circular notice of
the amount of post-
age due is sent to
the addressee. If
not applied for in
thirty days, they
are listed and sent
to the Opening Di-
vision for ordinary
treatment. Other
foreign short paid
letters are either
returned to the
writer or filed, and
in the latter case if
not called for with-
in one year, they
are destroyed.

This division also
receives from post-
masters all stamps
found loose in the
mails. These "shed
the blood-stained mail pouch ; chkistmas stamps, " together

PRESENTS. .,, ,,

with the stamps
found in letters that cannot be returned, are pasted upon sheets,

DEAD LETTERS AND LIVE ONES. 265

decorated with the cancelling brush, and turned over monthly
to the stamp committee (three employees deputed to destroy
stamps) to be destroyed. Canadian stamps are sent to Canada
in regular exchanges for United States stamps that have accumu-
lated there.

All unclaimed magazines, miscellaneous publications, illustrated
papers, picture cards, etc., etc., are, by order of the Postmaster
General, regularly distributed among the inmates of the various
hospitals, asylums, and other charitable institutions in the District
of Columbia. The number and character of the matter distributed
during the year ending June 30, 1892, were: Magazines, 2,003;
pamphlets, 4,025; illustrated papers, 4,062; picture cards, etc.,
5,510; or a total of 15,600. The amount of postage stamps
received in the Dead Letter Office from the sources named, and
destroyed under proper supervision during the }^ear ending June 30,
1892, was $1,088.22.

The Returning Division, Miss Harriet Webber, principal clerk,
originally extended over a wider jurisdiction than at present, having
since transferred some of its functions to the Money, Unmailable,
and Minor Divisions. Notwithstanding such reductions this branch
is still the largest in the office, having on its roll, besides the chief
and her assistant, thirty clerks, most of them women, a skilled
employee to seal the letters, and two female messengers to collect
the papers, keep rooms and desks in order, and distribute to the
clerks the bundles of letters that have come directly from the open-
ing table. It will be remembered that these packages contain
ordinary letters without valuable enclosures, and often do not reach
the returning desks for several days after the opening process.
Each returning clerk is charged with the number of letters received,
and at the close of every day reports the number returned to writers
and the number of those destroyed. It is the practice to return all
letters containing legible address and signature, all notices of meet-
ings, and all wedding cards, while printed matter, business cards, and
mere advertisements are thrown into the waste basket. The clerks
are supplied with all the facilities for their work, such as the official
Guide, directories of all the large towns, foreign directories, church
annuals, lists of scientific societies, and all military and naval sta-
tions, Indian agencies, and lighthouse stations. With the utmost

266

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

care less than forty per cent, of these letters reach the writers. The
average clerk will handle about seven hundred a day and return two
hundred and fifty. Very swift returners will dispatch over three
hundred a day, but this rate is exceptional and cannot be prolonged
without undue nervous strain. It is curious to observe the large
number of carefully written letters that bear no more definite address
than "Your loving sister, Nell;" "Affectionately, Dick;" "Cousin
Frank;" "Your devoted mother," etc., etc. Such letters, though
possessing much sentimental importance, must necessarily be thrown
away for the lack of proper care on the part of the writer. The in-
timate connection
between this and
the Opening Di-
vision is sometimes
a reciprocal one,
for, while the usu-
al current of work
Hows toward the
returning branch,
should the openers
by chance over-
look anything of
value hidden away
in the fold of a let-
ter, the returning
clerks are sure to
discover it and
send it back to the
opening table for
proper treatment.
This was the first
division in the
Post Office Depart-
ment ever assigned
to a woman.

About the For-
eign Division, Miss Clara M. Richter, principal clerk, compara-
tively little is known by the general public. Apart from the

STAR FISHES, SNAKES IN ALCOHOL, CONFEDERATE

MONEY AND POSTAGE STAMPS, OLD MAIL

POUCHES, CROCODILES, MINERALS, ETC.

DEAD LETTERS AND LIVE ONES. 267

main office in a corner room wholly inadequate is performed
a most important work, requiring a high degree of aptness and
general information. Here are conducted all the mail exchanges
with foreign countries, the correction and forwarding of mis-
directed foreign letters, all necessary translations for the entire
office, and a complete system of record books, by which every valu-
able letter or parcel received can be quickly found and its postal
history easily traced.

All matter treated in the Foreign Division is readily divided into
two classes, foreign and domestic. The former consists of all mail
matter of foreign origin, which, failing of delivery, is, of course,
sent to the Dead Letter Office. The latter, or foreign addressed,
includes all letters and parcels sent from the United States to for-
eign countries and proving undeliverable there, are returned to this
country in accordance with existing regulations of the Universal
Postal Union. Of the former class 609,747 pieces were received
during the year ending June 30, 1892, and of the latter class,
293,608 pieces; a total of 902,995.

Observe the rapid development of this division since Miss Richter
became its chief in 1879. Then the total receipts of undelivered
matter from all sources amounted to 265,202 pieces. The countries
and colonies with which exchanges of undelivered matter were made
in 1879 numbered forty -seven; now there are eighty-six, besides
numerous small colonies and dependencies of Great Britain, France,
Portugal, and Spain, which receive their undelivered matter through
the medium of the mother country. This very great difference is
caused primarily by the reduction of postage to foreign countries
since the formation of the Universal Postal Union, the increase in
immigration, and the general development of the country. The
marked increase in registered matter for Austria since 1879 is in the
ratio of 5,877 to 46,830. The number of registered pieces sent to
Russia in 1879 was 103 ; in 1892, it is 1,823; while the ordinary let-
ters numbered 2,451 in 1879, and 53,220 in 1892. The work of this
division increased rapidly during the five years following 1879, and
since then its growth has been steady, but not so fast. Then it was
comparatively easy for one clerk, with the occasional assistance of
another, to handle the matter sent to this division for treatment.
Now it requires the constant application of five clerks to do the

268

DEAD LETTERS AND LIVE ONES. 269

work. The increase in receipts is not the only factor causing more
work, since much labor has been added in the methods of treatment,
such as the more careful examination of matter received, the greater
efforts made to supply corrections of addresses on misdirected or
insufficiently addressed matter, more elaborate records of parcels
returned to country of origin, and of applications received for miss-
ing matter, more numerous calls from other divisions for translations
of foreign addresses, improved treatment of card and request letters,
and more thorough searches for matter supposed to have been sent to
the Dead Letter Office. Records are kept of all applications for
missing matter supposed to have reached the Foreign Division and
of all matter found and forwarded to applicants. During the past
year 10,224 letters and parcels were forwarded to corrected
addresses, instead of being engulfed in the mighty stream of " dead
matter."

The correction of addresses, or "blind reading," of the Foreign
Division commands admiration because the usual perplexities are
still further complicated in the guise of foreign superscriptions.
Foreigners often adapt the sense to the sound and write such expres-
sions as "Poniprehri " for the two words Pawnee Prairie, "Sonngu-
onque " for Suncook, " Chinchichi " for Kankakee, " Provenctao " for
Provincetown, and " S. X., Pitsco," for Essex, Page County. Letters
are frequently advertised in large cities for " Vescovo, 111.," when no
suggestion of Illinois was in the mind of the writer, but a very
respectful form of address to a most reverend bishop. Another
similar address is "Eveque, Monsr. Rev." Such letters come regu-
larly to the Foreign Division for return to country of origin and are,
of course, regularly forwarded to the worthy prelates for whom they
were intended. An Italian, supposing that New York embraced
the whole country, once confidingly addressed a letter to Chicago,
New York, adding "Dove si trove" (wherever he may be found).
Foreigners frequently prefer their own version to the official names
of our post offices, and accordingly direct letters to " Daie Verte "
for Green Bay, " Suerno Verde " for Greenhorn, and " Cayo Hueso "
for Key West.

The number of ordinary foreign letters now received varies from
eight hundred to three thousand or more daily. They are counted,
carefully examined as to previous treatment, and if worn in transit,

270 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

officially sealed, distributed according to country of origin if found
to be "dead," and returned to respective postal administrations
with letters of transmittal. Third and fourth class matter is recorded
if of apparent value. Ordinary printed matter, such as newspapers,
business circulars and notices, is returned without record to all
countries except Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, and
the South and Central American Republics, only the number sent
being indicated on the letter of transmittal. Registered matter,
after having been receipted for on the general registered record of
the Dead Letter Office, is then examined and carefully distributed
according to country of origin. The letters for each country are
entered in alphabetical order, together with the original register
number and the number of the Dead Letter Office record, in the books
provided for that purpose. A comparison of these two records is
made and a copy is sent with the registered letters either direct to
the postal administration of country of origin or to the New York
exchange office. The latter supplies to the Dead Letter Office all
the details of forwarding, which are kept on file in this division.
The foreign matter received from the Unmailable Division is treated
according to its character ; that is, hotel, fictitious, and lottery let-
ters are returned to country of origin, as with ordinary unclaimed
letters, while misdirected letters are subjected to the careful exami-
nation just referred to, in order to find possible owners for them on
this side of the water.

The second grand division of mail matter treated in the Foreign
Division is the "foreign addressed," or that originating in this
country and sent to foreign addresses, and failing of delivery
returns to this office. All this matter is carefully verified by the
accompanying letter of transmission and the registered portion is
handed to the clerk in charge of the register section. Letters bear-
ing upon the envelope the address of sender, with or without request
for its return, and those having " new address " in this country are
sent under cover to the postmasters of their respective destinations
for delivery to owners. All remaining letters are turned over to
the opening Division as ordinary unclaimed matter. The number
thus sent out averages 3,500 monthly, effecting considerable economy
in time as well as clerical work, since all of these letters are saved
from the opening table and possible destruction. It has proved

DEAD LETTERS AND LIVE ONES. 271

necessary to forward such letters under cover, because, when sent in
open mail, like ordinary card letters, they are frequently sent again
to first address, notwithstanding the stamp, "Return to writer,"
placed on each letter of this class. The receipt of all dispatches of
undeliverable matter returned to the Dead Letter Office is entered in
the record kept for this purpose and due acknowledgment made to
the postal administration. Dispatches of this class are received
weekly from Canada, England and France. The exchange offices
on the continent make up semi-weekly dispatches, but do not send
letters of advice with them. Italy, Portugal and Spain send at
irregular intervals. Mexico may send unclaimed matter twice a day
for a week, and then postpone further operations for a month. The
Pacific colonies send regular monthly returns, while the South
American Republics send whenever the accumulation of unclaimed
matter is sufficiently large.

Among the many notable exhibits in the national capital there is,
perhaps, no room of equal size that contains so many curious and
interesting articles as may be seen in the Dead Letter Office museum.
With the exception of two old mail pouches, carefully preserved for
their ninety years of faithful service, all of the articles in the cases
passed through the United States mails and were found to be
unmailable, misdirected, short paid, without address, or without
the name of sender. The articles have been deposited here for a
two-fold purpose, — not only to interest the casual visitor, but to call
attention to the unmailable character of many things thrown into
the mails. A person mailing a piece of fancy work in a thin wrap-
per might well complain if in the same pouch were deposited a hand
saw, a bottle of alcohol containing snakes, loaded pistols, dirks,
friction matches, etc., which would either obliterate the address
or so mutilate the wrapper as to separate it from its contents. Many
of the minerals found here were addressed to foreign countries, but,
being in excess of the limit of weight prescribed, they could not be
forwarded unless the postage were paid at the rate of five cents per
half ounce. As neither the names of senders nor the deficient post-
age could be secured from the addressees, the parcels were held two
years and finally turned into the museum.

A large number of cocoons are received by the Dead Letter Office.
The owners are notified of their detention, but in many cases there

r/;

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t-i

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272

DEAD LETTERS AND LIVE ONES.

273

is considerable delay in responding to these notices and interesting
results follow. Not long ago one of the file cases in the store room
of the office was left open for a short time, when to the surprise of
the clerks the room was soon filled with a swarm of large and
brilliant butterflies. A box of cocoons had been accidentally
exposed a few minutes to the light.

In one of the cases may be seen a large sheet containing the
Lord's prayer beautifully inscribed in fifty-four languages. Just
below is a piece of mechanism that the average guide delights in
calling a dynamite ma-
chine, though -it is really
nothing but an innocent,
old-fashioned bank marker.
A tragic memento of the
Indian question appears in
a blood-stained pouch, tell-
ing the oft-repeated story
of danger and death in
the faithful performance of
duty. A brief account of
the tragedy is affixed to
the pouch. On July 23,
1885, F. N. Petersen, mail
carrier between Crittenden
and Lochiel, Arizona, while
on his return trip to the
latter place, was killed by
the Apaches. After murdering the carrier, the Indians cut open
the pouches and entirely destroyed the mail and also two of the
pouches, leaving this one bespattered with the blood of their
victim.

There is a large skull in the collection, which was addressed
several years ago to Prof. S. D. Gross of Philadelphia and refused by
him on account of the excessive postage due, as it had been sealed
against inspection and was entitled to regular letter rates, which
amounted to more than three dollars. A specimen of Guiteau's hair
is seen with this inscription :

This contains my hair. Charles J. Guiteau.

THE ALBUM OF OLD SOLDIERS' PICTURES.

274 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Accompanying this was a request for the modest sum of $1,000 to
aid in the compensation of his counsel. Another contribution from
his pen soliloquizes as follows :

She's my darling from this day you will surely die for the murder of James A.
Garfield on the scaffold high, my name 'tis Charles J. Guiteau, my name I will
never deny, too leave my aged parents in sorrow for to die how little did they
think while in my youthful bloom, would be taken from the scaffold to
meet my fattle doom.

The eight pistols and revolvers so artistically arranged in one
of the cases are described as having come through the mails, all
loaded and still in possession of their deadly contents, but only
one was loaded when it was deposited in the mails, and that
the lowest in the group, is an old-fashioned "pepperbox" of six
barrels. This was sent to a young lady supposed to be living in
Springfield, 111. Failing of delivery, it was forwarded to Havana,
in the same state, and thence to the Dead Letter Office. Strange to
say, in all of these changing conditions of postal treatment not a
single barrel was relieved of its contents, even in the process of
opening in the Property Division of the Dead Letter Office. Here
may be seen the official "record of all valuable letters in the Dead
Letter Office " from 1777 to 1788, covering forty-four pages and three
hundred and sixty-five entries. Among its other curiosities is a card
showing one hundred variations in spelling the word " Chicopee,"
as received at the Boston post office, sand thrown up by the
Charleston earthquake, Confederate money and postage stamps,
crocodiles, rag babies, patent medicines, coffee pots, wash boards,
medals, musical instruments, horned toads, harnesses, hat boxes,
hoes, gripsacks, etc.

Some time ago the residence of a prominent citizen of West Rox-
bury, Mass., was entered and among the articles stolen were two
miniatures prized as family relics. Six years afterwards a daughter
visited this museum, and to her surprise found the missing minia-
tures. The records of the office showed that an envelope, without
an address, containing the miniatures, was dropped into one of
the mail boxes at Boston a night or two after the robbery, and
in ordinary course of treatment was sent to the Dead Letter Office.
The right to the property being clearly proved, it was of course
immediately delivered to the family.

DEAD LETTERS AND LIVE ONES.

275

A large portfolio in one corner of the room contains thousands of
photographs and tintypes of old soldiers taken during the war.
Many of these had accumulated, and soon after the close of the
war, by order of Third Assistant Postmaster General Zevely, they
were taken out of the store room, mounted on large cards, and
placed on exhibition in the museum in the hope that an occasional
visitor might be able to identify and restore some picture of value
to the family connections. A few years ago these cards again found
their way to the store room to be finally rescued by the Chief of the
Minor Division, through whose patriotic interest and personal efforts
the photographs were cleaned, many of them remounted, and in a
new portfolio were again placed on exhibition. Descriptive lists
have been advertised in the journals of the Grand Army of the
Republic, and in various ways many of these pictures have reached
the families for which they were originally intended.

The Superintendent of the Dead Letter Office is Capt. D. P.
Leibhardt, who was born in Milton, Ind., in November, 1844. He
enlisted for the war when he was
under seventeen ; and he served
four years and three months, and
came out the quartermaster of his
brigade. His business interests
have been the manufacture of farm-
ing implements. He had charge
for years of the correspondence of
a large manufacturing firm, and
came to be considered one of the
most expert accountants in all that
country; and as a business corre-
spondent, and in the grasp of busi-
ness forces, his abilities were clearly
of an exceptionally high order.
This peculiar training, and his orig-
inality and steady application, es-
pecially fitted him for the duties
of Superintendent of the Dead Letter Office. He is at his desk
from eight in the morning until six at night, and for a period of
three years took only two days' vacation. His work, and the work

CAPT. D. P. LIEBHAEDT,
Superintendent, Dead Letter Office.

276

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

of the force under him, has never been equalled for intelligence and
push. Capt. Leibhardt is enthusiastic in the postal work, devoted
„____________^_™_™_____^ to duty, and thorough, even to

minor details, in all he under-
takes.

The Chief Clerk, Mr. Waldo G.
Perry, has had an experience of
nearly thirty years in Dead Let-
ter Office work and is thorough-
ly identified with its growth ; for
superintendents have come and
gone, but he has remained, giving
permanence to many important
reforms and contributing in no
small degree to the present stand-
ards of excellence. He entered
the office in 1865 and took charge
of the Foreign Division. He was
later in charge of the Unmailable
Division and when the office be-
came a separate bureau, Mr. Perry
was made chief clerk. He is a

Vermonter, a graduate of the Yale Law school, and a man of great

originality and information.

MR. WALDO G. PEEKY,
Chief Clerk, Dead Letter Office.

ESTABLISHING OFFICES ; APPOINTMENTS.

HE establishments of post offices originate in the
office of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General,
Mr. Estes G. Rathbone. The application for the
establishment of a new office is made, in a great ma-
jority of cases, by ordinary petition. The Depart-
ment has blank petitions, which are furnished up-
on application. ^— —-..

These are usu-
ally called for by some one
representing the commun-
ity in which the office is to
be located, and is signed
by those who will be pa-
trons of the office, in the
event of its establishment.
No definite number of
names is required; though
the character of the peti-
tion often has much to do
with its favorable consid-
eration at the Department.
All sorts of forms are used
by petitioners. Some ask
for the office in very few
words; others go into de-
tails and give nearly all the
points which have to be
known before an order is
made for the establishment. One of the first things inquired into
in connection with establishing a new office is its distance from

277

MR. ESTES G. RATHBONE,
Fourth Assistant Postmaster General.

278 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

other offices already in operation. If on a railroad, the intervening
distance is sometimes reduced to one mile, — especially if there is a
station where a number of people would be benefited by an office.
In the country away from railroads a rule is in force requiring the
new location to be at least two miles away from any other office.
This rule, however, must necessarily be flexible. A natural obstruc-
tion would make a difference in this distance. For instance, a
river which is not easily ford able, or a hill, or a small mountain,
would be reason enough for disregarding the limit referred to.

Upon the receipt of an application for a new office the Department
at once furnishes the person who is proposed for postmaster with
certain blanks which are to be filled out giving definite information
upon many different questions. JThe section, township and range
(where a country has been surveyed), and the county, state, or terri-
tory, of course, are first given. If it is on a friail route already in
operation, that is given, together with the number of the route and the
terminal points of it. Also is given the number of times a week the
mail is then carried over this route. The question is answered whether
the new office will be directly upon the new route, and if not, how far
from it. If the office is not upon a route, and is too far from one to
make a change in it so as to have the carrier reach the new office, it is
then supplied by what is known at the Department as "special supply."

When this service is named, the office already in operation, from
which the new office will be supplied, is named and is called the
supply office. Special offices, however, are not supplied at the
expense of the Government. The postmaster has to furnish his own
supply until such time as the new office develops business enough to
warrant the Government in appropriating a sufficient amount to fur-
nish the supply. Meantime the carrier is allowed an amount equal
to two thirds of the compensation of the postmaster. This compen-
sation is regulated by cancellations. Other conditions which have to
be given are the name of the office nearest to the proposed one on
the one side and its distance. The postmaster is also to give the
same facts with reference to the office on the other side; and he gives
the name of the most prominent river or creek, and the distance
which the proposed office will be from either.

The name of the nearest railroad is required, if the office is near
enough to be in any way affected by the railroad. If the new

ESTABLISHING OFFICES; APPOINTMENTS. 279

office is on a railroad, the information must be given on which side
of the road the office will he located and how near the track ; and
also what is, or will be, the name of the railroad station. If the
office is located within eighty rods of the station, the mails are car-
ried to and from the station by the railroad company. Should the
location be more than eighty rods from the station, the office is sup-
plied by the mail messenger service, which is to be paid for by the
Department. If it is in a village, the number of inhabitants is to
be stated as nearly as possible. In any event the population to be
supplied by the new office must be given. A diagram, or a sketch
from a map, is also usually required, showing the exact location of
the office. This diagram is furnished in blank on the back of the
location paper, as it is called. These facts all have to be certified
to by the proposed postmaster, and also by the postmaster at the
nearest office already in operation. If, however, such a postmaster,
for personal or other reasons, declines to make such certificate, the
Department uses its own discretion in establishing the office.

A great many offices are asked for, especially in southern portions
of the country, which apparently have for their object a reduction of
the compensation of an office already in operation. This seems to
be for the purpose of retaliating where a man objectionable to the
community has been appointed postmaster at an old office. By an
objectionable man is meant one who may be competent, but who for
personal or political reasons is not acceptable. After the Post-
master General inaugurated the country free delivery, the number of
applications for new offices seemed to increase. This was probably
for the reason that action could not be taken promptly upon a
proposition for such service, and it awakened an interest upon the
part of the people for better facilities than they already had; and a
liberal number of offices would be the next best thing to free delivery.

After an application has been made for a new office and the loca-
tion papers returned, the Department considers all the information
which has been furnished and passes upon the advisability of estab-
lishing the office. The policy of the present administration of the
Department in the matter of new offices has been to deny very few
applications. If the office does not promise to be of much import-
ance, the petition is usually all the evidence required, both as to
the establishment and the appointment of a postmaster. In estab-

(No. 1142.)

Jn al! communications to this.Deoartment oe careful to givethe name of your Office, County, and State. B

OFFICE OF THE FOURTH ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL, c

tsa

wutybn, m <%.. , /$ |

Sir: £

7%e POSTMASTER GENERAL has established a Post Office by the name ~

of t in the County of . 5'

and State of.. , ...and appointed you, POSTMASTER r*

thereof, in which capacity you will be authorized to act, upon complying with ~.

the following requirements : ^L

1st. To execute the inclosed bond, and cause it to be executed by two sufficient sureties, in tbe ~

presence of suitable witnesses; the sufficiency of the sureties to be officially certified by a duly qualified g>

magistrate. **

2d. To take a"nd subscribe the oath or affirmation of office inclosed, before a duly qualified magistrate, -

who will certify the same; also, to appoint an assistant, who must take the usual oath, to be returned with 2

yours to me. ^

3d. To exhibit your bond and qualification, executed and certified as aforesaid, to the Postmaster §

of , and then deposit them in the mail addressed to me. g

A mail key will be sent from the Mail Equipment Division. Blanks will be sent by the Division ~

of Post Office Supplies at Washington City. D. C. ^T

After the receipt, at this Department, of your bond and qualification, duly executed and certified, =*"

and the approval of the same by the Postmaster General, a commission will be sent to you. q.

If you accept Hie appointment, the bond and oath must be executed and returned without delay. If ~

you decline, notice thereoj should be immediately given to this Office. *<

It will be your duty to continue in charge of the office, either personally or by an assistant, until c

you are relieved from it by the consent of the Department, which will be signified by the discontinuance gf

of your office or by the appointment of your successor. cd

-o

Very respectfully, ^

Fourth Assistant Postmaster General 3

[fit X^ N. B.— The quarters expire on the 31st March, 30th June, 30th September, and 31st December AH accounts

^° ■ must be rendered for each quarter within two days after its close. ^j.

Postmasters are not authorized to give credit for postage. Want of funds, therefore, is no excuse for failure of =#

— 2 ^" A Postmaster must not change the name by which his office is designated on the books of the Department with- P

^T out the order of the Postmaster General. . . , ,

w t3T Be careful, in mailing letters and transient newspapers, to postmark each one, in all cases, with the name or

j — : your office and Slate; and, iu all communications to the Department, to embrace in the date the name of your office, county,

^— und State, , ...

tjT in stamping letters, great care should be observed to reader the impression distinct and legible*

INSTRUCTIONS FOB NEW POSTMASTERS AT NEW OFFICES.

280

ESTABLISHING OFFICES; APPOINTMENTS. 281

lishing an office the politics of the person proposed to be appointed is
not commonly inquired into. When the Department is not entirely
satisfied with the petition and the other papers in the case, all such
papers are sent to one of a chosen corps of advisers of the Depart-
ment, called "referees," for his investigation and recommendation.
In Republican districts the members of Congress are the referees; in
Democratic districts, in states where one or both of the senators are
Republican, the cases are referred to them for recommendation.
Where there are neither members nor senators to represent a district,
the Department has referees appointed, — usually men who have
either been members of Congress or candidates for Congress. Some-
times, however, other methods are resorted to to secure advice.

The referee system has been a necessary growth, and it has been
in vogue for many years and through many different administrations.
It is assumed by all parties that changes in office are to be made
when an administration changes. It is impossible, of course, for the
appointing officer to have personal knowledge of the merits of the
various candidates; he must secure advice. The best advice almost
always is that of the local leader. He has his own personal interest
and his own personal success at heart, as well as that of the Depart-
ment and the public service. Hence he may be depended upon
almost always. The process of giving advice in the matter of
appointments is a privilege and not the right of a referee ; for under
the constitution, of course, the appointing power is alone responsible
for the appointments, — except where the confirmation of the Senate
in the case of certain offices is required.

But the custom of having referees has been necessary ; and experi-
enced politicians say that the trouble in making recommendations
for office is not so much in the fact that recommendations have to be
made, but that sufficient courage, promptness and discretion are not
used in recommending. Fights for post offices are allowed to go on
and drag along for months and months when they might be settled
to much better advantage, on the merits of the case, almost offhand.
The most experienced of the senators, men, for instance, like
Senators Sherman, Cullom, Allison, Aldrich and Quay, act, when
they do act, promptly and once for all.

After the case has been examined in the Fourth Assistant's office
and the establishment and appointment decided upon, the proposed

282 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

name of the post office is submitted to the Railway Mail Service for
approval. One clerk in that service has a complete record of all the
offices in operation, so that he is able to judge whether the new
name would in any way conflict with the name of an office already
in existence. It is necessary that new names shall not be like any
others, for confusion in the distribution of mail would surely be
involved. Of course there cannot be two offices in the same state
bearing the same name. It is also objectionable to have offices of
the same name in states where the abbreviations of the names of
states are very much alike. For instance, it is objectionable to have
offices of the same name in the states of Virginia and Pennsylvania,
for the abbreviations " Va." and u Pa." would lead to great confusion.
The policy of the Department is to give short single names to new
offices. Double names are always avoided unless there are local rea-
sons to the contrary. Euphonious names are adopted wherever it is
possible; but that is made impossible sometimes because of the
equally strong desire to follow local usage. The name of a village
or railroad station is always preferable for the name of the post office.
Two years ago the President created the United States Board of
Geographic Names, and since that time a great deal of work has been
done by way of making uniform the names of rivers, bays, islands,
and, in fact, all geographic points ; but the chief good work done
is in the matter of the names of post offices. Soon after the board
referred to was created Postmaster General Wanamaker issued an
order that all branches of his Department should follow the decisions
of the board where it could be done. The result is that the names
of post offices are continually improved; the possessive form is
dropped just as rapidly as possible and is never used in connection
with new offices, double names are changed to single names where it
is practicable, and the hyphen is discarded. This makes Brown-
ville of Brownsville, Jackboro of Jacksboro, etc. The Postmaster
General rules in favor of dropping the final " h " in the termination
" burgh, " of abbreviating " borough " to " boro " ; of spelling the
word " center " as here given ; of the omission, wherever practicable,
of the letters "C. H." after the names of county seats; of the simpli-
fication of names consisting of more than one word by their combina-
tion into one word ; and of dropping the words " city " and " town, "
as parts of names.

ESTABLISHING OFFICES; APPOINTMENTS.

283

The name of a post office in Huntingdon County, Pa., is Aitch.
There were five prosperous farmers in the portion of the county
where the post office now is, and their names were Anderson, Isen-
berg, Taylor, Crum and Henderson. Each of them wished the office
to be named after himself; but they could not come to an agreement,
and finally as a compromise the first letters of each name were put
together. And so originated Aitch.

A petition for a new office in the mountains of Virginia was
received at the Department. It was found that the name submitted

DESKS IN THE APPOINTMENT DIVISION.

was undesirable. The petitioners were so notified and requested to
make a list of names in the order of preference. The new list con-
tained no acceptable name, and the chief of the Appointment Divi-
sion directed one of his clerks to select a name himself. The clerk
walked to the map. He discovered that there was a mountain hardby
named Purgatory. The new office was presented with the name
of Purgatory. When the establishment papers were forwarded to
the petitioners, they were requested to submit a name for postmas-
ter. They returned the name of George Godbe there.

284 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Another petition received from a community further in the South
also failed to submit a proper name for the post office, and when a
request was made for a list of names the petitioners replied that
either Whitfield or Wanamaker would be acceptable ; and as if to
show impatience over the delay at agreeing to a name for the new
office, they added a nota bene, "or Toughtown." The officials of
the Department had been somewhat annoyed to have numbers of
post offices named after them ; and not desiring to encourage that
species of compliment, they selected the name "Toughtown." Dur-
ing the latter part of General Clarkson's tenure of office he found, quite
by accident one day, that there were dozens of post offices named
Clarkson. These petitioners had really wanted to compliment him ;
but he grew weary of it, and fearing lest people would think he had
encouraged this, directed the officials under him not to permit any
post office to be named Clarkson after that.

There are 33 states that have post offices bearing the name of
Washington. Thirty states have post offices named Lincoln; 23
Grant; 21 Blaine; 22 Logan; 24 Sherman; 22 Sheridan; 28 Jack-
son; 17 Hancock; 14 Custer; 25 Cleveland; 6 Hendricks; 7 Tilden;
8 Hayes; 9 Thomas; 6 Dorsey; 13 Chase; 3 Polk; 1 McClel-
lan. Alice is the name of 10 post offices; Alma, 22; Alpha, 18.
There are 22 Arcadias, 26 Ashlands, 20 Avons, 25 Belmonts,
and 26 Berlins. The shortest name in the G-uide is B, in Tip-
pecanoe County, Ind. ; there is one Apple, and Bowl, Brick, Bee
and Box are in the list. In 9 states a post office is named Bliss;
there are Blue Eyes, Blue Jackets and Blue Blankets, Blacks and
Blackbirds. Mary has 1 post office: Lucy, 2; Laura, 2; the Larks
have 4; Kate, 1, and Kathleen, 4; Jump, 2; Jumbo, 7; John, 4, and
John Day, 1 ; James, 6 ; Edith, 8 ; Edna, 4 ; Cora, 11 ; Francis, 9 ;
Frank, 7 ; Grace, 7 ; Emma, 9 ; Fannie, 2 ; Flat, 1. There are 2 High,
3 Sugar, 3 Coffee, and 1 Cream, with 2 Creameries; 1 Wig; 2 Wing;
1 Worry; 1 Pay-up; 4 Cash; 3 Cave; 3 Confidence, 1 Confusion
and 1 Confederate, and 1 Cool- Well. It has been pointed out that
the religious enthusiast may select from any of the following : Eden,
Paradise, Baptistown, Brick-Church, Canaan, Genesis, Jerusalem,
Land of Promise, New Hope, Old Hundred, Pray, Promised Land,
Old Church, Sabbath Rest, Zion, Bible Grove, Churches (three),
Stone Church, and Saints Rest. The military genius could be suited at

ESTABLISHING OFFICES; APPOINTMENTS. 285

Battle Ground, Broken Sword, Cavalry, Camp Ground, Canon Store.
Encampment, Little Warrior, Headquarters, Warrior's Mark, Seven
Guns, Stewart's Draft, Tenth Legion, Union Camp, or Warrior's
Stand. The baseball maniac would be interested in Ball Play, Ball
Ton, Catchall, Two Runs, Umpire, Best Pitch, Six Puns, or Ball
Ground, and the medical profession is recalled when these towns
are named: Colon, Doctor Town, All Healing, Cureall, Healing
Spring, Medicine Lodge, Mount Healthy and Water Cure. It
has been pointed out by another that there are at least two offices in
the United States where the above Mosaics should be noted with
especial interest. They are Rat, Alabama, and Chestnut Hill, Mass.

After the name has been approved of, the case goes to the Contract
Division in the office of the Second Assistant Postmaster General for
report upon the nature of the service. Here is obtained information
whether the new office will be upon a route or whether it shall be
established as "special." If upon a route, the number of it is given.
The case is then returned to the appointment office ; all the data are
placed upon the face of the jacket, which in the case of establish-
ment is always yellow in color, — and if everything is found to be
in proper form, the jacket is " initialed " by the chief of the division,
and from him it goes to the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General.
He signs the order of establishment. Then the case is returned to
the division, where a complete record is made of it; and it is then
taken to a clerk in charge of the Postmaster General's records and
is again entered there. When the Postmaster General signs this
record the order of establishment is complete. The case then goes
to the Bond Division, from which the blank bond and other blanks
are furnished to the newly appointed postmaster. Upon the return
of the bond properly executed a commission is issued. The Bond
Division notifies all the other bureaus in the Department that a new
office has been created and all necessary blanks are at once furnished
the new postmaster, — who has been appointed in the order establish-
ing the office. With his commission as his authority and with the
supplies furnished to him the new postmaster begins operations.

The establishment of post offices in Oklahoma and in other regions
recently opened has often been in advance of the actual settlement.
Before the Oklahoma counties were named they were called by
the Department, A, B, C, D, E, etc. Postmasters were appointed

286

THE STORY OF OUR, POST OFFICE.

upon recommendations of the delegate from Oklahoma and of Sena-
tors Plumb, Paddock and Manderson. The theory of the Depart-
ment is that the establishment of an office in a new locality is often
the means of educating the people who become its patrons. Having
a post office, they are more inclined to correspond with friends and
far more liable to take newspapers. A number of western offices
have been established in the last two or three years which have
become presidential within a year from the date of establishment.
These are not necessarily "boom" towns. They rather show the
rapid, steady growth of the country.

The discontinuance of a post office is resorted to where the office
is run down so that the receipts are not enough to warrant any one
in continuing to serve as post-
master. In that event a case is
made up ordering a discontinu-
ance, giving the reasons for it,
and the date upon which the ordef
is to take effect. With the ex-
ception of going to the Railway
Mail Service, this case goes
through the same routine as cases
of establishment. An office is
rarely discontinued if it is possi-
ble to secure the services of any
one for postmaster. The post-
master at the office discontinued
is instructed, on the date of dis-
continuance, to take all his sup-
plies to the nearest office, which
has been previously notified of the
discontinuance and instructed to
receive the supplies. A few in-
stances have occurred where post offices were discontinued because
the patrons refused either to patronize the office or to allow the
postmaster appointed by the Department to serve. These cases
were in the South ; and in each the result was the reestablishment
of the office upon the assurance that the postmaster would not be
disturbed nor the office boycotted.

ME. PIEESON H. BRISTOW,
Chief Clerk, Fourth Assistant's Office.

ESTABLISHING OFFICES: APPOINTMENTS.

287

Changes of postmasters at post offices already in operation are
largely made upon the resignations or deaths of the postmasters.
A resignation is often followed by a great many letters and petitions
urging the appointment of different candidates. These papers all
go to the referee of the Department, and while his recommendation
is not always followed, it has very much influence. Thousands of
post offices in the United States yield but little or nothing to the
postmasters, but they are continued for the benefit of the community,
the postmaster being willing to perform the work for the benefit of
his neighbors. A great many removals were made at the beginning
of this administration. When General Clarkson was criticised for
appointing so many Republicans, he did not go into labored explana-
tions; his answer was that it
would be impossible to remove
Democrats, if Democrats had not
previously been appointed under
a former administration.

Mr. George G. Fenton, Chief
of the Appointment Division,
was born at Moravia, New York,
in August, 1843. Three years
after the family moved to Louis-
ville, Ky., and ten years later
found a home in Madison, Ind.,
where young Fenton received
most of his schooling. When
the war broke out he enlisted,
though only eighteen, in the
39th Indiana regiment, and served
over three years. After the war
he engaged in business, and was
deputy treasurer of Jefferson
County two years, and sheriff for two terms. In 1882 he was
appointed to a twelve hundred dollar clerkship in the Appoint-
ment Division, was promoted by Judge Gresham to $1,600, and
remained in charge of the Ohio and Indiana desks up to the time of
his latest promotion in October, 1892.

Mr. P. H. Bristow of Iowa is Chief Clerk in the office of the

MR. GEORGE G. FENTON,
Chief, Appointment Division.

288

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

....■•"'"■'""'■'^"■■..^

Fourth Assistant Postmaster General. For a long time tie was
city editor of the Iowa State Register, the leading Republican
paper of Iowa, formerly edited by General Clarkson. He has been
active in politics for twenty years. Mr. Clarkson and he served
several years together on the Des Moines school board. Mr. Bristow
was at one time auditor of the county in which Des Moines is
located; later he was deputy auditor of the state, and for several

years he was chief clerk in the
office of Governor Larrabee. He
was three years secretary of the
Republican State Central Com-
i mittee of Iowa and was called
to Washington by General -Clark-
son, though he was not a candi-
date for any position. Mr. Bris-
tow is the Post Office Department
member of the United States
Board of Geographic Names.

The clerk in charge of presi-
dential cases is Mr. Nathan A.
C. Smith, a Vermonter, who en-
tered the army from Wisconsin
and saw service in Missouri,
Kansas, Kentucky and Tennes-
see. He was elected a captain
in the Thirty-Second Wisconsin
Infantry, but did not return to the service on account of disability.
He was first appointed a clerk by Postmaster General Randall, and
almost always since that time he has had clerical supervision of the
cases for the appointment of presidential postmasters. This work
has not only familiarized him with local political affairs all over the
country, but it has brought him into close personal relations with
all the successive postmasters general. He takes great interest, in
addition, in the general progress of the Department.

It has been required for the last few months to establish post
offices at the rate of nearly one hundred a week. In but little over
a month recently the increase of 395 offices (in 42 states and terri-
tories) was chiefly as follows: Georgia, 28; North Carolina, 19;

MB. NATHAN A. C. SMITH.

ESTABLISHING OFFICES; APPOINTMENTS.

289

Kentucky, 18; Pennsylvania, 15; New York, 14; California, 11;
Indiana, 12; Alabama, 20; Mississippi, 18; South Carolina, 17;
Tennessee, 15; Ohio, 13; Illinois, 12; Maryland, 12. In the terri-
tories the largest increase was in Oklahoma, where it was 21. In
the Indian Territory the number was 12. In the other states and
territories the increase in each was from one to nine.

The following table shows some interesting operations of the
Appointment Division:

States and Territories.

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona ,

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

District of Columbia.

Florida

Georgia

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Indian Territory

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan .».

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada ...

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota Est

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsyl vania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota Est

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont . .

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin..

Wyoming

Totals.

Number of

offices,

June 30, 1889

1,718

160

1,393

1,283

609

484

149

781

1,745

227

2,3 2

1,993

245

1,736

1,815

2,041

788

1,066

1,011

839

1,799

1,220

1,184

2,255

303

1,070

138

526

807

228

3,317

2,352

472

2,956

593
4,340

129
1,037

608
2,118
2,106

244

523
2,543

476
1,450
1,557

185

58,999

Number on
Mar. 5, 1892.

2,054
19

175
1,539
1,416

689

500

161
11

911
2,014

284
2,471
2,100

288
1,801
1,805
2,404

910
1,129
1,101

865
1,929
1,320
1,370
2,499

399
1,127

158

538

862

259
3,517
2,656

518
3,188

137

724
4,753

143
1,199

674
2,413
2,373

263

548
2,828

716
1,682
1,716

245

65,402

Inc. or Dec.

336
4

15
146
133

12
2*

30
269

57
119
107

10*
363
122

26
130
100
186
244

31
200
304

46
232

131

413

162

295

267

285

240

232

159

Per cent. gain.

Population
1890.

.20

.25

.10

.13

.03^

.08

.04
.15
.25
.05
.05
.18
.04

.18
.16
.06
.09
.03
.18
.08
.16
.11
.32
.05
.15

.07
.14
.06
.13
.10
.08

.21

.09^

.11

.15

.11

.14

.13

.08

.05

.11

.50

.16

.10

.32

Indians

1,513,017

31,795

59,620

1,128,179

1,208,130

412,198

746,258

168,493

230,392

391,422

1,837,353

84,385

3,826,351

2,192,404

1,911,896
1,427,096
1,858,635
1,118,587

661,086
1,042,390
2,238,943
2,093,889
1,301,826
1,289,600
2,679,184

132,159

1,058,910

45,761

376,530
1,444,933

153,593
5,997,853
1,617,947

182,719

3,672,316

61,834

313,767
5,258,014

345,506
1,151,149

328,808
1,767,518
2,235,523

207,905

332,422
1,655,980

349,390

762,794

1,686,880

60,705

62,654,045
249,273

62,903,318

One P. O. for each

800 Inhabitants
1,600

330

750

800

600
1,500
1,000

450

900

300

1,500

1,000

1,100
800
750

1,200
600
950

2,600

1,100

1,000
900

1,100
350
950
300
700

1,700
600

1,700
600
350

1,150
450
450

1,100

2,750
950
500
750
950
800
600
600
580
4
980
250

960

General
Average.

* Decrease.

290 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Three years ago it was recorded that the greatest increase in the
number of post offices in any of the states for the year was 215 in
Pennsylvania. In Alabama the increase in number was 175; in
Kentucky, 173; in Virginia, 163; in North Carolina, 159; in Ten-
nessee, 155; and in Texas, 142. The largest increase for the pre-
vious year was 121 in Pennsylvania. Two years ago the greatest
increase in the number of post offices in any of the states for the
year was 130 in Kentucky. In Pennsylvania the number was 114 ;
in North Carolina, 103; and in Texas, 101.

In each of 11 states there were upwards of 2,000 offices in opera-
tion on June 30, as follows: Pennsylvania, 4,684; New York,
3,476; Ohio, 3,156; Virginia, 2,777; North Carolina, 2,614;
Missouri, 2,475; Illinois, 2,449; Tennessee, 2,370; Texas, 2,349;
Kentucky, 2,344; Indiana, 2,090. In ten of the states there are
100 or more presidential offices as follows : New York, 256 ; Penn-
sylvania, 216; Illinois, 209; Ohio, 167; Massachusetts, 147;
Iowa, 147; Michigan, 147; Kansas, 120; Indiana, 102 and Mis-
souri, 102.

The present position of the Department with regard to the removal
of postmasters is perhaps best stated in the Postmaster General's
report of last year. He said :

" But the people generally expect, though they take no personal interest in the
matter, that the postmaster will be changed •with the change of administration.
Hence, the anticipated changes, though insignificant enough, are also numerous
enough. Thousands of fourth class offices do not earn fifty dollars a year
apiece. In thousands of cases present incumbents are eager to be relieved of
their offices, and it is only with the greatest difficulty that new candidates can be
found to take them. In hundreds of cases persons of the opposite party are
appointed or reappointed by all administrations. In hundreds of cases changes
are made simply to secure more convenient locations for post offices. In hun-
dreds of cases again, it is considered politics by the members of the party which
has lately been defeated, to discourage resignations until removals are made, so
that the total of removals may appear in partisan journals as excessive.

"The Department neither asks for resignations nor authorizes any person or
persons to ask for them ; for when it is clear that a change ought to be made, the
President or the Postmaster General has the power to make the required removal
without indirection. I am able to recall perhaps ten cases, however, in the six-
teen months of my incumbency, where postmasters whose habits have become
such as to disgrace the service and whose friends interfered to prevent removals,
have been notified in order that the publication of these disagi-eeable facts might
be avoided, that they might resign if they preferred to do so.

" It has been difficult in many cases where removals have been demanded to

ESTABLISHING OFFICES; APPOINTMENTS. 291

secure for the accused postmaster the treatment which should seem entirely fair
to him. It is true that your instructions issued to this Department in March,
1889, that no postmaster should be reported upon by an inspector who did not
also have the chance to be heard in his own defence, were never, to my knowl-
edge, disobeyed, and it is true that my additional precaution, expressed in a
letter of explicit instructions, issued in January, 1890, by the Chief Post Office
Inspector to his various inspectors in charge, was never to my knowledge dis-
obeyed, for I would not hesitate for a moment to remove an inspector, any more
than I would any other postal official or employee over whom I have jurisdiction,
who disregards your instructions or mine, especially if, as might be the fact in
this instance, he were to assume any attitude that might suggest the star
chamber. It is hard to realize, however, how difficult it is even for the experi-
enced inspector to resist the temptation to find in the insulting disloyalty
of ill-natured partisans sufficient cause for removal. I have myself been much
criticised by fair-minded persons because removals for these offences against
decency have not been made, and I realize how hard it is for an inspector not to
make mistakes. But it is a proud thing for the inspector force that in nearly
every instance where the accuracy of the inspector's report has been called in
question, this sworn official of the Government has been vindicated by the subse-
quent investigation.

" The confidential reasons which compel the Department to act must not be
disclosed; first, because communities might in some instances be involved in
strife and bitterness, and families might be subjected to disgrace and ruin. The
removed person, either unaware of the full extent of the known information
about himself, or else fully aware that no public use could in decency be made of
it, often does not hesitate to talk or write about his so-called wrongs. If the
truth were known he would be the one most to suffer; and yet, no matter how
one sided or bitter his attacks may be, the Department can do nothing except wait
for fair public scrutiny and hope for honest public treatment.

" The postmaster in a small town is a candidate for reappointment. The com-
munity in which he lives believes in civil service reform without quite knowing
all that the words mean. Good citizens demand that the public service shall not
be outraged by the appointment of any mere self-seeker or political ' striker.'
The Department knows that the candidate for reappointment has not accounted
promptly, possibly without fraudulent intent, for public money, or is a victim of
the opium habit; it will not reappoint him. A cry is raised that the public ser-
vice is prostituted to partisan ends. There are similar cases in large post offices,
in which the postmaster similarly does his duty without fear. A letter carrier in
uniform goes into a brothel, becomes intoxicated, and disgraces his wife and
daughters. He is removed. The same cry is raised that every right of citizen-
ship is outraged."

In all times and nnder all administrations there are humorous
things, and there are sad and terrible things, about the hunger and
the thirst for office. The mania is general in all parts of the country,
but in New England, perhaps, or at least in Massachusetts, it has
been noticed that the number of candidates for a given small post
office is small, and there are no particular candidates in many cases.

292 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

In that locality it has seemed sometimes as if it were a sign of
unthrift to want an office, and consequently the office has not been
wanted ; and in New England, also, and especially in Massachusetts,
has the custom grown among the referees of encouraging the natural
bent of the people of their party, in a town where a change is to be
made, to hold caucuses ; and the person receiving the highest poll is
recommended to the appointing officer.

There is no way of stopping the craze for office, for the simple
reason that every free American citizen has a perfect right to be a
fool if he chooses. It is not a surprising thing that in ninety-nine
cases out of a hundred the best man is selected. In many
cases it is a wholesome thing, this canvass, for the inevitable result
must be that the fittest only survive. Many of the most successful
postmasters, appointed under the present administration at least,
have been those who have won their places after a fight; for not
only have they had the success and pride of the Department at heart,
but they have felt the more their obligation to suit the pride of all
their patrons.

It is a sad and a terrible thing when misrepresentation and malice
come in, as they sometimes do. Some time ago there came from
a western city to Washington a formidable petition against the
appointment of a certain candidate for postmaster. It was signed
with a long list of names alleged to be those of prominent citizens.
All the names were found. to be fictitious. This is a sparkling
fancy, though, compared with some of the contentions.

In a good-sized city on the Pacific Coast a very smooth and sancti-
monious pretender wanted the post office. He could not wait; so
he conspired to bring about the incumbent's removal. To his aid
he called a painted woman and a couple of young men who wanted
positions in the office. The woman's services were bought with
money. It was her part of the conspiracy to inveigle the postmaster
into some questionable situation. There was to be a public scandal
and the postmaster's resignation or removal from office would follow
as a matter of course. There were divers meetings of the four con-
spirators ; but the postmaster was an officer of character and refused
to fall into the pit.

A woman of respectable standing was then called into requisition.
She conceived the idea of charging the postmaster with collecting

ESTABLISHING OFFICES; APPOINTMENTS. 293

all the letters received for women of questionable reputation and
making personal deliveries for his wicked purposes. Then the can-
didate put into circulation certain reports intended to frighten the
postmaster into resigning. When there came the prospect of a
vacancy, another citizen entered the field for appointment. Old
time popularity soon gave him first place in public opinion. It now
became necessary to wreck this man's reputation, and a second con-
spiracy was formed. Immoral character was alleged. More painted
women were added to the list of conspirators. Reports were circu-
lated that the Postmaster General was about to remove the post-
master. A petition was circulated among the best citizens for the
appointment of the conspirator, and especial effort was made to
secure the signatures of all the clergymen of the city. As he had
denounced the postmaster and the leading applicant on account of
the reports in circulation affecting their moral characters, the minis-
ters attached their names to the petition. Meanwhile he met his
men and women conspirators nightly.

It took but a short time now for the case to go to the hands of the
local Congressman, who would be asked by the Postmaster General
for his advice, as the incumbent's term was out. The endorsement
of the Congressman was refused to all aspirants. But the con-
spirator conceived the notion that he would enlist the sympathies of
the Postmaster General, and he presented his recommendations.
The Postmaster General notified the Congressman, who at once said
he would visit the city in question. To keep the Congressman
away from the city where the post office excitement was running
high became absolutely necessary, ,so the conspirator hired a
"friend" of the Congressman to go to the latter's home and keep
him "in tow." Weeks passed and no word from the Congressman.
Finally inspectors of the Department were sent to the scene of
action. They unearthed the plot. The leading candidate, a good
man, was at once appointed.

The Department has these machinations to contend with under
any administration. All parties assume that changes in the post
offices will be made ; they are in harmony as to the necessity of mak-
ing changes. And other sneaks and cowards are the persons removed
for cause. They make all sorts of accusations to the Department
(no matter under what administration), and the Department can

294 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

make no reply. It would take too many clerks in the first place ;
and in the second, the reputations of these sneaks and cowards
would be made as black as their characters, and the happiness
of their families would be turned into misery. And certain
reformers have come to pick up the complaints of these wretched
persons as proof (curious proof ! ) of the vicious nature of the
spoils system. The spoils system is vicious enough, but it is not
so because rascals are turned out of office or are prevented from
getting office.

Sometimes when people are dissatisfied with appointments (and
they are usually dissatisfied for insufficient reasons), they boycott
post offices. They mail their letters on the postal cars; they
refuse to buy stamps at the offices; and once, not long ago, at
a small Missouri town, the postmaster had a number of his enemies
arrested for conspiracy, — a foolish thing, because no case could
be made out against them in that community. The only remedy
for the Department, as has been said, is to discontinue the offend-
ing office.

Other things sometimes make the life of the fourth-class postmas-
ter a burden. Recently in a Southern town — call it Santa Cruz, —
the editor of the local paper described in tearful terms the killing of
the postmaster's dog by a railroad train, and he criticised the tender-
ness of the postmaster for burying the dog in his own lot in the local
cemetery. This action, according to the editor's report, in "bury-
ing a dog in ground set apart and hallowed for the last resting place
of Christian people caused great disgust and indignation among the
residents in our beautiful suburb, which culminated last night, when
some unknown parties went to the cemetery and disinterred the
carcass and carried it with the carefully prepared box which con-
tained it, and placed it upon the porch in front of the postmaster's
store, where it was found by him in the morning."

The postmaster had himself done newspaper work and he wrote a
reply. He was surprised that the editor should write himself a
mendacious and unprincipled scribbler, and he added :

" No one but a low brute could gloat over the physical suffering of either man or
beast, or attempt to cast ridicule on the mental distress of a fellow-being. So, with
unspeakable loathing, I relegate the writer of those very ' funny ' paragraphs in re-
gard to the tragical death of my little household pet to the shades of obscurity.'*

ESTABLISHING OFFICES ; APPOINTMENTS. 295

And the postmaster meant fight, for he concluded :

"Like other criminals and law breakers, those 'curs of low degree' have not
had sense enough to cover up their foul tracks; and they are not (as the prime
mover and head devil of the gang fondly supposes) 'unknown.' There are
traitors always in such disreputable and rascally camps; there is really no honor
among thieves, and as soon as I can secure sufficient proof, I will see that full jus-
tice shall be meted out to those delicate and refined guardians of the reputation
of Santa Cruz."

The editor now appealed to the Department. He complained
that the postmaster had come up to him in his very sanctum. He
added :

" Without the slightest provocation he has come up and called me the vilest of
liars, a white-livered scoundrel, etc., and that he was not through with me yet,
and much more of the same sort, including a threat to ' shoot me,' accompanied
with the most insulting language. He has repeatedly refused to sell me stamps,
in the quantity for which I asked and for which I tendered pay, alleging as his
reason that ' someone else might want some, and he would not have them,' and
on different occasions he has admitted that he had one or two dollars' worth, but
would only let me have fifty or seventy-five cents' worth of them. I have on
many occasions during the last year urged him to procure a sufficient quantity of
stamps, which he has persistently neglected to do, saying that he ' could not get
on a great quantity of stamps just to accommodate one man.' I think much of
the postmaster's late conduct towards me is due to the fact that he holds me
responsible for two newspaper articles ; for he has publicly accused me of the
whole matter, the digging up of a dog and all. Of course I am innocent of the
' grave desecration ' in question, but I did write the second article referring to
the digging up of the dog as a matter of news which legitimately belonged to the
public."

• There is a postscript, however, in which the editor says :

" I went into the postmaster's office this afternoon, and he said to me that if I
went in there again he would kick me out."

In every Congress, in every session, almost, are introduced bills
to raise the pay of the fourth class postmaster, to relieve him of his
troubles, and to make his appointment, if he must be appointed,
which it is sometimes hoped not, a patriotic thing. Each is a
panacea. A bill was introduced in the last Congress which provided
that the country should be divided into postal districts, in each of
which the Postmaster General should appoint a post office inspector
to act as an examiner; that when a n r )urth-class postmaster is to be
appointed, this examiner shall post notices saying where the post
office is, what compensation the postmaster receives, what bond is
required, where application papers may be had, when papers must

296 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

be returned, and giving such other information as seems proper;
that the examiner shall furnish the blank applications, etc., which
shall be filled out by the applicant himself, giving his name and
residence, when and where naturalized, if naturalized, time and
place of birth, education, physical capacity, whether employed in
the military, naval or civil service, his employment and residence
for a period of five years, whether indicted at any time, and where
the applicant would establish the post office, and whether in connec-
tion with any other business ; that each candidate shall also furnish
a certificate under oath, signed by three reputable citizens of the
state or territory in which the applicant has actually resided within
one year, that the applicant is suitable for the office ; that the post
office inspector shall post a list of applicants in the given locality,
and shall then find intelligent judgment as to the qualifications of
the applicant; that a graded list of applicants shall be sent to the
Postmaster General ; that the Postmaster General shall then appoint
to the post office one of the candidates reported upon, assigning
reasons acceptable to the public why the candidate graded highest
does not happen to be appointed, if he does not happen to be ; that
no appointment shall be absolute until a year thereafter; that the
Postmaster General shall not appoint, nor the inspector recommend
any candidate for political reason, that they shall prevent as far as
possible the presentation of any political information touching the
applicants, and finally that any fraud knowingly perpetrated shall
exclude a candidate from the eligible list and be sufficient for his
removal during the probationary period.

Evidently legislation of this sort would require great numbers of
additional inspectors, and they cannot be employed until the money
is appropriated for the purpose. As one very practical postmaster
has written :

If a practicable method of relieving Congressmen from the responsibility of
recommending the postmasters in their various districts were devised, it is
probable that it would be generally favored by them, as many leading represen-
tatives have expressed themselves as opposed to doing a work which involves
them in much controversy and announce at home. But, as a citizen, I do not
see how the proposed method coul< be satisfactory either to the patrons of the
office or to the post office department. I am told about 400 fourth class post-
masters are necessarily appointed weekly to keep up with the large number of
vacancies occurring from death, resignations and opening of new offices. These
vacancies being scattered throughout the United States, it would not be possible

ESTABLISHING OFFICES ; APPOINTMENTS. 297

for 20 inspectors, nor for 100 inspectors (which exceeds, I think, the total number of
the force at present employed) to visit 400 different places weekly, and get sufficient
information to make an intelligent recommendation as to who should be ap-
pointed postmaster. Even if enough inspectors could be provided, the principle
of allowing a stranger, on a brief visit to the place, and having no common inter-
est at stake, to decide who should be its postmaster, would be very unacceptable
to the people, and even if it were agreeable to them, the scant and imperfect
knowledge which a stranger would be very apt to get would commit the Depart-
ment to appointments which would have to be revoked and corrected upon the
representations of the people through their Congressman, bringing it back in all
contested cases to the recent system. The only cases that would not be so
brought to the attention of the Congressman would be the little offices where
there is but one applicant, so that the functions of these inspectors would be mis-
placed in many cases and unsatisfactory in many others.

" Under the present method of Congressional recommendations the Department
has about 500 responsible counsellors, without expense, scattered throughout the
country, who, if they do not know the applicants for office in their districts
personally, yet know the very best sources for information as to them, their char-
acter and their efficiency. These representatives have an interest in the recom-
mendations they make, which cannot be felt by any inspectors, and instead of
this system foisting upon the department inefficient partisans of the Congressman,
it naturally results in the selection of men who reflect credit upon their endorsers
and in making the members popular in their districts, i. e., good, honest, accept-
able men.

"It seems to me, therefore, that, while many Congressmen would like to be
free from this responsibility, the Department could by no other means secure
reliable information about candidates for office, without incurring an expense
disproportionate to the end desired, or without resorting to methods which would
be very distasteful themselves."

Another favorite cure-all is the proposition that postmasters shall
be elected by the people. Congressman Grout of Vermont has
favored this method. Mr. Sherman Hoar of Massachusetts intro-
duced a bill in the Fifty-Second Congress to effect the same purpose.
Governor Flower of New York has long been a distinguished advocate
of this policy, and General Clarkson believes in it. He said recently
in a public speech:

"I would take the post office out of national politics, and put it in neighborhood
politics. I cannot share in the opinion of the Republican and Democratic
reformers who would select at Washington by some device of a commission
nearly all the postmasters for the 70,000 postal communities of this nation, for I
would not take away, and in my judgment the American people will never allow
to be taken away from each community the right to a voice in the election of its
own postmaster. There is no reason why every postmaster should not be elected
by the people whom he is to serve. The post offices have been largely the ele-
ment of discord in national politics. They lead very often to party divisions and
party weakness. They have killed off more good Congressmen and more good

298

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

senators than all other causes combined. There are no ills in this Government
which cannot be cured by carrying them directly to the decision and the wisdom
of the plain people."

Of course an amendment to the Constitution would be involved,
and these come hard ; and while the argument would be used that
this glorious country is different from the glorious country of Wash-
ington and Jefferson because it is a hundred times as big, still a
change which would take the officers of the executive branch away
from the responsibility of the appointing power, is likely to come
but slowly.

\>fo

MAKING BONDS OF $80,000,000.

^ HE first appearance of work for the Bond Divis-
ion is when the cases come in from the Division
of Appointments. Clerks prepare a circular
letter notifying the postmaster of his appoint-
ment; and they also prepare a blank bond for
him. These are transmitted to the new post-
master. Then a record of them is made in
one of the county books, as they are called,
and a record is also made of the bond in the

bond book, as it is called. The postmaster's name, the office,

county and state, and the amount of the penalty of the bond are

all recorded. When the bond is

returned in the proper form the ^

commission of the new postmaster

is ready for the signature of the

Postmaster General. The work

of the Bond Division has stead-
ily increased, of course, with the

growth of the service, and now

the clerks sometimes approve as

many as one hundred and fifty

bonds a day. Especially has the

work been heavy for the last

few months, because of the Post-
master General's order making

money order offices of all those

where the postmaster's salary is

$200 or more. As early as three

months ago the Bond Division

had completed as many as six

299

COL. LUTHER CALDWELL,
Chief, Bond Division.

300 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

thousand of these new bonds, and the work was performed so
expeditiously (and that without any extra detail of clerks), that
scarcely a third of the work was behind-hand.

When the salary of the postmaster is from $1 to $175, the penalty
of the bond is made $500 ; when the salary is from $175 to $300, the
penalty is made $1,000; when the salary is from $300 to $450 the
penalty is fixed at $1,500; when the salary is from $450 to $800,
the penalty is $3,000; and from $800 to $1,000 the penalty is
$4,000. The money order portion of the penalty of a postmaster's
official bond is determined in every instance by the Superintendent
of the Money Order System. In the case of small money order
offices it is usually placed at a sum sufficient to cover the gross
receipts of money order funds for four weeks.

The clerks in the Bond Division are very quick and sharp to
know by the very looks of a filled-out bond whether the form is
proper and the sureties good. Now and then the services of an
inspector of the Department are required to find out the exact stand-
ing of the new postmaster's bondsmen; and in all cases where the
bond amounts to $2,000 or more the inspector is called in. That
means another circular made out, in which appear the name of the
postmaster, the office, county, and state, the date of the bond, the
names of the sureties and the amounts in which they justify, and
the name of the officer before whom they justified. When the
inspector's report comes in that has to be carefully examined. If
the report is satisfactory, the bond is at once taken from the stack of
doubtful ones, and a memorandum is filed away with it to the effect
that the bond is good. If the report has not been satisfactory, a new
bond is of course required of the postmaster.

The Division of Bonds consists of fifteen clerks, a messenger and
the chief of the division. The chief is Col. Luther Caldwell of
Elmira, New York, an Ipswich, Mass., boy, of one of the oldest
families of the Bay State. He had been an editor and proprietor of
the Elmira Daily Advertiser and mayor of Elmira. He is a veteran
politician, was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in
Chicago in 1860, was a delegate to the convention which nominated
General Grant in 1868 and secretary of it, and he called the roll of
states upon the nomination of Grant and still has the roll call. He has
been secretary of the New York State Republican Committee, clerk

MAKING IJONDri OF !p8J,OJO,OJ0.

301

of the New York Assembly, and secretary of the New York Consti-
tutional Convention of 1867 — 8. He was for years a confidential
friend of Thurlow Weed and Horace Greeley. Colonel Caldwell
visited Washington in 1841 and saw slaves whipped and sold on
the Government block at the old slave mart on the south side of B
and Seventh Streets. He was present at the inauguration of Lincoln
and his regiment was the first to march through Baltimore after the

THE CHIEF ROOM OF THE BOND DIVISION.

attack on the Massachusetts Sixth. In spite of his seventy years of
useful activity Colonel Caldwell is as hale and jovial as a college
junior.

The chief has supervision of all the work of the Bond Division,
makes a daily report of the time of all clerks, and examines the
names of all newly appointed postmasters, to see that they correspond
with the names affixed to the bonds and oaths. The present chief
has changed the printed forms of bonds, ordered new money order
books for that section, and re-arranged the office so that the county
books, which are in constant use, can be more easily and readily

(No. mi. — Bond Division.)

To be Observed in Executing the Inclosed Bond and Oath.

loitl mm Mmwlmw$ r

a Office of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General, I

f BOND DIVISION §

I K

!i &

g § 1st. — The bond must be signed in INK by the postmaster, and at least two sureties, each writing his OWN >-]

3 £ NAME IN FULL, and affixing his seal in the presence of a witness. Writing with pencil not accepted.

|1 JS

•o S 2d.— The witness must sign his name in the proper space on the left. No person can be a witness who cannot ^

■ § write his name. 2

■g M 3d, — The NAME and post-office address of each surety must be inserted in the proper space in the body of

£ % the bond. r<

a « 4th. — The certificate at the bottom of the bond, and the jurat to the oath, may be signed by a Mayor, Judge £J

| | Notary Public, Justice of the Peace, or by any officer, civil or military, holding a commission under the United States, >-i

2 © who must add his official title. If signed by a Notary, a County Judge, a Probate Judge, or a Mayor, he must affix {ij

o) -a his official seal, or produce a certificate from the County Clerk accompanied by the seal of the court ^

1 §

"§ a 5th. — The DATE must be inserted in the proper space in the body of the bond, as well as in the certificate of the 2

•0 © magistrate and the jurat to the oath (/>

g £ Hi

D ® 6th. — A woman will l>e accepted as surety, provided the magistrate certifies that she is unmarried, and that she rp

5 § possesses property in her own right sufficient in value to cover double the amount of the penalty. Married women. X

o cannot be accepted as sureties 2

<B U
C .

■g § 7th. — Neither the certifying officer nor a person signing as witness can become a surety. ^J

g <j> 8th. — Firms and corporations are not accepted as sureties. fr|

a 3 »-*

•£" 10th. — Before executing the bond and oath, read carefully the marginal notes printed thereon. 2

o >> •*"

o a 11th. — Postmasters at Presidential and Money-Order Offices should also observe the marginal instructions on fc*

s "° the second page of the bond M

& C/J

£ 12th. — The word " postmaster " should never be erased from the bond and the word " postmistress " substituted _h

Oca therefor Z

13th. — Make no writing on the outside of the bond.

14th. — In returning the bond to the Department, let it be folded the same as when received by you. F 1

16th.— Bonds with altered figures or written with pencil are not accepted.

I^16th.— BEFORE RETURNING THE BOND AND OATH TO THE DEPARTMENT, COMPARE THEM
CAREFULLY WITH THESE INSTRUCTIONS AND WITH THE MARGINAL NOTES, IN ORDER TO DETECT
AND CORRECT ANY ERROR THAT MAY HAVE BEEN MADE IN THE EXECUTION THEREOF

A COMMISSION WILL NOT BE ISSUED UNTIL THE BOND AND OATH HAVE BEEN PROPERLY
EXECUTED

C^/?^^4^7^

Jraurth Assl P M. General

I T T T y T I fl U J In all yonr correspondence with the Department be weful to write plainly the name of y one
HI I L n I I U rl ! OFFICE, COUNTY, and STATE.

A FAC SIMILE OF RULES FOR EXECUTING BONDS.

302

MAKING BONDS OF $80,000,000. 303

consulted. The Bond Division uses some seventy different kinds
of blanks. It had its present number of clerks fifteen years ago.
At that time there were 40,000 post offices; now there are almost
70,000. Repeated efforts have been made to increase the force of
clerks in the bond division ; but they have always failed.

All bonds must have two or more sureties. It is not unusual for
a bondsman to sign for $100,000, and one postmaster has a bondsman
who signs for $2,000,000. Yet another signs for $3,000,000. The
surety has to swear that he is worth the amount signed for, over and
above all debts and liabilities existing against him. The names of
all bondsmen are kept secret, except from members of Congress, offi-
cials of the Department, and the other sureties on the bond. They
are kept from the general public because many business men, in fact
almost all business men, buy on credit somewhat, and it might
affect their financial rating to their disadvantage if it were known
that they took risks of this kind ; and this fact is illustrated in the
experience of the Department, as well as in all business experience,
by the fact that the Bond Division is frequently requested not to
divulge the names of bondsmen.

The postmaster is bonded for four years, and the bond is good for
that period, unless, of course, one or more of the sureties die, move
away, or withdraw. When anything of this sort happens, it is the
duty of the postmaster to report the fact to the Bond Division. A
new bond is at once furnished. The reason is evident enough why
if a surety dies a new bond should be required. A former Postmas-
ter General insisted that, if a bondsman moved away from a state
where a post office was, the postmaster must make a new bond; but
any citizen of the United States is eligible as bondsman if he can
qualify as to amount of property. A surety may demand a release
from a bond, if he thinks his fellow-bondsmen or any one of them
is insolvent, or for any reason satisfactory to him. The postmaster
may call for a new bond himself. Every surety is responsible for
the whole bond. Frequently men will sign for $5,000, each one
stipulating that he will pay a proportionate part; but they are all
liable for the whole amount, just the same, as the text of the bond
reads "jointly and severally."

Few cases occur in which a newly appointed postmaster finds it
difficult to secure bondsmen. In most of the cases which do occur,

(No. 1109.— Series of July, 1883.)

Id all communications to this Department be careful to give the name of your Office, County, and State,
FORM OP OATH

FOR ASSISTANT POSTMASTERS,
Prescribed by the Acts of Conoress Approved March 5, 1874, and May 13, 1884.

I, - , being employed as Assistant Postmaster

in the post office at „ , in the

S5 County of. , , and State of

m _ • c

gj do solemnly swear ( ) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United >

2j States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; 2

H %

o that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion ; and that I will g

H H

t£ well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God. >

£ w

GO ^

E I do further solemnly swear(. ) that I will faithfully perform all the duties ^

< K

g required of me, and abstain from everything forbidden by the laws in relation to the establishment of Post g

**» w

S Offices and Post Roads within the United States; and that I will honestly and truly account for and pay >

to e?

t> . o

a over any money belonging to the said United States which may come into my possession or control ; and g

(9 {2

f-* . v '

g I also further swear I ) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, g

us So help me God. tf

3 s

m fi@* «§

« g;

|J Sworn to and subscribed before me, the subscriber, a < co

k .' g

B for the County of .this day of .,

A. D. 189

._ _ , J. P.

Qp N. B. The person who takes this oath should sign his narue above the magistrate's certificate.

Note. — This oath must be taken before a Justice of the Peace. Mayor, Judge, Notary Public, Clerk of a Court of Record
competent to administer an oatb, or any officer, civil or military, holding a commission under the United States; and if the
oath is taken before an officer having an official sea), such seal should be affixed to his certificate.

A FORM OF OATH FOR ASSISTANT POSTMASTERS.

304

MAKING BONDS OF $80,000,000. 305

however, the reasons are political and affected by race reasons ; and
consequently they occur most commonly in the South. Citizens
band together to refuse to go as bondsmen ; and in these cases the
postmaster is obliged to resort to the wealthy or resourceful leaders
of his own party in his state, if there are any, and secure their assist-
ance. He seldom fails to do this. But sometimes he must suffer
the post office boycott — only for a time, however, because the
Department under these circumstances discontinues the office. The
order of Postmaster General Wanamaker, which doubles the number
of money order offices, has caused many postmasters to resign; for
new bonds are required in each case, and these are larger, and con-
sequently harder, or perhaps impossible, to make. But the propor-
tion of cases like this is not large; it is perhaps five per cent.
When newly appointed postmasters fail to make their bonds, the
Bond Division notifies the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General.
If this officer thinks the reasons given by the new postmaster for not
securing his bond are not sufficient, he is advised of that fact, —
this in order to give him a second chance before another appoint-
ment to the same place is made. Resignations of postmasters are
not infrequently brought about in this necessary way.

When a postmaster is commissioned, reports go out from the Bond
Division to almost all the other offices and divisions of the Depart-
ment; one to the Sixth Auditor's office, noting all the changes in
officers that are made; one to the Stamp Division, so that it may
know that the new officer is entitled to receive supplies ; one to the
Division of Supplies itself for a similar purpose. Wherever a
change of site has been brought about by the commissioning of a
new postmaster, the Contract Division of the Second Assistant's
office is notified, so that a re-arrangement of service, or of routes,
may be had, if it is necessary. The Money Order Division is noti-
fied of the complete appointment. The Mail Equipment Division
is informed, so that useless bags and locks may be called in ; and all
of this information upon all of these points is communicated to the
Daily Railway Mail Bulletin for publication, for all of it is of use
in keeping the service accurate and prompt.

The blank commissions of postmasters are filled out in the Bond
Division by a particular clerk, called the engrossing clerk, whose
handwriting is particularly fine. He must do his work with

(No. 1105.— Series op July 1, 1887.)
In all communications to thfc Department be careful to give the name of your Office, County, and State.

PCMUME ©F OATH

PRESCRIBED BY THE ACTS OF CONGRESS APPROVED MARCH 5, 1874, AND MAY 13, 1884, TO BE TAKEN
BY ALL PERSONS EMPLOYED IN THE POSTAL SERVICE, EXCEPT POSTMASTERS.

g t>o * ceina em/iicyea

§ at in tne /icit office at ,

° en tAe (county c/ ana ^feate of _ ,

< ao ictemncu sweat f .^/ tnat <Jr tviit wSzActt ana ae/ena tne (oonititaticn

^ w tne iSnitea 6/tate) aaaimf ai( e?iemie) J tolee'an ana aomeitic ? t/iat <Jr tce'u ceat tlae

W /aitn ana •atteaiance to tne same / tnat <JP iane tnii cociaation /ieet?/j ivitnoat any

< mentat ieselvation eb AulAcse of evaiion s ana tnat t/ wtii toeci and! tait/z/u/ny, taOtcnatae

§ tne aua'es of tne office on wnicn <^/ am aoout to en/el <jo /iet% me yea* <Jr ao

H Mttneh totemnty tweai f ;; , ::; ^ J tnat <Jr witt /aitn/utty /iei/olm a/c tne

% aatiej leauilea o/ me ana aoiiain Aom eveiyt/iina /otoiaaen oy (fie tawi in tetaticn to

% Me citavtis/tment of Aoit office* ana /iat Icaa* zoitnin tne cvnitea <jiated ; ana t/iat ijr

o wife /icnestty ana tlaty account jwl ana Jiay ovel any money oeionyiny to tne saia

w cSnitea ifcatei wnicn 9na,y come into my /t-oaesiion ol contloty ana <Jr aao /ultnet

H ttoeat f J tnat <Jr loitc 6k r/i/iolt tne Joomtitution o/ tne cunitea <jYate3*

t-> <jo nem Tne zZoa..
o / a

^ ^fwoln to ana iuwcU'oea oe/c-le me, tne jqoiclioel^ a

m ^ tne woeenty of. , , , tnii ^dayef..

,J.R

©°N. B. — The persou who takes this oath should sign his name above the magistrate's certificate.
"Insert Clerk, or other employ^, (as the ca6e may be.)

' Note. — This oath must be taken before a Justice of the Peace, Mayor, Judge, Notary Pablic, Clerk of a Court
•of Record competent to administer an oath, or any officer, civil or military, holding a commission under the United States:
%ad if the oath is taken before an officer having an official seal, such seal should be affixed to his certificate.

A FORM OF OATH FOR POSTAL EMPLOYEES.

306

MAKING BONDS OF $80,000,000. 307

extreme nicety, for a mistake in a name would invalidate the whole
process of appointment. If a commission is faulty in the name of
the state given, and is signed by the Postmaster General, the mis-
take, to be sure, may be corrected; but almost always a new com-
mission is made out. If a presidential commission is filled out with
the wrong name, an entire new nomination has to be made by the
President to the Senate, and the Senate has to go all over the con-
firmation again. In over seven hundred appointments sent to the
last session of the Senate one mistake was made. The commissions
are sent to the Postmaster General's office, and if he approves them,
he simply signs them in the case of fourth class offices, and they go
to the new appointees; and in the case of presidential offices the
commissions are taken to the White House, where the President
signs them, and then the Postmaster General puts his signature to
the commission also, and it goes forward similarly. The golden seal
of the Department is stamped into each commission, and pretty rib-
bons decorate it.

President Harrison has examined papers in the cases of presiden-
tial post office appointments with the greatest studiousness ; and it
is told of President Cleveland that once, when he was to leave the
Capital at the close of a session of Congress, he sent orders to the
Department that the Bond Division should prepare all commissions
required at that particular period, and the clerks were required to
work far into the night in order that no blank ones might be
signed.

The names of all presidential offices and postmasters are recorded
in the Bond Division in two books. In one of these the names of
the offices are entered by states and territories in alphabetical order.
In the other the names of the postmasters are kept in alphabetical
arrangement, according to the dates of appointment. The names of
the postmasters appointed at money order offices which do not belong
to the presidential list are entered alphabetically in a separate record,
according to dates of appointment. The names of postmasters
appointed at fourth class offices which do not belong to the money
order list are likewise entered in a separate record (being divided
into two sections in consequence of the large number of entries
required) in alphabetical order, according to the dates of appoint-
ment. There are also thirty-nine record books in which the names

308

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

of post offices of all classes are recorded by states and counties,
together with the names of the postmasters and the dates of their
appointment.

The total amount of the bonds of presidential offices is nearly
$40, 000, 000, and in addition nearly $40,000,000 for the money
order offices, making a total of $80,000,000 that could be reduced
safely to $50,000,000, and the bonding be done for probably $50,000
or $100,000 for the term of the postmaster. At the fourth class
offices the bonds are nearly $40,000,000, and they could be safely
reduced one half. As there are few clerks or assistants at fourth
class offices, the necessity is not so great. All these, at least, are
views of Postmaster General Wanamaker; and he thinks, too, that
in these days, when corporation security can be so easily obtained,
it is a mistake to take as sureties the bonds of thousands of men and
women unknown to the Department, the value and usefulness of
which are constantly changing with bankruptcy and death; and he
believes that the Government should accept only surety companies
as bondsmen, and that such bonds should be paid for by the Govern-
ment and not by the postmaster. He goes on :

In hundreds of cases the best men cannot take appointments, because they
cannot furnish bonds; and the man who receives the place, though rich enough to
make or get the bond, is too poor in education, habits, or disposition to attend
to all the work of a postmaster. In not a few places the citizens best entitled to
be appointed, have been prevented from getting bonds for political reasons. In
scores and probably hundreds of cases the discipline and good service of a post
office is crippled because the postmaster, to get his bond, has been compelled, as
a consideration therefor, to appoint a relative of the guarantor the deputy, or the
cashier, or certain clerks, who were not only incompetent, but who assume inde-
pendence of the rules of the office. In some cases the bondmaker becomes the
banker of the postmaster and uses the Government money.

The following table shows the total penalty, and the postal and
money order bonds, at some of the chief post offices :

City.

State.

Penalty.

Postal.

Money Order.

New York

Chicago

New York.

Illinois.

Ohio.

California.

Massachusetts.

Missouri.

$500,000

400,000
325,000
300,000
250,000
225,000

$250,000
200,000
225,000
150,000
150,000
100,000

$250,000
200,000

San Francisco

Boston

100,000
150,000
100,000

Saint Louis

125,000

MAKING BONDS OF $80,000,000.

309

City.

State.

Penalty.

Postal.

Money Order.

Saint Paul

Brooklyn

Wisconsin.

Maryland.

Minnesota.

Louisiana.

Pennsylvania.

New York.

Missouri.

New York.

Ohio.

Texas.

Dist. of Columbia.

Minnesota.

$200,000
200,000
200,000
180,000
175,000
160,000
130,000
130,000
125,000
125,000
100,000
100,000
75,000

$100,000

150,000

100,000

80,000

110,000

120,000

100,000

80,000

90,000

75,000

60,000

70,000

45,000

$100,000
50,000
100,000
100,000
65,000
40,000
30,000
50,000
35,000

50,000
40,000
30,000
30,000

The postal penalty is fixed by the Finance Division of the Third
Assistant's office, and the money order penalty by the Money Order
Division of the First Assistant's, and they vary, of course, according
to amounts of business. A larger money order bond is required at
St. Paul than at Philadelphia simply because a larger money order
business is done at the former place. Similarly, at New Orleans,
where the banking facilities are not large, the money order business,
and hence the money order bond, are large. Cincinnati's postal busi-
ness requires a $225,000 penalty, while the similar penalty at New
York is only $250,000 and at Philadelphia only $110,000; for Cin-
cinnati supplies a great number of towns in Kentucky and Ohio
with stamped paper, which they pay cash for. Thus, too, Cincin-
nati's money order bond is $100,000 and Philadelphia's only $65,'
000, because a large foreign money order business is done at the
former place. The penalties at the Washington City post office are
small, because a large proportion of the business of the office is
official and free.

THE INSPECTORS, THE EYES AND EARS.

ORE difficult and comprehensive are the duties of
the post office inspector than those of any
/"* other official of the Government. The office
was created in order that the Postmaster Gen-
] eral might have ready at his call reliable
men for confidential work. This related
mostly to the character of applicants for
office and to the suppression of depreda-
tions upon the mails in and out of the postal
service. Gradually, however, other work
was put upon the force ; until at the present time an inspector is
liable to be called upon to look into an irregularity in any one of
the almost innumerable branches of the Department. He may be
upon the track of a criminal and receive upon his route orders to
proceed upon the investigations of a score of things before he returns
to his headquarters or his home. This service, therefore, requires
a wide range of ability, of tact, insight, prudence, courage and
endurance. In the far western country the labors of an inspector
take him over long stretches of stage routes and upon horseback
trips in the mountains, where he must stay for weeks before he can
finish his work. An inspector is required to be, by his instructions,
constantly on duty; that is, he is subject to call at any time and
for any length, or difficulty, or danger, of service.

The enormous extent to which labor relating to the different
branches of the postal service has been added to the tasks of the
inspectors has resulted in an utter inability of the force authorized
by Congress to keep up with the complaints made by patrons of the
post office. Many of these complaints are not based upon any short-
comings of the postal employees. Often they are made without
sufficient reflection ; for the senders of letters are, in nine tenths of

310

THE INSPECTORS, THE EYES AND EARS. 311

the cases, themselves at fault in not really mailing their letters, or
in not affixing sufficient postage ; or, indeed, in having improperly
addressed their mail. Of ten thousand complaints made annually, it is
not possible to investigate more than five thousand ; but it is small
matter, as almost five thousand of these are baseless.

The courts deal leniently, as a rule, with offenders against the
United States laws. This is due, in certain parts of the country, to
a general feeling of opposition to Federal prosecution. This is
especially true of the South, where the name of the Government is
associated with Internal Revenue prosecutions so strongly that in
many regions it is almost impossible to secure convictions in postal
cases. One court, for instance, would not for years entertain a
complaint based upon what is called a " test " letter rifling, the
ordinary method of detecting a postal thief ; and the opposition of
that court to the test letter necessitated a special enactment of Con-
gress, making the penalty for tampering with, rifling or detaining a
" test " letter equal in severity to that for depredating any other letter
or package. This indisposition to convict makes the work of the
inspectors still more difficult.

Complaints about the mails made by all persons in the United
States, made to a postmaster, to the inspector-in-charge, to the Post-
master General, finally centre upon the desk of the Chief Post
Office Inspector in Washington. Thence they are referred to the
proper clerk, who places with the complaints any papers relating to
them. These are arranged in five classes, A, B, C, D, and F,
according to the character of the matter, and when the completed
correspondence indicates that a personal investigation is needed, the
case is sent to the proper division and put in the hands of an in-
spector. Most of the complaints relate to the mis-sending, loss, or
delay of ordinary letters ; to the rifling of them, or to the tampering
with them from curiosity. Next in number are the cases of a
miscellaneous nature. They relate to complaints against postmasters
and other officials or employees of the Department, to inspections of
post offices, to money order cases, to violations of postal laws, to the
leasings and locations of post offices, and to miscellaneous cases of
all sorts. The third most numerous class relates to losses, delays
and riflings of registered letters. These are " A " cases ; the " B " cases
are ordinary ; and the " C " miscellaneous. " D " cases relate to the

312

THE STORY OF OUtt POST OFFICE.

robberies and burnings of post offices. " F " cases relate entirely to
foreign mails.

The proportion of registered letters rifled or miscarried is very
small, but the number of cases annually requiring investigation is

large. It has not yet been pos-

sible to find an envelope for the
registry system which would be
secure, and at the same time easy
to fasten, and cheap. This diffi-
culty has been one of serious at-
tention on the part of postmasters
general for years. Experienced
thieves have not much difficulty
in opening and resealing any mu-
cilage envelope. But the regis-
try system of endorsements by
every person handling the article
registered, makes it very easy to
follow an envelope and note its
delays ; and so, if a thief will
steal, he will surely be detected.
Even with ordinary letters, or in
the largest offices, it is only a
question of time when a dishonest employee is caught, and with the
evidence of guilt upon him. The disposition of Americans to com-
plain of the loss, even of a social letter, or of a postal card, and
especially of business letters, makes it next to impossible for any
employee of the service to detain or steal a letter. The authorities
are notified and the thief pursued and punished. An even sharper
disposition to c omplain has been invited by Postmaster General
Wanamaker, who has realized that the eyes of millions are bet-
ter than the eyes merely of the thousands who work for the
Department.

Inspectors are wholly in the classified civil service now, and are
secured in three ways : by original examination by the Civil Service
Commission, by reinstatement of inspectors previously employed
within a year, and by transfer from some other branch of the classified
service. Most of the present force are old, experienced men, and

MR. M. D. WHEELER,
Chief Post Office Inspector.

THE INSPECTORS, THE EYES AND EARS.

313

most of the newer men have been selected from other branches of
the service. Very few have been appointed who have not had
experience in postal work. Of those who accept appointments
many find themselves unfitted for the severe strain of almost con-
stant travel and exertion. Others, who are appointed for a proba-
tionary term, prove to be unqualified, and are dropped at the end of
six months. A number of men have been in the service almost their
whole lifetime. An inspector is appointed for but one year ; and as
the tenure of office is not so secure as in other branches of the
service, many good men prefer to remain in the Railway Mail Ser-
vice or in the Department itself.

The present force consists of about one hundred men ; and they
are assigned to duty in geographical divisions of the country. They
are under the orders of an inspector-in-charge of the division, who
assigns work to them and directs their movements. This inspector-
in-charge reports in turn to the
chief inspector at Washington,
forwarding with his approval the
reports of the inspectors as they
are received. The average dis-
tance travelled by an inspector is
about one hundred miles a day ;
and it happens not infrequently
that he travels five thousand miles

in a month.

The great bulk of an inspec-
tor's work consists of investiga-
tions of simple irregularities in
the mail service. The fourth class
postmasters do not carefully ob-
serve the rules and regulations,
and hence much carelessness, where
there is no dishonesty, results.
Again, the rifling of registered
letters affords an immense amount
of labor, and as this is work which requires the most cautious atten-
tion, the inspector's other work accumulates. From one source and
another he has his hands full constantly. While an inspector has no

MR. JAMES MAYNARD,
Chief Clerk, Division of Mail Depredations.

314 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

legal authority to make an arrest, yet it frequently happens that, in
order to secure evidence of guilt, the inspector must himself at once
take the offender into custody. In such cases the practice is to turn
the apprehended person promptly over to the marshal of the district in
which the offence was committed, and lay the evidence before the
nearest commissioner. The inspector then makes his report of the
facts, and arranges for the proper conduct of the office, if the offender
has been a postal employee, by filling the place of the arrested, by
swearing in a suitable person ; or in rare cases, where bondsmen
desire it, he may feel compelled to take charge of the office himself.
Where thefts are committed in the larger offices, it is very difficult
to detect the offender, because of the number of clerks who have
access to the letters, and in the prosecution of such cases an inspector
must exercise the utmost diligence and caution. He may be
obliged to work night after night before he can discover the
culprit ; and a confederate may be obliged to remain with him day
after day. But here, as always, the thief goes unwhipped of justice
only for a time.

Inspectors proceed upon a well-founded theory that a thief who
has once purloined a letter will repeat the offence, and continue to
steal, until he has at length been caught in the act. New boldness
comes with each performance, until, feeling quite safe, he becomes
less prudent. He does not realize that all those around him in his
office may be fully in the confidence of the inspector who is covertly
watching him. Experienced inspectors detect many tell-tale signs
of suspicion where the superior officer himself may be deceived.
The habits, the eyes, the whole deportment of a thief, who has not
yet been discovered, are often enough to put the inspector upon
the right track at once.

So much of the work of an inspector is done away among the
stage routes, at remote distances from the railroad, where it is im-
possible for him to communicate with his division chief, that he
must rely, with the utmost confidence, upon his own judgment. He
must not be deterred from the performance of his duty by plausible
excuses. He must be free, too, from any insolence of office and from
arbitrary manners. The fact that an inspector is enabled to command
the power of the Government in the prosecution of a suspected
depredator, makes it important that no trivial prosecution should be

THE INSPECTORS, THE EYES AND EARS. 315

entered, nor one without sufficient evidence to justify a charge. The
United States courts, as has been said, are more inclined to favor the
defendant than the prosecutor ; and, because the prosecution incurs
no individual expense, while the defence must, is another reason
why the courts discourage unimportant prosecutions. To keep
outsiders from instituting actions in the United States courts for
malicious reasons, the expenses of a prosecution, not undertaken
by a proper investigating officer, must be borne, if the defendant is
acquitted, by the person filing the information ; which leaves postal
irregularities to be considered only by inspectors and other postal
officials, and not by the patrons of the office alone. Many of the
inspectors are well read lawyers themselves, and many others are
well experienced in the rules of evidence and practice. It is almost
indispensable that they should be. Moreover, inspectors are pro-
vided with carefully formulated instructions as to their conduct in
various cases. They are expected to be perfectly familiar with all
the Postal Laws and Regulations ; and they are compelled to study
them almost constantly in order to keep posted in the latest changes
in the service of their divisions.

As a rule, inspectors do not leave their own divisions, but under
orders of the Postmaster General an inspector goes to any part of the
country. It happens almost daily that fugitives are captured in the
far West, or in Mexico or Canada, who have fled from the East. A
warrant for the arrest of a postal thief is made out in the name of
the President of the United States to a certain marshal ; and it may
be served, by the endorsement of a judge, in any part of the country,
without the delay which arises from the extradition of a state
offender who has fled to another state. As there is no bar nor
limitation in cases of felony against the United States, nor in the
case of a fugitive, the chances are much in favor of the final capture
of a man who is foolish enough to steal from the mails, no matter
where he goes. A complete system is used by which a . suspected
person who is wanted in any particular division is located if he goes
to another.

The present Postmaster General has established an admirable
method of getting himself into closer conference with his inspectors
by calling an annual meeting of the division chiefs to meet at
Washington. He hears all the suggestions which they may offer as

316 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

the result of their past year's work, and communicates to them his
own thoughts upon needed improvements in the service. It is
wonderful that the inspector's force does as much as it does.
There are less than one hundred men to cover the irregularities in
almost seventy thousand post offices and along hundreds of thousands
of miles of post routes, and it is remarkable that the postal service
is kept under such close and vigilant surveillance as it is. Post-
master General Wanamaker has repeatedly urged upon Congress the
need of more men for this work.

The mere moral effect of an inspector's visit to an office is
salutary. Especially is this true of the smaller offices, where the
country postmaster is sometimes found inattentive to the regulations.
It happens frequently that an inspector, visiting a cross-roads office
where the postmaster is perfectly honest, finds letters which have
been undelivered for months or even years. Many of these contain
money, many relate to business of importance. Many are ad-
dressed to offices of the same or similar name in another state. After
the visit of the inspector these derelictions are corrected.

The idea of Postmaster General Wanamaker has always been to
supervise and prevent rather than to cure ; to advise and encourage
rather than detect. This was his motive originally in proposing a
division of the country into supervisors' districts, which should be
traveled over by postal experts, the best ones in them, to confer with
postmasters, railway mail men, and any others, and actually improve
the service at all possible points, rather than wait until it was bad
in some locality or particular and then correct it.

But the safety of the mails, after all, is something wonderful.
Almost a million and a quarter of pieces of registered mail matter,
valued at almost a billion and a quarter of dollars, are received in
the mails annually for the Post Office and Treasury Departments
alone. It is not practicable to state accurately the value of the
remaining 15,000,000 pieces of registered matter transmitted for the
public during an average year, but it may be estimated by taking as
a basis of calculation the known or supposed contents of the 2,000 or
more pieces reported to have been rifled or lost. The inclosures for
these 2,000 pieces have an average value of $12.50 per piece. If one
computes the 15,000,000 pieces at this rate, the result is $187,550,000.
This is without much doubt an underestimate. This sum added to

THE INSPECTORS, THE EYES AND EARS. 317

that of the official values given makes a total of $437,500,000. So
the net loss amounted in all to about one-thousandth of one per cent.
The following calculation appeared in one of Postmaster General
Wanamaker's recent annual reports :

As to the ordinary mail matter, it is just as difficult to determine its value,
because there are no declared values, and it is the business of the officials not to
inquire what letters contain. It is interesting to know, however, that the average
value of the money letters opened in the Dead Letter Office was $1.65; of the
letters containing postal notes, $1.51; and of the letters containing negotiable
paper, $55.07. By taking into account all letters opened in the Dead Letter Office,
the average value per letter is found to be a little more than 25 cents (25.2). It is
estimated that there are carried in the mails 1,854,667,802 ordinary letters per
annum, these figures being based upon the general count of mail matter made for
one week in May last. At the rate of 25.2 cents per letter the value of the ordi-
nary letter mail of the United States for one year would be $467,376,286.10.

There has been no loss at all in the Department proper. The total supposed
losses of ordinary mail throughout the United States, as reported by the office of
the Chief Post Office Inspector, amounted to 51,745 pieces. Of these 20,900, or 40
per cent., were packages, the remaining 60 per cent, being letters. The total
losses ascertained to be due to carelessness or depredation of postal employees
number 23,985, 60 per cent, of which would be 14,391. Assuming the average value
to be 25.2 cents, the total ascertained loss of ordinary letters chargeable to the
postal service would be $3,526.52, or 77/10,000 of 1 per cent.

The newspaper dispatches told some time ago about the great gold
train that rolled on east, with its millions of treasure on board, in
charge of the Superintendent of the Railway Mail Service. The
amount shipped was $20,000,000. It was packed in 500 boxes, each
of which contained $40,000 in $5 and $10 pieces. Each box was
marked as a registered mail package, and the Post Office Department
was responsible for the safe delivery of it all to the New York sub-
treasury. The shipment was all practically arranged for on the spur
of the moment. The coin was packed in bags and removed, truck
load by truck load, so quietly as to attract no attention. The gold
was principally loaded in two Union Pacific cars, constructed of
wrought steel, and supposed to be bullet and bomb proof. The
boxes containing the treasure were made of inch boards and measured
about 10 x 14 inches. They were provided with iron handles and
bore the Treasury seal. It cost $3,500 altogether to bring this
$20,000,000 across the continent. The treasure occupied 500 bags,
which had cost $2,000. Then there were the personal expenses of
Captain White's fifty-one men who went to San Francisco to bring

318

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

the money east. The wagons, men and regular trains of the mail
service did the rest. The lowest bid which the Treasury Depart-
ment got from the express companies for this work was $60,000.

The post office inspector is exposed to the sensational maker of
books. A western inspector-in-charge once had a case against a
publishing firm and sent one of his men to secure information.

HE ACCOSTED LETTER CARRIERS ON THE STREET AND DEMANDED
CERTAIN LETTERS OF THEM."

When he returned he informed the inspector-in-charge that he saw a
book over there written by him. The man was immediately sent to
buy a copy. It was based upon an actual case that. occurred several
years ago ; and the publishing company employed some sensational
writer to take the newspaper accounts of the affair and weave a
romantic story about it. They called it " Leaves from the Diary of

THE INSPECTORS, THE EYES AND EARS. 319

Inspector So-and-So," misspelling his name purposely, no doubt, as a
safeguard, although the likeness of the alleged author was used as a
frontispiece. The facts were true, but disgustingly set forth. The
only thing which prevented the injured " author " from bringing
action against the company was the consideration that it would only
give the publication greater notoriety.

Now and then some idiotic knave starts out to personate a post
office inspector. This last summer, a man named Hall had a good
time at Lima, O. In some way he came into possession of a badge
which read : " Secret Service, P. O. Department, No. 3." He pinned
this to his vest in a place where he could display it conveniently as
occasion demanded. On the street cars he showed it to the conduc-
tors, and so (oddly enough) was allowed to ride free. He accosted
letter carriers on the streets and demanded certain letters of them.
He also had cards printed bearing, in addition to the inscription on
the badge, the words : " Headquarters, Cincinnati, O." At last a
real post office inspector was put on his track. Hall was arrested,
charged with impersonating a post office inspector, and punished.

STOKIES OP INSPECTOES.

HE magic power of the inspector's commission,
the little leather-bound tablet that bears the
seal of the Department and the autograph of its
chief !

" I have been belated in the backwoods," says
one old-timer, "where neighbors do not live closer
than five or ten miles, and where strangers are
regarded with suspicion ; but the mere sight of my
commission brought from the remotest cabin the
best the owner had. The welcome that greeted me was as honest
and plain as he who gave it. The host said :

" ' We are homespun folks here, sir, and haven't much to offer, but
when one of Old Uncle Sam's men comes around, he takes the best
we've got'; and this, too, from one, 4 who had bucked agin Uncle
Sam ' for four years."

At other times the commission is not greeted so kindly, as, for
instance, when an inspector looks suddenly into a post office and
calls for an examination of the books, and the postmaster is not in
funds to meet the balance due. Then ill-concealed confusion and
nervousness come with the halting " I am glad to see you." The
symptoms of disturbance are readily observed by an inspector the
moment he makes himself known at such an office. The money
order fund is the sacred trust of the Department, and one who mis-
appropriates it must suffer as embezzlers do. So the inspector has to
listen to all sorts of reasons why the money was used for the post-
master's personal benefit. The pleas for clemency are oftentimes
filled with tears, and again, they tell of fortunes dreamed of in the
glamour of speculation. One will say that his baby died or his wife
became insane and had to be sent to an asylum. Another will tell
how he had great faith in the rise of cotton and had bought a few

320

STORIES OF INSPECTORS.

321

*■/*,,

we're HOMESPUN folks here, sir."

hundred bales of futures,
but the price of the
staple had taken a down-
ward turn and — his mar-
gins were wiped out.

Another condition, when
the inspector is greeted with
nervous demeanor, is when the
postmaster happens to be a woman. So anxious is she that her
office will appear as well as if it were conducted by a man, that she
becomes frightened at the sound of the word inspector. In this early
part of the era of the woman in business, she has not generally been
able to adapt herself to the methods of men in conducting affairs.
She lacks confidence from want of experience and long continued
business habits, and though her work may be as good as a man's,
or better, she imagines it is faulty.

In a small Southern town an inspector found the postmaster hard
at work with a sewing machine. " What is it?" she chirped lightly,
when he tapped upon the door of the mail room. He responded by

322

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

announcing his position and by asking admittance. The whir of the
machine ceased; then a few moments of silence, and then a door
opened by a young woman with a face that nature had been very
mischievous in making; but it was covered with an expression of
fear and amazement that detracted much from its gentle lines. The
inspector pretended not to notice the postmaster's embarrassment ;
he was weighing its meaning. Very soon he concluded that the
possessor of such a face could not have been guilty of any serious
violation of the postal laws ; manifestation must come from other
causes. No inspector had ever visited this office before, which might
account for the excitement. News of the inspector's presence

was passed from mouth to
mouth until a number of
the citizens gathered in the
lobby. The most frequent
comment was that women
were not fit for business
anyway, and this girl
should never have been ap-
pointed. Several of the
crowd were bold enough to
ask how much the short-
age was. All this, of
course, only made the lit-
tle woman more nervous.
Finally she burst into
tears. The inspector asked
what was the matter.

"I don't know," she

said, "but there must be

something wrong, or you

would not have come here.

They say that inspectors

visit only those offices that

are not properly managed."

She was told that the examinations were of a purely routine

character ; and it was soon shown that her books were correct in

every particular, for higher excellence would be hard to find any-

TJlSrCLE TOBE.

STORIES OF INSPECTORS. 323

where. Then the crowd outside insisted upon poking their hands
through the general delivery window for a congratulatory "shake."

At one of the inland Southern towns there is a mail messenger, a
venerable colored man, known as Uncle Tobe, who has carried the
mail from the post office to the railroad station for many years, and
is as proud of his position and as jealous of his rights as if he were
second assistant postmaster general. One night (the mail lying
on the depot platform, awaiting a train) an inspector noticed that
the pouch was fastened with the new style of lock. It was the first
he had seen ; so he tried his key, received a short time before, to
test its reliability. Uncle Tobe was sitting at the other end of
the platform, and, not knowing the inspector, he concluded that
a robbery of the mail was being committed. He rushed upon
the supposed robber, grabbed him by the arm, and yelled with all
his might :

" Help, help ! police ! T'ief robbin' de mail ! "

The inspector produced his commission. Uncle Tobe, still grip-
ping the arm, took the commission to the light and examined it
closely. He could not read ; he had never seen such a document
before. But he finally saw the Department seal on the reverse of
the tablet, admitted that it was satisfactory, and remarked :

" I knowed de runnin' horse, wif de man astride of him, meant
pos' office business."

There was a case once of two registered letters that had appar-
ently passed from a railway postal clerk to a depot transfer clerk
and been duly receipted for. The letters never reached their desti-
nations. The transfer clerk was held responsible, having given the
last receipt, and he was required to pay two hundred dollars, the
amount they were alleged to contain. When the addressee of one
of the letters was informed by the Department that the twenty dol-
lars, claimed by him as sent in the letter, was recovered and would
be remitted to him on proper application, he replied that the Depart-
ment owed him nothing ; that the money had been sent to him.
But he said that the letter accompanying the money, though signed
with the name of the original sender, was not in the handwriting or
the language of the first letter. This information caused a re-open-
ing of the case ; and as the other registered letter had been lost in
the same way about the same time, the two were combined into one

824 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

case upon a theory that the person who had secretly sent the twenty
dollars to this addressee had also taken the other letter containing
one hundred and eighty dollars. The inspector's work was to find
the hidden sender of the twenty dollars. He travelled two thousand
miles and visited six post offices. The papers pointed to the railway
postal clerk as the guilty person, but proof, either definite or indefi-
nite, was lacking. The letter with the envelope which had accom-
panied the twenty dollars secretly sent had been destroyed, so that
they were not available to identify the sender. The secret letter
appeared to have been registered, but at the office where it purported
to have been received for registration no trace of it could be found.
At last the inspector came across the yellow return card that served
as a postmaster's receipt from the addressee, which had been inad-
vertently held at a post office, the letter having been forwarded from
there. This card was plainly in the handwriting of the railway mail
clerk, and clearly established his guilt. He was no longer in the
service, and it required some little argument to induce him to refund
the one hundred and eighty dollars, but he finally did so, and the
amount was returned to the depot transfer clerk. The railway mail
clerk, in admitting that he had sent the forged letter, claimed that it
was done to save himself from dismissal, as he thought that would
end the investigation of the case ; but other evidence in the cases
showed that the trick had been resorted to so that he might retain
the one hundred and eighty dollars in the other letter without being
suspected.

The system of theft used in this case is one to which the registry
business is susceptible if not closely watched. One person brings to
another a number of registered letters, say ten. They are counted
by the receiver. He finds ten. He then counts the number in the
receipt book. They are also ten, and he signs for them in bulk.
But had he checked each letter in hand with those listed in the
book, he would have discovered that two of them were not listed,
and that he did not have two others that were listed. The two not
listed reach their destinations and nothing more is heard of them.
The two listed, but not passed, go no further, and their loss is
reported ; the receipt book is produced and shows that they were
signed for, which makes the signer responsible for them, though in
fact they have never reached his hands.

STORIES OF INSPECTORS.

325

Other inspectors furnish the following entertaining recollections of
actual experiences :

" I make no effort to disclose methods by which good mail service
is maintained ; that would hardly be proper ; nor cite cases that
reflect much credit upon the keenness of the officer, because ' detec-
tive ' yarns go for about what they are worth, and I think their chief
merit is the extent to which they test the credulity of the simple. I
do not mean to say that detectives do not sometimes exercise a wide
range of qualities — courage, patience, skill, and insight — in the
pursuit of criminals, but from a somewhat varied experience in
investigating infractions of the laws, I have been forced to admit
that the unraveling of crimes is usually not difficult ; that falsehood
of any kind is certain eventually to be exposed ; that it can with
diligence be detected and punished ; and that as a rule rogues,
instead of being deep and shrewd, are really very simple people, who
in hurried efforts to conceal their steps, like the hunted ostrich,
oftener deceive themselves than their pursuers.

" I have often been asked must an officer go armed ; or, is it dan-
gerous to arrest criminals ? Of course, if an officer wanted arms, he
would want them mighty quick,
and the rule is to have them
handy. But in the civil service
of the United States I never
knew of a case where it was
actually necessary, in any part
of the country, to use force in
arresting a criminal. Of course
we except the revenue service,
for that is very little less than
declared war between the distil-
lers and the officers.

" It is also true, as a rule,
that it is an actual relief to an
unprofessional criminal who has
long evaded justice to be taken
into custody. From that time he seems to breathe easier and be less
miserable. The constant dread of detection seems to be a strain on
the average rogue, and he generally begins to fatten up as soon as

TIME NOW -FOR REFLECTION.

326 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

he is put in jail. Finally, of a very large number of offenders whom
I have observed upon trial and in prison, the large majority of them
have been plainly of unsound and weak minds. Very few of them,
indeed, have had even moderately strong and clear intellects. A
close observer would detect this fact in their faces and personal
deportment, and to the officers it is made plain in the vain and
shambling manner in which most of them try to evade the laws.

" One of the commonest abuses of the mails, and the hardest to
detect, is the claiming to have sent, or the claiming not to have received,
articles alleged to have been mailed. This is done not only by pro-
fessional swindlers, but by and between friends and acquaintances.
For instance, at Colorado Springs complaint was received from the
postmaster at Kearney, Nebraska, that a small box, mailed shortly
before from the Springs, accompanied by a letter saying that the box
contained a gold watch, was received empty at Kearney. The sender
and addressee were cousins, and presumably no fraud was intended.

" I telegraphed to Kearney for the box, which I received the next
day. I put my own watch, an ordinary gold one, in the box, and
upon weighing the package then found it was deficient in postage,
and upon weighing the box empty found there was just postage
enough to cover its carriage in the mails. This was good evidence
that the box was mailed empty, and especially so as the package was
registered, because postmasters must use extra care to see that
registered packages are fully prepaid. There would naturally be
doubt about a man's sending a gold watch by mail, either regis-
tered or unregistered, though it is too often done. When I visited
the sender of the watch he strongly protested that he had enclosed
the watch, and his wife declared she saw him do it, and wanted
to call in several neighbors to corroborate her. They protested
so much that I knew the watch was intentionally withheld.
Then I told the man that the postage was just enough to cover the
mailing of an empty box. He replied :

" ' That may be, but some of the stamps fell off on the way. I
remember very well of putting on more stamps.'

" I asked him what amount, and he answered, after figuring
mentally a minute :

" ' Seventeen cents.'

" i Yes,' added his wife. ' I remember Charley put on seventeen

STORIES OF INSPECTORS.

327

cents, because he came home and told me that the postmaster gave
him eight cents change for a quarter. I got the quarter out of my
bureau — see, in there — and I've got the eight cents now some-
where. If you want to see 'em, I'll get 'em for you.'

" ' But,' I suggested, ' was your watch a very heavy, extra thick
silver case watch like railroad men carry, or like mine ? '

" 4 Oh, thinner than yours — light Swiss watch.'

" c But the box and mine would only take fourteen cents, and yours
would have taken no more postage ? '

" ' Oh, that's all right, because now I come to think of it, I had a
long talk with the

clerk and told him
to put on three
cents extra so it
would go all right.
That's the way it I
was.'

" < Well, then,
come with me and IP
we'll see this clerk
about it,' I said.

"He held off
awhile, but went
down. None of
the clerks was 4 the clerk.'
While he was talking with
the postmaster, I drew up
a letter to the District
Attorney, purporting to
enclose the box and letter
as evidence for him to
prosecute the sender for
fraudulent use of the mail,
but the man held out dog-
gedly. I was engaged on
some other matters until late that evening, but when I went to
dinner 4 Charley ' was anxiously awaiting me, watch in hand. I had
it sent forward duly to the owner at Kearney."

J. r-

THE OWNER OF THIS WAS FOUND TO BE A
BLACKSMITH, HALF A MILE AWAY."

328

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

" There is a wide difference between the exposure of such trans-
parent tricks as that and the burglary of an office, which is gener-
ally done by experts, whose plans are well laid and the evidence
destroyed. The postmaster at Albuquerque, N. M., was robbed in a
very methodical way. When the postal clerks had registered in
from their runs and gone to bed, at about three o'clock in the morn-
ing, three burglars entered the rear door of the post office, seized the
night clerk, a boy of sixteen, bound and gagged him, and proceeded
very deliberately to their work. The post office room had formerly
been used for a national bank and had in its rear a large vault, the
doors of which were customarily closed and locked with a key. In
the rear of this large vault was a strong safe, which contained the
post office funds, while the sacks of registered letters awaiting out-
going trains were put in the vault. By closing the front doors of
this vault the burglars worked without noise upon the safe, and by

WHICH THEY HID IN THEIR GARDEN A
FEW HODS FROM THE RIVER."

six o'clock they had opened it, ab-
stracted its contents, taken the regis-
tered letters from the sacks by cutting
them open, and gone on their way.
Early in the morning the postmaster engaged the
local officers, and was assisted by detectives of the
express companies, but very little could be done. When I
reached the place the only trace discovered was a blacksmith's sledge
which lay among the weeds in the rear of the building, and the
owner of this was found after a diligent search to be a blacksmith

STORIES OF INSPECTORS. 329

half a mile away. He remembered, too, that the day before the
robbery a stranger had been in his shop asking questions, and that
the next morning he found his shop door forced open and some of
his tools missing. We next learned that this stranger was the son
of a ranchman living five miles away, and that he had gone from
Albuquerque to a small town in Kansas. There we had him
promptly arrested, and himself and his baggage searched on sus-
picion ; but as he gave a straight account of his proceedings, and as
no stamps or money were found upon him, he was released. The
adjoining offices were thoroughly advised of the details of the rob-
bery, and of the kinds and quantity of the plunder.

" A month afterwards word came from the marshal of Western
Texas that a clew had been found there. I was in that way put in
communication with a prisoner awaiting trial for a murder in El
Paso. He told a fairly straight story to the effect that he was hid-
ing in a house on the Rio Grande, about five miles below El Paso
the night of the robbery ; and one night his friends, who were
outlaws, came in with a lot of stamps and postal supplies, which
they hid in their garden a few rods from the river. Before he would
give their names he wanted the Government to pay him enough to
enable him to defend himself on the trial for murder. His figures
were too steep, and before negotiations were completed with him he
was tried and sentenced to be hanged. But I went with a guard to
the place he described and found a deserted house which tallied with
his description, and we dug up soil enough, looking for the stamps,
to make a big garden ; but although the men had gone away, later on
two of them were secured and connected with the burglary. But
they were wanted for a dozen like offences that had the prior atten-
tion of the court."

" An inexperienced thief will seldom cover up his misdeeds or his
whereabouts, if he runs away. I recall the matter of the postmaster
at Lebanon, N. C. Some unpaid drafts upon him for balances due
the Government were returned, and the inspector went there. The
transcripts of his accounts as rendered to the Department indicated
so large an amount of business transacted at his office that I expec-
ted to find Lebanon quite a thriving town. There was no settle-
ment there at all, and it was with difficulty that I could locate the
post office. I finally found it in a small frame building at a cross

330

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

roads in the turpentine woods, twenty miles from Wilmington.
The only other building near the post office was a deserted
'still.' The trees had dried up, so no turpentine could be got, and

the only man to be found near
by was the partner of the ab-
sconding postmaster, who was
very reluctant to tell me any-
thing at all about the office or
the missing postmaster. I found
that the latter, suspecting my
coming, had sagaciously got as
far away as possible, as he was
unable to raise the funds to
meet his balance. This finan-
cier had credited himself with
about $800 a year for what was
actually about $20 a year, and his
total deficit was about $2,000.
His sureties were found to be
penniless, and the only recourse
left was to prosecute the post-
master criminally, — if it was possible to get him. I was told
he had left the place in a buggy several days before my arrival,
but no one knew where he was going. After winding up his
office affairs, I watched the mails outgoing for a while to see if I
could find a letter addressed to him. I failed in this, and became
somewhat discouraged, when, sitting one night in the post office at
Wilmington and watching a clerk assort some letters for the country
near Lebanon, my eye fell upon an envelope addressed to a man in
Eosewater not far distant. It was postmarked in Texas. From
much experience with hand writings I have been able to tell very
readily if a hand is disguised, and I could see very well that this
address was. I had in the office records several samples of this
man's writing, and the ' L ' as it appeared in Lebanon had a
long flourishing tail, which had its fac-simile in this address, although
written back-handed. Making a note of the postmark, I at once
telegraphed to the United States marshal a description of the wanted
postmaster, with full particulars of the time he left North Carolina,

IN THE TUKPENTINE WOODS.

STORIES OF INSPECTORS.

331

He is now serving

MY EYE FELL UPON AN ENVELOPE.

and the name of the post office where he was supposed to be getting
his mail. Being a new arrival at the place, I thought he could be
found readily, and in a week's time I was notified that the marshal
had secured him. He was then liv-
ing twenty miles from the post office
where he mailed his letter and under
an assumed name, but when he came
up to the office again he was identi-
fied and arrested,
a long term in Columbus.'

" On a star route running out *a^g§|
from Salisbury, N. C, there had
been many thefts of money from
registered letters, and the depart-
ment and the people thereabouts
were alike impatient to catch the
thief. There was much trouble
in doing it. A number of the in-
spectors tried their hand at it,

but it would invariably happen that, as soon as an officer came
upon the ground, pilferings would cease. The postmasters upon
the route, about a dozen of them in all, bore excellent reputations,
and all professed anxiety to have the guilty punished. I had
been at work at the case once without success and tried it again,
taking every possible precaution the second time to conceal my
doings. With a good assistant I put up at a farm house entirely
off from the route and where at our leisure we completed our
plans for carefully testing the different offices. The weather was
very stormy, which favored us, as there were few people travelling
upon the roads ; and thus we were able to get around without
letting the inquisitive discover that strangers were in their neighbor-
hood, which was very thinly settled at best. It was difficult to de-
cide which postmaster we should begin with, for generally the
adjoining office has to cooperate and be in the officer's confidence,
and if the guilty one himself is one of the two so trusted, of course
he is put on guard. Then, perhaps the carrier may have a key and
be opening the pouches. But in this case the general reputation of
all the postmasters was excellent. They were all respectable, well-

332

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

to-do people. The last one to be thought of would naturally
have been the postmistress at Bilesville. She had been a school
teacher, was of a good family, and had not only the respect but
the confidence and sympathy of the people, because her husband
was a worthless fellow, who was serving a term in prison for
larceny. She was a delicate-looking young woman with a very
sad face.

" On my first trip I rode over the route as a pretended book agent.
I sat in the old stage, conspicuously holding in my hand a flashy
bound book when we reached her office, and she came to the door and
looked out at me. I was watching her covertly, and did not fail to
note that when she turned to go into the office she threw a quick
look backward at me and spoke in a low voice to the carrier who
was coming out with the mail sacks. Half an hour later I said to
the driver :

" 4 1 believe I made a good impression on that pretty postmistress at
Bilesville. Wish I had shown her my book.'

" 4 Yes,' he said, ' and she

f—"" 5 '^

POST <» ffici

asked me if you warn't a post
office inspector.'

" « What is that ? ' I asked.

" ' Oh, one of them fellers
that go around catchin' up with
the lame ducks. There's been a
lot o' stealin' on this road, and
I wish they'd do some thin'
about it. I'm gettin' blamed
for it myself.'

" I decided at once that un-
less the driver was a good deal
smarter than he looked and
acted he was not to be sus-
pected, and, from the quick
suspicion of the postmistress
that I was an officer, that she
was to be looked out for. So
when I related this fact to my friend, he agreed that we should
first test the schoolma'am's office. The last theft reported had

"SIIU ASKED ME IF YOU WARN'T A
POST OFFICE INSPECTOR."

STORIES OF INSPECTORS. 333

been about ten days before our visit, so that another was about
due. We fixed our lines in the usual way, sending our regis-
tered letters through the schoolma'am's hands. The carrier made
a very brief stop. Nobody else had touched the letters. They
came out to our hands so clean and neat that we thought it impos-
sible that they could have been tampered with. We opened them
at once and were astonished to find that all the four letters had
been rifled. Returning to the office, we found the stolen bills in the
young woman's purse, and though her unusually sad face was lighted
up a little with the success of her day's work, the thoughtful expression
returned to it when we explained our business. But she main-
tained perfect composure. She was placed upon trial a few
months later. Her health, meantime, had failed rapidly, and in
spite of the damaging evidence against her, I secretly hoped the jury
would be able to acquit her, as it did. She died wretchedly a
short time afterward, and upon her deathbed confessed to having
stolen the money for which her husband was imprisoned. Many
of her friends believed that the inspectors had persecuted an
innocent woman, and I received several letters saying that I was
not smart enough to catch a real thief. The woman was un-
doubtedly insane."

" Some of the inspectors' work is not of such a somber and sad-
dening character. Much of it has a ludicrous phase which softens
the hardships and relieves the strain which too constant mingling
with the frail is apt to bring upon a man. Such an instance was the
matter of the Gallup, N. M., post office, a berth that paid the incumbent
one thousand dollars a year, i stealin's out,' where the work was
easy, and the social position fairly good, the rest of the citizens of
Gallup being mainly miners and gamblers. Swan was a pioneer in
New Mexico, and knew every one in the territory. He was recom-
mended for postmaster by the governor and all the ex-governors,
by all the railroad and mining authorities, as well as by all the
ranchmen and army officers ; and, moreover, he had in his possession
letters from Abraham Lincoln attesting the writer's friendship and
admiration for Swan. Naturally Swan was appointed. He made an
excellent postmaster — so far as taking in money for stamps and
money orders went ; but he failed to make reports of the fiscal
operations of his office. A long life in an arid country and frequent

334

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

recourse to the common cure for a dry climate had made Swan less
efficient than formerly. So in due time an inspector was sent
to make his acquaintance.

" Being near Gallup, the necessary papers were sent me, and I
went down to see if anything was due the Government. I reached
Gallup about three o'clock in the morning. It was cold, raw, and
gloomy in every way. At sight I pronounced the town the least
picturesque mining settlement in the territory, if not in the world.
The only visible light came from a small frame building near the
depot, to which I hastened to get warm. It was not the hotel, but
a barroom, with a dozen or more professional customers on hand,
more or less awake and busy. Three men were snoring on the bar,
and the others were playing faro or watching the game. They were
all very groggy, and all but the proprietor were hard looking
citizens. The most besotted was an old man. He was thick-set,
wore a greasy slouch hat and a blue flannel shirt, had a big pistol
in his belt, and generally a very ' bad ' look. He was a clumsy,

stupid gambler, and was losing
money fast. About four o'clock
he got up, stretched himself,
and said :

" ' Good evenin', boys ; reckon
I'll have to turn in a leetle early
now, s' long as I've got the post
office to tend to.'

" When he said this I conject-
_ ... ._■■■■-■-■■:■>. ured that this must be Mr. Swan,

with whom I had business.

" After a short nap in the ' hotel ' I walked up
to the post office — the poorest frame building
in town. A poorly equipped drug store occupied
a part of the room, and in a rear corner was a
rough case, containing a half dozen boxes for holding letters. Swan
sat on a packing box near the front door, looking out at the beauties
of nature, while the drug clerk was tying up the letters for him.
Swan called out lazily :

" c Got her done yet, Jimmie ? '
" 4 Pretty near, captain.'

STORIES OF INSPECTORS. 335

" * Wall, hurry her a leetle to-day ; we missed it yesterday, and I
got to go on an inquest this morning, too.'

" I presented myself to Mr. Swan as he was going out of the office-

" ' So you are a post office inspector, are ye ? Wall, you'll find
they aint nothing wrong with this office — not since I had it. Can't
say much for it before that.' I hinted that some of his reports were
a little over due, and we might look into that.

" Yes, tha's right. Say, Jimmie, how about them money order
bills ? They ben paid yet ? '

" Oh, no, captain. You remember I've been trying a long time to
get you to fix them up.'

" ' Yes, tha's so, Jimmie.' He added, turning to me, ' You see, I
ben so busy.'

"'Now, Mr. Swan,' said I, 'let's count the funds and see your
receipts for money deposited ; then we will have the balance very
soon.'

" ' Yes, I see. Tha's the idea. Jimmie, you got a head for figures ;
you and the colonel go over the books, and I'll look in again pretty
soon.'

" ' But how about the funds ? The money you have taken in since
you took charge ; where is that ? '

"'Let me see,' he said vacantly, 'what did I do with it? Oh,
yes ; I see ; why, you see, I've paid out a good deal one way or
another ; but you'll find it's all right.'

" ' The books ' referred to were a small pass book. It had a few
straggling entries of stamps, money paid on a house Swan was build-
ing, whisky accounts, paid and unpaid, and private memoranda of
various kinds. It took a week to approximate his accounts, and he
owed the Government over two thousand dollars. A gambler
was a surety on his bond, and he handed me the full amount
on demand. I could get so little out of Swan that I thought
he might be more communicative to a commissioner, and had him
taken before one for a hearing ; but, instead of becoming more cohe-
rent, Swan broke down completely, and sobbed pitifully that so
great a man should come to trouble.

" ' Jedge,' he sobbed, ' it's too bad. I was the first friend Abe
Lincoln had when he begun practicin' law, and if he was alive to-day,
I wouldn't be slavin' out my life in a post office. Abe knew I was

336

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

an honest man. He wouldn't send no inspectors 'round my office.
He'd ast me once in awhile if I was rurmin' my office O K, and that
would settle it.'

"In due time Swan went to Sante Fe for a visit. He got a very
short sentence, partly because it was plain that no work could be got
out of him in the ' pen ' or anywhere else. The people of Gallup
were all sorry for Swan, and I had great difficulty in rinding anyone
who would make application for the post office."

■'he got out of patience."'

"I had a rather queer experience at Price, Utah. The postal ser-
vice is universal, and when it is not slipping a cog in one place it is
in another ; but it seldom happens that a postmaster will wilfully
close his office and let things ; go to smash.' At Price the postmaster
tendered his resignation repeatedly, and, being unable to get relief,
purposely closed his office. No doubt the Department could not con-
ceive the possibility of a Government employee struggling to get out
of a position that paid six hundred dollars a year. But this post-

STORIES OF INSPECTORS. 337

master paid his clerk seventy-five dollars a month, and then had to
give his own time to the work. Having a fine trade to look after,
he got out of patience, and locked his doors against all comers.
Then went up a howl of rage. That office separated mail for a large
military post some miles away, and telegrams were showered upon
the War Department, asking for authority to kill the civilian who
had cut off communication. When I reached Price 159 large sacks
of mail were piled up in the depot, and the angriest men I ever
faced were the soldier boys, looking at them wistfully, but unable to
open them and get their long expected letters from the East. I
swore in a number of assistants, and we worked day and night upon
the pile, and finally got the letters into their proper channels.
Declining to hang the postmaster, as most of the people desired, I
laid the facts before the United States attorney; but there they
rested. There is no law to punish such an offence. Before I left,
the postmaster, who was a shrewd, bright young Swede, asked me :
" 4 What is this going to cost me, Mr. Inspector ? '
" Having just finished the 159th sack of mail, I said :
" ' Fifty thousand dollars, if I have the fixing of the sum, my
friend.'

" He said that was too much, but if it wasn't more than $500, or
even $1000, he would rather pay it than neglect his business any
longer.

" There is small veneration for official dignity upon the frontier,
and Federal employees who carry the importance of office to objec-
tionable pitches in the East are apt to impair their standing west of
the Mississippi. It sometimes happens that a modest officer is made
to suffer for the faults of his confreres. At Canon City once I had
gone to my room to prepare for dinner, when a card was brought up
from a postmaster at a little place up in the mountains, whom I
requested to come up. He appeared at once, a fine, handsome speci-
men of physical manhood, fully six feet six inches tall, robust and
vigorous, sunburned, and with piercing eyes. He was dressed in a
riding suit, and had about him the peculiar, swinging freedom of a
horseman, combined with the grace of an educated gentleman.

" 'Ah,' he asked, 'you are the post office inspector for this state?'

" ' Yes, sir, one of them,' I replied ; < how can I serve you ? '

" He wore a threatening smile, as he continued :

338 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

"'You were at my place — my office — about six months ago, I
think, at Coe ? '

" 4 No,' I said, reflecting, 4 1 don't think I ever saw you before, or
ever was at Coe.'

" ' Now, think again, for I want you to be careful about it. I was
not there myself, but my wife was a little way from the office. You
got off the stage, cursing and abusing us because our office wasn't
always open during business hours. Recollect, now ? '

" ' Well, hardly,' I said. ' I am not in the habit of addressing
postmasters in that way, especially women.'

"He looked disappointed, and said:

" ' Well, I have been trying to find this man for months, and I give
you my word that when I do, I will teach him a lesson in politeness.
But I am convinced it wasn't you, and am glad to meet you. What
will you drink ? ' I drank to his early meeting with the man with the
swelled head, but secretly wished my unknown colleague better luck.
Subsequently I learned this man was one of the wealthiest and most
popular miners in Colorado, and had a fine record for keeping all his
promises.

" It would be difficult to tell in what part of the country depreda-
tions upon the mails are the most prevalent. They are frequent,
more especially, perhaps, in the mountain districts of the Virginias,
North Carolina and Tennessee. The mail service there is mainly on
horseback ; the mountain paths are arduous and from its inaccessi-
bility such a country offers many attractions for thieves.

" Not long since a railroad was built southward from Weston,
W. Va., for the purpose of getting out the heavy timber along the
Kanawha River. Laborers on the road sent much of their wages home
by mail, and on one particular route a lot of stealing was done. The
senders, who were Italians and Hungarians, supposed the money
must necessarily be stolen by the mailing postmaster; but as the
road penetrated farther into the mountains, and letters sent from one
office after another met the same fate, the foreigners grew frantic,
and threatened to hang every postmaster in the vicinity, if nec-
essary, to catch the right one. Alarmed at these threats, the post-
masters themselves began to clamor for the arrest of the thief, and
the postmaster at Jacksonville was especially loud in his howls for
an inspector. He was a brawny mountaineer, and kept a hotel, as

STORIES OF INSPECTORS.

839

well as the post office. He had accused all of the adjoining offices
of the stealing and had seen a number of fights as a consequence.
When the inspectors began work it was naturally supposed he would
be a valuable aid, but as an extra precaution it was decided to test
his office also. Accordingly several registers were together passed
through his hands. When the carrier brought them to Jacksonville,
the postmaster invited him to
bait his horses and take lunch,
which he did. Meantime the
hotel keeper helped himself to
the contents of the letters and
passed them along empty to
Weston ; but the inspector got
them first and immediately after-
wards the thief. He had in-
stantly concealed the money and
it was not found. He was the
politest man I ever saw, for
while I was searching his pock-
ets for the stolen bills, he asked
me if I wouldn't prefer to take
dinner first, as it was waiting
and I looked hungry and tired.
The evidence against him was
not air tight, and he escaped
the penitentiary by paying a large fine, and making good all the
losses upon the route. He has since moved to another hotel in
the mountains, and often invites me to come and go fishing
with him."

The following, an older story (they must never be too new),
used to be told by one of the best inspectors in the service. It is a
story from actual life. Put in the inspector's words it is :

"In the month of February, 1882, a through registered pouch
from Sabine City to Chicago, was rifled of one hundred and forty-
four registered letters, containing in the aggregate more than $15,-
000. The rifled pouch, with a slit as long as a man's arm cut in
it with a sharp knife, was found later on underneath the depot at
Sabine City. The inspector-in-charge at Chicago was advised by

■^iifr-sf

A POSTMASTER IN THE MOUNTAINS OF
WEST VIRGINIA.

340 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

telegraph by the postmaster of Sabine City of the facts, and he also
stated that a letter from himself to the United States sub-treasury
at Chicago containing $1,100 was among the stolen matter. The
$1,100 consisted of a $1,000 bill and a $100 dollar bill. The
inspector-in-charge at Chicago telegraphed to every inspector in
the division to report at once at Chicago. I was hurriedly advised of
the facts, and instructed to proceed immediately to Sabine City to
investigate the case. I .telegraphed to the postmaster there, under an
assumed name, to meet me at the Northwestern Hotel at 9 o'clock
that night. I admonished him to keep the matter strictly secret;
that I was registered under an assumed name, and that my business
there would be that of buying a carload of horses to ship to New
York.

" In this through pouch to Chicago was contained all the registered
matter from post offices within a circuit of about fifty miles adjacent
to Sabine City, and among the one hundred and forty-four registers
stolen were those from many of these offices. In order to ascertain
the contents of each registered package I had the postmaster get up
a printed letter in his name to the several postmasters whence these
letters came, and in due course we ascertained to a cent what was
contained in every registered package. In a number there were
jewelry, ear-rings, cuff buttons, watch chains and bracelets. Others
contained money orders, bank drafts, checks, postage stamps, gold,
silver and national currency, the total amounting to about $15,000.
After a few days another inspector was sent to assist me, and we
formulated a systematic plan of work, having engaged quarters in
the upper front rooms of the Northwestern Hotel overlooking the
depot.

" We ascertained that on the night of the robbery the pouch in
question was receipted for by Railway Postal Clerk Wilson at the post
office at about 5 o'clock in the evening, but that the train that was
to carry it to Chicago was not due to pass through Sabine City until
about 9 o'clock at night. This registered pouch was thrown on
the top of all the other pouches on the transfer wagon, so that it
could readily be taken care of at the depot, and at the depot it
was thrown on top of the transfer truck for the same reason, so that
it could be readily seen and be the first pouch to be thrown into the
car. That night was one of the coldest of the winter. The train

STORIES OF INSPECTORS. 341

did not arrive until about midnight. The truck was pushed into
the baggage room to await the arrival of the belated train. In the
baggage room there was no fire, but in an adjoining room there was
a brilliant coal fire, around which the hack drivers and bus drivers,
mail messengers and depot hands were congregated to keep them-
selves warm. On the arrival of the train the truck was pushed out
to the car, and Clerk Wilson mechanically reached forward for the
through registered pouch for Chicago ; but it was not there, although
he had receipted at the post office for it in his name at 5 o'clock
in the evening. He reported the matter immediately and search
was instituted without success.

" The next morning the empty cut pouch was found underneath the
depot. It was a mystery that no one could solve. A list of all
the employees about the depot was made by us, together with all the
postal clerks, ex-postal clerks, mail drivers, bus drivers, draymen,
baggagemen, conductors, and in fact everybody that had anything to
do about the depot, or ever had had, and they were thoroughly can-
vassed by us ' horse buyers.'

" Days, weeks rolled by. At the hotel table, where we sat with
a number of reporters for the daily papers of Sabine City, we joined
in the general censure of the Post Office Department for doing noth-
ing whatever to capture the thief. No one was more bitter against
the inspectors than we were ourselves, because as ' horsemen ' we had
a right to express our feelings of resentment against a government so
indifferent and dilatory. A number of clews were worked and run
down from day to day. After days and nights of tiresome labor we
at last made up our minds who the guilty person was. One
Gideon Robertson, who drove the transfer mail wagon between the
post office and. the depot, was suspected. But we soon satisfied our-
selves that he was innocent ; in fact we took him into our confidence.
Robertson had known us as Mr. Douglass and Mr. Brown, and had
thought, of course, that we were purchasing horses for the eastern
market. He became our fast friend, but had no suspicions. We
questioned him and cross-questioned him. After a while he quite
innocently remarked that on one occasion ' Shorty ' Green, who
was formerly a driver of the mail wagon, jokingly remarked to him
that they could make a good ' haul ' by going through the registered
pouch. But 4 Shorty ' went further, and suggested that in the dark

342 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

lane behind the depot he could attack Gideon, and Gideon could
make a show of resistance, and be overpowered, and that both of
them could then rob the pouch together, and Gideon would be
cleared, of course.

"Our attention was now entirely turned to ' Shorty ' Green, whose
real name was Fleming B. Green. He was then engaged driving a
hack about the city. He was receiving $ 10 a week for his work,
and had a family consisting of a wife and two children. We learned
that he had purchased a house and lot, that he had bought a sewing
machine, had laid in a good supply of coal for the winter, and was liv-
ing in \ery comfortable circumstances. We became well acquainted
with ' Shorty ' in our capacity as horsemen, and found that he was
playing billiards, something that he had never done before (and
always getting beaten) ; and that he was drinking considerably, was,
in fact, becoming an all-round 'sport.' His expenses were about
$40 a week. He was negotiating a business which would entail an
investment of a thousand or fifteen hundred dollars. He was to
take a leave of absence and go with his family on a visit to Centreville.

" It had reached the night preceding the day when ' Shorty ' was
to start. He was breaking in a substitute to drive his hack. It was
an extremely cold winter night and there was a ' show ' in the public
hall. ' Shorty ' went to this theatre. We then made up our minds
to proceed to his house, which was about a mile distant from the
main portion of the city across Sabine River. At night ' Shorty '
invariably took to his heels at the bridge and ran clear to his home,
as if afraid of his own shadow. About 9 o'clock we reached his
house ; Mrs. Green appeared at the door. We asked her if Mr.
Green was in. She said he was busy down town with his hack ; he
would not probably come home until 12 or 1 o'clock, — sometimes
he stayed out all night. We rather abruptly walked into the house.
She then offered us seats. We frankly told her that we were repre-
sentatives of the Post Office Department and had come there to make
inquiries about the mail robbery. This seemed to give her a sudden
start.

" « Oh,' she said, ' Mr. Green doesn't know anything about the
mail robbery.'

" ' Well,' said we, 'perhaps he might give us some information.
He was a former mail driver and was around the depot frequently.'

STORIES OF INSPECTORS. 343

" 'No,' she said, 'he doesn't know anything about it at all.'

" We then asked her where he was on the night of the robbery.
She said he was at home that night early. We asked her how she
could remember that he was at home that special night. She said
she knew he was at home that night because she remembered that in
the morning, when they heard the newsboys calling out about the
mail robbery, he said nobody could say he had a hand in it, because
he was at home. We had ascertained previously that 4 Shorty ' was
at the Grand Hotel at two o'clock on the morning in question and
had asked Gideon Robertson if it was actually true that the registered
pouch had been rifled ; and he told Gideon that he was not able to
sleep after he had heard about it. We learned also, as a matter of
fact, that he had not been at home at all after supper that night.

" We spent an hour talking with Mrs. Green. We dwelt partic-
ularly on the coal question for some reason, and she was so very
much agitated (although she tried not to show it) that she ran her
needle several times underneath her thumb nail. She assured us
that when Mr. Green came home she would tell him of our visit, and
if he had any information he would be only too glad to impart it.
We bade her good-night and crossed back over the Long Bridge.
Persons from the theatre soon began to pass by on their way home.
Among the last we could see in the moonlight, approaching on the
snowy sidewalk, the form of 4 Shorty ' Green.

" I walked out and tapped him on the shoulder, and said :

44 ' Shorty, I want you.'

44 His answer was :

" 4 What for, sir ? '

44 4 For the mail robbery.'

44 4 What mail robbery ? '

44 4 Well, the mail robbery. You know what mail robbery I mean.
Where the pouch was cut several weeks ago. We thought perhaps
you could give us some information about it.'

44 4 Why, I know nothing about it, sir.'

44 4 Well, we would like to have you go down to the Northwestern
Hotel with us.'

44 It occurred to us that if he had been an innocent man, his first
impulse would have been to invite us to his house. But he fell
in with my comrade, and I dropped behind. As we neared

344 THE STOiJY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

the hotel, ' Shorty ' remarked that we had better go around to the
back door, as the hotel office was full of traveling men and others
who had come from the theatre ; and this seemed to us another
evidence of his guilt, for if he had been an innocent man, he had
nothing to fear by going through the office. But we went up the
back way, walked into our room, turned the key, and asked him
to remove his overcoat and take a seat. We then directed his
attention to our quarters. He could see that we had a good outlook
covering the depot.

" We then plied question upon question, and cornered him at every
turn. His explanations of his whereabouts on the night of the
robbery were so conflicting and unreasonable that he could hardly
tell us his name distinctly. He at last braced up enough to say :

" ' Why, you don't think I robbed that pouch, do you ? '

" We said to him :

" i Shorty, we not only think that you stole it and robbed it, but
we know it, and now you are in a proper position to confess ; you
may as well make a clean breast of the whole business and tell us all
the facts. We have been over at your house all this evening. We
have conversed with your wife on this subject for several hours, and
we have such facts that it will be impossible for you to escape ; and
the very best thing that you can do is to tell the whole, unadultera-
ted truth. Now, ' Shorty,' why did you rob that pouch ? What
possessed your mind to do such a thing ? '

" Tremblingly, and with quivering lips and tears rolling down his
cheeks, he admitted that he was guilty.

" 4 Well,' said we, ' we knew it. Now, if you are going to be
straight from now on with us, we will treat you the very best we can;
but we want you to make restoration of every dollar and every
article that you took from those registered packages.'

" He was ready to proceed with us to his home, where he
informed us the money was hidden underneath the coal in
his coal shed. We searched him and satisfied ourselves that he
intended to do as he agreed. He said that he had spent about
$150 of the stolen money, but that the balance was still, hidden away
in the coal.

" Upon reaching the house, we found Mrs. Green and the neighbor
still awaiting ' Shorty's ' arrival. 4 Shorty ' said to his wife that

STORIES OF INSPECTORS. 345

he had been arrested for stealing the mail pouch. She acted like a
person devoid of reason, uttered cries, reached suddenly out to take
up a revolver that lay on the bureau ; but I had it in my pocket in
a second. She moaned and cried terribly. The neighbor, the
woman who was calling, made her exit very quickly. We told
G Shorty ' we could not waste any time, but wanted to secure the
contents of the stolen registers. With lamp in hand he proceeded
to the coal shed. i Shorty ' began shoveling the coal. Soon he
reached a large package done up in a calico dress. We took the
package and i Shorty ' back to the hotel, but before going we told
him that there were some bracelets missing.

" ' Oh,' Mrs. Green said, 4 1 have those ; ' and between the
mattresses of her bed they were snugly tucked away. Watch chains
and other jewelry, he said, were thrown away in the river.

" We arrived at the hotel about half past two in the morning, and
with the newspaper men and hotel clerk, counted the money. The
thousand dollar bill and the one hundred dollar bill that the post-
master had mailed in his registered letter to Chicago, were found in-
tact, as well as all the contents of the other registers, with the
exception of about $150 and the jewelry that had been thrown into
the river. It was too late to put 4 Shorty ' in jail, so he spent the
night with the inspectors. But there was no sleep for him, and
there was none for the inspectors, either. Before daybreak the news-
boys on the streets were calling out the news of the arrest of
6 Shorty ' Green for the robbery of the mail pouch. It was any-
thing but music in his ears.

" This robbery had been the main topic of conversation in all Sabine
City ever since it occurred, and now that the horse dealers had turned
out to be post office inspectors, and had arrested the robber, recovered
the money, and got a full confession from the accused, it was a
revelation to the good citizens of that busy and enterprising Western
city. After breakfast it seemed as if the whole of Sabine City
poured into the hotel and up through the corridors, to get a view,
not so much of the prisoner as of the officers, and a regular reception
followed. ' Shorty ' Green was indicted by the grand jury, pleaded
guilty, threw himself upon the mercy of the court, his wife appear-
ing with her little children in the court-room every day during the
trial ; and the fact that he had made restitution, had formerly borne

346 THE STOHY OF OJJR POST OFFICE.

a good name, and was generally popular, caused the court to give
him only one year in the penitentiary."

About the year 1881 a young man named Herbert Morton was
assistant postmaster at Pierre, Dakota. He moved in the best
circles of that town, and had the confidence and respect of everybody.
After working for a number of years in the post office, he applied
for a leave of absence, which was duly granted by the amiable post-
master. After his leave had expired he did not return. Inquiries
from the Department came to the postmaster relative to the issuance
of numerous money orders of large denominations, which had been
paid at different post offices throughout the country, that purported
to have been issued at the Pierre office. Upon examination it was
found that no such orders had been regularly written up at that
office. It was evident that young Morton had gone with the inten-
tion never to return. The postmaster ascertained that blank money
orders and advices had been removed from the back part of the
book, — so systematically that he did not detect it until the receipt
of this information from the Department, when he found that orders
amounting to about $1,500 had been surreptitiously abstracted.
A number of inspectors were detailed to work up the case. A full
description of Morton was printed and sent to all the important
money order offices in the United States, offering a liberal reward
for his capture ; but it was without avail.

Several years rolled by, with no trace of the fugitive. Finally,
an inspector of the Department had occasion to visit his brother at
Kansas City, Mo., to spend New Year's. " After talking over our
personal affairs," he says, " the conversation drifted into other matters.
New Year's eve, when we were about ready to retire for the night,
my brother remarked that he had before him the sad duty of caring
for the dead. It was an old and warm friend of his, whom he was
very intimate with when he was agent of the Northwestern Railroad
at Pierre, Dakota. It was Herbert Morton ! I asked him if
Morton was assistant postmaster there. He said that he believed
Morton did go into the post office to work. I told my brother that
I believed Morton was the young man whom the post office inspec-
tors had been looking for for several years, and I related to him the
story of Morton's crime. He was incredulous, of course, but we
pursued our inquiries. Morton's body had been found lying frozen

STORIES OF INSPECTORS. 347

between two haystacks Dear Independence ; the man had worn a
coarse suit of clothes and a cap with a brake man's badge of the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad ; and his hands were hardened
as if by a brakeman's labor.

" The news of the discovery of the body was published in the Kan-
sas City papers. Among the trivial effects found upon him was a
photograph of a woman, whose name was written on it, and the pho-
tographer's card, at Reedsburg, Wis., readily led to the man's identi-
fication. My brother, being aware that Morton was engaged to a
young woman at Reedsburg, Morton's boyhood home, and as this was
published in the Kansas City papers, his attention was at once at-
tracted, and he went immediately to the embalmer's to identify his
old friend. He positively identified him by a scar upon his neck.

"I telegraphed the facts officially to the Department and to the
inspector who had the case personally in charge. I also telegraphed
to Morton's father, who was a highly respected clergyman, that I
would await such directions as he might give me. The old gentle-
man requested that his son have Christian burial, but said it was im-
possible for him to be present.

" My visit in Kansas City was prolonged on account of the revela-
tions in this case. I learned that a young woman figured prominently
in the matter ; that she had known Herbert Morton in Pierre, and that
he had become enamored of her. I learned that she was then in
Kansas City, and was known by several aliases. After diligent
search, I finally found her. She said that she had seen young Mor-
ton in Kansas City and along the line of the Atchinson, Topeka &
Santa Fe road ; that she had acted as a detective, and had from time
to time been disguised as a newsboy on the train or as a fireman on the
engine. She went with me to the embalmer's and identified the
body. I have always believed that this young woman knew more
about Morton's death than has ever come to light."

APPREHENDING CRIMINALS ; PREVENTING CRIME.

HE following story of an old-timer, one of the
cleverest and bravest of all the inspectors, illus-
trates another phase of this most exacting service :
" After the discovery of gold in the Black
Hills, in the then territory of Wyoming, the city
of Deadwood had assumed metropolitan proportions on
account of the thousands of miners who had rushed
into that country. Miners from Colorado, from Idaho,
from Montana and from the Pacific slope had flocked there in
anticipation of making great discoveries. The great Homestake
mine had been prospected and found to be fabulously rich in gold.

" A mail route was deemed a necessity and one was established,
running from Cheyenne, via Hat Creek and Rapid City, to
Deadwood. The service had been increasing and was made
daily. A rival line was soon put in operation, running from Sidne}^,
Neb., to the Black Hills. Both of these routes for nearly their
entire distance passed through an Indian country, and the Sioux
Indians were not regarded as friendly, and did not look kindly on
the invasion of what they regarded as their exclusive country.
Many of the valleys were rich in game, but up to the discovery of
gold no white man had attempted a settlement, though the country
was well known to old mountaineers like Bridger, Beckwith and
others, but little by the outside world.

** The establishment of these mail routes was attended with much
danger. As soon as the fact became known that gold was being
sent from Deadwood to the 'States' the road agents began their*
work, and it was not an uncommon thing for a stage to be l held
up ' twice in one night. The Indians, too, were very troublesome,
and it became necessary, especially on the stages in which gold dust
was carried, to put on a guard for protection, and many a fight

348

APPREHENDING CRIMINALS ; PREVENTING CRIME.

349

ensued. They were often compelled to repulse attacks from Indians
who were trying to prevent the permanent settlement of the country
in and around the Black Hills, which they knew would destroy the
game in their favorite hunting grounds.

" During this time I received instructions to make a trip to Dead-
wood for the purpose of investigating the loss of some registered
mail from Deadwood to the ' States.' I left Cheyenne and proceeded
with the stage as far as Hat Creek, where the mail was supposed to

FLOCKED THEliE IN ANTICIPATION OF MAKING GREAT DISCOVERIES.

have been lost while in transit. There I learned that the Indians
had made an attack on the stage a short time previous, and had
killed the driver and secured all of the mail, which they afterward
burned. Having become convinced of this fact, I saw little more to
do as regarded the investigation, as I knew of no way to discover
what Indian or Indians had committed the offence, and so reported
to the Department. I continued the trip to Deadwood, however,
arriving there at the time when there was considerable excitement
over the Indian difficulties. For several days after my arrival there
was not a single passenger leaving by stage. I concluded that I

850 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

would return by the Sidney route, although that carried me nearer
to where the Indians were supposed to be located. I went to the
office of the stage company and they informed me that they should
run out a stage next day, but that nobody had as yet booked as
a passenger, and that the probabilities were that if I went I would
be the only one, with the driver, going through.

" I instructed the agent to put my name on the way-bill. I
would start, at least. During the afternoon of that day four or five
people called on me at the hotel and inquired if it was my intention
to leave for the ' States ' next morning. I assured them that that was
what I intended to do, and after considerable conversation they
informed me that they were also anxious to go, and concluded that
if it was safe for a special agent to make the trip, they too would
take the chances. We again went to the stage office and the agent
informed us that he would supply each one of the passengers with a
Springfield rifle, which would enable us to protect ourselves from
any small raiding body of Indians that might attack us.

" The next morning we started with five other passengers from
Deadwood, all armed with Springfield rifles. I soon became aware
of the fact that there was less danger from Indians than from my
fellow-passengers, as but few, if any, of them were accustomed to
handling fire arms, and the discharge of a gun was not an uncommon
thing on the occasion of the sudden discovery of a rock or stump
which was mistaken for an Indian. With a great deal of effort on my
part I succeeded in having each man withdraw the cartridges from
his rifle, and the trip from that on became much more pleasant.
Still none of us were particularly happy, nor did we feel safe until
reaching the military post known as Fort Robinson, which had been
established for the purpose of holding these Indians in check. We
reached Sidney without having seen an Indian, although the stage
following was not so fortunate, being compelled to fight on several
occasions ; but it succeeded in getting through without the injury of
any person."

Another of the sharp, true fellows on the inspector force says :

" Complaint had been made that a registered letter containing $40

in currency, mailed at a small post office in western North Carolina,

and addressed to a well-known firm in Asheville, had been rifled.

The matter was given to me for investigation. As is customary, I

APPREHENDING CRIMINALS ; PREVENTING CRIME.

351

first made a close inspection of the R. P. envelope and the letter
envelope in which the money was said to have been placed. There
was not the slightest evidence that either had been tampered with.
I then went to see the merchant in Asheville to whom the letter
was addressed, and was assured that the letter had been opened in
the presence of several reputable persons, all of whom
testified that no money was enclosed, but only several

leaves of an old almanac. The infer-
ence, then, was that if the Tetter had
been rifled at all it was in the mailing

office, and I
therefore pro-
ceeded thence
to continue
my investiga-

" Blank-
ville was
situated in
a remote
part of the state,
far from railroads.
The postmaster
was an old man,
who also ran a
mill, and the post
office was in his
house, a small, log
affair, on the banks
of a wild, pictur-
esque mountain
stream.' His two
daughters assisted
him in the office, and the reputation of the family was excellent. I
questioned them all very closely, however, and as one of the many
requisites of an inspector is to read human nature, I soon made up
my mind that the letter had not been interfered with in that office.

" I next made inquiry as to the character of the person who sent
the letter. His reputation was not good ; he was described as a lawless
and desperate man, who was in debt and would not hesitate at any-
thing. I made up my mind that he had never mailed the money as
he claimed. I drove to his home, and was informed that he and a

"his house, a small, log affair."

352 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

number of other men were working on the road some distance away.
His wife said, however, that she had seen him put the money in the
letter in question, but did not see him seal it.

" I then drove towards where the men were at work, and found
them eating dinner at a spring. I left the buggy some distance
back, and approached them on foot. My man was pointed out to
me, and I got him to go with me down the road away from the rest;
he proved to be a great, strapping fellow, over six feet in height,
and very powerful looking, with a decidedly ugly appearance.
Reaching a secluded spot, I asked him a number of questions about
the letter, and his answers were very decided that he had put the
money in the letter, even describing the notes, and endeavoring to
throw suspicion upon the aged postmaster at Blankville.

" Finding that my questions resulted in nothing definite, I deter-
mined upon a more heroic treatment, and, looking him full in the
eye and pulling out the almanac leaves, I said :

U4 My friend, you have evidently made a great mistake. You
were under the impression, when you put these leaves in your letter
instead of the money, that the Government would pay you back for
your supposed loss, but it does not hold itself responsible for losses
of registered letters ; so that if you had put the money in, which I
know you did not, you could not have recovered it, if it were lost.'

" All this time I was looking him full in the eye. For a moment
nothing more was said by either of us, but I could distinctly read
his thoughts, and during that moment I knew my life was in peril,
for to prove a man a liar in that country is just as dangerous as to
call him one. But I never let my eyes waver, and presently I saw
his eyelids twitch, and I felt that my danger was past. Without a
word of acknowledgment, his expression plainly admitted . his guilt
to me, and finally saying : ' Well, it's pretty hard for a poor man to
lose that amount of money,' he invited me to go home and take din-
ner with him. I declined ; and there my case was closed."

Some portions of North Carolina are infected with illicit distillers.
An inspector approaching them is in danger of being mistaken for a
revenue officer and treated accordingly. One inspector, speaking of
this, says :

" I had a case there where it became necessary to hunt up a man
and his son to get their testimony. Accordingly I secured a horse

APPREHENDING CRIMINALS; PREVENTING CRIME. 353

and buggy at Albemarle — and with a man to drive me started off in
search of my witnesses.

"Reaching their residence I was told that they were down the road
a few miles, at a neighbor's house ; so I drove on in the direction
indicated. In due course of time, we reached the neighbor's house,
only to be informed that they were stiS further down the road; but
no definite direction could be obtained. I concluded, however, to
keep on. As we left the main road, the hills became steeper and
wilder, and I noticed my driver getting very uneasy, looking around
on every side, as if he expected trouble. Presently he broke out
with :

" 4 Say, stranger, do you know this is a dangerous business you
are on ? These yer people all take you for a revenue, and they are
just as likely to shoot first, and then ask about you afterwards.'

4i 4 Is that so ? ' I asked. 4 Well, there is one thing satisfactory,
anyhow.'

" ; What's that ? ' he inquired.

" 4 If they do shoot, they are just as likely to hit you as me.'

" Jehu scratched his head a moment, and after taking it all in,
replied :

" ' That's so, but I don't see what in thunder that's got to do with it.'

" I ordered him to drive on. Presently the road faded away to a
mere trail, the surroundings became wilder, and I concluded that our
further progress was useless as well as hopeless. Seeing a small rise
of ground in front, however, I decided to reach that and take a good
look around. Just as we got to the summit, there suddenly appeared
before me such a wild, weird scene that I shall never forget it. Right
in front, and not more than a dozen yards away, rough-looking
fellows were busily engaged distilling brandy. It was a secluded
spot, with the high-wooded hills closing it in from any distant view.

" The fellows gazed keenly at me with startled looks. It was a
critical moment, and I knew there was no time to hesitate ; for they
belonged to a class of men who do not consider consequences when
it comes to self-protection. So, ordering my driver to stop, I leaped
out of the buggy, and before they had time to recover from their
astonishment, I was in the midst of them. My manner assured them
of my peaceful intentions. The men I was after were there ; I
secured my evidence, which they were very willing to give. But

354

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

before I left them one of the party slipped around to the driver,
and inquired thoroughly about me, and after being satisfied, wanted
to sell him some peach brandy at fifty cents a gallon."

Another says :

" I go back to the time while I was in the Railway Mail Service.
There was at that time an organization in West Virginia called
4 Red Men,' who were banded together for certain purposes known
only to themselves, and persons joining the lodge were compelled to

ON HORSEBACK OVER THE MOUNTAINS.

take one of the most terrible oaths that could possibly be administered
to anyone. These ' Red Men ' had whipped a number of persons,
burned some barns (and also two or three private residences), an»d
had become a terror to almost the entire county of Barbour. About
this time the carrier on the star route from Beverly to Webster was
held up, the mail pouch robbed by masked men, and a number of
registered letters taken. We found that the ' Red Men,' one Mr.
Price, one Mark Kettle, and a man by the name of Hoffman, were at
the Belington office when the carrier passed on the day of the
robbery and left about the time he did. These men were also known
to be leaders in the order of ' Red Men.' We finally secured suffi-

APPREHENDING CRIMINALS ; PREVENTING CRIME. 355

cient evidence to warrant the arrest of the three. In the meantime,
it had gone out that government officers were in the county, and I
allowed that we had better make a strike. The inspector-in-charge
told me he could not ride horseback and I would have to go. I said
all right, and an inspector and a marshal and myself started
out. We rode pretty fast, for we had been notified by the dis-
trict attorney that we would have trouble ; that the men we were
after would kill if they could ; that they had been in the Barbour
County jail and their friends came down and broke open the jail
and took them out. My fellow inspector was riding his first horse ;
and we were riding at a brisk trot, when I noticed that he could not
keep his seat in the saddle, and said to him :

44 ' Tom, why don't you keep in the saddle ? '

" He replied :

44 4 1 can't. Don't you see that when I go up, this horse goes
down, and meets me on the rise, so I never get down ? '

44 But we got there, and got all three of our men and landed them
in. jail. The next day they were tried and convicted. Price got
ten years, Hoffman nine, and Kettle five in the penitentiary."

Says another :

44 1 was looking into a case of rifling registered letters and traced
it to a colored boy about sixteen years old, who had been 4 carrying '
on a star route in Southern Alabama. I went to his father's house
and was told that the boy was in a field, hoeing cotton. I struck
out and finally came across him and found he was a dwarf. But I
concluded I had better take him with me and perhaps I could re-
cover some of the stolen property. I told him I was an inspector.
Then he called out, 4 O mamma,' and a colored woman (weight three
hundred pounds) came up. And the boy said :

44 4 Mamma, the big boss is gwine to take me. He says I done
stole sumfin.'

44 The old woman said: 4 Look heah, mister, dat boy nevah done
stole nuffin. I knows he nevah did. I done raised dat boy right,
and if you tuk him you tuk me long too.'

44 1 said I guessed I could carry her and the boy. I had a mule
about the size of a good, big dog, but I thought we could all three
ride him, and the boy went with me. But we did not prosecute
him on account of his size and ignorance.

356 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

"Another of my adventures was on a star route in Southern
Alabama. I had traveled from 6 A. M. to 10 P. M., and it was so
dark that I couldn't find my way ; so after looking around, I dis-
covered a light, and, by letting down fences, I finally reached a
house, or rather a cabin, and hallooed at the top of my voice. Finally
an old man came out, and I asked him if he could keep me over
night. He said he was not in the habit of keeping people, but as I
was a stranger, he would let me stay. I tied the mule and gave
him some corn fodder and went in and found the house occupied by
a white man and woman. I asked for something to eat and the
woman gave me some corn bread and buttermilk, and what she
called 4 turnip-greens.' I enjoyed my supper (not having had any
dinner), and then went up what they called stairs. There were
only two rooms in the cabin. The upstairs room was a kind of an
attic, but I lay down and went to sleep.

" I was soon aroused by someone trying to get into the room, as I
supposed ; but after listening some time, I again went to sleep. I
was again aroused by someone trying the door, and asked who was
there and was answered by a growl. It was the dog ! I struck a
match, and then the dog began to bark and spring at the door. I
expected it would give way and let him in. I was unable to find
.an outlet, but I heard a movement below, and soon the old man
came up with a light and asked me what was wrong. I asked him
if he would be kind enough to take the dog downstairs. I could
see by the tallow dip he carried one of the largest bulldogs that ever
devoured trouserings. I waited for daylight, called for my mule
(but not for breakfast), thinking only of putting distance between
myself and that ferocious canine."

" Sometimes an inspector will stumble upon clews most curiously.
There had been a great number of losses reported on a star route
once, and several vain efforts had been made to catch the thief. I
looked over the reports in the case, and concluded I would take a
new plan of action. I left the railroad several miles above the office
where the star route came in, and there procured a horse and buggy
and started out. A terrible wind and rain storm came up, and,
crossing a stream, the water ran away over the buggy and I got very
wet and cold. But I drove up to a little store and asked permission
to dry my clothes and get something to eat for myself and horse.

APPREHENDING CRIMINALS ; PREVENTING CRIME. 357

" While waiting I fell into conversation with a young physician
and soon found him very talkative. He told me that about once a
week he would go to the railroad and have a good time. He finally
told me about a game of poker that he had enjoyed on his last trip
to Blacksville, and he said :

" i W'y? I broke the crowd, and Joe (calling the assistant postmas-
ter by name) had to pay me in stamps, ten-cent stamps, and I would
hold them until Joe got money enough to redeem them.'

" Joe did not redeem them, for I had him 4 in ' in three days, and
he's learning a trade now.

" We once had a complaint from a man in Missouri in regard to a
land and lumber company. I found that the person complained of
was using a letter head of a company representing themselves as
owners of one million acres of timber, coal and iron ore land, with a
capital of $250,000. The fellow turned out to be a crank, but he
had taken in shot-guns, molasses, fine setter dogs, flour, boots, shoes
and numerous other articles. I found he had received by express
and freight at different times large quantities of goods, and at the
depot I found a crate of tinware and agricultural implements of vari-
ous kinds marked to his address. His last speculation related to ten
head of Jersey cows. All the necessary evidence was in, but he 4 played
the crazy racket ' and got clear — although he was bright enough
to secure about seven thousand dollars' worth of stuff and money.

" The greatest fraud I have ever come in contact with was that of
4 The Financial Cooperative Company ' of Dashtown. This was
an order where you were supposed to pay in fifty dollars and in four
or six months draw one hundred dollars. The swindlers had a fine
office elegantly furnished, boarded at the best hotels, gave wine sup-
pers, and swindled people out of between three and four hundred
thousand dollars. Eight arrests were made ; but the 4 president ' of
the company went to Europe, and left the others to work out their
own salvation.

" Another fraud, worked in West Virginia. A post office box was
rented and all mail addressed to J. Smith was put in it. We found that
this box had been rented by two well-known young men, who were
carrying on»the merchant tailoring business, both active church mem-
bers, and one of them at the head of the Young Men's Christian
Association. They put this notice in various papers :

358 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

" ' The West Virginia Investment Company. Send 25 c. and you will receive
full instructions.'

"We found that J. Smith was a myth and that the two young
men were in fact J. Smith. To our letter asking what to do the
answer came back :

" ' Fish for suckers as we do.'

" Well, we fished, and had the fellows dangling at the end of our
line in very short order. His honor gave them $50 and costs each,
which they did not mind. It was the exposure that hurt. Some of
the old church members are still after them.

" I had been out on a long trip in the back country once, and
looked pretty rough when I got on the cars. Having a gray beard
and wearing a skull cap, I attracted the attention of a little girl
about nine or ten years of age, who finally came up to me and asked
if I was Santa Claus. I told her c No,' and she then asked me if I
was not some relation of his, and, falling into the humor of the
thing, I told her I was one of his clerks. She then described a doll
that she had received the previous Christmas, and insisted that I
ought to remember it ; and finally she accused me of taking it, as
she said it had been stolen. She wanted to know if I would bring
it back next Christmas. I promised that she should have another
doll."

Other stories by one of the good men :

44 1 was on an important green-goods case, where the postmaster
had been invited to assist New York green-goods people. They of-
fered him 8600, and he turned the bid over to the Post Office Depart-
ment, and Leffin and myself were selected to go to Olga, Michigan.
The postmaster was notified that we had come up there on business,

APPREHENDING CRIMINALS; PREVENTING CRIME. 365

and we took him into our confidence. We asked the postmaster to
accept this tender of $600 from the New Yorker.

" The green-goods men sent out a letter-head, in which they called
themselves the Coal Hill and Trust Company, having ten directors
and ten trustees, whose names appeared on this letter-head. Our
scheme was to decoy these people from New York to get the accu-
mulation of mail at Olga ; so we fixed up a letter, which the post-
master sent, saying he was fearful that the inspectors would come up
and demand the mail, and that he thought the best thing they could
do, owing to the fact that he was not on friendly terms with the
expressmen, was to come out and express their mail to New York
themselves. The best thing they could do was to come and get their
mail.

" Then they opened up on the postmaster. They said : i What
will "the Postmaster General think of you when we go down to
Washington and tell him that you have offered to help us for $600 a
year, and that you weakened and backed out ? ' The postmaster
replied that they could go to the Postmaster General. Then they
sent several letters signed with alleged signatures of the chief in-
spector and the attorney general ; and finally the inspectors got
another letter from New York saying that they proposed to write
letters to such and such people, showing what kind of a postmaster
they had at Olga. The postmaster replied to that, that he didn't
care what they did. Along came a telegram then, saying : l We will
be with you by the 15th.' Soon he got another, this from Buffalo,
giving the hour of their intended arrival.

" Friday morning early the fellow walked into the post office at
Olga. He said :

" ' Is this Mr. Shippen ? My name is Mullen, and I see you recog-
nize me. I want my brother's mail.'

" That was not his brother's name, but he kept on :

" ' You know who I am when I tell yon I want my brother's mail.
He told me to give you forty more.'

" He pulled out $40, but did not lay it down.

" ; If you will have that mail wrapped up, like an express pack-
age,' he said, ' I will be in about eight o'clock. I will ask you for
the mail and be gone about my business.'

I chased the fellow after he left the office and halted him. I

366

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

told him I was a Government officer. He began fighting. Leffin,
who had gone on ahead ; ran back and said :

" c See here, we're not here for any prize-fighting or foot races.
Better stop ! '

"We slipped the handcuffs on him and took him to Grand
Rapids. He was searched, and there was some seventy-five dollars
in gold and greenbacks found on him, and a physician's prescription,
written in Easton, Pa. Leffin got on the train and went to Easton
and found the doctor who wrote it; it was for George Moyer.

"I CHASED THE FELLOW AFTER HE LEFT THE OFFICE AND HALTED HIM."

Everybody knew him about there twenty-five years before. He
would come back to Easton periodically. Leffin then went to New
York and found that Inspector Byrnes had a photograph of this
fellow. He had been arrested in Michigan, charged with having
beaten a farmer out of $3,500 on a card trick near Seymour, Indiana.
In that case they 'hung' the jury, and he was not convicted. After
the jury had disagreed he was remanded to jail and his bonds
reduced to a thousand dollars; and three men came to pay the
money. So justice will miscarry.

APPREHENDING CRIMINALS; PREVENTING CRIME. 367

" Another case was the Saginaw case. The Saginaw green-goods
man had sent several letters around to different forts. They were
written, not printed circulars. They were addressed to different
sergeants of the companies, advising them that they had certain
goods on hand, twos, fives, tens, etc., as good as any turned out at
the Treasury Department. This green-goods man would tell the
sender what box to address his mail to. Of course, in the letter
that was sent in by the particular sergeant from Fort Brady it was
indicated in what box he wanted his mail to go. This particular
victim was a man by the name of O'Brien.

'.' I went up to Sault Ste. Marie, and furnished the soldiers money
to send. We wanted to catch the man with the letter upon him.
I put that in the pouch, witnessed by the postmaster, who also wit-
nessed the composition of the letter. I went through with it to
Saginaw, and before I had the letter placed in the box, I ran over
and was deputized as a United States Marshal. I stood in the Sag-
inaw post office two days, watching that box.

" On the second afternoon, a man, a great, big fellow, came in, got
his mail, and was going out. I sprang out after him. I said :

" ' Mister, I shall have to take charge of you.'

« He said, ' What's that for ? '

"I said: 4 I will tell you all about that before the commis-
sioner.'

" « But there is some mistake about this. The idea of my
coming here to get my brother's mail and being arrested is ridic-
ulous.'

" He insisted that his brother had got him in trouble. The United
States marshal searched the man, and among other things found
were directions how to make new money look old. Well, sir, I
never saw a fellow perspire as he did. When the United States
attorney arrived, the fellow weakened. He said : <• Well, I guess I
might as well make a clean breast of it.'

" His story was this. He had been an engineer on the Pierre
and Marquette Railroad. He had been removed for something, his
wife had been sick, times had been hard, and he received one of these
green-goods circulars. He himself had been in the regular army
and knew that the fellows ' blew ' their pay right and left as fast
as they got it, so he argued that he might as well have some of it.

368 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

So he sent out these green-goods circulars. The commissioner held
him, but I think he was let off."

" In Cincinnati once the division chief called me in and said :

" 4 There have been half a dozen registered letters rifled, and I think
you had better go to Indianapolis and see if they have any informa-
tion up there.' I went, looked at my registered package envelopes,
and had about come to the conclusion that it was either being done
on the routes or else at the Plantville, Ind., post office.

" Plantville was seven miles from Sunburn, and the mail had to
pass through Centre post office. We fixed up our test and got up to
Sunburn about four o'clock in the morning. At the post office at
Plantville I a'nnounced to the postmaster that I was an inspector,
and I only wanted to put a letter into the pouch. He informed me
that the mail had gone.

"I said : 'You had better give me a note to the carrier, then.'

" He wrote me one. We got down about half way over the road,
and I overtook the fellow. I said: 'I have a matter that I want to
keep very quiet. I have got a letter that I want to put into the
pouch and I want no one to know anything about it.'

" He said : 'I can't read the note, and I don't know what's in it,
and I can't open that pouch.'

" ' I am going to put this letter in there,' I said.

" 'You can't put anything in there,' he said. 4 If you open that
pouch, you'll get your brains blowed out.'

" Finally he let me put the register in the pouch ; but I was
afraid that this fellow when he got to Sunburn would ' give me
away.' So I said to him :

" 'Now you've got j^ourself into a pretty fix, and if anything leaks
out about this, you will be in trouble.'

" My partner was still in town ' taking orders for a Grand Army
book.' I got on the train and went away, because my test register
was not to be dispatched until the mail was put on the postal car.
There were three or four other registers. One was very flat, and,
holding it up, I could plainly see that it had been opened. The
letter contained $288.

" Then we drove back to Plantville and requested the postmaster
to send for the persons who had mailed the letters. He had sent out
two registers ; they were found to have been rifled. One contained

APPREHENDING CRIMINALS ; PREVENTING CRIME. 369

$50 and one $40. We got the two letters and a description of the
money in them. After the registers were put in the package, partner
4 went back into the country ' with his book which he was trying to
sell. I went into the postoffice. The postmaster's boy looked very
suspicious. I said :

" - Mr. Postmaster, I suppose you are aware that there is stealing
going on in your office. We are post office inspectors, and we are
here to notify you that there is somebody in your office stealing.'

" He said : ' 1 would not steal anything. I never stole anything
in my life ; and there is nobody else that could steal anything with-
out my knowing it/

" 4 But you have got a boy here. What do you know about him ? '

" ' Why,' he said ; 4 that is my own son, and I would trust him
with my life.'

" ' He is stealing registers.'

" ' No, sir,' the old man said, 'he is doing nothing of the kind.'

" Partner found the boy in a neighboring grocery. He came in
looking guilty. I said to him :

" c Young man, I came here to get that money you have taken out
of the registered letters. We want that money that you have taken
out of the letters. We want the $288. There was $288 you took
out of one, and $50 out of another. What have you got to say
about it ? '

"He said: C I never took the money, and besides that I have got
a good reputation.'

" i Aren't you a smart young fellow, T I said, ' to try to fasten
this thing on your poor old father in this way ? '

" Pretty soon he said : ' Well, I have got the money and I will
go and get it.'

" The father broke down completely. He cried :

" 4 My God ! My God ! I never want to set my eyes on him
again ! '

" The boy produced $541 for us. He had been stealing for
weeks. He was sentenced for one year, but was pardoned inside
of four months. The father died of grief soon afterwards. The
boy became a professional housebreaker."

An inspector had a queer experience sometime ago in a pretty
little town in Maryland. As his train neared this village, he

370 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

walked into the mail-car, asked for the mail clerk, showed his com-
mission and put in a letter addressed to James Lancaster, a fictitious
name. The letter contained a $10 bill. The inspector stood upon
the platform of the mail car when the train stopped and the
pouch was thrown off. A boy took the pouch over his shoul-
der and started up the village street. There was a crowd of
visitors inside the post office who swarmed towards the little
desk. The inspector waited fifteen minutes until they had all
gone to get their mail. He entered the place. A handsome girl,
seventeen years old and dressed in an old-fashioned bodice and
light colored skirt, sat behind the wire grating in a rocking chair,
sewing.

" Is there a letter here for James Lancaster?" he asked.

" No," she said, after sorting some letters in a case marked " L."

" I am sure the letter must have come," said the inquisitor.

" It's not here."

" Are you the postmaster ? "

" No. I am the assistant. My father is the postmaster."

" Who opened the pouch that came in by the last train ? "

" I did."

" No one to help you ? "

" No, sir."

" Maybe it's stuck in the pouch. I have heard of such things.
Won't you look ? "

She took the pouch, turned it upside down, shook it, and looked
inside. No letter.

" Won't you let me come in and help you look for it?"

" No. No one is allowed in here."

The inspector drew out his commission. " May I come in now? "
he asked.

" Yes," blushing ; " I beg your pardon."

" I mailed a letter myself to James Lancaster," the inspector said.
u It is a fictitious name, Lancaster. The letter was put in that
pouch by the mail clerk on the train, who took a memorandum of
it, and locked the pouch in my presence. When that pouch was put
off at the station, I followed it, and kept it in sight until it was
taken into the post office. Now, you say you opened it alone, that
no one else touched it ? Where is my letter ? "

APPREHENDING CRIMINALS ; PREVENTING CRIME. 371

"I never saw it, sir. If you doubt me, you can search me."

The inspector began to pace the floor in deep thought. The girl,
more beautiful than ever in her excitement, sat down in the chair,
crossed her legs, and began to rock herself to and fro.

" Call your mother, and she can search you in my presence."

" My mother is dead."

Again the inspector paced the floor. As he walked back and
forth, he noticed the swinging feet of the postmaster's daughter.
One of her stockings had fallen a little, and under it was the shape
of an envelope !

" Your stocking has dropped," he said.

The girl turned scarlet and then white, and stopped rocking.
She caught her breath, and almost fainted. Then she recovered
herself, took the letter from its hiding place, handed it to the in-
spector, and burst into a flood of passionate tears.

The girl had admirers, as was natural ; her father was miserly,
not giving her the money even that was needed for a bright bit of
ribbon, or ever a new dress. She had been tempted to take money
from the mails for bits of finerjr. The inspector bitterly accused the
old man of being the one to blame.

w I suppose you will arrest her ? " he said.

" Will you make restitution of the sum stolen?"

It was handed over. " Will you arrest her? "

" If I did, what would be her future ? No ; unless you or she
tells, this will never be known."

STAMPS, STAMPED ENVELOPES, POSTAL CAEDS.

\jjfr HE Third Assistant Postmaster General is the finance
officer of the Department. He receives and deposits
the postal funds, collects drafts, prepares warrants for
the payment of postal indebtedness, and all that ; and
it is his figures which show at the present time that
the usual postal deficit of five or six millions is surely
disappearing, and that by the plans and estimates of
the present Postmaster General they will soon be
changed into a slight net revenue. The Finance
Division requires fifteen clerks. Then the Third Assistant has the
division of registration, which looks after all the registered matter;

and he also has the division of .---—. — — ______ ___, ___ — 1

files, records, and mails. This last
division opens 1,400,000 letters
and parcels in a year. The num-
ber of registered letters and par-
cels received is over 17,000 annu-
ally, and the number of letters
briefed, recorded and filed away
after final action is 20,000 a year.
The number of letters separate-
ly written, copied, indexed and
mailed, is 30,000 annually. The
Third Assistant is the bookkeeper
of the Department, as it were.
Some of the methods of this office
have become, during many years
of contending growth and prece-
dent, antiquated and not uniform.
Effort was made two years ago, by

372

MR. A. D. HAZEN,
Third Assistant Postmaster General.

STAMPS, STAMPED ENVELOPES, POSTAL CARDS.

373

the appointment of a special commission of expert accountants, to
revise these methods, so that all the post offices should keep their
accounts alike.

Two thirds of the clerks of the Third Assistant's office are em-
ployed in the Stamp Division, which has the regulation of the stamp,
stamped envelope, post-card and
letter sheet business, and also the i
regulation of the second class mat-
ter privilege. Most of the work
of the Stamp Division is done in

the rooms along the lower corridor j m

on the Seventh Street side of the
Post Office Building, and the
chief's room, Mr. E. B. George's,
is at the corner of Seventh and F
Streets. The clerks of the Stamp
Division are greatly overworked.
If Mr. George had been provided
with additional help in proportion
to the increase of the work of this
division as necessitated by the
growth of the service, he would
have twenty additional clerks now.
The chief is a Haverhill, Mass.,
man, who was a member of the
House of Representatives of the Bay State when General Banks was
Governor; and he was a state senator in '62. In the legislature of
'59 with him were Charles W. Upham of Salem, George M. Stearns
of Chicopee, Tappan Wentworth of Lowell, and Caleb Cushing of
Newburyport ; and Benjamin F. Butler was in the Senate. Mr.
George was a soldier of the war and entered the Stamp Division as a
clerk in 1866.

The ordinary postage stamps used by the Post Office Department
are manufactured by the American Bank Note Company of New
York. They bid for this work, and as is the case with all Govern-
ment contracts, there must be open competitive bidding and an award
of the work to the lowest responsible bidder. The processes by
which postage stamps are manufactured are secret, and much of the

MR. E. B. GEORGE,
Chief of the Stamp Division.

374 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

patented machinery is in use in this manufacture alone. Informa-
tion is often refused to foreign governments, and agents of the
United States have repeatedly made fruitless visits to the company
to be admitted to the rooms where the stamps are manufactured.
Some of the most bitterly contested lawsuits on record- have arisen
with regard to different patents employed in the manufacture of
stamps, and an immense amount of ingenuity has been expended in
bringing the art of printing them rapidly and cheaply to its present
perfection. Postage stamps are used in nearly all civilized countries,
but almost all are manufactured either in London, Paris, or New
York. The entire American Continent, some European States, and
many of the South Sea Islands are supplied with stamps from the
American metropolis.

A somewhat cursory description of the manufacture of stamps
appeared some time ago in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and various
other papers. The first step is to make the die. The device, which
has generally been the head of some distinguished public man, is
settled upon by the Government, and the drawings made. The
service of the engraver is next required. An engraving in deep in-
taglio is made upon steel, which has been softened by a peculiar pro-
cess of decarbonization. The device is cut, and afterwards the
border, which is a more or less complicated scroll. The steel is then
hardened by a recarbonization, and the intaglio, technically known
as the female die, is ready for use.

The next step is to make the upper die, known as the male die or
punch. A cylinder of soft steel is pressed by a hydraulic ram upon
the intaglio engraving, and after it has been pressed into all the
depressions is slightly touched up with the graver. A cameo coun-
terpart of the intaglio is thus formed, and from these the sheet is
made up by pressing the hardened steel, upon the softer metal. The
discovery of the process of softening the steel for working and hard-
ening it for use greatly simplified the task of printing stamps, as
formerly but one pair of dies were used, owing to the cost of engrav-
ing and the practical impossibility of making by hand a number of
exactly similar devices ; and the process of printing stamps was
therefore a very slow and expensive one.

The dies are arranged in a press, each press producing a sheet of
two hundred stamps. When this sheet is ready for use it is torn in

STAMPS, STAMPED ENVELOPES, POSTAL CARDS.

375

two, the stamps furnished to postmasters coming in half sheets.
The paper is supplied by the Government daily on requisition from
the manufacturer, a careful record being kept of the amount of the
issue; and the company must return the full number of stamped
sheets that have been issued unstamped. The sheets are placed in
the press and by an ingenious device are fed to the dies and counted.

A CABINET OF STAMPS IIST TIIK THIRD ASSISTANT'S OFFICE.

The paper rests upon the female die, which alone is inked, the punch
coming down upon it and pressing the paper upon the inked surface.
The printing is true steel engraving, the process being exactly oppo-
site from that employed in printing from type, the lower surfaces
receiving the deep color and the upper one being light.

The next step is to gum the stamped sheets. This was formerly
done by hand, large brushes being used, but a more effective method
has been devised by which a roller is passed over the sheets by
machinery, applying the gum evenly over the entire surface. Great
care is taken in the preparation of this glue, as it is necessary to give

376 • THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

the sheets a coating that will not become soft and sticky through
exposure to a moist atmosphere, and still will be sufficiently adhesive
to prevent the possibility of detachment from the letters to which
they are affixed. An entire issue of three-cent stamps, those printed
in blue and bearing the figure of a locomotive, once had to be retired
because of the imperfection of the gummed surface. The cost to the
Government amounted to tens of thousands of dollars, and the incon-
venience to the public was extreme, as the stamps frequently failed
to adhere, and the letters were not sent to their destinations.

After the process of gumming is completed the sheets are placed
upon racks and dried by being pressed on a series of steam pipes.
If a single stamp is in any way mutilated, the entire sheet of 100
stamps is burned; and 500,000 are said to be burned every week
from this cause. The greatest accuracy is observed in counting the
sheets of stamps to guard against pilfering by the employees ; but
during the past twenty years not a sheet has been lost in this way.
During the process of manufacturing the sheets are counted at least
eleven times.

The last step in the manufacture is to punch the holes dividing
one stamp from another. This seems simple enough, but as a mat-
ter of fact the invention of a means by which single stamps could be
separated from a sheet gave more trouble than any other process in
their manufacture, and occasioned a lawsuit that lasted many years.
Men scarcely beyond middle life can remember the trouble and
annoyance occasioned by the old-fashioned sheets which were with-
out perforation or division of any kind. A regular part of the equip-
ment of every office and every house was a tin ruler and a pair of
shears to cut stamps from the sheet. The inconvenience of such a
process is evident, and about 1845 the English government offered a
reward for any device by which the stamps could be printed so as to
be easily divided from the sheet. A series of knives or lances cutting
through the space between the stamps was first tried, but proved
highly unsatisfactory. The stamps were liable to tear, and the
knives almost immediately became so blunted as to be practically
useless. A mechanic named Archer then presented a device con-
sisting of a number of hollow punches, with sharp edges, which
would perforate the sheets at short intervals. The post office author-
ities declared that the paper soon clogged the machine and rendered

STAMPS, STAMPED ENVELOPES, POSTAL CARDS. 377

it useless. It was neglected for a while, but finally one or two
improvements were introduced, and a defect in the paper furnished,
arising from its unequal thickness, was remedied. The perforating
machine was then found to operate perfectly, and is now in use all
over the world.

In perforating stamps for use in this country, the gummed and
dried sheets are piled up fifty thick and placed under a heavy piece
of machinery provided with many hundred punches so arranged as to
pierce the spaces between the stamps. The sheets are run through
lengthwise, and afterwards changed in position, and the cross per-
forations made. They are then ready for issue. Each sheet is
divided into two equal parts, and the stamps are delivered to the
Government. They are delivered by the million to the postage
stamp agency in Trinity Place, New York City.

It has several times been proposed to print the postage stamps at
the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington. Postmaster
General Dickinson in his time drew an amendment to the Post Office
Appropriation Bill for this purpose. The printing of the stamps and
postal cards would not be a very large enterprise in comparison with
the work now done at the Bureau. The number of sheets of postage
stamps printed per year of all kinds is 10,000,000, or about 50,000
per day. There are about 200 stamps in a sheet of the ordinary size.
It would probably take a force of seventy or eighty men and women
to do the work. If the tax on manufactured tobacco should be re-
pealed, the suspension of printing tobacco stamps at the Bureau
would leave a chance for printing the postage stamps. This work is
done on twenty hand presses and ten steam presses. One man is
employed at each press, with two women assistants on the hand
presses and one on the steam presses. This makes a force of seventy,
to which would have to be added about fifty operatives in the other
divisions of the office. About two thirds of this force, it is estimated,
would be required to print the postage stamps, not including the
postal cards. The cards would not require a large force, but would
take considerable storage room. There are obvious advantages,
according to the advocates of the scheme, in having the postage
stamps printed by the Government in Washington. It would save
to the Government whatever profit is now made by the contractors,
would permit more rapid communication between the Post Office

378

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Department and the printers, and the prompter filling of orders, and,
as it was maintained at the time, would make fraud practically im-
possible.

The postmaster at San Diego, California, tells a story about a per-
son living in that town who corresponded with his young lady ; and
she certainly was an economical young lady. The economical fea-
ture of the correspondence was that writing paper and envelopes
were dispensed with and the thoughts of the writer were put upon
the mucilage side of the postage stamp. On the lower edge of the
stamp was of course the small margin of white paper, such as is
often found on a row of stamps when several are purchased, and on
this the address was written ; and the stamp, instead of being placed
on the back of a letter, was sent on its important mission with a let-
ter on its back. It arrived at San Diego all right, and was delivered
to the person to whom it was addressed. But of the stamp crank,
a chapter later on. The other kind is more numerous than this.

The stamped envelopes are all manufactured at Hartford, Conn.,

by the contractors, the Plimpton
Manufacturing Co. and the Morgan
Envelope Co. These are made
plain, without any printing on
them, or bearing a blank return
request, or what is designated as a
special request containing a per-
son's name. The printing is done
at the factory at Hartford, in the
course of making the envelope.
All orders from postmasters for
these envelopes are sent to the
Stamp Division and forwarded to
Hartford, and the envelopes are
sent from there to the postmasters.
Reckoning the different sizes, qual-
ities, denominations and color of
paper, the Department issues sixty-
eight different kinds ; and a while
ago an order for all of these was sent for the national bureau of
the Universal Postal Union for distribution. Each nation is to be

HON. ELISHA MORGAN,
President, Morgan-Plimpton Envelope Co.

STAMPS, STAMPED ENVELOPES, POSTAL CABDS. 379

furnished with five sets of each kind of United States stamped
paper. It is a general exchange among all the nations in the
Postal Union.

The denominations in which the stamped envelopes are issued are
one, two, four and five. The five-cent ones are used entirely for
foreign correspondence. There are three different qualities of many
of the sizes ; and there are ten different sizes of envelopes besides
the newspaper wrapper, which is issued in denominations of one and
two cents. The wrappers are also made at Hartford, under the
same contract with the envelopes. This contract is let once in four
years. The contract for official, registered-package and tag envelopes
is made every year. The terms, of course, from year to year are
determined by the price of paper stock. The contract of a year ago
was for less than the present one, paper stock having advanced con-
siderably during the period.

The cost of stamped envelopes to the public is no more with
printing than without. Of course the contractor knows about the
proportion of plain and printed ones that he will be called upon to
furnish, and he takes the expense of printing into account in making
his bid. But under his bid he is to furnish whatever proportion the
Department may order of special request or blank request envelopes.
It has been argued by job printers in many parts of the country that
the Government has no right to secure the printing of these return
request envelopes by the envelope contractor at such reduced rates,
because it is in effect forming a combination and shutting out all the
aforesaid job printers from a chance to do at least a part of the work.
It is said in reply by the supporters of the present system that if the
printing were not done by the contractors the number of stamped
envelopes printed would doubtless be much smaller, and the amount
of business anyway that would go to the different printing offices
scattered throughout the country would be very small ; that they
would not recognize it when they saw it. Furthermore, the accom-
modation involved in the return request, printed without apparent
extra cost on the stamped envelope, is a great convenience to multi-
tudes of business men. In that way it is a public accommodation ;
and again it is actually found to be of immense value to the Dead
Letter Office, for evidently if the return request were printed on all
envelopes dropped into the mails no letters could ever go to the

380

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Dead Letter Office, because when they failed of delivery, they would
be returned to the senders ; and it has even been argued that
a law ought to be passed to compel all persons mailing letters
to put this request on, not in printing necessarily, but in some way
at least.

But the argument of the printers has been strong enough to pre-
vail, and in the last session of Congress the act providing for the

$P'n&$$tti{pB£m%$« €nmn\

F—

trr:

A FRAME OF STAMPED ENVELOPES.

return request on stamped envelopes was repealed. The Senate
rejected the bill, but in conference receded from its objection. So,
there is no more printing of the return request by the Government
contractors. The demand for special request envelopes is in-
creasing more rapidly than that for any other kind of stamped
paper, and there are more special request envelopes issued now than
of any other kind, even including the plain and the blank request,
which has only one line across the envelope. When the stamp
division does not specify just what kind of envelopes its orders call

STAMPS, STAMPED ENVELOPES, POSTAL CARDS. 381

for, the contractors send half plain and half blank. Most of the
large offices desire to have theirs plain, except when they order
the special request put on. Almost every business man now
uses this means of having his communication returned to him
within a stated short period, in. case it cannot be delivered to his
correspondent.

The stamp division receives the requisitions of postmasters for all
supplies of postage stamps, stamped envelopes and postal cards,
sends a regular order each day, except Sundays and holidays, to the
several agencies whence the stamp paper is distributed, directing that
the postmasters named in the orders be furnished with the supplies
specified, and charges to the account of each postmaster the value of
the stamped paper which he has thus ordered. Each requisition is
examined to make sure that the signature affixed is that of the post-
master at the place mentioned, and also to ascertain whether the
business of the office requires the supply ordered. If a postmaster
at a small office should order an unusually large supply, or a quantity
of any particular denomination of stamps larger than would ordina-
rily be required at a post office of that class, he is called upon to
explain why such supplies are required.

This precaution is necessary as a matter of ordinary business, and
also to prevent any attempts on the part of postmasters to increase
the receipts of their offices, and hence their own compensations, by
procuring matter to be mailed at their offices that should properly be
mailed elsewhere. For, while everyone has the right to buy postage
stamps and to mail his letters wherever he pleases, yet it is evidently
not a fair thing to the Department for a person doing business in a
large city, for instance, to take his postal matter to some small
suburban office to mail it, for the reason that his city office has to
receive and deliver all his incoming mail, and practically has to do
all his work, and is consequently furnished with the means with
which to do it ; consequently, the matter furnished from that office
does not lessen the expense there, but does increase the emoluments
of the smaller office at the expense of the Government. Yet it has
sometimes been found that the business of a small office is enlarged
in this way.

Several years ago a post office was established in Connecticut near
the New York State line, within a few miles of two or three other

382

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

post offices. The pay, of course, was small. Soon the postmaster
wrote to the First Assistant Postmaster General to be instructed
whether he should receive and mail any matter that might be brought
to his office. He was informed that he should not refuse to accept
any matter that was entitled to transmission in the mails. A little
later a firm in New York City wrote to inquire if, under the Postal
Laws and Regulations, they had a right to mail their letters and other

SPECIMENS OF STAMPED ENVELOPES.

postal matter where they pleased. This query was replied to in the
affirmative. The connection between these two inquiries became
apparent soon after when the postmaster at the little Connecticut
office began to order extraordinary quantities of stamps and to mail
extraordinary quantities of matter ; and it was soon developed that
the New York firm, who were the sons of the Connecticut postmaster,
expressed their matter to his office in order that the old gentleman
might increase his compensation from almost nothing to $250 a

STAMPS, STAMPED ENVELOPES, POSTAL CARDS. 383

quarter. The postmaster was removed ; and it was then that this
order was issued :

" Every postmaster at a fourth class office is forbidden on pain of removal to
solicit from any person residing or doing business within the delivery of another
post office, or from any agent of such person, the deposit for mailing at his office
of any mail matter, or to enter into any agreement or to have any understanding
with any person whatever whereby either for or without consideration matter to
be sent through the mails is procured to be mailed at the office of such post-
masters."

A sharp, desperate game was tried several years ago by a post-
master at a small mountain town in the South. He began to order
unusually large numbers of stamps, notably of the higher denomina-
tions. When called upon for an explanation of the sudden increase
of postal business at his office he built, on paper, a bustling business
community, enumerated the number of families, manufactured a
great shop that sent out many packages of merchandise by registered
mail, and described the nourishing academy on the main street,
whose students corresponded very extensively. It was all a pure
fiction, of course. The nourishing town was a dozen deserted shan-
ties. There was no shop at all, and the seminary building was a
sheepfold. The postmaster was arrested, but he escaped from his
captors by jumping from a fast-moving railroad train.

An interesting case was brought to light .not long ago in the
neighborhood of New York City. It appeared that some enterpris-
ing burglar who entered a small post office near the metropolis had
carelessly thrown away a package of newspapers which they found
in the safe. They evidently considered it worthless ; but it contained
all the. postmaster's stamps, and they were worth ten thousand dol-
lars ! Evidently there were so many of them that if the patrons of
the post office in question had spent all their time writing letters
they could not have used so many stamps. This incident caused
inquiry to be made at the New York post office. It was explained
that the amount of this business of " booming " local sales is not to
be gauged by the amount of stamp sales, because there is a consump-
tion of stamps for mails sent out from that city to the value of at
least $3,000,000 per year from stamps that were not sold in the city, but
which reached consumers through other means. A great many buyers
send pay to business houses in New York for goods in stamps ; and
it was said that a good number of houses receive stamps yearly to the

384 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

amount of $50,000 in payment for goods. Many houses receive
more stamps than they can possibly use in their own mailings,
and dispose of them to brokers at a discount, the brokers in turn
peddling them out to other merchants at about three per cent, below
their face value.

There is no law effectually to reach sales of this kind, and even
if there were, its operation could not be far-reaching, because such
sales do not cut an important figure in the postage business. The
receipts of stamps in payment for goods is an important matter, how-
ever, and adding them to tho stamps brought to the city by merchants
who purchase out of town to help the local postmasters, and stamps
brought to the city by visitors who send out letters from New York,
there is an aggregate of at least $3,000,000 in stamps that go through
the New York post office which have been purchased elsewhere and
for which the New York office gets no credit whatever.

Some say, therefore, that the Post Office Department does the
New York post office an injustice by basing its allowance for ex-
penses on the stamp sales. The yearly receipts at the New York
office amount to about $7,000,000. This, of course, is a larger busi-
ness than is done anywhere else, but it is said that if the office were
paid according to the number of stamps that must pass through it
attached to letters, representing out-of-town as well as local pur-
chasers, the year's business at the New York office would amount to
$10,000,000. The New York postal authorities would be very grate-
ful to anyone who might devise a way by which the business naturally
belonging to the New York office would be turned in there. They
confess their inability to see how any law can prevent a merchant
from buying stamps where he pleases, and if he happens to live in
the suburbs and wishes to help a friend by making his purchases of
him, there is nothing that can stop him, unless it be discovered that
his friend is also favoring him by letting him have stamps at a dis-
count. It is regarded also as practically impossible to prevent people
from sending stamps to merchants in payment for goods, and, of
course, there is no way of regulating the use of stamps which visitors
to the city may have bought elsewhere.

The present contract for stamped envelopes is very advantageous
to the Department. The bids amounted to $755,276, being
$85,720, or 10.3 per cent, less than the cost of corresponding num-

STAMPS, STAMPED ENVELOPES, POSTAL CARDS. 385

foers and kinds at the prices in the contract made in 1886. With an
allowance of an annual increase of 12 per cent, in the quantities to
be required, the reduction in cost for the four years of the contract
term amounts to over $450,000, as compared with the previous
contract. The United States is by far the largest consumer of
stamped envelopes of all nations in the world. Upward of
500,000,000 are used in an average year. In England, Germany,
France, Russia, and Austria combined the number furnished in 1888
was only a little more than 70,000,000, or about one seventh of the
quantity used in this country.

The attention of the Department is now and then called to the
importance of a better system of checking at the envelope factory at
Hartford, so that it may be absolutely certain that no stamped
envelopes escape. There is a Government agent there, but he is not
supposed to know about the condition of the stock of envelopes
until it actually comes into his custody. He knows how many
stamped envelopes he receives, and what he does with them ; but
whether any are lost in the process of manufacture before they come
to him he cannot determine, and really that is not his affair. The
envelopes are counted automatically as thej^ come out of the
machine, counted and banded in packages of twenty-five, and then
put up inside of boxes holding 250 or 500 of the ordinary letter
size. So, probably, all that he takes account of is the number of boxes.
It would be difficult for anyone after stealing stamped envelopes
to dispose of them, supposing that he could take enough to make it
amount to anything. Within two years it has been necessary
for the contractors to enlarge their factory materially, and while
they were doing it a portion of the building was torn away. They
employed a watchman to be on guard there all the while, but
after the work was completed it was found that somebody in Hart-
ford was offering stamped envelopes for sale at a discount. The
matter was investigated immediately, and the theft was traced to a
watchman. The Department recovered nearly all the envelopes that
were stolen, and the contractors paid the postage value of all that
were not recovered.

The postal cards are all manufactured at Birmingham, Conn. Mr.
Albert Daggett is the contractor and Wilkinson Brothers are the
manufacturers of the paper. The postal card agency at Birmingham.

386

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

is the main source of supply. There are two sub-agencies, one at
Chicago and another at St. Louis, to which the postal cards are
shipped, as freight, for distribution. All orders come to the Stamp

Division and the agencies are
directed to send the cards out.
From Birmingham, New England,
New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl-
vania, Delaware, and all the South-
ern States east of the Mississippi
River, except Kentucky, are sup-
plied. St. Louis supplies the states
west of the Mississippi and south
of Iowa and Nebraska. Colorado
and California are supplied from
Chicago ; and all the Northwest,
and Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and
Michigan get their supplies from
Chicago. A postal sub-agency is
about to be established at Wash-
ington for the better supply of the
South. At each of these cities the
postmaster acts as sub-agent and
has such clerical help as may be
necessary ; and he is allowed clerk hire for them.

There are three sizes issued, A, B and C, and also a two-cent
international card and the new reply postal card, now so rapidly
coming into general use. The big card is popular, but it costs
the Government more to furnish it, and its tendency is to lessen
the correspondence at letter rates and increase it at postal card
rates. The Postmaster General's idea was, however, that the more
space the people have to write on for one cent the nearer they
come to one-cent postage. Business men find the card very useful
in sending out announcements. Its size is different from anything
else that goes in the mail, and one card tied alone in a big bunch of
mail matter gets jammed and broken. That was one reason why the
conference of inspectors recommended that stamped envelopes be fur-
nished without including the cost of the envelope — - so that mail
matter would be more uniform in size and therefore easier to handle.

MR. ALBERT DAGGETT,
Postal Card Contractor.

STAMPS, STAMPED ENVELOPES, POSTAL CARDS. 387

The B, or ordinary, cards cost the Department 35 cents a thou-
sand, the A cards 37 cents, and the C cards 50 cents. In the present
contract for the ordinary cards the price is about one third cheaper
than in the old one, the average price of the cards being about 9
cents a pound in the former contract, and 6 cents a pound in the
present one. The estimated number of cards required during the
four years of the contract term is 2,000,000,000, at a cost of about
$800,000, and the reduction in cost for the four years will amount to
fully $150,000, as compared with the prices in the old contract. The
postage on the estimated quantity of cards being called for during
these four years is $20,000,000. The contract requires nearly 7,000
tons of paper, or an average of six tons for each working day. Postal
cards were first introduced into this country in 1873, and the issue
for the first year was about 100,000,000 cards. The contract price
was then $1.30 J a thousand cards, or about three and a half times
the average price in the present contract.

The postal card factory of ex-Senator Daggett is at Shelton, Con-
necticut, which is only three miles from Birmingham, Ansonia and
Derby, a celebrated manufacturing neighborhood, in which every-
thing from a pin to a piano is made. The postal card factory is on
the opposite side of the canal from the Derby paper mills of the
Wilkinson Brothers. They supply the paper for the old, or medium
sized card, and for the new manilla card, commonly called the big
card. The paper for the small, or ladies' card is made by the Whit-
ing Paper Co., of Holyoke, of which Hon. William Whiting, a former
member of Congress from Massachusetts, is president.

The plates from which the postal cards are made are of steel, and
are produced from a die engraved at the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing. The plates are made by rolling this die on soft steel plates,
which are afterwards hardened and carefully gone over by an ex-
perienced engraver. The time consumed in engraving one of these
dies is about three months. The paper is received at the factory on
small, four-wheeled trucks, four thousand sheets to a truck of the
old card, and three thousand sheets of the new. The former lot
weighs 2,112 pounds, and the latter 2,700 pounds. The cards are
first printed on the Whitlock two-revolution press, which is also
made in Shelton. These presses print 100 cards at each im-
pression, of the ladies' size and of the old cards, so called, and 64 of

388

THE STORY OF OTJE, POST OFFICE.

the big card ; and they all print in 10 hours 10,000 sheets of postal
cards, or 1,000,000 of the small and medium size, and 640,000 of the
large size. This is the largest number of postal cards ever printed
on one press ; for, before the term of the present contract began,
twenty-four cards only had been made at one impression. In one of
the rushes of business which sometimes occur these wonderful presses
are run twenty-three out of the twenty-four hours for fifteen con-
secutive days without a skip or a break.

THE POSTAL CARD FACTORY AT SHELTON, CONN.

It happens not infrequently that one of these busy times occurs.
Two or more big orders will come in in a single day sometimes.
Once an order came from St. Louis for 10,000,000 and another from
Chicago on the same day for 25,000,000. It took four freight cars
to carry these cards away ; but there were enough on hand to fill
both orders. The vault at the factory holds 125,000,000 cards, all
packed in boxes, and the contract requires that 20,000,000 shall be
constantly stored there. When these orders for 35,000,000 cards
came, the contractor had on hand fully 50,000,000.

The paper for the small card is made of rags and sulphide wood

STAMPS, STAMPED ENVELOPES, POSTAL CARDS.

389

pulp in equal proportions. The old card is printed on the finest
wood paper. The big card is made of a fine manilla paper manufac-
tured from jute butts. After the cards are printed, they are dried
carefully so as not to print on the backs, and are put through two
machines, which cut the sheets into strips of ten cards each, and
then cross-cut these sheets into single cards. The slitter, as it is
called, is run by two persons, one of whom feeds the machine ; and
the other carries the strip, when cut, to the cross-cutters. One

THE POSTAL CARD FACTORY AT SHELTON, AGAlN.

slitter cuts enough strips to supply three cross cutter machines. The
cross cutters, are run by a "feeder," and three "helpers," or
"banders." As the strips are fed through these cross cutters, the
cards are cut exactly in the shape in which the purchaser finds them,
and dropped into ten little compartments at the rear of the machines,
and in front of the bandery. When 25 strips have passed through
the machine, the wheel, on which there are four rows of these little
compartments, makes a quarter turn and presents the cards to the
banders in packages of 25, so that they may affix the gum band
which is to retain them in their place. At the same time one of the

390 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

hands examines the cards for spoiled ones, while another counts the
packages to see that no mistake has been made by the feeders.
The cards are then stacked up in piles of twenty packs, which are in
turn placed in small pasteboard boxes containing 500 cards each.
The pasteboard boxes are then packed in strong wooden cases (of
which about five carloads a month are used), in two, five and twenty-
five thousand lots, all ready for shipment.

The paper for the C, or big card, is jute, and its manufacture is a
long and difficult process. It is done by tearing apart the bales
(which contain about 400 pounds pressed very tightly together).
It is then passed through cutting machines and a picker, to cleanse
it from bark, pith and other dirt. From the picker, or duster, it is
packed in rotary iron or steel boilers and treated with a solution of
lime, when it is subjected to steam pressure for a number of hours,
which softens the harsh nature of the raw jute. It is then placed in
a washing machine, designed especially for this work, where it is
thoroughly cleansed of all lime and other impurities. The stock is
then of a reddish brown color, and is treated to a bath of chloride of
lime, sufficiently strong to bleach it to the shade seen in the card.
Then it is thrown into beating engines, where the fibres are slowly
and continuously, for several hours, passed between dull knives,
until the fibres are reduced to a degree of fineness so thorough as to
admit of their being thoroughly interlaced into the woven sheet,
which is accomplished by passing the pulpy mass over finely woven
wire cloth, thence through rolls to free it of water, and thence
through dryers, heated by steam, to remove all moisture. After this
process it is put through calendar rolls, which give it the even and
smooth finish which appears in the finished card. The manufacture
of the paper is now complete, and after being cut into sheets of the
desired size, it is ready to go to the printing presses.

The paper used in the regular or B card, which has been the one
used ever since the Government first adopted postal cards, is com-
posed entirely of wood fibre made from spruce and poplar reduced
to pulp from the logs, after the bark has been removed, by cutting
it into small chips. The machine which cuts up the logs is a most
wonderful one. A log is put into the hopper of the machine and
is cut into chips in the time it takes a man to lift another one from
the pile and throw it into the hopper, — but a few seconds. The

STAMPS, STAMPED ENVELOPES, POSTAL CARDS. 391

logs are four feet long and from five to ten inches in diameter.
The chips are about an inch long and a quarter of an inch thick.
They are placed in a bronze digester, and treated with sulphur-
ous acid and subjected to steam pressure, which thoroughly dis-
integrates the fibre and leaves it in a pulpy mass ready for the same
process of manufacture into paper as is used in the case of the C
card. The material used in the paper for card A is white linen rags.

CUTTING POSTAL, CARDS IN STRIPS.

The process used to convert them into paper is about the same as in
the other cases.

There was complaint at one time that the big card would not
copy ; that is, that a good impression could not be taken of any
writing put upon it, and this, though the material from which it is
made was a strong, hard, firm paper. But any paper will absorb
common writing ink. It is likely that the Department, in selecting
the kind of paper to be used, did not consider that it would be used
for copying. But if the experiment is tried with good copying ink,
and if care is taken, the result is always satisfactory. There is nothing
harder than to make the postal card paper of just the proper texture.

392 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

The mania for the collection of cards is nothing like that for the
collection of stamps, but people frequently try to see how much they
can write on the back of one. President Cleveland's latest message
contained 15,000 words. Yet a man in Belfast, Maine, put it all on
the back of an ordinary postal card, with a steel pen and ink, each,
letter, as seen through a microscope, being beautifully formed.
Moreover, a border three eighths of an inch, wide was left around
the card, representing a string of beads, 52 in number, each three
sixteenths of an inch in diameter, and containing the Lord's Prayer I
and 4,000 words were put into this border. The man was 77 years
old, and insisted that he could get 18,000 words on a postal card.
It took him 45 days to write this one.

The Stamp Division manages the very important matter of the
issue, distribution and collection of newspaper and periodical stamps,
which, as may be inferred, are used in the collection and payment of
postage on second class matter mailed at the pound rate. Of these
there are a great many denominations — from one cent up to sixty
dollars. They are arranged in such denominations as will be mul-
tiples, and will enable postmasters, by making combinations of them,
to represent any amount of postage. In one sense these stamps are
never used at all ; that is, the public never uses them. The pub-
lisher is always required to pay the amount of postage due when he
sends his papers to be mailed. The postmaster is required to give
him a receipt for it and to affix to the stub of that receipt stamps
representing the exact amount paid.

The method of attending to this business has been somewhat
improved lately. Originally, a receipt book with stubs was fur-
nished to each postmaster, and he filled out a receipt and gave it to
the publishers, and attached to the stub the proper amount of stamps ;
and at the end of the quarter he was required to send these stubs,
with his statement of postage collected during the quarter, to the
Stamp Division. There the statement was examined and the stamps
on the stubs counted to see that the postmaster had affixed the proper
amount and canceled them. Now the Stamp Division sends the
larger offices manifold receipt books, made in sets of three sheets.
The postmaster puts carbon paper under two of the sheets and writes
the receipt on the first. That, of course, gives an exact copy on the
other two, one of which he is to retain in his office as a record, so

STAMPS, STAMPED ENVELOPES, POSTAL CARDS. 393

that when an inspector examines the office and looks into the trans-
action of second class business, there will be something which he
may consult. (Then, if he wishes, he may compare that record with
the original receipts held by the publisher.) The third copy, to
which the stamps are affixed, the postmaster sends now to the Stamp
Division, in order that it may be known what amount of postage he
has collected. After the stamps are counted they are all destroyed,
as rapidly as the clerks can count them. During the first month of
a quarter they rarely do this, there is so much other work on hand.

The present system operates as a check on the postmaster, because
it leaves him no chance to make a receipt to the publisher for an
amount different from that entered on the stub. In the old way, for
instance, he could have given the publisher a receipt for five hundred
pounds, and could enter on his stub two hundred and fifty, and affix
the stamps accordingly. Then, too, under the old method he had
no complete record in his office ; so that inspectors, when they called,
were at a loss. At a big office like New York, where they must do
things systematically, a record would be kept ; but a great many post-
masters did not keep systematic records, and had nothing from which
an inspector could ascertain the amount of business actually done.
The new method is of further advantage because it enables the post-
master to keep, without any trouble, a complete record always on file
in his office. He gets a fac-simile of the receipt which he gives to
the publisher, without any extra work. Before, he had to fill out a
receipt separately.

The larger newspapers keep a sum of money on deposit at their
post offices to draw to for the payment of their newspaper postage
bills. The postage for the day is figured up according to the weight
of the package, and the stamps to the extent of the postage are then
selected. None of these stamps are ever sold, so that even if one
passed into dishonest hands it would be of little use, for it is not a
legal tender and could not be used for postal purposes. But a
woman who had the craze for stamp collecting called at the Bangor
post office recently and said she wanted to buy " some of the stamps
which are canceled when postage is paid on regular publications."
It is against the rule to sell these stamps, and the woman's remark
led to an investigation by an inspector. As they were never allowed
to go from the office, they were naturally of great value to collectors.

394 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

The inspector found that the book had been taken by an employee,
who believed it to be of no use. He sold them and found eager cus-
tomers. But whatever ones he had on hand he cheerfully gave to
the inspector who called on him.

It is believed by many that there used to be considerable collusion
between the business offices of newspapers and the second class matter
clerks in post offices ; but now there is hardly any. The amount of
revenue from second class matter to be expected in a given year or
month from a given office is regular. It is known at the Stamp
Division what the average increase is, and any marked falling off
during any particular quarter would at once excite suspicion. The
long and short of it is, however, that the postmaster has to be
trusted. Some have contended that a stamp of small denomination
should have been adopted at the beginning, so that it could be affixed
to the bundle of papers when they were mailed ; and that would have
been the end of it, as with other stamps. An objection would be, of
course, that it would be a great source of annoyance to publishers ;
and it would require a great many stamps of small denominations,
down to fractions of a cent even. Most likely a departure like this
could never be made.

In the annual report of the Postmaster General there is always
printed a table, giving the weights and postages collected on second
class matter, at offices which send out 40,000,000 pounds, collect
over $400,000, and earn over 23 per cent, of the amount collected in
the United States for second class matter, as at New York, all
the way down to Meriden, Conn., which sends out twelve or thirteen
thousand pounds annually, collects perhaps $125, and contributes
1/100 of one per cent, to the revenue from this source.

It is frequently contended that large newspapers, which receive a
great many more stamps than they have any direct use for, should
have the privilege of exchanging these for stamps of large denomina-
tions at the post offices, rather than sell their surplus at a discount to
some dealer. The Third Assistant Postmaster General would say
that such a change would seem to be improper ; that instead of
enlarging the opportunities now afforded for the use of stamps as cur-
rency, which the change suggested would do, they should be abridged,
if possible. Moreover, if this change were made, there could con-
sistently be no sufficient reason urged against extending the change

STAMPS, STAMPED ENVELOPES, POSTAL CARDS. 395

so as to make large denominations of stamps receivable for postage
due and special delivery purposes, or for the payment of any kind of
postage, or, in other words, of having them made exchangeable for
other ordinary stamps of any convenient denomination — a practice
that would doubtless be advocated, but which would be unquestion-
ably inexpedient.

It costs the Post Office Department, as a careful estimate made by
Postmaster General Wanamaker has set forth, from $12,000,000 to
$15,000,000 as a dead loss annually to transport newspapers in the
mails. But though he has pointed this out, he has also tried to im-
press upon Congress and the country, as far as he could, the still
more striking fact that, if the Department could secure credit for the
free work that it does for the other executive departments, the pos-
tal deficit would not only disappear at once, but there would actually
be a surplus ; and he has even gone so far as to suggest that with
these logical and right changes the privileges already accorded to
the newspapers (which he has argued are right, because it is the in-
tention of the Department to disseminate intelligence in every pos-
sible way) might be extended even to the free carriage of papers
altogether.

The special delivery stamp is of particular design, to be used only
for the purpose of securing the special delivery of a letter, and it is
made of this different form and larger than others so as to attract
this instant attention, and so that any person handling it, no matter
how hastily, will discover this purpose. Yet the question is often
repeated, why it would not do to put on the same value of two-cent
stamps. This would not answer the purpose ; they would not clearly
show that they were put on in order to secure special delivery,
and they would not attract particular attention, either. A ten-cent
special delivery stamp on a letter, as one writer has said, is supposed
to keep it in constant motion from the time the letter is deposited
until it is delivered. There is liable to be a little delay in starting a
letter when it is deposited in a letter box instead of a post office, but
everything must make way for special delivery letters after they once
get into the vicinity of a mail bag. The clerk hustles them out with
the first mail leaving the office and puts them on the outside of pack-
ages, or in a bundle by themselves, so that the next employee may see
them in an instant. If the special delivery stamp is put on a pack-

396 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

age of second, third, or fourth class matter, it has to be treated in a
first class manner — that is, it goes into a pouch instead of a sack,
and is pushed through just as rapidly as a letter bearing the same
stamp.

Two years ago over two and a half millions of pieces of mail were
sent by special delivery, and the average time consumed in the
delivery of each, after it reached the post office of the addressee, was
only twenty minutes. That same year the number of pieces delivered
was nearly one third more than the average for the four years
previous. The messengers are paid by the piece, so that the larger
the number of letters the better the wages. At some offices where
substitute carriers are awaiting vacancies they are employed on the
special delivery service. In Boston three times as many special
delivery letters were delivered in August of 1890 as were delivered
in August of 1886, and in Baltimore almost a similar increase has
been shown.

There had been some complaint about the special delivery service
at the Chicago office. An improvement ingeniously contrived was
a mechanical carrier device, similar to the cash systems in use in
large mercantile establishments, by which all special delivery mail
was to be whisked across from the receiving to the recording division.
This saved considerable time, but did not overcome the delay of
entering the letters in the messenger's delivery book. Then a plan
was suggested which it was thought would completely do away
with the delay of carrying special delivery mail from the depots to the
office, and of handling and recording it there. Upon eight of
the railway post office trains arriving daily at Chicago, clerks from
the Chicago post office distribute and " route " mail directly to the
carriers. These clerks could, in a few minutes each trip, enter the
special delivery mail in the delivery books of the messengers, hand
the mail and the books directly to the messengers at the depots;
and they in turn could immediately make their deliveries, and the
records in the office could be made up from the delivery books after
they were returned.

Another suggestion is that the special delivery be supplemented
by a plan for return messages. A person who puts ten cents extra
on a letter to insure immediate delivery, would, it is presumed, feel
equal to the payment of another dime to hear from his specially

STAMPS, STAMPED ENVELOPES, POSTAL CARDS. 397

delivered message without delay. So it is proposed that the sender
of a special delivery letter may put with it a return envelope, with
another special delivery stamp upon it, addressed to himself. The
messenger takes the letter and the return envelope, waits five
minutes for an answer to be written, and then delivers it at the
return address before coming back to the office. The stamps on
the return envelope are to be canceled before the messenger starts
on the trip. If there should be no answer, or if the person to whom
the letter is sent is not at home, the sender would, of course, lose his
extra dime, unless, of course, this fact is the very information he is
after. But here the special delivery service would again come in
contact with the district messenger service, and that would be a
serious thing. Some postmasters have hesitated to encourage it,
because it so interferes. Some have employed district messenger
boys. But most of the postmasters understand that it is a valuable
facility which the public is willing to pay for, and they have
accordingly encouraged it. The only forcible objection to the system,
as has been many times pointed out, is that it does not work
well on Sundays, as the post offices are not required to make Sun-
day deliveries. All postmasters are allowed to fix Sunday hours for
their offices, and some choose to make deliveries of special stamp
letters ; but the rule of the Department has been to ease Sun-
day work for men already overworked. The public probably
sympathizes with this practice ; and there can be no charge of indi-
rection made against the Department, as all who use the special
delivery stamp know that post offices are only opened on Sunday for
general deliveries and that no street deliveries are made.

The folded letter sheets are furnished by the Postal Card Company
of New York. They are supplied at the stamp agencies, but it is a
small business, and the demand for this class of stamped paper is
decreasing. Many think it had better go out of use altogether. The
sheets are furnished only to Presidential offices. They were first
tried during the War, as it was thought they would be useful to the
soldiers for paper and envelope together ; but it was found later that
there was no demand for them, and they were discontinued. The
second demand arose mostly from persons who had a letter sheet
envelope for introduction. None of the big concerns or old con-
tractors even bid on them. The cost is $23 a thousand. The postage

398 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

would be $20 ; that is, $3 a thousand is for the sheets. That is the
price which is charged to postmasters. They are issued only in two
cent denominations, and there is only one kind of them. Twenty
per cent, less were issued this year than last. Business men use
them but little, if at all.

Official envelopes are the kind used by the Department, by the
postmasters, and by all postal officials, or deputies of officials, for
their official correspondence. The free registered package is similarly
used tor registered letters. The Morgan Company has the present
contract for these, but the year previous it was secured by White,
Corbin & Co., of Rockville, Conn., — but the Morgan Envelope Co.
made the envelopes. The Post Office Department has nothing to do
with the official envelopes of the other departments.

There has always been more or less discussion of the supposed
abuse of the penalty envelope. The Department formerly had
stamps, which were used in order that the Department might get
credit for the matter which it was obliged to carry, and which it
carried under the old arrangement for nothing and without having
anything to show for what it did. When the stamps were used, the
Post Office Department provided all the other departments with
stamps and kept a record of them. Now each department provides
itself with envelopes. A report was made in Congress a few years
ago upon the abuse of the franking privilege. It was brought out
that there were many hundreds of officials and clerks who could use
stamps ; and having got them, these people would, of course, use
them for much of their correspondence.

A ruling of the Third Assistant Postmaster General is that in-
dented or perforated sheets of paper containing characters which can
be read by the blind are first class matter if they contain actual per-
sonal correspondence, and that otherwise they are mailable at the
third class rate. This means that the correspondence of the blind,
bulky as it necessarily is, is treated like matter sent for any other
class of persons. In fact, any class distinctions have always been
objected to by the Department. It is well known that the fear of
being charged double and treble the ordinary rates compels the blind
to make their letters as short as possible, and it is argued that they
ask for no discrimination in their favor on such matter as they are
able to send in the ordinary form, which includes type-written and

STAMPS, STAMPED ENVELOPES, POSTAL CABDS. 399

pen- written letters. It is when they are obliged to put the same
matter in an embossed system, either because they cannot afford a
typewriter, or because the person addressed is blind and can only
read the embossed letter, that they ask to have the same matter go
at practically the same rate. The whole number of blind persons in
the United States is about 60,000 ; and it is contended, furthermore,
that the amount of mail matter sent by them at letter rates would
be almost infinitesimal as compared with that sent by the seeing ; and,
therefore, the cost of transportation and delivery could not be per-
ceptibly increased. The blind complain of another difficulty. Their
letters, being written on embossed paper, are rolled up and wrapped
like a newspaper for the better protection of the pages, and open at
both ends. Though they pay the first class rate of postage, their
letters are apt to be treated as second class matter. These, accor-
dingly, sometimes lie over with newspapers and packages in a rush,
and the delay causes not only inconvenience, but disappointment and
loss. But the chief foreign countries take this view that the per-
sonal correspondence of the blind is first class, and, as has been
stated, it is feared that the favor asked for them would be sought by
many other classes.

DISTKIBUTING STAMPS; HANDLING EEGISTEES.

OSTMASTERS are required to make requisition for all

the supplies of stamped paper needed at their offices

er j^r of the Third Assistant Postmaster General. The

requisitions all come to the Stamp Division, are

arranged alphabetically, examined and compared with
the books of the Department to see if the person
S/^ who signs the requisition is postmaster, and to find the
amount of his bond and the amount of stamps furnished
him during the preceding quarter. Every requisition has to go
through this examination; or the clerks have only the signer's
word for it that he is postmaster.

The first of a quarter the division receives several thousand
requisitions every day. From about the 5th of July, say, the Stamp
Division files requisitions from 1,200 postmasters a day, and this
process continues for about twenty days. On 1,200 requisitions
from postmasters the clerks probably fill 1,100 for stamps 1,000 for
postal cards, 600 for stamped envelopes and 800 or 900 for special
request envelopes. In addition to these are orders for postage due
and newspaper and periodical stamps; so that, including all kinds
of paper, they fill some days more than 4,000 requisitions. Blanks
are furnished the postmasters, on which they order, on one blank,
all the ordinary stamps, postal cards and ordinary stamped envelopes
wanted ; and on other blanks they order special request envelopes,
postage due stamps and newspaper and periodical stamps. The
division sends seven orders a day to the several postal agencies,
giving the names of postmasters, offices, counties and states, one
order for ordinary and special delivery stamps, one for postage due,
one for newspaper and periodical stamps, one for letter sheet
envelopes, one for ordinary and one for special request envelopes,
and one to each of the postal card agencies. All of the stamps and

400

DISTRIBUTING STAMPS; HANDLING REGISTERS. 401

letter sheets are distributed from New York, all the envelopes from
Hartford, and the postal cards from the agencies.

There are forty-seven clerks in the Stamp Division continually
employed on this work, not including the chief and eight laborers
and messengers. The work of counting newspaper and periodical
stamps which are returned, and of redeeming damaged stamps and
envelopes spoiled by misdirection, occupies the time of several men.
At the first of the quarter it takes all the available force to fill the
postmasters' orders. When this rush is over, all the available force
is put to the work of counting and redeeming the stubs of receipts.
It is impossible, with the present force, to keep up with the requisi-
tions at the first of a quarter, although they never wait more than a
few days. The messengers are instructed, when they open the
requisitions, to separate those of all the large offices (that is, the
offices that order more than a hundred dollars' worth), and these are
filled immediately; and the smaller ones go out as rapidly as possi-
ble. There is never any serious delay.

Postmasters rarely anticipate the end of the quarter, and many
persist in ordering on the first of the quarter when there is no need
whatever. The Stamp Division discourages the practice of order-
ing on even quarters as much as possible, in order to have the work
more generally distributed. The largest offices do not order so
much on the first of a quarter. They order every month. New
York orders a little over $ 300, 000 worth of stamps every month, and
over 4,000,000 postal cards a month. The postmaster's bond is
$ 600, 000, and he probably has on hand always a greater amount of
Government property than he gives bond for. He deposits his
money often, of course, but the New York office carries in stock
always over $500,000 worth of stamped paper. The stamp and
envelope agencies do not have any extra people to put on for a great
rush of work at the beginnings of quarters, but they rarely fall
behind more than a few days. The contractors put their goods in
boxes and cases ready for shipment, and the force at the stamp
agency does the rest, making out the receipts and writing the labels
for the packages. The stamps are sent out to postmasters by regis-
tered mail, as the envelopes and postal cards are, except that postal
cards for Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Cincinnati are sup-
plied by freight. To all of the postal card sub-agencies shipments

402 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

are made by freight. New York requires a car load of postal cards
every thirty days.

The distribution of these valuable supplies is such an intricate
and immense business that it takes considerable time to complete an
order. A nearby postmaster, say, makes a requisition. It reaches
the Third Assistant's office the next morning, and the Stamp
Division by noontime. All of the requisitions received at the
Stamp Division before one o'clock are put in the order arranged for
that day. The orders are first arranged alphabetically, so that the
transcriptions to the order sheets for the agencies and also to the
ledgers (both of which are arranged alphabetically) can be arranged
more easily. The clerks have so many requisitions to examine every
day that it is impossible for them to notice the names of the post-
masters making them sufficiently to enable them to become familiar
with the names to an extent that would help them in searching the
ledger — though they know without any hesitation, of course, that
Van Cott is postmaster at New York, and McKean at Pittsburg,
and Harlow at St. Louis, and Wills at Nashville, and Backus at
San Francisco, and so on. In some quarters (for instance, the third
and fourth quarters of last year), it is impossible to do all the work
without ordering the force back at night, for this work of issuing
the stamped paper must be kept up with. And the work of redeem-
ing stamped paper must be kept up ; all that is received during the
quarter must be counted and properly allowed during that quarter.
All the receipts that come in for stamped paper issued have to be
alphabetized and entered on the impression books, and then turned
over to the Auditor's office, before the close of the quarter.

The only work that can possibly be let go, no matter what the
rush may be, is the work of examining stubs. In some quarters
the clerks are utterly unable to do it. All postmasters at whose
offices second-class publications are mailed are required to submit
quarterly statements of their collections of postage on that matter,
and with that quarterly statement, as has been said, to send
their stubs of receipts, with stamps affixed and cancelled, represent-
ing the exact amount of postage collected. Those are all examined,
with the stubs, and then counted and destroyed, and the amount is
posted; and there are between seven and eight thousand offices at
which second class publications are mailed. Thus far these state-

DISTRIBUTING STAMPS; HANDLING REGISTERS.

403

ments have all been compared by the Stamp Division clerks, but
it is getting to be impossible to do it. If a postmaster has not
affixed the proper amount of stamps, he is called upon- for the defi-
ciency. Every few days a bundle of from fifty to a hundred reports
are received from inspectors of offices which they have visited in the
natural course of business. A special inspection is requested in
case any dishonesty is discovered or suspected; but the chance for

WHERE RETURNED STAMPS ARE STEAMED, COUNTED AND DESTROYED.

this discovery or suspicion is small, because the clerks could not
recall continual mistakes on the part of one postmaster, and probably
a different clerk would examine the postmaster's receipts each quar-
ter. If the statement appears to be correct, and the stubs of receipts
correspond, there would be nothing to excite suspicion unless there
has been a material falling off in the amount of postage collected at
the office in question during the quarter.

It is not understood by all that stamped envelopes spoiled by mis-
direction or by mistakes, or rendered useless by changes in firm

404 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

names, addresses, etc., may be redeemed, upon presentation at the
post office within the delivery of which the misdirection or the mis-
take or change occurred, at their postage value in postage stamps,
if presented in substantially a whole condition. But stamps cut or
torn from stamped envelopes are neither receivable in paying postage
nor redeemable. This is in order to prevent the redemption of
envelopes that may have passed through the mails without cancella-
tions of the stamps. For this same reason stamps cut from
stamped envelopes uncancelled cannot be affixed to letters in pay-
ment of postage, and letters so mailed are held for postage. Where
stamps are damaged in the hands of postmasters, or stamped envelopes
have been spoiled as just described, they are all sent to the Stamp
Division each quarter. These have to be counted, and then a notice
of credit of the amount is sent to the postmaster and a credit sheet
made up for the Auditor, authorizing the Auditor's office to credit
each postmaster with such an amount. New York sends in about
forty large boxes full of stamped envelopes every quarter, contain-
ing about 400,000, due principally to misdirections and changes of
firm names, and about the same quantity is received from Chicago:
for the larger the city the larger the business.

In a hot month the Stamp Division receives nearly a hundred
packages a day of damaged stamps. During the winter, in the cold,
dry weather, there are very few received, not any more in a month
than are received in summer in a day. The damaged stamps come
mostly from the South and Southwest, because the climate is hotter
and damper. They are nearly all twos, and batches vary from a few
dollars' worth to several hundred dollars' worth. They all have to
be counted. Most of them arrive solid, and have to be put in hot
water and steamed apart in the first place. If they all come out in
full sheets they are very readily counted; but the worst work is
when the postmaster keeps his stamps he knows not how, and the
playful cockroach riots among them and eats the mucilage off, and
a few stick together, and a few tear, and he sends several hundred
in, all separate and loose. Then each individual stamp has to
be handled and counted. After they are counted, they are all
destroyed. The stamps that are returned during hot weather are
not damaged through the carelessness of the postmaster. It is the
state of the atmosphere, for often they adhere when placed in vaults.

DISTRIBUTING STAMPS; HANDLING REGISTERS.

405

The question has been studied how to find a mucilage that will not
be affected by atmospheric changes ; for this business causes a great
deal of annoyance to the public also. A man buys ten, twenty,
twenty-five stamps, and puts them in his pocket. They stick
together. He takes them back to the postmaster and wants him to
redeem them, and is told that the regulations don't allow it. He

DESTROYING RETURNED STAMPED ENVELOPES.

cannot send them to the Department and have them redeemed, either.
He may, however, dampen them and tear them apart, and then put
mucilage on them again.

To allow the postmaster to redeem unused stamps would be in
effect to make them currency. All business houses who advertise
extensively receive immense numbers of stamps, many more than
they can use, especially of the higher denominations. But if the
Department were to redeem them, it would be flooded. Nor can a
postmaster sell stamps which he has in his possession as Government
property except for cash; nor, indeed, is he allowed to exchange
them for others of different denominations ; and all this because it

406

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

would make currency of them. And it is argued that business
houses which take stamps in payment for bills know that they are
not currency, and hence must not complain that they are not allowed
to pass them as such. Hence, no doubt, as before hinted, millions of
stamps are sold at a discount, though not very much to the agents
of the Department, as it is believed, for that is unlawful. A
private individual may sell them, of course, as cheaply as he chooses,
or he may give them away, or throw them away; and similarly he
may buy them as he chooses.

Said the redemption clerk at the New York post office recently :

" The redemption business at the New York office is probably as large as that
in all the other post offices of the country combined. The stamped paper comes
to me sometimes in great batches, and one day alone I paid out $380 worth of
stamps. The largest amount returned in a lump was one lot of about 10,000
envelopes, one-cent and two-cent. I handed out for those just 8,700 two-cent
stamps, or $174 worth. The large banking and mercantile houses and the clubs
are about the only concerns that take advantage of the law. There are, un-
doubtedly, thousands of stamped envelopes spoiled which are destroyed, as the
fact that they are redeemable is not generally known."

In a year the New York post office has redeemed as much as
$20,000 worth of stamped envelopes; and it was a very smart metro-
politan who saved the stamps of stamped envelopes to the value,
as he thought, of $140, only to find that they were worthless.

The immense business of the Stamp Division is illustrated each
year by a table similar to the following :

Articles issued.

Ordinary postage stamps

Special-delivery stamps

Newspaper and periodical stamps

Postage-due stamps -.

Stamped envelopes, plain

Stamped envelopes, request ....

Newspaper wrappers

Letter-sheet envelopes

Postal cards

Aggregate

Number.

2,397,503,340

2,569,350

4,098,263

14,974,820

224,611,250

281,743,500

49,871,500

817,500

424,216,750

3,400,406,273

Amount.

$46,239,050.00

256,935.00

2,055,798.00

361,573.00

4,373,525.99

6,078,140.45

579,501.50

18,802.50

4,246,165.00

$64,209,491.44

The total number of requisitions filled during an average year
for the several kinds of stamped paper is nearly 600,000. The
most notable item of increase always is that of the special request

DISTRIBUTING STAMPS; HANDLING REGISTERS.

407

THE BIG LETTER PRESS,
Operated by two men to make copies of requisitions filled.

envelopes. The number of parcels in which these supplies are put
up and mailed to postmasters during an average year is almost
three quarters of
a million. Then
there are issued
13,500,000 regis-
tered package en-
velopes, 1,300,000
tag envelopes for
registered pack-
ages, 1,800,000 en-
velopes for return-
ing dead letters,
38,000,000 official
envelopes for the
use of postmasters
and other postal
officials, and 53,000
newspaper and periodical stub books, or more, in an average
year. The number of cases in which postmasters return damaged
stamps and misdirected stamped envelopes for credit is usually
almost 12,000. Credits are allowed to the extent of almost a quarter
of a million dollars.

The object of the registry service, an important division of the
Third Assistant's office already mentioned, is the safer transmission
of mail than the ordinary process affords. The chief safeguard of
registered matter is to confide the registered matter to the care of
those employees of the Department alone who are sworn officers.
These include postmasters, their assistants and the sworn clerks of
their offices, postal clerks, transfer agents and letter carriers. The
aim is to have a registered letter, from the time it is deposited in
the post office where it is mailed until it is received by the person
to whom it is addressed, in the custody of one or another of these
officials or employees. Every person to whom the custody of a
registered article is intrusted must make a record of it, give a receipt
for it when it is received, and take a receipt when he parts with it.

To handle each registered piece separately would require a very
large force of postal clerks, while between some points, no matter

408 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

how large the force, owing to the limited time in transit, it would
be impossible to give and take the usual receipts and make the
necessary record. To overcome this difficulty the registered pouch
and inner sack systems were introduced. In the pouches passing
between given points are placed all the registered articles that
would ordinarily pass to the office to which the pouches are
dispatched. These pouches are locked, as has been said, with
rotary or tell-tale locks, that indicate when they are opened. Each
pouch is handled as a single registered article, and is receipted for
by the label it bears and the serial and rotary numbers of the lock with
which it is fastened. It may contain fifty or more articles, but
the postal clerk who receives it counts it as a single piece. Its con-
tents, when inclosed, are first carefully verified by two pouching
clerks, and again by two witnesses when the pouch is opened at its
destination. Nothing can be removed in transit without changing
the rotary number of the lock ; and as each person who receives the
pouch is obliged to receipt for it by the rotary, as well as the serial,
number of the lock, it can readily be ascertained who, if anybody,
opens the pouch. The postal clerks are not permitted to have keys
to open the rotary locks ; these are furnished only to postmasters who
exchange registered pouches. Thus, registered matter transmitted
in these pouches is as safe (if, indeed, it is not safer, since it is not
subject to the danger of being mislaid or stolen in transit) as when
delivered separately piece by piece to the postal clerks.

The difference between the registered pouch and the inner sack
service is chiefly that registered pouches are received in person
by postal clerks or transfer agents, both sworn employees of the Rail-
way Mail Service, at the office of dispatch, and are either delivered
by them in like manner at the office of destination or to another
postal clerk or transfer agent for such delivery. Inner sacks may
not at all times be in the special custody of postal clerks or transfer
agents, but they are designed to meet, as nearly as possible, the
requirements of the registered pouch service at offices where direct
receipt and delivery to postmasters, postal clerks, or transfer agents
are impossible. Where one or both of the exchanging offices is not
a terminal office for postal clerks and where there is no transfer
agent, the registered sacks, after being closed with tell-tale locks,
are pouched in iron-lock pouches with ordinary mail, from the post

DISTRIBUTING STAMPS ; HANDLING REGISTERS. 409

office where it is made up, to a postal clerk, or from the latter to
the post office of destination. They are never exposed to the view
of outsiders, nor are they handled by any but sworn officials or
employees, except in locked pouches, and then their presence is
unknown. The brass-lock service is in operation only upon star
routes, and is designed to relieve postmasters at small offices from
handling, recording, and receipting for registered matter other than
that addressed to their own offices, as they would be compelled to
do if the matter inclosed in the brass-lock pouches were received in
the way -pouches.

The registry method of mailing articles is not as popular in this
country as in some others. One reason is that other governments
show their own faith in the system by indemnifying any losers.
England, for instance, considers the fee paid on each letter or pack-
age as insurance for the twenty-five dollars which the British Gov-
ernment will pay the sender should the article be lost beyond
recovery This is the highest rate of indemnification paid by any
country. In the United States last year there were more than
eleven million pieces carried by the registered mails. This repre-
sented a special revenue of over 111,000. There were only nine
hundred pieces lost, and if the insurance had been placed on a par
with Germany's, say, each loser might have received ten dollars a
parcel and the special receipts would yet have covered the actual
disbursements. The indemnification for lost registered mail has
been strongly recommended by Postmaster General Wanamaker, and
many newspapers have desired it. Congressional action is, of
course, required. It is very much assumed in this country, and
rightly, that the ordinary mails are safe enough for most purposes ;
and some time ago an insurance company in New York, which
went into the business of insuring the delivery of letters, promptly
went out of business. Much of the advocacy of indemnification by
the Government is due to the fact that express companies, under-
taking to deliver valuable packages, become responsible for them,
while the Post Office Department does not.

SECOND CLASS MATTER FIENDS.

k HE office of the Third Assistant has its annoyances and
its trials. It has its fiends who want their publica-
tions admitted to the mails as second class matter
when they are not second class matter at all, and its
fiends who will not admit them. The Post Office
Department, or its representatives in the different
post offices, are very particular to know the exact character of a
publication which applies for admission to the mails at the cent-a-
pound rate. Not only must it be known whether the publication is
to be a magazine or a newspaper published daily, semi-weekly,
weekly, or monthly, where it is printed, who runs it, who edits it,
and how the editor is paid, but the publisher has also to state
whether the proprietors or the editors are interested pecuni-
arily in any business or trade represented by the publication. The
publisher must further state whether its readers consider his paper
a general or special trade organ or not, how many copies he fur-
nishes regularly to each advertiser, and whether these copies are free
or paid for. The number of papers printed for each issue must be
set forth, as well as how many of them go to subscribers who have
paid for them with their own money ; and, besides stating the sub-
scription price and the number of sample copies which it is desired
to send out each week, the publisher has to disclose the ways in
which he has planned to obtain the names of the persons to whom
he intends to send these sample copies.

The pound rate was established by the Congressional Act of 1874,
but the distinction between advertising sheets and other newspapers
was not made until 1879. All other rules of the Department in
regard to advertising sheets have been made in accordance with the
act of 1879. The act of June 23, 1874, in giving the pound rate
of postage, gave it to actual subscribers and news agents only.

410

SECOND CLASS MATTER FIENDS. 411

Under this act there was no definition ; the publisher only said the
publication was issued periodically. But the act of March 3, 1879,
stated conditions upon which a publication should be admitted as
second class. This act enlarged the privilege of publishers so as to
include sample copies. Prior to the Act of 1874 special mention
was made of exchanges; they went free of postage. It is still
assumed that they go at the pound rate.

The work of classifying the periodicals has been done at the
Department since September 15, 1887. Before that only difficult
questions were referred to the Department. Any postmaster had
authority to admit a publication, by exercising his judgment ; or, if
the character of the publication were questioned, the case was carried
to the Department. Until September 15, 1887, there was no general
oversight by the Department of these publications. Many of them
were admitted by the permit of postmasters ; and it is impossible
now to determine whether they were really entitled to admission.
There was almost an endless variety of rulings ; for there were
almost as many judges as there were postmasters. Now, whenever a
new publication is presented for mailing, it is the duty of the post-
master to require the publisher to make sworn answer to a series of
questions given in the Regulations, to furnish the postmaster with
two copies of the paper; and the latter exercises his judgment
whether he will issue a regular temporary permit allowing it to go
at the pound rate, or a conditional permit allowing the publication
to go on a deposit of third class postage, subject to the refunding of
the excess over second class postage, if the Department decides that
it may go as second class ; or he will refuse to issue a temporary
permit and forward the publication to the Department with a state-
ment of the facts.

In passing upon a case the Third Assistant's office first sees
whether the publication complies with the technical requirements
— whether it is issued at stated intervals, bears the date of issue,
and is published as frequently as four times a year and is numbered ;
whether the application for entry is from the office of publication as
shown hy the paper. The office of publication is defined as "an
office where the business of the paper is transacted, and where orders
for subscriptions are received during business hours ; " and " this
office of publication shall be shown by the periodical itself." It

412 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

would cause endless confusion if papers were printed in one place
and mailed in another, and so far as the collection of postage on
them is concerned, it would be almost impossible to attend to it
properly. Of course, if all classes of matter went at the same rate
it would make no difference ; but as long as the publisher of the
second class periodical has special privileges, he is restricted to send-
ing it from the post office of publication.

These are the technical points. As to other requirements, the
character and general appearance of the paper are taken into account ;
whether it appears to be published in the interest of any one person,
or is devoted almost entirely to advertising ; the number of copies
printed ; the number of subscribers claimed ; the subscription price ;
and the number of sample copies proposed to be mailed ; and, on
these points, the office forms an opinion whether the publication
comes under the clause which provides :

"It must be originated and published for the dissemination of information of
a public character, or devoted to literature, the sciences, arts, or some special in-
dustry, and having a legitimate list of subscribers, provided, however, that
nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to admit to the second class
rate regular publications designed primarily for advertising purposes, or for free
circulation, or for circulation at nominal rates."

It is very difficult to determine whether a publication is issued at
the nominal rate or not, by reason of the custom of offering pre-
miums. The Department has not drawn the line very closely on
the premium business. A few years ago a New York daily offered
Webster's Dictionary as a premium. Numerous weeklies offer pre-
miums for getting certain numbers of new subscribers. Agricultural
papers offer seeds, and it is very difficult to say whether the publi-
cations are intended more to advertise the seeds or to disseminate
knowledge.

A good many publishers think the Department very inquisitorial.
But there is law for it all ; and all this is necessary, as well as law-
ful, because of the great increase in the volume of new publications,
and because so many schemes for advertising purposes are sprung on
an unsuspecting Post Office Department every day. The law stipu-
lates that the publication shall have a legitimate list of subscribers.
Attorney General Devens rendered an opinion in 1879 that whether
the list was legitimate or not was a fact to be determined by getting
all the facts that could be ascertained ; that a publication might

SECOND CLASS MATTER EIENDS. 413

have a nominal list of subscribers and yet it would be an advertising
sheet, the list being simply procured for the purpose of obtaining
the pound rate, and the main object being advertising ; so that a
publication that has a small list of subscribers and a large list of
sample copies might not be admitted, while another publication
having no large number of subscribers, but having few sample
copies, would be legitimate.

One of the worst of the mere advertising publications to secure
admission to the mails before there was any regularity in the process
was a sort of farmers' paper published in central New York, which
the publisher would mail regularly to anyone who would send him a
list of names ; and then he would send circulars, as well as papers, to
the persons in the list. He would offer premiums of the nominal full
subscription price, and that seemed to give the periodical some char-
acter. Another publication of the same concern was issued from
New York, and it claimed a monthly circulation of 500,000. A
post office inspector found, however, that it did not have more than
3,000 real subscribers, and that all the rest were sample copies.
These two publications were later combined, and at the present time
are probably legitimate. Some really first class papers are used to
advertise certain things. For instance, one magazine used to send
out with every copy a coupon for which the subscriber received a
pattern, worth twenty cents, as a premium. The coupon, however,
must not be detached from the regular sheets of the publication, nor
must it be inserted in such a way that the evident intention was to
have it detached. Some papers have printed among their pages
coupons with perforations so that they might readily be torn off ;
and a Philadelphia publication once sent out errata to a catalogue,
(which had previously been issued by the same house), intended to
be taken out of the magazine and put in the catalogue. The publi-
cation was excluded as long as it carried this extra sheet, which was
in effect merchandise.

The disposition of the Department is unquestionably liberal. Its
present head, and others who have directed its affairs, have believed
in the American periodical. But the laws which draw the line so
closely are necessary and wise, and there is no question that the
legitimate and wise publishers of the country sympathize with the
Department when it is brave enough to exclude an illegitimate pub-

414 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

lication, no matter how powerful it may seem to be. The exclusion
of mere advertising sheets would naturally throw more advertising
into the hands of those legitimately in the newspaper business.
The pound rate of postage was enacted for the purpose of encourag-
ing the dissemination of information of a public character, and any-
thing of a private character was supposed to be excluded, unless it
might be incidental. Being for that purpose, it was not the intent
of the law to allow a man's private business to be the main object of
the publication. If he wanted to circulate any information in regard
to that, he should do it in the proper way, by paying the legitimate
postage on it. And otherwise, a great many papers would be practi-
cally price lists that would crowd out all competitors. A publica-
tion was recently before the Department which had a business house
back of it ; in fact, it had been published by them. It was gradually
merged, however, into an independent corporation. Yet it still
remained true that a person who did business with that house and
got them to handle his goods, must place an advertisement in their
paper, and the price of the advertisement was deducted from his bill
of goods. The business house before mentioned paid for a large
number of copies of the paper and furnished to it a list of names to
which these were to be sent, and this list formed an important part
of the whole subscription list.

The secret society papers and those intended to develop insurance
associations are hard to reach. Generally speaking, their subscrip-
tion lists would be merely nominal, because they would go without
question to each member of the society or association. But the
organizations get around that ; for the society or the association will
contract with a publisher for a regular periodical, and it will take
one copy for each member, and claim that all these members are
legitimate subscribers for the paper, while the fact probably is that
the different lodges, or councils, or subordinate assemblies, are called
upon to subscribe for a certain number of copies ; and there is noth-
ing in the postal laws and regulations to prevent this, although it
would probably be admitted freely enough that the publications are
primarily for advertising purposes. The publication price is usually
very low, for with the large circulations that are inevitable the
publisher can afford to furnish great numbers cheaply.

There is trouble also with the "supplement" business, for the

SECOND CLASS MATTER FIENDS. 415

idea is prevalent that anything may be called a supplement. The
law says that the supplement must be matter that is issued with
the publication. The regulation provides that an independent
publication that is not germane to the periodical is not supple-
mental matter ; that a publication that is issued, and has advertise-
ments, and is offered as a supplement to various papers, is not
permissible ; but that literary matter may be accepted as a supple-
ment. If a sheet is intended for more than one paper, it is not a
supplement, but if it is for a particular paper, and if its advertising
is for that paper, then it is a supplement. But where the advertis-
ing is general and does not belong to the periodical, it is not a sup-
plement. In order that a supplement may be identified with its
paper it must bear the name of the paper and the date of issue.

The Third Assistant's office has admitted on the average six thou-
sand periodicals a year, for the five years in which the decisions have
been with the Department. Many of them, probably two fifths, are
old publications re-admitted. So that four clerks in the Stamp Divis-
ion have passed upon eighteen thousand new publications in addition
to the others. In making up this record, a publication that is in its
first volume is called new ; if it is in its second volume, it is called
old. Sometimes a publisher will number the first volume of his
paper ten. There is no regulation to prevent his doing that. The
Department is obliged to exclude not more than one tenth of the
publications submitted to it, and probably one tenth of those
excluded modify the forms and purposes of their publications so as
to be admitted finally. The work of the clerks, or of the Third
Assistant, or of the Assistant Attorney General of the Department,
so far as it relates to second-class publications, is not entirely
pleasant, unless the life of a man is pleasant who spends it chiefly
doing unpopular things which are also right. The clerk in charge
ought to have twice as many assistants in order to keep up with his
mail. Probably two fifths of all the applications have to go back
for correction. The technical requirements are specified on the back
of the blank, but few notice it. For instance, they do not show the
periods of issue, nor the subscription price; the applications may
not show the number of subscribers ; and if that is so, the Depart-
ment cannot take action. The correspondence cases are handled by
the clerk in charge and an assistant. The other clerks do miscella-

416 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

neous work, answering letters, which number from ten to fifty a
day, and all that.

Not infrequently the Department investigates an alleged subscrip-
tion list. A suspected publisher is invited to send to the Depart-
ment the names of twenty-five or fifty of his subscribers. He does it.
The supposed subscribers are invited to say upon a slip (which is
sent for reenclosure to the Department in a penalty envelope)
whether he is really a subscriber or not, and often not one in the
twenty-five or fifty will say that he is. But on the other hand all
admit that they receive the paper gratuitously. Information in these
cases is usually secured in this way, and from postmasters, too, at
the offices of publication ; but now and then post office inspectors are
required to make investigations. It is a natural thing for the
rejected publisher to make as fussy a time of it as he can. The
rejection is great advertising for him and he does not fail to see
the advantage. He either gives up his publication, however, or
else makes it conform to law.

Many think the pound rate ought to be limited to actual subscrip-
tions and to a reasonable number of sample copies, a number equal
to one half the subscribers, say ; and something like this was recom-
mended at the Postmaster General's recent convention of postmas-
ters. Some, on the other hand, believe that every printed thing
ought to go at a uniform rate, and that, if necessary, the rates should
be raised. It is unfortunate that the Department is without any
digest of rulings. The Postal Laws and Regulations are almost
impossible to obtain, though just now they have been edited again.
When questions relating to second class matter are appealed, they
go to the Third Assistant, and from him to the Postmaster General.

THE MUCH ABUSED STAMP MANIAC.

ESIDES being obliged to contend with the second
class matter fiend, the Third Assistant's office has
the stamp maniac to deal with. It ought to be
said that the trials and annoyances of the Third
Assistant's office which are due to the stamp maniac
are confined to the amateur, for the professionals
understand that the Department cannot supply any
kind of stamps, foreign or domestic, old or new, in
any quantity. For the comfort of the Department
and everybody of influence in it, as well as for the
public convenience, the following might well be posted in large red
and blue letters on all bill-boards :

The Post Office Department does not buy or deal in canceled stamps or those
that have been used. No specimen stamps, either domestic or foreign, are sold
or given away by the Department. Newspaper and periodical stamps, either
perfect or canceled, are not permitted to pass beyond the custody of postal
officials. On no pretext are they sold to anyone.

But there is nothing of discouragement in this for the stamp
maniac, professional or amateur. He goes on forever. He has his
publications. They are devoted exclusively to philately, as the
stamp mania is called. In almost every large city and town in the
country are professional dealers in postage stamps.

The methods used in the buying and selling are auction, approval
sheet, and private sale. Auctions are carried on by several of the
large dealers and many rare stamps are sold by auction at what
seem enormous figures. The auctions result for the most part from
the breaking up of fine collections, with such specimens added as
the cataloguer may wish to dispose of in this way. These figures
show about what amounts first class sales will bring, according to
the rarities offered: 864 lots, $2,423.98; 981 lots, $2,522.16; 1095

417

418

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

lots, 14,056.57; 1,113 lots, 2,698.37; and 1,729 lots, $6,601.89.
The highest prices paid for single stamps at these sales were $326
and $140 ; and none of the stamps sold were very rare ones. The
approval sheet method is a very satisfactory way of buying and

VALUABLE STAMPS

selling stamps. It gives a chance to examine the stamps before
buying, and so one is able to see exactly the condition of the
stamp ; and it brings into communication those who would do busi-
ness together in no other way. Shops where nothing but stamps are
sold are found in all the large cities. Paris has a stamp mart in
the open street.

THE MUCH ABUSED STAMP MANIAC.

419

The prices of stamps vary, according to their rarity, from twenty-
five cents per thousand to several hundred dollars apiece, some even
reaching into the thousands. On the first page of a well-known
catalogue one finds the following:

Brattleboro, Vt

Baltimore, Md

Baltimore, Md., envelope
Baltimore, Md., envelope
Baltimore, Md., envelope

Millbury, Mass

New Haven, Conn., envelope
New York, N. Y. ...

New York, N. Y

Providence, R. I

St. Louis, Mo

Probably the cataloguer could not supply more than half a dozen
of the above list and many of them could not be purchased at any
figure whatever.

That high prices are not restricted to United States stamps is
shown by the following list of prices :

1846

5 cent

. $250.00

1846

5 cent black on white paper

200.00

1846

5 cent black on bluish paper

300.00

1846

5 cent black on white paper

300.00

1846

5 cent black on buff paper . .

300.00

1846

5 cent black on blue paper . .

300.00

1847

5 cent black on bluish paper

300.00

1845

5 cent red

200.00

1842-3

3 cent black on buff paper

. . 100.00

1842

3 cent black on green paper

. . 100.00

1842

3 cent black on blue paper .

. . 20.00

1842

3 cent black on blue glazed pape

jr . 7.50

1845

5 cent black

3.50

1845

5 cent black variety . . .

. . 15.00

1846

5 cent black

. . 3.50

1846

10 cent black

. . 20.00

1845

5 cent black

. . 75.00

1845

10 cent black

. . 50.00

1845

20 cent black

. . 500.00

Canada 1851 12d

Cape of Good Hope Id

Cape of Good Hope ..... 4d
Hawaiian Islands . . . 1851-2 2c
Hawaiian Islands .... 1851 5c.
Hawaiian Islands .... 1851 13c.
Hawaiian Islands .... 1851 13c

Mauritius 1848

Mauritius 1847

Mauritius ....... 1847

British Guiana 1850

British Guiana 1856

British Guiana ..... 1856

$100.00
100.00
90.00
500.00
300.00
200.00

.... 200.00

.... 350.00

.... 150.00

.... 215.00

.... 250.00

.... 350.00

These are a few of the rarer stamps, but, as with coins, their value
varies enormously with the condition of the specimen. Among the

420 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

choice stamps are those issued by various cities and towns of the
Confederate States of America.

Philately is the name given to the branch of study which
embraces the collecting and arranging of postage stamps. The word
was introduced in 1865 by M. Herpin, a well-known French col-
lector of the time. The word has been put in the dictionaries of
Webster and Worcester and occurs also in the Century Dictionary.
As M. Herpin explains it, the word means "the love of the study
of all that concerns pre-payment."

It is maintained by many that this study is a science ; but call it
a study. It is a great study! It teaches history, geography and
the arts. It teaches the use of the eyes, and it cultivates the
memory ; for what collector is there who, though he has five or six
thousand varieties, cannot tell at a glance whether a certain stamp
has a mate among his treasures ?

Every boy collector knows upon looking at the stamps of the 1869
issue of the United States that, at some time in the past, letters
must have been carried by men on horseback ; of course he asks,
until he has been told that before railroads led to every part of the
country the only communication was by pony post. On the fifteen
and twenty-four cent stamps of the same issue he sees the pictures,
taken from those immense paintings in the Capitol at Washington,
representing the landing of Columbus, and the signing the
Declaration of Independence. He again asks questions, until he
learns about Columbus and about the men who signed the Declara-
tion ; and he also finds out why it was necessary to sign one. From
these he goes to stamps bearing portraits of the presidents. Turn-
ing to Mexico he sees the great changes that have taken place in her
history, the government overthrown, the empire created under Maxi-
milian, and finally the restoration of the old government. It does
not take him long to find out what this means, and he never forgets
it, because his stamps are before him to keep it fixed in his mind.

Every country contributes something to his history lesson. He
learns geography partly from the stamps themselves and partly by
locating the countries whence they come. If he has a Columbian
Republic, State of Panama, issue of 1887, he will have a map of the
Isthmus of Panama. An envelope of the Hawaiian Islands has a
fine picture of Honolulu and its harbor.

THE MUCH ABUSED STAMP MANIAC. 421

A stamp collection is particularly rich in objects of natural his-
tory. Canada shows the beaver, India the tiger and the poisonous
cobra de capello, New South Wales the kangaroo, the lyre bird (the
most beautiful of the birds of paradise) and the emu. Tasmania has
the duck bill, Peru the llama, the United States of America the
eagle, the United States of Colombia a condor, New Foundland the
seal, the cod and the New Foundland dog, Gautemala the quezal,
Western Australia the beautiful black swan. One of the water-
marks in the old Indian stamps is the head of the elephant and that
of the island of Jamaica is a pineapple. Ancient history is recalled
by the various allegorical figures, the finest of which are those
found on the newspaper and periodical stamps of the United States.
They are gems in workmanship and coloring. Even astronomy is
touched upon, for on the stamps of the new republic of Brazil is the
constellation of the Southern Cross.

The young man soon learns the various styles of engraving and
finally the very construction of the paper upon which the stamps are
printed. So, before condemning the stamp crank, see how good
he is to the world, and then understand how he can derive so much
pleasure from his hobby.

Scores of books go into the most minute descriptions of all the
stamps known to have been printed. They give quality, color and
kind of paper, water marks, colors and shades of colors, perfora-
tions and variations of perforations, rouletting, size, variation in
dies struck from the same plates, errors in die, color and paper, and
so on. For a knowledge of everything accessible touching United
States stamps a volume by Mr. John K. Tiffany of St. Louis suffices.
The advanced collector will find in the catalogue of Moens & Co.
of Brussels, the most valuable guide yet published. As to the
envelopes of the United States new discoveries, errors, etc., are
continually made, and the excellent book of Mr. Horner, which has
long been authoritative, is a little out of date. A new and complete
description of the United States stamped envelopes, wrappers and
sheets by Messrs. Tiffany, Bogert & Rechert, experts on the
subject, has just been published by the Scott Stamp and Coin Co.
It contains reproductions of fifty different sizes and shapes of
envelopes.

The collection of postage stamps in the United States did not

CATALOGUE OF POSTAGE STAMPS.

No. Date. Type. Value. Color.

N4W. Used

699 700

74 1S87 6gg 50r blue

75 ** 700 300r blue

76 p8 701 soor olive

701

30
50

702 703 704

77 1SS8 702 loot lilac 10

73 " 703 700r violet 75

79 " 704rooor pearl gray 1.00

80 1890 705 2or emerald green 3

81 ° J " sor olive green 5

82 " " loor crircson 10

83 " •■' 2oor purple 20

84 " " 30or bluish purple 30

Same re-engraved,

85 1890 705 sor olive green 5
8f> " " ioor crimson ic*

87 '* li 20Cr purple 20

88 n * 300r blu'sb purple 30

No, Date. Type. Value, Color, New, Used

89 1891 706 toor blue and red 10 t

REVENUES USED FOR POSTAGE.

707

151 1887 707

152 " 708

153 *•

Perforated: '
icor gieenish p
20or lilac
2cor V> var

NEWSPAPER STAMPS

Rouletted.

201 1889 709

202 "

203 ' r

204 "

205 M

206 «•

207 «*
20S "

209 i!

210 "

211 °

212 r<

213 "

214 ,J
2T5 "

216 tc

217 M

218 »•

lor olve

20r green

50r pale brown
ioor violet
20or black
30or carmine
SOOr green
700r blue
lOOOr brown

7 o5 7'°

A FAC SIMILE OF A PAGE FROM A STAMP CATALOGUE.

422

THE MUCH ABUSED STAMP MANIAC. 423

begin to be known until about 1860, though collections began abroad
in the early fifties. There were a number of dealers in the United
States as early as 1862. At the present time there are several firms
of stamp dealers in this country, each having a capital of over
$100,000 invested in stamps, envelopes, and so forth. In New York
City there are seven firms which make a business of collecting rare
stamps and disposing of them to collectors. These professionals are
always in touch with the markets in Europe, generally having resi-
dent buyers on the continent or in London, and the volume of busi-
ness done by them is astonishing. For thirty dollars one can buy a,
set of three albums, handsomely bound, with a separate space
reserved for each of the twelve thousand different stamps which
make up a complete collection, and with a description of each stamp.
It takes many times thirty dollars, however, to make up the col-
lection. The professional stamp collector is generally a dealer also
in curious coins, fractional currency and Confederate notes.

The Scott Stamp and Coin Company does business in two offices,
in New York City. Up town they occupy an entire building. The
basement floor is occupied by the coin department, and the first floor
contains the salesrooms and assorting departments. A large force
of women, trained in the business, is constantly occupied in making
up packets, arranging approval sheets, and assorting the more or less
permanent stock in trade. The salesroom occupies the front of the
first floor. A long table extends from one end of the room to the
other with a row of stools in front and several women clerks
behind. The sales are mainly made from sales albums, in which a
very large assortment of stamps is arranged and classified with the
price indited in pencil over each stamp. The stock albums are kept
in enormous safes arranged along the wall behind the table, and in
these safes are also kept the reserve stock of stamps, which are
arranged in envelopes in consecutive order in boxes, each envelope
bearing the catalogue number of the stamps which it contains. A
large royal octavo catalogue, abundantly illustrated and containing
some four hundred pages, is the standard, by which sales and
exchanges are almost universally conducted in this country. New
editions are issued each year, and the prices of stamps are gauged
for the most part by the results of the permanent auction sales.
which have taken place during the year. The enormous correspon-

424 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

dence of the company relates to the sales of individual stamps at
catalogue prices, to the approval sheet system, and to the sale of
packets.

This sale of packets constitutes a large part of the business
of most of the stamp dealers. Every dealer publishes his packet
list, in which he offers the best bargains which he can afford ; and
for comparative beginners the purchase of a series of graded packets
forms the cheapest means of starting a collection. Packets contain-
ing one thousand assorted stamps (including duplicates) are offered
for twenty-five cents ; others containing one or two hundred, with
110 duplicates, are offered for the same amount ; and as the quality
of the contents of packets increases the price increases in a propor-
tionate degree. For instance, seven hundred different stamps from
fifty-five countries in the Western Hemisphere, called the " Colum-
bus Packet," are offered for $25, and one hundred and fifty Mexican
stamps, including some rare varieties, are offered for $15. Thirty-
five South American stamps are offered at fifty cents.

The stamp dealers and the stamp collectors want important
stamps, whether used or unused, to be put upon the free list. Mr.
R. R. Bogert, of the Bogert & Durbin Company, said not long ago:

" To know how widespread this engaging pursuit has become, you have only to
consider the fact that there is at least $300,000 of incorporated capital engaged
in the business in this country alone and about 150 publications devoted to it,
and several hundred thousand people engaged in it. Germany has not so many
publications nor so many collectors as America, but the subject is approached
even more seriously there than here. Their papers are more historical and ex-
haustive than ours. Great Britain numbers her collectors by the hundreds of
thousands, too, and France is not far behind. Boys no longer outnumber the
others, but clergymen, lawyers, doctors, business men, and women engage in it
heartily. One of the most earnest collectors in this city is a clergyman, who,
when he attends an auction sale of stamps, gets genuinely excited over the
bargains."

An estimate made by a very conservative stamp dealer puts the
number of collectors in the United States at 300,000. But thou-
sands upon thousands of young people take up the occupation each
year ; for stamp collecting has been found to be a most attractive
way of interesting the young in politics and geography, and it is
encouraged by many teachers and parents. Sales of dealers show a
great annual increase, and there is not a large city but has its
philatelic society, where members discuss and exchange stamps.

THE MUCH ABUSED STAMP MANIAC. 425

As for albums, it is estimated that upwards of a quarter of a million
dollars is expended on them each year, from the cheap twenty-five
cent editions for beginners to the $25 editions for more advanced
collectors, and the higher priced ones specially prepared for the
very expert collector, who is not content with ordinary specimens of
each die.

The newspaper and postage due stamps, the former used entirely
by the second class matter clerks in the post offices and the latter by
postmasters or clerks only, with which to charge postage due, are
supposed never to come into possession of the public ; but they some-
times escape through postal people who are not sufficiently familiar
with the regulations. Almost every considerable stamp dealer
offers them for sale. A few years ago a postmaster in Massachusetts
sold several hundred dollars' worth of periodical stamps. When he
was notified to stop, he tried to recover all of these ; but they had
got securely in the clutch of the stamp cranks, and of course could
not be recovered. The stock of periodical and postage due stamps
in the hands of dealers is augmented by the acquisition of stocks
stolen from post offices. The burglars cannot use these stamps, and
their only means of disposing of them is to "fences," and eventually
-the stamp dealers (who, of course, cannot afford to be too particular
about the sources of their supply) come into possession of them.
Certain customers of the stamp dealers are frequently complained of
to post office inspectors. They have sent for approval sheets (sheets
from which the customer is supposed to select what he wants and
return the money for his purchase), but keep the stamps and never
send the money. The largest concerns, however, frequently send
approval sheets to the value of a hundred dollars ; but this is only
to customers of known responsibility. The stamp cranks exchange
surplus stamps among themselves, of course.

In Europe the stamp collection craze is much wilder than it ever
was in this country. The Queen's counsel, Philbrick, had a large
and fine assortment, and he kept up a continual correspondence
for many years with all the principal collectors in Europe and
America. Recently, however, he disposed of North and South
American stamps, preferring to confine his attention to the Old
World. At the same time he disposed of his collection of orchids
to a stamp dealer of Ipswich. The Ipswich collector has a large

426 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

building devoted to stamps, and he has made a fortune in the busi-
ness. It is said that Alphonse de Rothschild sold his collection
of postage stamps for $60,000. It was not generally known, even
to stamp collectors, that he possessed a particularly fine assortment
of stamps ; but that was because his collection was made many years
ago, and for ten years or more he had apparently lost all interest in
the subject. The largest and finest collection in the world is in the
possession of Count Philip de Ferrary of the French Capital, the son
of the late Duke of Galliera. The postage stamps of this titled
individual are worth $500,000; at all events he spent that amount
collecting them. The cost of the 3,000 volumes in which they are
exhibited was $65,000. Next in value is the collection of the late
T. K. Taplin, M. P., a linen weaver of London, who expended
something over a quarter of a million on his hobby, paying $40,000
for a single private collection, which he purchased not to incorporate
bodily in his own collection but to cull out a few rare specimens
which it contained. He bequeathed his whole collection, valued at
$125,000, to the British Museum. The total number of different
stamps which have been issued in all the world from 1840, judging
by the face alone, is about twelve thousand, but there are minute
differences in stamps in the same series and denomination, such as
the texture of the paper or the different water marks, which are
esteemed important by fastidious collectors, and which make a com-
plete collection run up into the hundreds of thousands. At a recent
sale of rare postage stamps in London a single British stamp of 1856
brought $250 and was considered cheap at that price. Some Rus-
sian stamps are so rare that they command almost any price,
and attempts are frequently made to forge them. Sir Daniel Cooper,
a far-off Australian collector, recently sold his fine collection for
$15,000. In England, Belgium, France and Germany, there are
stamp dealers having each a capital of over $100,000 invested.

Single foreign stamps have been sold at auction for very high
prices, and private sales are reported at fabulous sums. On very
scarce stamps the differences in value for the same denomination are
■controlled principally by the condition of the stamps, whether dam-
aged, soiled, mutilated, or defaced, or in prime condition. The
stamps of the Reunion Isles have brought various prices, according
to conditions, from $200 to $400. The 12d stamp issued by Canada

THE MUCH ABUSED STAMP MANIAC. 427

in 1851 has been sold at from $100 to $150, though numerous
proof specimens can be bought for a five-dollar bill. In the
Sandwich Islands earlier stamps are scarce, ugly and very valuable.
The 13c (1851 and 1852) has been sold at from $150 to $300.
Probably the highest priced stamp in existence is the common look-
ing one penny of Mauritius, issued in 1847. A single one of these
is valued at $1,000, because there are only six or eight of them
known to be in existence. There is probably no genuine one in this
country; but as the field for forgery is wide, there are a good many
bogus ones. Of course, in order to be valuable, proof of the genuine
character of the stamp must be had. Each of these six or eight
recognized Mauritius stamps has a tabulated record of the different
owners who have possessed it, corresponding to the pedigree of a
blooded horse.

In the United States one of the best collections of stamps is owned
by Mr. John K. Tiffany, President of " The American Philatelic
Association," author of the work on the postage stamps of the
United States, and possessor of the finest philatelic library in
the country as well. Like many other advanced collectors, Mr.
Tiffany is a lawyer of high standing. His tireless industry and
perseverance have enabled him to discover many new varieties in
United States stamps. Other advanced collectors are W. C. Van
Derlip, Boston, Gen. E. D. Townsend, U. S. A., Washington,
D. C, R. C. Brock, attorney-at-law, Philadelphia, and P. H. Hill,
merchant, Nashville, Tenn. The best collection of envelopes in
Washington City is owned by Gen. Duncan S. Walker. At a
recent New York sale of stamps from the collection of Mr. Brock
the aggregate reached was upwards of $10,000.

Of the United States stamps there are many varieties ; and includ-
ing the so-called local stamps and varieties of paper, perforation,
grille, shade of color, errors, etc., together with the many thou-
sands of varieties of envelopes (when size, shape, paper, dies, errors,
etc., are considered), they constitute probably the highest aggre-
gate philatelic value of all countries. It is considered that the hand-
somest stamps issued, taken altogether as sets, are the United States
newspaper and periodical stamps, never used except to paste
in account books, never seen by the public except in albums.
These stamps, as is well known, range in face value from one cent

428 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

to $60, being twenty-five in number, and are very handsome in
design and color. Sets of these are not obtainable from the Govern-
ment now, except by foreign countries for official purposes of identi-
fication under the Postal Union agreement. Nevertheless, as some
ten or more sets were given away by a former official of the Post
Office Department as specimens, and as a number of the sets that
went abroad have found their way back to this country, sets of them
have been sold at various prices, ranging from $20 to their full face
value.

Perhaps the mostly high prized sets of United States stamps are
the special stamps used for many years for the payment of official
postage. These stamps, excepting those of the Post Office Depart-
ment and of the larger values of the State Department ($2, $5, $10,
and $20) were similar in design, though different in color. A
fine set of them in first class condition might bring about $50.

The issue of stamps was undertaken by several American post-
masters before the use of the first stamps printed in 1847 by the
United States. The attention of the Postmaster General was called
to the matter, but he saw no objection to the arrangement, and the
stamps were ignored by the Department. These stamps had no
official sanction and no significance except as indicating the amount
of postage charged ; and they represent merely an agreement be-
tween the local postmaster and his patrons. Their object was to
enable the public to- mail letters at hours when the post office was
closed. The most valuable of these, perhaps, is a fine specimen
of the original envelope of the stamped envelopes issued in 1845
by the postmaster of New Haven. A poor specimen of this stamp
sold at auction for $200. A fine specimen recently found among
a lot of unwrapped letters costing ten cents apiece is held at
$1,800. It is easily worth $1,000. Other varieties of the "post-
master" stamps, issued mostly in 1845, have been sold as follows
(sometimes at even higher prices): Brattleboro, Vt., five cent,
$150 ; Baltimore, five varieties of five cent, from $150 to $250 ;
Millbury, Mass., 1845, five cent, sold at $200 to $300, —one
specimen held at $500. The Brattleboro stamp was engraved by
Thomas Chubbuck, who lived in Brattleboro and afterwards in
Springfield. This stamp was issued by Dr. F. N. Palmer (the
postmaster at Brattleboro in 1845-8), and did duty in Brattleboro

THE MUCH ABUSED STAMP MANIAC.

429

and vicinity, recognized by all postmasters as a voucher of the pay-
ment of the letter to which it was affixed. It was not the first
postage stamp issued or used in this country, as has sometimes been
claimed, being antedated by a stamp issued by the New York post-
master as early as 1842, while the St. Louis post office had used

jSEWO^LTANS^
$> 500

stamps of this denomination at least a year before Dr. Palmer's
stamp appeared in 1846. Only a few countries had then begun the
use of postage stamps, Great Britain in 1840, Brazil in 1841, and
Saxony soon after. The Palmer stamps were in use but a short
time, for the Government soon after began the issue of stamps.
Years after Mr. Chubbuck found among his specimens of work a

430 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

single sheet of eight of these stamps, and sold them to a collector
for a small sum. The purchaser afterwards told him that he sold
the eight stamps for $10 each; "but the man I sold them to," he
added, "got $20 apiece for them." A former Boston dealer in
stamps two years ago said :

"I only know of two persons in Boston who can boast of own-
ing a Palmer stamp. One was bought about twenty years ago
for seventy-five cents; the other, bought in 1882, cost per-
haps $100."

Other local or semi-local stamps highly prized by collectors are:
Alexandria, Va., 1845, five cent, valued at $200; Providence, R. I.,
five cent, valued at $3, and ten cent, valued at $20 ; New York City
Dispatch three cents, valued at from $1 to $15; and St. Louis, face
values respectively five, ten, and fifteen cents.

On July 23, 1845, Colonel Gardner, then postmaster at Washing-
ton, issued stamped or prepaid envelopes of a five cent denomina-
tion, which were sold to the public at six and one quarter cents
each, or one "pip," as the half shilling was then called, or eighteen
for $1. A full description of them has been found, but not a single
envelope, used or unused. An advanced collector has stimulated the
search by the offer of $1,000 for an undoubted specimen.

Some collectors pay high prices for errors in color or impression,
or for engraver's errors. Take the following combination of errors :
The " horseman carrier, " as it is called, has printed upon it a picture
of a horseman at ful] speed, and from his head flies the legend " one
cent." Above is "Government" and below "City Dispatch."
These stamps are said to have been used from 1851 until as late as
1860. Several varieties were found, including long and short rays,
prints in black and in red, and later one with the word " sent "
instead of "cent." Finally a variety was found with "O R E"
instead of "one" and "sent" instead of "cent." This unique
combination of engraver's errors is found in the collection of
C. F. Rothfuchs of Washington, and could not be purchased
for $200.

Errors in United States envelopes are very numerous. T n °se of
the 1869 set occur in the fifteen cent, twenty-four cent, thirty cent
and ninety cent, and were caused in printing, the medallion being
inverted in each case. Errors in the regular stamps sell to dealers

THE MUCH ABUSED STAMP MANIAC. 431

all the way from fifty cents to $7, according to the condition of the
stamps and the eagerness of the collector. Errors in the small
denominations have been sold at $50 and $75, and the ninety cent
error is held at $250. The only error known in the color of the
official stamps is in the two cent navy. The regular color is blue ;
the error is of the same color of green as the State Department
stamps, and sells at about $6.

Foreign "errors" are plentiful as huckleberries in season. The
British Colony at the Cape of Good Hope issued two triangular
stamps in 1857, a Id red and a 4d blue. By mistake some of the
Id were printed in blue and some of the 4d in red. The regular
colors are worth now from $4 to $6 each ; the errors, from $100 to
$150 each.

The highest price at which a specimen of the ten cent Reay War
Department envelope has been sold was received at auction many
years ago, the price, paid by Mr. Tiffany, being $50. Since then
specimens have been sold at much lower figures, especially those
of the light red variety. The six cent special issue size of enve-
lope specimens are of peculiar shape and are sold at $50. General
Walker has specimens not held by any other collector, upon which
he has uniformly declined to put a price. They embrace such
oddities as the five cent Garfield envelope printed in blue instead
of brown, old issues of shapes and water marks not chronicled,
and issues of the Plympton series, numbering one hundred and
fifty and of various dies, shapes and water marks, not chronicled by
any one, and not, so far as known, officially mentioned in public
lists.

A few years ago the Postmaster General ordered a reprint of an
obsolete design of a five cent stamped envelope. It was a mistake,
and as soon as it was discovered, all of the envelopes, about ten
thousand in number, were called in. A stamp collector in New
York learned in some way that these envelopes were soon to be
called in; so he bought fifteen hundred of them before the post-
master had time to send them back to the Department. He soon
had a monopoly of the issue, and was selling them freely at $5 each
to stamp cranks. Another incident : a collector learned that there
would be a short issue of a certain denomination put in circulation,
so he went to the contractor and purchased $10,000 worth of the new

432 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

issue. He attempted to sell them at greatly advanced prices, and
complaint was made to the Department. An investigation was
had, and the result was that an unlimited number was ordered
to be printed, and the man who had invested his $10,000 was so
badly off that he appealed to the Department to redeem his unsold
stock. The Department is always on the lookout for counterfeiters,
and suspicions are generally aroused when persons not authorized to
sell stamps are found disposing of them in large quantities. But
in twenty years it has not been discovered that any counterfeiting
has really been done.

In Chicago not long ago a woman entered complaint at the post
office that many of her letters received from her brother in China
came without stamps, and when received, the corners where the
stamps should have been were wet. In some cases the thief had not
stopped to remove the stamp by wetting it, but had cut it out,
leaving the contents exposed. In one of the letters so mutilated
was a check for $50. The lady said that her brother-in-law, who
also received letters from China, had had his letters tampered with
in the same way. It was some stamp maniac, — and such have only
to be caught to be dismissed in disgrace. The stamp craze once got
a New York letter carrier in trouble. When he entered the service
even, he was beginning to show signs of a violent mania. Soon the
unfortunate victim's movements became so queer as to attract atten-
tion. The boxes of his fellow carriers seemed to have a fascination
for him. He would plunge his arm into them and withdraw hand-
fuls of letters, over which he seemed to gloat with immeasurable
glee. This was especially the case when the foreign mails came in.
It was simply thought to be good grounds for suspecting him of
being an ordinary letter thief. But when he was searched his
sadder condition was disclosed. In every pocket of his clothes,
plastered about him, wherever they could be concealed, were stamps
— cancelled, useless postage stamps. There were hundreds of them,
stamps from all corners of the world. Had he worn them out-
wardly upon his person he would have looked like a walking crazy
quilt.

The unsuspecting stamp collecting public is exposed to other
handicaps and frauds. Awhile ago a person who pretended to be
"John J. Morgan, philatelist, publisher Columbian Philatelist,

THE MUCH ABUSED STAMP MANIAC.

433

Camden, N. J.," was found to have been operating for a year with
circulars, price lists, etc., of what he called rare postage stamps.
A great many persons, tempted by his liberal offers, sent him
their valuable supplies, which they never saw again — nor any
money, either. About the same time a person who called himself
Horace Stone began a similar business in Philadelphia. He was
suspected of being " Morgan " ; but just as the operations of this
person, or persons, began to attract notice he, or they, silently dis-
appeared.

2,200 POSTMASTERS VISIT 45,000 OFFICES.

T had been a favorite contention of Postmaster General
Wanamaker that the thousands of post offices in this
country were not closely enough in touch with the Post
Office Department at Washington, and he had sought
in every way to bring the general post office and all
its branches into better sympathy. The Department
learns from the post offices that the postmasters unques-
tionably do better work if they understand that the offices
at the central bureau take an interest in them and support
them in their efforts to improve the service. In all of his
reports Mr. Wanamaker had advocated a wider inspection, or
visitation, of the post offices. He first urged the division of the
country into twenty-five or thirty postal districts, in which the
best postal expert in each one, perhaps a postmaster, perhaps an
inspector or a railway mail superintendent, should be deputed
to visit all the offices from time to time, and not only make
suggestions to the postmasters for their improvement, but also ex-
amine all the phases of the postal business and see in what way it
could be improved ; and he recorded his firm belief that an appropria-
tion of $50,000 for such a purpose would actually save to the
Department ten times that sum in the cutting off of useless service
and especially in enabling the service, as it stands, to do a much
more remunerative work in numberless quarters. This was too much
new legislation for Congress, and the measure never passed. It then
occurred to Mr. Wanamaker that he could enlist the cooperation of
the postmasters themselves, without expense to the Department,
depending upon their loyalty to the service, — which he had had fre-
quent occasion to be made aware of. He said in his report of last year :

There was, to be sure, no money to pay them for any services it was proposed
to ask for; but I had had such frequent unsolicited evidences of their enthusiastic
support that this objection did not seem material. The authority of the official

434

2,200 POSTMASTERS VISIT 45,000 OFFICES. 435

not specially deputized to do certain things might be questioned, but I depended,
on the other hand, upon the adaptability and good temper of the visitor and the
visited alike.

A personally signed credential of the Postmaster General was
therefore finally sent to each of the 2,807 county-seat postmasters
in the United States. It was accompanied by a brief note for each
visited postmaster to see, and the following questions for the visitor
to answer with reference to each visited office :

1. Is the post office located conveniently for the people ? If a map of the
town, with location marked, or a picture of the building can be conveniently
obtained, it will be useful to the Department.

2. Is it within the eighty rod limit ; if not, why could it not be so located ?

3. Is the post office well arranged, clean and orderly ?

4. Are the books, accounts and reports kept properly and promptly written
up ?

5. Is the office used as a place for lounging ?

6. State the time when the mails are received and dispatched.

7. Is notice of the lottery law posted where the public may see it ?

8. Do the patrons of the office generally regard the post office as efficiently
conducted ?

9. Does the postmaster study and understand the postal laws and regulations
and realize the responsibility and dignity of being an officer of the United
States ?

10. State how much time the postmaster gives personally to the duties of the
office ; and if the work is done by proxy, who does it, and at what pay ?

11. If the postmaster has any other business of office, state it.

12. What improvements in the postal service for this locality have occurred
since the present postmaster was appointed ?

13. State the names of and distances from your office to the four nearest
post offices.

14. How can the service be improved, and what is the chief obstacle in the way
of improvement ?

15. At what distance from your office is the nearest telegraph office ?

16. At what distance from your office is the nearest savings bank ?

What marking will you give the postmaster on the following basis: 1 means
poor, 2 means fair, 3 means good, 4 means excellent, 5 means perfect.

The elements to enter into the rating are the following: Convenience of the
office, cleanliness, order, keeping of the accounts, personal attention of the post-
master, improvements in the service made during the last year, growth of the
business in the past twelve months.

The postmasters were quick to realize the benefits of this visita-
tion. The county-seat postmasters enjoyed making their trips so
much, and saw that the visits would benefit the visitor and the
visited alike so much, that they travelled in the aggregate thousands
of miles, and spent out of their own pockets thousands of dollars.

436 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

The magnitude of some of these undertakings was most notable.
Fresno County, in California, for instance, comprises over eight
thousand square miles, or nearly 5,280,000 acres. Its eastern boun-
dary is the summit of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and its western
the summit of the Coast Range. Fresno County is larger than
Massachusetts or New Jersey, and four times as large as Rhode
Island. Everywhere wonderful good judgment was exercised. The
visits were just official enough, and just unofficial enough ; so that
the visited postmasters were very glad to cooperate and to furnish
all necessary information. 2142 of the 2800 county-seat postmasters
actually made reports in the time specified, and not only did they
report upon the condition of 45,600 of the post offices of the country,
but they made thousands, even, of valuable suggestions for the im-
provement of the service in detail. Many of these suggestions might
seem trivial, but in the aggregate they were of immense importance.
All suggestions were referred to the proper bureaus in the Depart-
ment, and wherever it was wise and possible the recommended
changes were made. The county-seat postmasters were reported
upon in turn by the inspectors.

The following were the leading items obtained by an actual com-
pilation of over 38,000 of these reports:

Post offices conveniently located 3(5,930

Post offices inconveniently located 607

Changes of locations suggested 162

Post offices well kept, clean and orderly 34,718

Post offices not well kept, etc., 3,126

Books, accounts and reports properly and promptly written up ... . 31,107

Books, etc., not properly and promptly written up 6,281

Post offices lounging places •. 1,250

Post offices not lounging places 35,691

Offices having one or more mails arriving and departing every day (that

is, supplied with daily mail service) 29,909

Notices of the lottery law found posted 32,677

Lottery law not posted 4,962

Post offices satisfactory to patrons 36,267

Post offices not satisfactory to patrons 1,066

Postmasters found to understand the Postal Laws and Regulations . . . 32,573

Postmasters found not to understand the Postal Laws and Regulations . 4,814

Postmasters devote all their time to their offices 22,070

Postmasters do not devote all their time to their offices 15,420

Postmasters found to be engaged in objectionable employment in con-
nection with their post offices 166

Postmasters made obvious improvements in the service of their offices . 9,801

2,200 POSTMASTERS VISIT 45,000 OFFICES. 43T

Postmasters who had not made improvements in the service 23,997

Offices which could be discontinued and supplied from other offices . . 409

Number of offices rated 5, or perfect 1,754

Number of offices rated 4, or excellent ' . 8,495

Number of offices rated 3, or good 14,797

Number of offices rated 2, or fair 8,508

Number of offices rated 1, or poor 1,919

Two of the most interesting items (to quote from the last
annual report) which every county-seat postmaster was asked to
report upon, were the distances from the post office to the nearest
telegraph office, and the distances to the nearest savings bank. These
distances, reported in various terms of feet, blocks, rods, yards and
miles, were reduced to a common term, and averages struck of
the various parts of the country, with the following results :

New England States. — Average distance to the nearest telegraph office, 4
miles ; average distance to the nearest savings bank, 10 miles.

Middle States. — Average distance to the nearest telegraph office, 3 miles ;
average distance to the nearest savings bank, 25 miles.

Southern States. — Average distance to the nearest telegraph office, 9 miles;
average distance to the nearest savings bank, 33 miles.

Western States. — Average distance to the nearest telegraph office, 7 miles;
average distance to the nearest savings bank, 26 miles.

Pacific Slope States. — Average distance to the nearest telegraph office, 13 miles;
average distance to the nearest savings bank, 52 miles.

Many of the visiting postmasters exercised great originality and
acumen in making up their reports. Many sent carefully prepared
letters discussing topics of postal interest. Many adorned their
reports with maps, diagrams and other illustrations. Many sent
photographs, which gave, of course, the exact appearance of the
visited offices, inside and out ; and some of the county-seat inspectors
submitted with their reports photographs of all the offices in their
counties.

Mr. J. B. Patrick, postmaster at Clarion, Pa., bound his reports
and enclosed them in a stiff brown cover. He wrote that he visited
every one of the seventy-four offices in his county. He made rec-
ommendations about the star routes. He travelled in all about four
hundred and fifty miles, three hundred by buggy, one hundred and
thirty-three by rail and seventeen on foot.

Mr. C. A. Wilcox, postmaster of Quincy, Ills., reported upon
Adams County. His visit caused seven postmasters to supply their
offices with new cases, and they soon experienced an increased revenue

O
ft

Q
a
to
«
&

H
W
«

W
O

438

2,200 POSTMASTERS VISIT 45,000 OFFICES.

439

from box rents. He found thirty-three offices in the county which
had no banking, and twenty-four which had no telegraph, facilities.
Mr. Wilcox submitted a map of each town and a very clearly drawn
map of Adams County. Reporting upon the Richfield post office,
he said :

Supplied by stage
from Fall Creek six
times a week. The in-
spector "will always re-
member Richfield. If
it were as large as
ancient Rome, it would
cover as many hills.
Being circumscribed in
area, it covers only one,
or rather, seven com-
bined in one. Beyond
the town it slopes away
to the four points of
the compass, down,
down, down.

Postmaster James
F. Sarratt of Steu-
benville, Ohio, in-
spected the offices of Jefferson County. He discovered a great inter-
est, especially among the farmers, in the development of the star route
service, and he recommended that letter boxes be put along all the
star routes so that mail messengers might collect mail that had been
deposited and deliver it at the termini of their routes. Postmaster
Sarratt believed that the increase in the amount of mail would be
perceptible. He noticed that those villagers in a township which
were not provided with a post office felt rather keenly that they were
discriminated against. He also discovered that the farms were not
only more desirable, but actually more valuable, where those postal
facilities were provided.

The postmaster at Marion Court House, Iowa, Samuel Daniels,
submitted handsome maps of many of the places in his county, and
also sent photographs of many of the offices.

Postmaster Lewis G. Holt of Lawrence, Mass., inspected the
offices of Essex County along with the then postmaster of Salem.
He noticed that all the postmasters were anxious to know if in any

ROUGHING IT NEAR RICHFIELD.

440

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

way they were behind the times, and they all expressed themselves
as not only ready to learn and adopt newer methods but pleased with
friendly criticism. The post offices of Essex County were marked :
3 perfect, 26 excellent, 24 good, 14 fair and 3 poor.

The Columbus, Ind., postmaster, Amos E. Hartman, sent fine
photographs of all the post offices in Bartholomew County. The
postmaster at Pomeroy, O., Walter W. Merrick, did likewise. So
also did the county-seat postmaster of Branch County, Michigan,
Albert A. Dorrance of Coldwater.

A. A. Thomson, postmaster at Carlisle, Pa., reported upon
Cumberland County. He visited fifty-one of his fifty-seven post
offices. They were all conveniently located. Forty-six were well
arranged, clean and orderly, and five were not. In thirty-seven the
books, accounts and reports were properly kept and correctly written
up, but in fourteen the stamp books were not posted nor the registry
books properly checked. Twenty-one offices were not used as loun-

ging places. In thirty
lounging was allowed, but
it could not well be prevented as
the offices were principally shops
or ticket offices. In five the
anti-lottery law was not found to
be posted ; in thirty-six the Postal Laws and Regulations were in
use, but in thirteen they were not ; though in these thirteen their
other business mostly engaged the attention of the postmasters. In
twenty-five offices the postmasters gave all their time to their public
duties ; in thirty -five the efforts of the postmasters were divided with
private business, and in four the work was done by proxy ; twelve

2,200 POSTMASTERS VISIT 45,000 OFFICES.

441

had no other business or office, and, although thirty-nine did other
things, the revenue of these offices did not justify making the postal
work exclusive. There was no savings bank in the county.

CRAWFORD COUNTY (PA.) SCENES.

Mr. O. H. Hollister, postmaster at Mead-
ville, Pa., enclosed his eighty-eight reports in
a fine, soft calf binding, and the last page of
the cover contained a pouch with the map of
the county. Postmaster Hollister said :

The change of star routes which I have indicated with the change from tri-
weekly service to a daily, are the most important. 1 find that offices with a daily
service *are more appreciated and usually better equipped than those with a tri-
weekly service. Complaint has been made by the patrons of tri-weekly service
offices that other offices in the county have a daily mail, which have no more
claim to such service
than theirs ; and they
do not understand
why there should
be any discrimination
made between offices
of the same kind. I
am of opinion that a
post office in a dwell-
ing house is not as
desirable as in a store.
Many of the offices in
a store are reported
to be lounging places,
but it is usually a
country store and the
lounging is in the
evening after regular MARK L. DeMOTTE, P. M., VALPARAISO, IND.

442

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

business hours and is no detriment to the service. More efficient service could
be obtained by increased compensation.

Postmaster Hollister reported that he traveled five hundred miles,
and that the ten hundred and six square miles of his county con-
tained a population of 65,324 persons, and that of the eighty-four
offices visited he found eleven perfect, eleven excellent, forty good,
seventeen fair and five poor.

Postmaster Jas. M. Brown of Toledo, Ohio, inspected the offices
of Lucas County, and he accompanied his report with neat pictures
of all the offices reported on.

The postmaster at Valparaiso, Indiana, Mr. Mark L. DeMotte, re-
ported upon the offices of Porter County. He submitted fine photo-
graphs of all the offices in his county ; and he took them himself,
because on the last page of the report appeared a picture of his horse,
carriage and camera, and the postmaster himself.

The women postmasters came grandly to the front in the county-
seat inspections. A recent computation made out that there were
6,335 postmistresses in the country, distributed by states and terri-
tories as follows :

Colorado 114

Maryland 114

Wisconsin 104

Nebraska 103

Louisiana 103

Washington ." . 98

Massachusetts 75

Minnesota 75

New Hampshire 73

Montana 67

Vermont 66

Connecticut 57

Wyoming 54

New Jersey 52

Pennsylvania 463

Virginia 460

North Carolina 322

Ohio 256

New York 243

Georgia 216

Texas 210

Kentucky .209

Illinois 194

Alabama 190

California 186

Mississippi 184

Tennessee 181

Kansas 164

Indiana 159

Iowa 156

Michigan 149

Maine 140

Florida 136

North and South Dakota . . . 127

Oregon 127

South Carolina 125

Missouri 124

Arkansas 122

West Virginia 120

It fell to the lot of sixty-one of these women to make the county-
seat visitations, and they displayed enterprise and determination in
this work, and tact and judgment, too, of rare, though not surprising

Utah

. . . 52

Idaho

... 40

. . . 29

. . . 28

. . . 24

. . . 12

. . . 11

. . . 10

. . . 1

2,200 POSTMASTERS VISIT 45,000 OFFICES. 44B

degree. Almost all took pains to report that they had been very
courteously welcomed ; indeed, they probably surpassed the men in
this respect. They travelled about with the same success as the
men. In Idaho, one woman covered almost 300 miles on horse-
back, and in Mississippi another visited almost all the offices in her
county in a sailboat.

A whole book could be written about the many admirable women
who work away with all their tact and business prudence, and with
a loyalty sometimes more loyal than a man's, trying to please their
patrons and the Department alike, and pleasing both because they
try. Sometimes they are popular and successful politicians in their
way. Sometimes they are the most important persons in their
towns. They know what is going on without reading all the postal
cards that pass through their offices. They keep their books neatly
and accurately, and having, usually, less of outside business than the
average man, their time is less divided with other duties. They
deserve to be known outside of their own localities.

Mrs. Lucy S. Miller of Mariposa, California, inspected the offices of Mariposa
County, — all but two or three of them, which were too far away. She reported
that the postmasters were very critical and interested, and that most of the offices-
were in good order. Mrs. Miller was appointed after the man first recommended
had failed to qualify. "I have learned much of patience, forbearance and
policy," she wrote, " and have acquired some knowledge of human nature, which
should be in itself an education." The morning mail reaches Mariposa at five in
the morning, summer and winter, and before that hour Mrs. Miller is faithfully
at her post and has the mail in readiness for the different carriers as they call.

Miss Mary I. Grow, postmistress at Colfax, La., reported upon Grant Parish.
She found many postmasters who did not understand how to keep the postal
account book; but she gave them advice and instruction, and was cordially
thanked for her visits.

Mrs. Mary E. Jones, postmistress at Downieville, Cal., inspected the offices of
Sierra County. She gathered her information personally from the business men.
A few of the offices in the mountains she did not visit, as it would have taken two
weeks of travel by stage through three or four other counties. She insisted that
the postmasters were above the average in intelligence and business capacity.

Mrs. Mary Green, postmistress at Warrenton, N. C, had to travel for many
miles in private conveyances in order to reach all the offices in Warren County.

Miss Annie Mountien of Yernon, Florida, reported that it would be incon-
venient for her to inspect all the offices in her county, as it would require journeys,
aggregating 320 miles and mostly in private conveyances, and as the salary of her
office was only $40 a quarter, she hardly felt like undergoing the expense. But
she suggested that two other postmasters be called in to her assistance ; and the
county was so divided.

Mrs. E. A. S. Mixson inspected Barnwell County, S. C. She is one of the

444

2,200 POSTMASTERS VISIT 45,000 OFFICES. 445

brightest postmistress in the whole service, a Massachusetts woman, postmistress
at Barnwell. She gained valuable experience in her office under President
Arthur, and has made very many improvements under the present adminis-
tration. Hers is the most conveniently fitted office in the county, and routes
and offices have been established during Mrs. Mixson's incumbency which add
greatly to the facilities of her neighborhood. Mrs. Mixson and her mother, who
is also a widow, have taught school for years in the South, and they add fine
educations, as well as experience, to the tasks before them. Mrs. Mixson visited
38 out of the 40 offices of Barnwell County, travelling 300 miles for the purpose.
The worst kept office was in an old building, partly made of logs and partly of
slab boards with the bark on. The inside had been fitted up with a few shelves.
There was a loft overhead filled with fodder and grain. The loft was reached
by a ladder, and all about were plows, plow-lines, baskets, and bacon. The light
was admitted only through the open door. It was a great surprise to the half
dozen loungers that a woman should ride in with the mail messenger. There
were rivers to be forded, but the hardest trip was a ride of 40 miles in a road-
cart. There were bridges and swamps to be crossed, and sometimes the water
was up above the feet. The carrier said the pouch frequently had to be put on
the horse's back, at this point; and so it was kept out of the water. In another
place were trenches thrown up as a protection against Kilpatrick's troops, and a
field was pointed out where some Union soldier boys lay buried. One day Mrs.
Mixson came to the smallest post office in the county, kept in a building 8x10.
The postmaster said that his receipts for the first month had been 15 cents,
and that the average after that was about .$1 a month. Here was a deserted
village, once a lively manufacturing town, and there some rails, standing upright
in the ground, marked the edge of the Savannah where it overflowed. The mail
carrier had to swim the stream. A ride of twelve miles had to be taken one night
through a cypress swamp, muddy, dark, and filled with swamps and trees, in order
to take a six o'clock train in the morning.

Miss Lucy Bowers of Tipton, Iowa, reported fully upon her county, and re-
marked in her letter that she could not let the reports go without testifying to
the unvarying courtesy of the postmasters whom she met ; they all wanted to see
her again. Miss Bowers said recently that the most profoundly interesting event
in connection with her appointment was the receipt of her commission from the
Department: and she added: "I have ever since by diligence and care tried to
make the work of the office show me worthy of this honor, and also as far as I
could I have tried to further the general reforms advocated by the Postmaster
General."

Mrs. A. E. Frank, postmistress at Jacksonville, Alabama, inspected the offices in
Calhoun County. She enjoyed meeting the postmasters, and thought the visits
beneficial all around. The only drawback was the heavy livery bill.

Miss Ionia B. Bomar, inspected Massac County, Illinois. She reported that,
"being a girl," it was rather hard work, but she enjoyed it very much, and she
consoled herself with the thought that she was working in a good cause.

Miss Sarah Johnson, postmistress at Richfield, Utah, made returns from
personal knowledge upon all but two of the offices in her county, and these, ac-
cording to report, were well managed. This lady received her appointment on
Christmas Day, 1890, and now six days out of seven she is at the office from eight
in the morning till seven at night, and she does all her own housework in addition.

A GROUP OF POSTMISTRESSES.
446

2,200 POSTMASTERS VISIT 45,000 OFFICES.

447

She erected a new brick building for the post office, and besides supporting her-
self entirely takes care of her mother. "I love my work more and more," she
says, " and try to make the postal service what it should be. If I am requested
to make another county inspection," she adds, "I shall do better than I did last
time, because I understand it now."

Miss Jennie J. Berrie, postmistress at Lexington, Mo., submitted maps and
statements with her reports. " It would be the grandest piece of work," she
said, " if all the post offices could be united by the postal telegraph. Some post
offices seem so isolated, from seven to ten miles from the nearest telegraph office,
and there is no communication with the outer world but the slow-going, twice-a-
week mail." Miss Berrie was born and educated in the town where she is now

postmistress, and naturally is known to all the patrons of the office — a good
qualification, it has been said, in a county where half the population are Smiths,
Browns and Joneses, and where it is sometimes of importance to know the
"hand-write" of many of them. Miss Berrie's employment and her pleasure
go on side by side. The men are chivalrous and the women kind-hearted. " And
what more," Miss Berrie has written, "could a postmistress desire than to meet
continually kind friends, friends of my childhood and friends of to-day." This
little woman's effort now is to raise the office from third to second class.
At Lexington, as elsewhere, there is the inevitable lost package and the letter
that never came. Miss Berrie and her mother are alone in the world, but
they have a cat and a dog; and the postmistress finds her day well occupied going
to the office at half past six in the morning and returning home at half past
eight. "Good health," she says, "remunerative employment, and a desire to

448 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

please and be pleased, make life interesting and well worth the living." All of
the papers spoke very highly of the appointment of Miss Berrie.

Miss Kate Cox, postmistress at Graveton, Texas, reported upon Trinity County
without referring to her own office, as she did not think that was expected. But
she adds, " I would be very glad to have you appoint someone to visit my office at
any time."

Mrs. Sarah L. Christie, postmistress at Nyack, N. T., visited all the offices in
Rockland County except two. These were so far away in the hills that they
could not easily be reached in the required time. Mrs. Christie was born in
Nyack and has always lived there. She was early a clerk in the post office and
later assistant to her father, who was postmaster. She was first appointed
postmistress by President Hayes on the death of her father in 1880, and she was
re-appointed by President Arthur. She was removed by the last administration
but re-appointed by President Harrison in 1890.

Another eastern postmistress who made the county-seat inspections was Miss
Erne J. Cooper of Port Royal, Juniata County, Pa. She and her sister support
their widowed mother. A great deal of work was entailed upon the Port Royal
office by the delivery and receipt of the Census mail, ,^or the enumerator for the
seventh district of Pennsylvania lived in that town, and he mailed tons of matter
at Miss Cooper's office; and as much of it had to be registered the postmistress
often worked from half past six in the morning till half past ten at night.

Miss Cassie W. Hull of Bath, divided the work of visiting the offices in Steuben
County, N". Y., with the postmaster at Corning. He took forty-six offices and
she forty-four, and Miss Hull visited all but two of hers. She found some
imperfect bookkeeping, but as most of the postmasters had opportunity to study
nothing but the Postal Laws and Regulations, and as these were sometimes hard
to understand, or get at, it was not strange. Miss Hull added that she did not
enjoy taking the time or money for making these visits, but she was satisfied all
the same that they were a good thing. Miss Hull has reason to be proud of her
friends, — and she is. Judge Ramsay, John Davenport, Ira Davenport, J. F. Park-
hurst, and all the leading Republicans of the district were "for her" and Con-
gressman John Raines willingly recommended her appointment. Miss Hull's
success was very warmly greeted by all the papers of the neighborhood. She had
been for ten years financial and business clerk in the Bath Courier office, and won
great commendation for her energy and discretion. Miss Hull's brother was the
editor of the Courier, and his sudden death had grieved the newspaper fraternity
of the whole state. But it was not on this account solely that Miss Hull's
appointment was warmly greeted. The Buffalo News called her a woman of
unusual and marked ability. Editor Hull had a Bible class of a hundred young
men at Bath, and they unitedly urged his sister's appointment as postmistress.
As Miss Hull moved about the county on her tour of inspection, the local papers
met her with complimentary and sincere greetings.

Mrs. Mary Truly of Fayette, Mississippi, found the postmasters clamorous for a
stated salary, so that they might realize the dignity of being United States
officers, and not be compelled to do so undignified a thing as watch every little
two-cent stamp that came in sight. She noticed some loafing in the post offices,
but it was hard for the country storekeepers to get rid of this, or they would lose
some of their trade. On this account Mrs. Truly suggested that as an adjunct to
some woman's business, such as millinery or dressmaking, the small post office

2,200 POSTMASTEKS VISIT 45,000 OFFICES.

449

would be better managed. This postmistress has never missed a mail, lost a
registered letter, or heard a single complaint against her office. She has moved
her quarters nearer to the railroad, so that the railroad company has to pay for
the mail messenger service, which formerly cost $95 a year. Mrs. Truly has a
fine grown-up- boy whom she is educating.

Miss Margaret G. Davis, postmistress at Biloxi, Harrison County, Miss., sub-
mitted maps and other drawings, and made numerous suggestions for the im-
provement of the service.

Miss Jeannie Hubbard, postmistress at Paris, Maine, reported upon Oxford
County — upon eighty-four of the eighty-seven offices. Oxford County is per-
haps one hundred miles long and fifty wide, and Miss Hubbard feared that it
would cost her $200 to make the visits. She did most of the work by corre-
spondence, and very satisfactorily, too; and she secured the attention of a number
of weekly papers to the visitation, and hence prepared the postmasters and the
public to be ready for it.

Mrs. Flora H. Hawes of Hot Springs, Arkansas, visited all but two offices in
her county, but satisfied herself before submitting her report that these were well
conducted; and later she visited them. Mrs. Hawes is a remarkable woman. She

was born and reared at Salem, Washing- ^ _____

ton County, Indiana. Her family is among
the most notable and influential in that
state. Her father, Dr. Sanford H. Har-
rod, was a man of sterling worth, uni-
versally esteemed. Mrs. Hawes is closely
related to Hon. John C. New, and her
sister married W. W. Borden, of Borden,
Indiana, a man of wealth and scientific
attainments, and a nominee for Congress.
Mrs. Hawes was married to Professor
Edgar Poe Hawes, a man of literary tastes
and pronounced culture ; and in his work
as a teacher he was much assisted by his
wife, whose education and superior power
as an elocutionist admirably qualified her
for this. After the death of Professor
Hawes, Mrs. Hawes accepted a position in
the public schools of Hot Springs. Here,
as everywhere, she won the warmest
friendship of all. Though modest in
manner, she is determined as a queen.
With her, to determine is to execute, and
to plan is to accomplish. More than once
her shrewd abilities, excellent generalship,
and sharp woman's wit have triumphed over self-reliant men opponents. She
overcame thus the opposition to her appointment as postmistress at Hot Springs,
an opposition based mainly upon the fact that she was a woman. In a cosmo-
politan city of 15,000 inhabitants, with a population of at least 10,000 visitors,
many women would have refrained from undertaking such a fight. Mrs.
Hawes made a personal contest, however, and overcame all obstacles. She has

MRS. FLORA H. HAWES,
Postmistress, Hot Springs, Ark.

450

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

for three years performed the intricate, responsible duties of her post with credit
to herself and her people.

One of the women visitors, Mrs. Mary E. P. Bogert, the postmistress at Wilkes
Barre, Pa., inspected Luzerne County. She submitted reports of all of the forty-
four post offices,

MRS. MARY E. P. BOGERT.

mark them ' 5 ' only
highest number."

each marked with
the stamp of the
office. She said in
her letter accom-
panying the re-
ports :

"I have been
much interested in
this work, and
these personal vis-
its have shown me
the many difficult-
ies under which the fourth class
postmasters labor. Many of them
have very imperfect facilities for
work, and some of them little real
knowledge just how the work
should be done. All are anxious
to do it well, but many fall short
of any standard of excellence, not,
f however, from carelessness, but
simply from limited knowledge.
They would so gladly welcome
some special instruction. I
spent much time in explaining
to some of these fourth class post-
masters things they were anxious to
understand. Many of these offices
would be in better condition if the
postmasters had more definite knowledge.
Great good must result from this effort
to bring all the offices into closer union
with the Department. In marking papers
I have endeavored to make each mark a
just one. Pittston, Hazleton, and Xanti-
coke are very excellent. I should like to
that nothing can be perfect, and '4' has been the

The history of Mrs. Bogert, lately the postmistress at the largest town in this
country, probably, where a woman has been postmistress in recent years (next to
Louisville, where Mrs. Thompson was postmistress for so long) is very interest-
ing. She is a descendant of the old historic line of Paterson, and her early home
was at Sweet Air, near Baltimore City. Miss Paterson went to the Millersville,
Pa., State Xormal School, and having lost her parents and her home, taught for
one term at the Collegiate Institute at Salem, New Jersey, and from there,
through the influence of school friends, she was called to the Franklin Grammar
School in Wilkes Barre. She was a great success, teaching for the love of the
work, as well as for the pay; and she taught until 1879, when she was married to
Joseph K. Bogert, one of Wilkes Barre' s prominent men, who had been soldier,
editor and politician. Mr. Bogert was appointed postmaster in 1885, and held

2,200 POSTMASTERS VISIT 45,000 OFFICES.

451

the position at the time of his death. The citizens of Wilkes Barre united in a
strong, determined effort to secure the position for his widow, and sent a petition
to the Department, which was acknowledged at the time to be the strongest paper
of the kind ever presented there. The petition was gotten up regardless of
politics, and President Cleveland appointed Mrs. Bogert postmistress of Wilkes
Barre in April, 1887. She held the position for five years. She kept a general
supervision of every department of the office, giving personal care to all details,
stimulating each employee to give to his work the best that was in him, having
entire control of both clerical and carrier force, and devoting the greater portion
of her time to the work. The county-seat visitation called out some of Mrs.
Bogert' s best work. She realized that a closer union with the Department would
result in great good; she took especial pains to carry out the Postmaster General's
wish to the very letter, making many explanations, giving instruction where
needed, familiarizing herself with the difficulties under which the postmasters
labored, and realizing more and more the great good that must accrue from this
careful inspection. About two weeks after the completion of her term she was
called back to the office by a series of sad circumstances. The new postmaster
was called away by the death of his father. The assistant postmaster was ill at
the same time; and he requested Mrs. Bogert to take charge of the office for a
time. Later, the new postmaster desired her to accept permanently the position
of assistant postmistress; and she did so.

Miss H. L. Dear, postmistress at Pop-
larville, is one of the Mississippi post-
mistresses of note. She was appointed,
as many postmasters in the South
are, on the recommendation of her pre-
decessor.

Mrs. Bertha Kleven, postmistress at
Culbertson, Nebraska. Her husband,
Captain John E. Kleven, a veteran of the
war, was postmaster at Culbertson from
1874 till 1881. The appointment of his
successor, made after his death in 1881,
was unpopular, and the next year citizens
of all parties urged the appointment of
Captain Kleven' s widow.

Mrs. Emma J. Zeluff is postmistress at
Grant City, Mo. She was appointed
under the present administration, but the
post office work had been familiar to her,
as her husband had been postmaster from
1882 until his death in 1884. Mrs. Zeluff
was removed in 1885, but she taught in
the public school. Two hundred citizens
petitioned «for her appointment in 1889.
It has always been her earnest desire,
she has written, to comply with the rules and regulations of the Department and
to deal fairly and honestly with all. The local papers spoke very highly of
this lady when she was appointed.

MRS. MARY SUMNER LONG,
Postmistress, Charlottesville, Va.

452

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Mrs. Ada Hunter is postmistress at Kinston, N. C. She was appointed in
September, 1889. Her principal assistant is her husband, who has charge of the
money order department; and Mrs. Hunter's daughter is the separating clerk.
The Kinston office is very well managed.

Mrs. Mary Sumner Long, postmistress at Charlottesville, Virginia, is the daugh-
ter of the Union Major General Sumner and the widow of the Confederate Major

General Long, the military secretary
and biographer of General Robert E.
Lee. Mrs. Long is a lady of marked
social and literary tastes and acquire-
ments, as well as of great business
capacity. She was originally ap-
pointed postmistress at Charlottes-
ville, March 2, 1877, by General
Grant, and has been reappointed by
every successive administration, hav-
ing had commissions signed by Pres-
idents Grant, Hayes, Garfield,
Arthur, Cleveland and Har-
rison. Her husband be-
came blind from wounds
received in the war and
she was for many years
the sole support of a fam-
ily of five. Mrs. Long's
business-like administra-
tion of the post office,
during all these fifteen
years, has been very sat-
isfactory to all her pat-
rons.

Mrs. Barbara Dickey,
postmistress at Dover,
la., was born at Mt. Joy,
Pa., in December, 1813,
and was married in 1841.
Bride and groom moved to Fort Madison, Iowa, and lived there over eleven years,
and then moved to Dover, established a store, and began a post office; and she
gave it the name of Dover. Mrs. Dickey has managed this office ever since.

Miss Amanda B. Shaver has managed the post office at Wegee, Ohio, since 1864.
The proceeds of this office have varied during Miss Shaver's incumbency as
assistant from $8 a year to $61. 11. Once twenty-eight persons, who the postmistress
knew did not receive more than two letters every year, called twenty-eight times
in one day for their mail, and Miss Shaver has answered the bell forty times many
a day when her pay has amounted to one or two cents. Miss Shaver's grand-
father was a soldier of the War of 1812, and her great-grandfather kept the horse
and tent of George Washington. He was too young for regular service as a
soldier. Miss Shaver's maternal grandfather was John Ney, He was also a
soldier of the War of 1812, and used to transport goods by wagon over the old

2,200 POSTMASTERS VISIT 45,000 OFFICES.

453

MRS. M. A. MEILY,
Postmistress, Ono, Pa.

National Pike from 1815 to 1830. John Ney claimed to be a nephew of Marshal
Ney. Miss Shaver's maternal grandmother was the oldest daughter of Thomas
Kildare, one of the tea-spillers, — though he was pressed into that service by the

others, being but a barefoot boy of seventeen
years when the crowd found him on their way to
the water's edge.

Mrs. M. A.- Meily was appointed postmistress at
Ono, Pa., May 28, 1863. Her husband was a
Union soldier, and her father had been postmaster
at Ono when the office was established; and it had
been called Seltzersville after him.

The oldest postmistress in the country is Miss
Martha E. Stone of North Oxford, Mass. She
was commissioned postmistress by Horatio King,
then first assistant Postmaster General, April 27,
1857. At that time there were two mails a day at
North Oxford; now the business of the office is
nearly quadrupled. The office has always been
kept in the sitting-room of Miss Stone's home,
however. Among her literary labors Miss Stone
assisted ex-Senator George in his compilation of
the " Davis Genealogy." She was also associated
with Judge Learned of Albany, in his compilation of the genealogy of the
Learned family. The Learned and Davis families were intimately connected by

frequent intermarriages, and among the

wealthiest and most influential in Ox-
ford. From the former Miss Stone traces
her descent, being the great-grand-
daughter of Col. Ebenezer Learned, one
of the first permanent settlers of the
town in 1713. Later she was for nineteen
years a teacher in public and private
schools, and she has served on the school
board, elected by the vote of her people.
The champion whistling postmistress
is Miss Hattie E. Connors, of Sorrento,
Me. She was born at Sullivan, in the
Pine Tree State, and educated at the
Castine Normal School. After gradua-
tion she taught school for several years.
In May, 1888, she was appointed post-
mistress at Sorrento. She has always
been musical. She learned to play the
piano at an early age; and though she
does not profess to play any instrument
very well, she makes good music on
the banjo, mandolin, zither and guitar,
as well as the piano. Her favorite in-

strument is the violin, and upon this

MISS HATTIE E. CONNORS,
The Whistling Postmistress of Sorrento.

454

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

she is very proficient. Miss Connors has always been a whistler. She does not
claim to excel, but she whistles with her fingers, unlike any other feminine
artist. It is this manner of her performance that makes her so unique. She
has never practised whistling much; it came to her naturally, and she does
it without effort. She is a bright, energetic young woman and remarkably
well read. She is thoroughly self-reliant for a woman, and has a very
charming personality, and is a favorite both with the summer visitors and the
" natives " at Sorrento. Generals S. Y. Benet and A. W. Greely have heard Miss
Connors whistle and they have written out most complimentary testimonials for
her. She has had engagements with a Boston lyceum bureau.

THE TEXAS QUARTETTE.

The Texas quartette were born January 10, 1890, to Mrs. Page, the wife of
Mr. E. P. Page, postmaster at Ingersol, Texas. With mingled feelings of
happiness and consternation, the father wrote to Studebaker Bros., among many,
to know if they would contribute to the amelioration of his situation. They sent
him a fine road wagon. An elderly western woman sent a check for three hun-
dred dollars to the mother. Encouraged by these and other attentions, Mr. Page
resigned his post office and exhibited his babies. But having tired of this, he
desired the office back again. Studebaker Bros, endorsed him for the position,
and when he wrote to the Department that, though he was a Democrat, his babies
were all girls and might yet marry Republicans, General Clarkson promptly ap-
pointed him. The babies were photographed by Josh Whealdon, of Texarkana,
Ark.

The Postmaster General desired to repeat the county seat inspec-
tions, and he called to the Department in May seven postmasters
from various parts of the country who had interested themselves to

2,200 POSTMASTERS VISIT 45,000 OFFICES.

455

the best advantage in the previous inspection. They were B. Wilson
Smith, LaFayette, Ind. ; F. T. Spinne} 7 , Medford, Mass. ; L. H.
Beyerle, Goshen, Ind. ; Jas. P. Harter, Hagerstown, Md. ; O. H.
Hollister, Meadville, Penn. ; J. F. Sarratt, Steubenville, Ohio ; and
Archibald Brady, Charlotte, N. C. They met at the Department on
the 2 2d of June, sat for three days, and resolved that the visitations
ought to be repeated. The conference agreed that, in repeating the
visits, particular attention should be paid to the minute details

F. T. SPINNEY, ARCHIBALD BRADY, J. P. HARTER,

Medford, Mass. Charlotte, N. C. Hagerstown, Md.

L. H. BEYERLE, B. WILSON SMITH, J. F. SARRATT, O. H. HOLLISTER,

Goshen, Ind. LaFayette, Ind. Steuhenville, O. Meadville, Pa.

THE SEVEN CONFEREES FOR THE SECOND VISITATION.

of each branch of the service ; and a list of questions should be
published to set postmasters to thinking. The visiting postmaster
was to grade the post offices in his county as excellent, good, fair,
or poor, and the following elements were to be taken into account :
cleanliness, order, keeping of accounts, personal attention of post-
master, improvements in the service, knowledge and observance of
the Postal Laws and Regulations, and enthusiasm. It was recom-
mended that all postmasters rated as " excellent " should be honor-
ably mentioned by a special letter of the Postmaster General or

456 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

otherwise, and all postmasters rated " poor " should be notified that
there was room for improvement and should be instructed how to
effect it. Each county-seat postmaster was to forward to the De-
partment a report containing an alphabetical list of the post offices
in his county, with the grading of each, and was to retain in his
office, for future reference, the detailed report of the questions
and answers upon which he based his rating. He was also to call
special attention by letter to subjects requiring action by the
Department.

So, later on, the instructions to all the county-seat postmasters
were sent out, and again the 2,200 or more visitors were to make
their examination, were to learn and teach ; and again the condition
of thousands of post offices was to be reported upon, and thousands
of valuable changes were again to be recommended and effected.

^=541*5*"^

THE OLDEST POSTMASTEK.

HE oldest postmaster ! A theme for poets, rather
than mere makers of books. He is a delightful
old fellow, wherever he is found; and he is
found in quaint localities, quaintly attending to
duties every da} 7 , and quaintly believed by all of
neighbors to be the oldest postmaster in the ser-
vice, and that beyond a question. It should be a
hazardous thing to say that the following list gives the
names and offices, the states, and the dates of appointment of the
oldest postmasters. It is safe to say, though, that the following are
some of them :

457

458

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Name.

Appointed.

Office.

State.

Epliraim Miller

November 24,

1852

Summit Mills

Pennsylvania

Alvin Weed

December 16

1852

North Stamford

Connecticut

William Trexler

September 6

1853

Long Swamp

Pennsylvania

Franklin Tourtillot

May 20

1854

Maxfield

Maine

Henry Bartling

May 20.

1854

Addison

Illinois

Charles N. Gery

April 5

1855

Seisholtzville

Pennsylvania

Jacob Shaffner

July 11

1855

Host

Pennsylvania

E. A. Leinbach

July 20

1855

Leinbach' s

Pennsylvania

W. P. Coursen

September 3

1855

Fredon

New Jersey

J. W. Kimball

December 28

1855

Gilead

Maine

Joseph Keck

February 2

1856

Keek's Centre

New York

B. C. Prettyman

March 17

1856

Hollyville

Delaware

Andrew Smith

November 11

1856

Wegee

Ohio

J. H. Keplinger

November 11

1856

Winfield

Ohio

William A. Hight

December 6,

1856

Wetaug

Illinois

R. N. Candee

December 29,

1856

Pontiac

New York

William Dunlap

February 17.

1857

West Salisbury

New Hampshire

Lewis Hammonds

February 19.

1857

Royalton

Kentucky

Martha E. Stone

April 27.

1857

North Oxford

Massachusetts

K. K. Thompson

May 14.

1857

West Trenton

Maine

Ferdinand AuBuchon

June 29.

1857

French Tillage

Missouri

William Folker

July 6

1857

Acasto

Missouri

David Brobst

July 27

1857

Marcy

Ohio

E. S. Cowles

September 1

1857

Camp ton

Iowa

Josiah Willson

October 2

1857

Oak Grove

New Jersey

I. G. Reynolds

November 7

1857

South Brooks

Maine

S. K. Nurse

March 3

1858

Denverton

California

John T. Parker

March 31

1858

Granville

Missouri

James S. Chapin

July 31

1858

Lincoln

Massachusetts

David Beck

August 3

1858

Beck's Mills

Indiana

Silas Hatch, 2d.

August 26

1858

Hatchville

Massachusetts

W. G. Harding

August 28

1858

Berkshire

Massachusetts

D. D. Gore

September 1

1858

McCameron

Indiana

J. B. Dunham

November 4

1^58

Almoral

Iowa

A. W. Story

December 4

1858

Pigeon Cove

Massachusetts

Amos Carpenter

December 16

1858

Carpenter's Store

Missouri

R. J. Jewell

January 18

1859

Elk Creek

Kentucky

W. H. Morse

February 9

1859

Gilmer

Illinois

James Hibbs

March 16

1859

Hibbsville

Iowa

R. T. Hutchinson

August 25

1859

Gilead

Connecticut

P. W. Richmond

September 1

1859

Potter Hill

New York

J. H. Trueblood

November 18

1859

Canton

Indiana

Margaret Hunter

December 31

1859

Weiseburg

Maryland

Addison Whithed

February 29

, 1860

Vernon

Vermont

Cephas Haskins

April 16

, 1860

Lakeville

Massachusetts

R. M. Nelson

April 17

, 1860

Birds ville

Kentucky

C. S. Holden

April 18

, 1860

Manton

Rhode Island

D. K. Marsh

August 11

, 1860

Marshfield

Pennsylvania

L. F. Perry

September 24

1860

Perry's Mills

New York

THE OLDEST POSTMASTER.

459

Name.

Appointed.

Office.

State.

F. J. Schreiber

November 28

1860

Cruger

Illinois

H. M. Selden

December 29

1860

Haddam Neck

Connecticut

E. P. Higby

December 29

1860

Mapleton

Kansas

William Moreschel

January 7

1861

Homestead

Iowa

Xavier Guittard

March 13

1861

Guittard Station

Kansas

Charles Hornung

March 20

1861

New Bavaria

Ohio

B. F. Thomas

March 25

1861

Mount Hope

Indiana

Thomas Machan

April 10,

1861

Belle Isle

New York

E. S. Dewey

April 13

1861

East Poultney

Vermont

Sylvanus W. Hall

April 22

1861

Marion

Massachusetts

Chauncey Carpenter

May 11

1861

Do ran

Iowa

John A. Blaney

May 13

1861

Whitesburg

Pennsylvania

Washington Hildreth

May 15

1861

Lock

Ohio

E. C. Sindel

May 21

1861

Winameg

Ohio

Robert B. Hill

May 30

1861

Leesburg

Pennsylvania

Albert Lair

May 31

1861

Wright

Indiana

George M. Delano

June 5

1861

Heyworth

Illinois

John M. Burr

June 20

, 1861

Burrville

Connecticut

David Baughman

June 26

1861

Oak Point

Illinois

Nathaniel Clark

June 29

1861

Paxton

Massachusetts

Daniel Frelick

July 5

1861

Broken Sword

Ohio

P. P. Poast

July 9

1861

Poast Town

Ohio

S. B. Minnick

July 11

1861

C as tine

Ohio

Joseph Greely, Jr.

July 16

1861

North Sutton

New Hampshire

William H. Griffith

July 16

1861

Marshall

Ohio

Samuel M. Currier

July 26

1861

West Henniker

New Hampshire

Rufus Smith

July 26

1861

North Littleton

New Hampshire

Samuel Everts

August 2

1861

Cornwall

Vermont

D. I. Dewey

August 7

1861

North Manlius

New York

B. B. Evans

August 10

1861

Camba

Ohio

John Hall

August 12

1861

North Springfield

Vermont

John Treat

August 15

1861

Enfield

Maine

Jono. J. Blaney

August 17

1861

Summit Station

New York

Horatio B. Magown

August 31

, 1861

West Hanover

Massachusetts

M. H. Lufkin

August 31

1861

Exeter

Maine

Eli W. Watrous

September 11

1861

Kirkwood Centre

New York

Adaline T. Davis

September 15

1861

Sunbury

Ohio

I. Edwin Smith

October 3

, 1861

Smithville

Massachusetts

George Copeland

October 4

1861

South Easton

Massachusetts

George 0. Sharp

October 4

1861

Kickapoo City

Kansas

John Lemmax

November 7

1861

Whigville

Ohio

John D. Davis

January 16

1862

Annisquam

Massachusetts

H. W. Taylor

February 11

1862

Aurelius

New York

Thomas Leonard

February 14

1862

Leonard ville

New Jersey

J. M. Hagensick

February 17

1862

Ceres

Iowa

Isaac A. Walker

February 19

1862

Stow

Maine

J. M. Mattoon

February 26

1862

Geneva

Kansas

W. E. Hammond

March 20

1862

Oramel

New York

Theo. P. Cornell

March 21

1862

Paulina

New Jersey

Adolphus Frick

April 10

1862

Campbellton

Missouri

John Sparks

April 18

1862

Fairport

Iowa

James Campbell

May 8

1862

Peru

Kentucky

Charles G. Robeson

May 9

1862

Saxon

Illinois

Hiram Ricker

June 4

1862

South Poland

Maine

Warren Richardson

June 25

1862

Wilson's Crossing

New Hampshire

460

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Name.

Appointed.

Office.

State.

Andrew Tan Alstyne

Julyl

1862

Chatham Centre

Xew York

Joel Xewson

July 28

1862

Azalia

Indiana

John H. Lvtle

August 1

1862

Magnolia

Maryland

Clarinda T. Battey

August 11

1862

South Scituate

Rhode Island

Richard Thompson

August 21,

1862

Spanish Ranch

California

Edwin Scott

September 25

1862

Hawley

Massachusetts

John V. Fares

October 4

1862

Kasson

Indiana

John Bake

October 11

1862

Contreras

Ohio

Joseph H. Moulton

December 17

1862

South Sanford

Maine

Bradford M. Field

January 16

1863

Leverett

Massachusetts

William Tuttle, Jr.

January 19

1863

Miracle Run

West Yirginia

P. J. S. Garis

January 30

1863

Millbrook

Xew Jersey

S. G. Russell

February 3

1863

Blurrdale

Illinois

"Wesley G. Scott

February 21

1863

Scottsville

Indiana

John G. Sanborn

March 23

1863

Horn's Mills

Xew Hampshire

J. M. Baldwin

April 2

1863

Sidney

Xew Jersey

James R. Mead

April 4

1863

Hanover

Xew Jersey

Phineas W. Turner

April 11

1863

Turnerville

Connecticut

W. H. Boggs

April 13

1863

Burnside

Indiana

Mary A. Meily

May 28

1863

Ono

Pennsylvania

J. M. McCluskey

June 5

1863

Alder Creek

Xew York

Stephen Bennett

June 8

1863

Big Buffalo

West Yirginia

Pardon T. Bates

June 11

, 1863

W. Greenwich Cen.

Rhode Island

Phebe D. Osgood

July 9

1863

Xorth Penobscot

Maine

Francina Pratt

July 13

1863

Greene Corner

Maine

Elizabeth Xelson

July 13

1863

Hillsboro Centre

Xew Hampshire

Thomas Henderson

July 14

1863

Black Horse

Maryland

John B. White

August 5

1863

Garrettsburgh

Kentucky

I. C. Sherman

August 7

1863

Xew Baltimore

Xew York

Charles Y. Minott

September 25

, 1863

Phippsburgh

Maine

A. G. Shoemaker

Xoveruber 11

1863

Rockville

Kansas

Reuben Dunbar

December 24

1863

Horse Shoe Bottom

Kentucky

Henry Tilley

January 11

1864

Castle Hill

Maine

Isaac G. Stetson

January 25

1864

South Hanover

Massachusetts

Erastus A. Plummer

January 26

1864

Raymond

Maine

Augustus S. Fayles

January 26

1864

dishing

Maine

George B. Wilson

January 27

1864

Hoi ad ay's

Iowa

T. H. Woodcock

February 16

1864

Rockland Lake

Xew York

Dean Blanchard

February 24

1864

Rainier

Oregon

Henry J. Lane

March 30

1864

East Raymond

Maine

A. J. Jardine

April 18

1864

Xorth Star

Pennsylvania

Richard Pantall

April 20

1864

Millburn

Illinois

William M. Eldridge

April 29

1864

South Harwich

Massachusetts

Thomas M. Pierce

April 30

1864

Pierce Station

Tennessee

William W. Wood

May 9

1864

Wood's Falls

Xew York

D. R. Harrison

May 26

1864

Herrin's Prairie

Illinois

F. M. Hankins

June 7

1864

Harrisonville

Kentucky

Lauton Pettet

June 22

1864

Lake Road

Xew York

Henry E. Mason

September 19

, 1864

Med way

Massachusetts

John P. Haskison

September 19

, 1864

Healdville

Yermont

John S. Hutchins

October 10

1864

Central House

California

Gasca Rich

Xovember 1

1864

Richville

Yerrnont

Barbara Dickey

Xovember 15

1864

Dover

Iowa

William M. Fowler

Xovember 21

1864

Fowler' s

West Yirginia

THE OLDEST POSTMASTER.

461

Name.

Appointed.

Office.

State.

Roger T. Clements

January 25, 1865

Union

Kentucky

Charles E. Libby

February 15,

1865

Dry Mills

Maine

A. D. Birnie

February 27.

1865

Cathlamet

Washington

William C. Davison

March 1.

1865

Hart wick Seminary

New York

C. G-. Washburn

March 24,

1865

East Taunton

Massachusetts

Elisha Winslow

March 24,

1865

Virgil

New York

Martha A. Pond

April 10,

1865

Whiting

Vermont

Joshua Griffith

April 13,

1865

Ludingtonville

New York

Howard M. Curtis

April 27

1865

New Castle

New Hampshire

James Rodgers

May 11.

1865

Blakeville

Iowa

Thomas F. Palmer

May 30.

1865

North Fayette

Maine

Calvin Z. Parmelee

June 14

1865

East Windsor Hill

Connecticut

I. P. Wilcoxson

June 29.

1865

Christiansburg

Kentucky

Charles F. Bryant

July 26

, 1865

Sharon

Massachusetts

W. K. Green

August 9.

1865

Nolens ville

Tennessee

John Dunham

September 7

, 1865

Chilmark

Massachusetts

Cornelius Van Alstine

September 18

1865

Marshville

New York

J. S. Lindsey

October 6.

1865

Del Ray

Illinois

John Forbes

October 11.

1865

Wilmington

New York

Sumner Evans

October 26

, 1865

East Stoneham

Maine

Roswell Beardsley has been
postmaster at North Lansing,
New York, since June 28, 1828.
He was born in 1809, is eighty-
three years old, and has served
as postmaster continuously for
sixty-four years. He was ap-
pointed during the administra-
tion of President John Quincy
Adams upon the urgent recom-
mendation of Wm. H. Seward,
then a young politician and
a partner of Mr. Beardsley' s
brother, Nelson. During all
these years Mr. Beardsley has
conducted his office to the en-
tire satisfaction of the public,
and he has never been repri-
manded for failure to perform
his duties. He gives the post
office his personal attention
every day, as well as his little
store. His patrons all love him,
and hope his life may be spared
for many years. Nobody ever
sought to get the office away
from Mr. Beardsley. His health
is good, and he eats three good
meals every day with perfect regularity.

ROSWELL, BEARDSLEY,
North Lansing, New York, the Oldest Postmaster.

He is a Democrat in politics, but is

462

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

not offensive. He lets his neighbors believe and practice any sort or quality of
religious belief that suits them, and he does the same. He has never been in
Washington. The post office over which Mr. Beardsley presides pays him an
annual compensation of $170. The first year he held it the pay was $19.53.
Mr. Beardsley has never failed to make out his quarterly report with his
own hand.

Joseph Strode, postmaster at Strode' s Mills, Pennsylvania, is one of the oldest
of the old-timers. He was appointed October 2, 1845. Strode' s Mills is a quiet

POSTMASTERS APPOINTED IN THE FORTIES.

village, and the post office serves the farmers and the miners who live about. It
is situated on the old Pittsburg and Philadelphia turnpike, and Mr. Strode' s father
was postmaster from 1837 until his death in 1845. At that early day Strode's
Mills had a daily mail by the east and west bound stages. When the Pennsyl-
vania Eoad had been completed to Huntingdon in 1851, the mail for Strode's Mills
went by rail.

Peter Lansing, postmaster at Lisha's Kill, New York, dates back to 1850, and he
remembers that in 1832 postage was computed by miles from his office to New
York, a single letter costing 18% cents. He was then, at fourteen, the assistant

THE OLDEST POSTMASTER. 463

of Postmaster Lewis Morris. They exchanged mails daily over stages running
between Albany and Schenectady. In '34 the Lisha's Kill office began to receive
mail from Albany and Schenectady by rail, and the mail was brought in on horse-
back from a place called Centre, three miles off. At that time the railroad cars
on the Albany and Schenectady road were drawn by horses.

Osman Pixley, postmaster at Ingraham, Clay County, Illinois, since May 28,

1852, says:

" Ingraham post office was established in the fall of 1825, as Ingraham Prairie.
The country was new and the government land not more than one half taken up,
and the people were well satisfied with one mail per week. The Government
gave the net proceeds to the contractor, the amount being but a few cents a trip.
We carried the mail then from Louisville, fourteen miles, with creeks to cross
and but one bridge on the line. The patrons of the office had to contribute
something to help compensate the contractor, and sometimes one neighbor would
carry the mail and sometimes another, so that it came lightly on the contractor.
The twice-a-week mail we considered quite a treat, but on the new route there
was not a single bridge, and some of the streams were so deep that in certain
seasons of the year we would be weeks without a mail on account of the high
water. This continued until about 1872, when we petitioned the postmaster
general for a daily route from here by way of Wakefield Boot and Wilsonburgh to
Noble. We placed it in the hands of Senator Logan and the route was granted.
Some of the patrons of the office very reluctantly signed the petition, stating
that they did not see any use of a mail every day, and thought it an imposition
on the Government. When this office was first established, it would have taken
as many weeks as it now takes days for a letter to reach New York City. Then
all letters going out of the state, or very far, had to pass through a distributing
office and would be delayed there about twenty-four hours. At that time the rate
of postage was five cents for three hundred miles or less, and ten cents for over
three hundred miles. I very well recollect when letters came unpaid and
frequently the party addressed would not pay the postage, and the letter
would be sent to the Dead Letter Office. It was not infrequent for one
person who had a spite against another to send him a large letter with post-
age to collect, and when the letter was opened, it would be found to contain
waste paper, or something of that kind. The same thing was done for a joke
among friends.

" During the Rebellion we had but one mail a week, and well do I recollect with
what great anxiety mail day was looked for, and the sad disappointments that
nearly every mail would bring. Usually a crowd was in waiting and nearly every
letter received from the army was read in the office, and such sadness as some of
them brought caused much shedding of tears, for the people in this vicinity were
loyal, and a very large majority of the able bodied men went to the army leaving
wives, sweethearts and mothers. There are now about forty pensions coming
to this little office, and very many of the anxious mothers and sweethearts and
wives have passed away."

Henry Bartling has been postmaster at Addison, Illinois, since May 20, 1854.
" I thank God," he says, " that I could be of service to my neighbors and fellow-
citizens for such a long period." He adds:

" Everything has worked smoothly and quietly, even during the dreadful years
of 1861 to '65. The office was given to me without my seeking it, and I had no
knowledge of the petition my neighbors had sent to Washington. This fact has
done much to sweeten the arduous and responsible labor connected with the office,
and has encouraged me all these years to do my work faithfully. It was an honor-
able and confidential position the citizens had placed me in, and it has always
been my endeavor to run the affairs of the office for the welfare of the community,
according to the postal laws. I have never interfered officially in the politics of
the country, although individually I cared as much as any other citizen for the

POSTMASTERS APPOINTED IN THE FIFTIES.
(Except Curtis Wood, appointed 1849.)

464

THE OLDEST POSTMASTER.

465

weal of our beloved country. My principle was, as postmaster : — This office is
alike for all, no matter what political opinion may prevail, and the post office
should be free from all influences and political partisanship, a free institution of
a free and liberty-loving people."

Jacob Shaffner, postmaster at Host, Pennsylvania, has had no predecessor nor
successor in his office. He was first commissioned in July, 1855. In the early days
the postmaster was amanuensis to nearly every man, woman and child in the whole
vicinity; but he was more, — he was a mind reader; he would tell them what they
wanted to say. Mr. Shaffner' s salary
had risen to $20 a year until 1860 ; then
it was reduced to $19 a year, but it has
risen somewhat since that time.

Postmaster Andrew Smith, of Wegee,
Ohio, received his commission November
11, 1856. For several years he had but
one mail a day at Wegee on the steam-
boat route between Wheeling and Park-
ersburgh. In the fall of 1861 Mr. Smith
raised a company, became its captain,
and went to war in the 77th Regiment
of Ohio Volunteers, remaining in the
service until February, 1863, when he
was mustered out for disability. He
did not resign his commission. The
post office remained under the faithful
management of Miss Amanda B. Shaver.

J. H. Keplinger, postmaster at Win-
field, Ohio, took possession of his office
in '56. The year before he had been
made a justice of the peace, and two
years later he was commissioned notary
public for Tuscarawas County, and his
latest commission in that capacity is
signed by Governor McKinley. Mr.

Keplinger remembers the famous campaign of General William Henry Harrison,
in 1836, and he listened to a speech made by the general at Massilon. He
walked over forty miles to hear it; but being only a little over seventeen, he was
more taken up, as any boy would be, with the parade, the banners, and the
ox-teams. Mr. Keplinger says :

"I remember very distinctly the live coons perched on high poles fastened up-
right on wagons, one wagon drawn by six yoke of oxen, with a threshing floor on
it, and men on top the floor threshing with flails; and women on open vehicles
were spinning flax. One wagon had on it a log cabin; one with a printing press,
printing papers and scattering them to the crowd; others with nail machines in
full operation, and many other things. In the parade were thousands on horse
and on foot. General Harrison with his staff was in the parade, tall and erect,
but looking careworn and feeble. The procession marched to the grove west of
Massilon, where dinner was served upon long tables, with eatables of almost every
description. One item was fine, fat pigs, with feet, ears and tails on, roasted to
a nice brown, and standing on their feet on large plates."

ANDREW SMITH,

Postmaster at "Wegee, O., since 1856.

466 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

David Brobst has been postmaster at Marcy, Ohio, since 1857. In that year he
had the mail carried from Lithopolis, five miles away, once a week. The
Department paid nothing for this service. After a while Mr. Brobst was
allowed three dollars a quarter for carrying the mails, and finally he se-
cured a tri- weekly mail from South Bloomfield, eleven miles away; and again,
Marcy had a daily mail from Ashville by way of St. Paul. In the thirty-five
years of Mr. Brobst' s service he has probably been absent from his office less than
two weeks ; and during each year of the first eight or ten in which he conducted
the postal business of Marcy, it cost him five hundred dollars or more.

S. K. Nurse, postmaster atDenverton, California, had some early lessons at North
Chili, N. Y., and at Strasburgh, Ohio. He spent a year at telegraphy at Spring-
field, 111., and at St. Louis. He went to California in 1849, and in 1850 sailed for
Valparaiso, Chili, with a party of railroad surveyors. They had great trouble to
get their mail in that country, but Mr. Nurse was introduced at the post office and
permitted to sort out his mail inside. It was customary there to post a list of
letters received, and if a person found he had one, he called out the fact to the
delivery clerk. As each steamer brought five hundred or a thousand letters, this
was a very tedious process. Letters were sent to the United States through the
consul on payment of fifty cents per letter. Mr. Nurse frequently sent his
through the English consul at thirty-one cents a letter, and these were transferred
at Panama. In 1854 Mr. Nurse settled in Benicia, Cal., and in 1858 he had the
Denverton office established and was appointed postmaster. For a long time
transient travellers, back and forth from Suisun City, nine miles distant, would
carry the mail. Mr. Nurse used to have great times helping the Spaniards in his
neighborhood to find their letters.

J. B. Dunham, postmaster at Almoral, Iowa, was born in Bakers ville, Yermont,
in 1835. He worked at farming and at wool carding in his father's mill, until he
was twenty. In 1855 the family moved to Bo wen's Prairie, in Jones County,
Iowa, and the next year they settled with a small company at Almoral, as they
called it, borrowing the name of the Queen's residence and dropping the first
letter. In 1857 a post office was established at Almoral. Mr. Dunham was made
assistant postmaster. The mails were brought to the little post office, a board
shanty from East Dubuque, forty miles away, by a single horse. In 1858 Mr.
Dunham was a full-fledged postmaster. In his first year he organized a brass
band, which did efficient work in 1859, in the Lincoln campaign; and this band
afterwards went into the war. The women of the town made a beautiful flag for
it out of their own material, and it was hoisted above the post office with every
victory and lowered to half mast with every whipping. The citizens subscribed
in those days for a daily newspaper, which was brought by a special messenger
from Earlville, then the nearest railway station, and after work hours people
would gather at the office and hear the news read. Mr. Dunham recalls the story
of a postmaster in a neighboring town who, after securing the establishment of
the office with great difficulty and managing it for some time at great loss, re-
turned from work one night to find that his wife, tired of having this important
place of public business right in the front room, had peremptorily removed the
whole outfit to the front yard.

Robert J. Jewell, postmaster at Elk Creek, Spencer County, Kentucky, is fifty-
six years old. He has been in the service thirty-six years. He was appointed

THE OLDEST POSTMASTER. 467

Jan. 18, 1859, and from that day to this has had no trouble with the patrons of his
office, nor with the Department, a record, surely, to be proud of.

John H. Trueblood, postmaster at Canton, Indiana, was commissioned in 1859.
He was born in 1815 in the then territory of Indiana, in the midst of the tall
timber. When he was old enough, he began to work on a farm, attending school
for two or three months in the winter until he was twenty, and then, as he was not
in very good health, his father gave him the rest of his time, and he took a
clerkship in a store. In 1852 Mr. Trueblood, having built a storehouse and
station at Harristown, on the New Albany and Salem Railroad, had charge of
the railroad and post office business there for four or five years. He says:

" When I first kept the office, we did not always have to prepay the postage.
When prepaid, we marked the letter paid, and sent a bill wrapped with the
letter stating it was paid. If the sender did not pay the postage, we sent a bill
with the postage charged to the office of destination. All letters were wrapped
up and sent to distributing post offices, except those to neighboring offices.
Every paper, letter or mailable matter had to be accounted for and a copy of it
sent to the Department at Washington and a copy kept in the office, in case it
should be lost. All printed matter was then sent without being prepaid, and
large amounts of printed matter were left in the office, parties refusing to pay
the postage, for postage then was nearly as much as the price of the newspapers
now. The work of tending the mail is not more than half as much now as it
was when I first had charge of the office, nor is the pay as good. We then
collected all the postage on newspapers, pamphlets and all printed matter, and
considerable on letters, and that double what it now is, but there is much more
correspondence now than then."

Mr. Trueblood adds:

" Southern Indiana, during the Civil War, had many sympathizers with the
South, and a number of the ' Knights of the Golden Circle,' in the near vicinity,
and some I knew very often would stop at my store in going and returning from
their secret, dark lodges. The biggest scare I ever had was when the John
Morgan raid came through this town and were all day in passing. The advance
guard came whooping and firing their guns. They soon filled the store room and
post office. I stayed in my store till 3 p. m., before I could get them out and close
the store. Many of them stopped here and fed their horses and got their
dinners. Dick, a brother of the general, took dinner at our house, as did also
many of the soldiers. They robbed the store of $400 worth of goods, took all the
mail and about $100 worth of horse-feed. Hobson followed next day, but did
not get much for his tired men and horses to eat. After the raiders were gone,
I found what they left of the mail in the corn-crib, letters all opened."

Mr. Trueblood recalls that in the old time the postage on weekly newspapers
was twenty-six cents per year and on monthly thirteen. His father used to have
to pay twenty-five cents for every letter received from North Carolina, his native
state, and sometimes he or some of the neighbors would get word that there was
a letter in the post office for them, and not having a quarter, they would often
be obliged to leave the letter in the post office for a day, and sometimes for
weeks.

Addison Whithed has been postmaster at Yernon, Vermont, since February
29, 1860. He was a clerk in the Yernon post office, though, for fifteen years
before that, as his father kept it. Mr. Whithed, in fact, succeeded his father,
who had held the office twenty-eight years in its present location, and who was
an old-time landlord and merchant, both of which vocations were transmitted,
along with the postal business, to the son. The Yernon office was established in

POSTMASTERS APPOINTED IN THE SIXTIES.

(Except Osinan Pixley ('52) and William Irwin ('70).)
468

THE OLDEST POSTMASTER. 469

1820. The whole amount of postage received for the first quarter of 1821 was
$2.16^. For years there was but one mail a week, supplied from Brattleboro.
Then the stage went daily to Worcester, and so the mail went, until the comple-
tion of the railroad in 1848. Mr. Whithed represented his town in the Vermont
legislature in 1872 and 1874, and he has also been selectman and lister; and it
hardly needs to be said of a public official of forty-seven years' service that his
life has been characterized by a scrupulous regard for the public interest.

The postmaster at Lakeville, Massachusetts, is Cephas Haskins. His post office
was established in 1860, and he was appointed at that time. In war days there were
usually three regiments encamped at Lakeville, and the soldiers, and especially
those just from home, were great letter- writers ; and if a mail was to be dis-
patched in the morning it had to be prepared the night before, with all its wrap-
ping and recording.

Xavier Guittard was appointed postmaster at Guittard Station, Kansas, March
13, 1861. In those days he kept a station on the overland stage route, and his
post office has never been moved. Those were prosperous times for the farmers
who had corn and hay to sell to the army of emigrants.

Charles Hornung, postmaster at New Bavaria, Ohio, was born in Bavaria in
Germany in 1823, and came to this country at fourteen. His father entered 160
acres of land, then a part of a wilderness full of wolves and bears. The Wyan-
dotte Indians inhabited the whole region up to 1842, when they were taken to
Missouri. In 1844 Mr. Hornung married and went to farming for himself, and
ten years later he added merchandising to his pursuits. In '55 Mr. Hornung
began the manufacture of pearlash, and in 1881 he built an elevator, and in 1882 a
lumber mill. In 1848 he had a post office established in his neighborhood
and named after the birthplace of a majority of his neighbors. Mr. Hornung
was at once appointed postmaster. In '60 he took the stump for Lincoln, and he
was appointed postmaster by Lincoln, March 20, 1861. The first mail route which
supplied New Bavaria extended from Tiffin to Defiance, a distance of seventy-
three miles. The service was once a week, and the first mail-carrier, a one-legged
man named Nurbaum, had a hard time of it in the winter with eighteen miles of
woods to traverse, and no bridges across the creeks.

Thomas Machan, postmaster at Belle Isle, New York, was appointed postmaster
in April, 1861. His name has twice been sent to the Department for removal on
political grounds, once under Johnson and once under Cleveland; but friends came
forward each time to prevent a change.

Chauncey Carpenter, postmaster at Doran, Iowa, began work May 11, 1861. He
goes back much farther than that in truth, for he first used to handle mail at
Vermont, now Gerry post office, in Chautauqua County, New York, in 1834. He
was then twenty-one, and the rates of postage, as he remembers, were 6% for
less than 30 miles; 10 cents from 30 to 80 miles; 12% over 80 and under 150
miles ; 18% over 150 and less than 400 miles ; over 400 miles 25 cents. Probably
not one letter in 50 was prepaid. He adds :

"We had a distributing office at Buffalo and at Erie, Pa., about equi-distant,
(50 miles). Letters to those offices, or beyond, were put in one wrapper, with a
way-bill of all the letters enclosed showing the amount of postage; but for all
intervening offices it was a way-bill and wrapper for each letter, unless there
happened to be more than one letter at the same time for the same office. We

470 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

did not use twine, but folded the wrappers as circulars are now folded; one
wrapper being used several times, by changing so as to get a new side for the
address. It may be imagined what the labor of making out a quarterly report
was, when we consider that a large per cent, of the letters sent and received were
entered singly, and the yards of columns of figures, with fractions of cents, to be
footed up."

Mr. Carpenter goes on to say :

" I well remember the first time I ever saw anything written on the absurdity
of making out way-bills for letters and enclosing them in wrappers. It was in
the New York Tribune, by Horace Greeley. He showed up the folly of so much
labor, which was of no practical use. The registry system was first started since
the date of my commission, the registry fee being 5 cents and the letter without
envelope marked ' registered '; which in theory was to entitle it to receive extra
care from those who handled it, but practically it was an advertisement to any
thief what letters to select. It was probably safer not to register a valuable
letter than to register it."

Mr. Carpenter was married in 1843 to Miss Catherine C. Stoneman, sister of
George Stoneman, Sen., and aunt of General George Stoneman, noted in the war,
and later Governor of California.

The postmaster at Whitesburg, Pennsylvania, J. A. Blaney, was not appointed
postmaster until 1861, but he recalls one cold night in 1858 when he took the mail
carrier in out of the snow and saved him from freezing to death. There have
been cold times since then, but the carrier always finds a comfortable haven at
Mr. Blaney' s. His office was robbed once, and once they lost the mail key; but
these have been the postmaster's only misadventures.

Washington Hildreth, who has been postmaster at Lock, Ohio, since 1861, is a
dealer in merchandise. Mr. Hildreth' s office was special when it was established,
and it was supplied from Horner, the nearest office, which was fifteen miles away,
at first twice a week and then three times a week. Much of the pay of the carrier
was formerly raised by subscription. Mr. Hildreth is sixty-three.

R. B. Hill, postmaster at Leesburg, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, was born in
1840. He was commissioned postmaster by Montgomery Blair May 30, 1861.
From 1861 to 1871 the Leesburg post office received its mail by carrier on the
route between Pittsburg and Mercer. As Leesburg was six miles south of
Mercer and fifty miles from Pittsburg, Mr. Hill received the mail, when the
roads were bad in winter, anywhere from dark to midnight, and from three in the
afternoon to daylight.

David Baughman, postmaster at Oak Point, Clark County, Illinois, was ap-
pointed by President Lincoln in June, 1861. At first the proceeds of the office
ranged from two to three dollars per quarter, and it was necessary for Mr. Baugh-
man to ride from four to six miles to a justice of the peace in order to file his
claims correctly. Mr. Baughman had some trouble during the war with Southern
sympathizers to whom he would not sell ammunition, and who thought it all
right to rob the mails. He was threatened several times. He was born near
Ganesville, Ohio, in 1820, and in 1841 he entered the land upon which he still lives.

The continuous service of Samuel Everts, postmaster at Cornwall, Vermont,
dates from his commission of August 2, 1861, but his earlier experience of
thirteen years from his first appointment, May 2, 1833, entitles him to honorable
mention among the oldest officials in the entire postal service. Cornwall was on

THE OLDEST POSTMASTER.

471

the main route from Albany to Montreal with a daily mail, which was carried in
a four-horse covered hack. A few years later this through service was enlarged,
but the advent of railroads has caused so many changes in mail routes that now
the Cornwall post office is on a small
local route from West Cornwall to Mid-
dlebury.

The commission of John J. Blaney,
postmaster at Summit Station, New
York, was issued in August, 1861. He
was twenty-two then, and he has been
postmaster these thirty-one years since
that time. The mails used frequently
to be delayed on the railroad, as they
had not learned in those days to lift the
snow blockades with snow plows.

George O. Sharp, postmaster at Kick-
apoo City, Kansas, went to Kansas from
Virginia in the spring of 1855 when he
was forty-three years old. In 1857 he
was in business in Kickapoo City and
was that year elected a justice of the
peace, an office which he still holds.
Mr. Sharp's predecessor in the Kickapoo
City office resigned because a number of
the soldiers at Fort Levenworth had
nearly bankrupted him by making away
with his cigars and liquor. Mr. Sharp's
brother had been a postmaster, and as

early as 1837 he himself had been sworn in as assistant at Quarter's Landing^
now West Virginia. Mr. Sharp has had bullets whiz through his office while he
was holding court in the old times. He has tried nine hundred and fifty
cases among his neighbors and friends with such even justice as never to
have one of them appeal, and he has married in his time two hundred and
seventy-five couples, " two pairs a second time," as he once said. A few years
ago every foot of Mr. Sharp's land was washed away by the Missouri River, and
he lost all of his $7,500.

John Lemmax has served as postmaster at Whigville, Noble County, Ohio, since
the seventh day of November, 1861. The nearest post office was four miles away,'
and Mr. Lemmax was accustomed to hire a boy to go there for the mail once
a week. Three other citizens had tried the post office and found the work
too arduous for the pay ; but as Mr. Lemmax had finally secured a regular
weekly mail, and as he was merchandising, he accepted the post. In all of his
thirty-one years nothing mailed from Whigville has been lost. In the wartime
some of the Southern sympathizers used to gibe the mail carrier by saying that he
was very foolish to work for a defunct government with an unconstitutional
president, as he would never receive any pay. In 1886, Mr. Lemmax received a
statement that the audit of his accounts from 1875 to that time showed that the
Department was indebted to him in $2.33.

SAMUEL EVERTS,
Postmaster, Cornwall, Vermont.

472 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

John M. Hagensick has been postmaster at Ceres, Iowa, since February, 1862.
He is hale and hearty at sixty-six.

Jonathan M. Mattoon has been postmaster at Geneva, Kansas, since Febuary
26, 1862. He is hale and hearty at seventy-eight, and as he says, never poisoned
his system with tobacco or liquor of any kind. He has tried, he adds, to serve the
Government and the people honestly, but he finds by long experience that it is a
hard matter to please everybody and at the same time strictly comply with all the
regulations of the Department. Mr. Mattoon has noticed that he has to furnish a
room, with fuel and light, to answer a great number of letters of inquiry from the
different executive departments, and to keep a record of the work of the mail
messenger, all for $35 or $40 a quarter, and that the messenger on his part
receives $30 a quarter for two trips a day of about 100 rods. As is well known,
however, this is not a unique experience.

James Campbell, postmaster at Peru, Kentucky, was appointed in 1862, when
the Peru office was established, and he has been postmaster there ever since.
Peru is twenty-one miles from Louisville, on the Louisville and Nashville Koad,
and it supplies Brownsboro, which is two and one half miles away, six times a
week.

Joel Newson was appointed postmaster at Azalia, Indiana, July 28, 1862. At
that time he handled a weekly mail. Now he has two mails daily. Then it took
five days for a letter to go to Washington. Now the time consumed is twenty-
seven hours. In all these thirty-three years Mr. ISTewson has handled the mail in
the same room. Mr. Newson is an ardent Republican, and at the beginning of
the Cleveland administration he resigned. But no Democrat was found who
could or would take the office, and so the veteran continued at his post. Mr.
Newson remembers the war scenes at his little post office very well. Soldiers
were allowed to have their letters franked by chaplains and on the payment of
postage by the addressees, and they took many occasions to amuse themselves.
Once some of the boys of the 39th Indiana wrapped up some hard-tack and sent
it to one of the citizens of Azalia at a cost to him of twenty -four cents. But when
the accounts of the sickness and the wounds and the deaths came, there was
another side to the story. Then there were tears and sorrow. Mr. Newson was
accustomed to take some newspaper during the war and from this he would read
to the assembled crowds the news of the battles.

John V. Fares, postmaster at Kasson, Vanderburgh County, Illinois, was com-
missioned Oct. 4, 1862, by Montgomery Blair, and John A. Kasson, then First
Assistant Postmaster General, forwarded his commission. Mr. Fares congratu-
lates himself that the mails were never interfered with during the war by any-
body, and that the patrons of his office are law-abiding German- American citizens,
who appreciate his work. Though Mr. Fares is an avowed Republican, he was
not disturbed by the last administration. " I have always aimed," he says, "to do
the duty I owe to the public and to my office."

Stephen Bennett, of Big Buffalo, West Virginia, goes back to June 8, 1863. He
recalls when letter bills were sent along, when the rate was three cents for each
half ounce or fractional part of one, and when, of course, there were no postal
cards. Mr. Bennett remembers the great confusion during the war, though there
was no active fighting in his neighborhood.

THE OLDEST POSTMASTER. 473

Thomas Henderson, postmaster at Black Horse, Harford County, Maryland,
remembers when the post office nearest to him was Bel Air, the county seat,
which was fourteen miles away, and the next nearest was Baltimore, twenty-four
miles away. It was customary for farmers when hauling their produce to the
latter place to take out and bring the mail for themselves and their neighbors.
Postage was twenty-five cents for an ordinary letter, and when this price was
reduced to ten cents, it was considered very cheap. The county newspapers were
sent out weekly from Bel Air by a youth on horseback, who carried them to the
subscribers and took back items of local news to the editor. Neither envelopes
nor mucilage had then been invented. The letter sheet had to be so folded as to
form its own envelope, and then sealed with a wafer, prepared and purchased
for the purpose, or with sealing wax, or with paste made of wheat flour. Mr.
Henderson knew of a Frenchman who boasted that he was so expert that he
could call at a post office for a letter of this kind under an assumed name, take
it into a private room, unfold it, and read the contents, refold and restore it to
the original state without breaking the seal, and then return it to the office with
the explanation that the letter was not for him, after all. Black Horse was the
first post office established in all that region. For a long time it received only
one mail a week. For a while in the early history of the office it was removed a
mile away to Shawsville, but during the war it was brought back to Black Horse.
"Many stirring incidents," says Mr. Henderson, "happened in the post office
in those times of alarm and danger. On mail hours the neighbors would often
gather, and while one read the latest news the others would listen, in comment
some sympathizing with one of the fiercely contending armies and some with
the other."

A. G. Shoemaker, postmaster at Rockville, Kansas, goes back to Nov. 11, 1863.
This Miami County town was laid out in 1859. it was two and one half miles
from the state line of Missouri. Mr. Shoemaker moved there in 1860 and began
blacksmithing. There was no post office nearer than West Point, and in 1862,
after Rockville became a military post, where Union soldiers guarded the Kansas
border, Mr. Shoemaker got up a petition for a post office. Finally a daily mail
came to supply the farmers and stockmen with prices. The first mail carrier was
Harvey Campbell. He was a small man, but he would ride up to the office in war
times with plenty of dignity, and the fifty or more soldiers of various colors (for
there were Indians and Mexicans among them), all eager enough for letters from
home, would gather about to hear the latest news from the seat of war. Mr.
Shoemaker remembers one little fellow not more than six years old, whose legs
would hardly reach across the horse's back, who would ride up and greet the
postmaster with :

" What is the latest news from the Potomac, Mr. Shoemaker ? "
When the soldiers left the post, and there was no protection, Mr. Shoemaker
frequently used to put the mail in a bushel basket and hide it away from the
office somewhere, so that it could not be seized by the Confederates. In those
times old and young women, with very little girls and boys, would come eight or
ten miles on horseback for their mail. Now in the neighborhood of Rockville
fine carriages and horses take the place of ponies and ox-carts.

D. R. Harrison, postmaster at Herrin's Prairie, Illinois, since May 26, 1864, is a
dealer in general merchandise. The Herrin's Prairie post office was established

POSTMASTERS APPOINTED IN THE SIXTIES.
474

THE OLDEST POSTMASTER. 475

in May, 1864. It was supplied with a weekly mail from Fredonia, and Mr.
Harrison employed the carrier, who used to receive two thirds of the proceeds of
the office. That, at least, was the supposition, though Mr. Harrison really paid
him fifty cents a trip, and what the proceeds of the office did not yield the
postmaster himself paid, and that was about half of his salary for several years.

I. P. Wilcoxson has been postmaster at Christiansburg, Shelby County, Ken-
tucky, since June 29, 1865. In all of Mr. Wilcoxson' s twenty-seven years of service
he recalls only one letter sent out from his office which contained money (and that
contained $3 and was sent by the postmaster himself) which went astray, and in
the same twenty-seven years only three letters or packages claimed to have con-
tained valuables and to have been mailed to Christiansburg went astray.

Jacob A. Horner has been postmaster at Hancock, Indiana, since January, 1867.
He was born in Harrison County, Indiana, in 1838, and worked on a farm until he
was of age. In 1860 he became a storekeeper in Hancock, and he was soon
assistant postmaster. Mr. Horner has a letter from First Assistant Postmaster
General Marshall, dated June 1, 1872, which assigned his office to the fifth class
and fixed the annual salary of the postmaster at nine dollars per annum ; and
the postmaster was permitted to apply, on the salary of a mail carrier between
Hancock and Fredericksburg, Ind., a town four miles away, two thirds of his
nine dollars.

Harvey E. Wilcox has been postmaster at Ridge Mills, !Sew York, since July
23, 1867. Postmaster General Randall signed his commission and established
the office of Ridge Mills.

Bernard Schneider, postmaster at Fulda, Spencer County, Indiana, was born in
Prussia, in 1823, and came to this country in 1849. After he had lived at Fulda
for ten years he was appointed postmaster. His salary rose rapidly from $28 a
year to $56 a year, and now the pay is between $75 and $85 annually. Mr.
Schneider, though nearly seventy years of age, is very healthy, except for the rheu-
matism, now and then, which obliges him to work slowly.

Elihu Phillips has been postmaster at Texas, West Virginia, for thirty-five years,
and he calculates that his experience in the postal service has cost him a thousand
dollars at least. Mr. Phillips is a farmer, and his work is much interfered with
sometimes by the arrival of the mails.

In the far northwest are some old-timers. William Irwin, postmaster at Ten
Mile, Oregon, was appointed June 13, 1870, when his office was established. His
office has been served from such romantic points as Lookingglass, Civil Bend and
Olalla. The Ten Mile Office has doubled its. business since it was established.
Mrs. Irwin is the deputy postmaster at Ten Mile.

James Urquhart, postmaster at Napavine, Washington, went to the coast in the
fall of '52. He remembers Portland, Oregon, as a straggling village. The mail
went by steamboat from Portland to Montecello, Oregon, and from there carried
to the Sound once a week on horseback. The Napavine post office was estab-
lished in the wilderness, but now it is a distributing point for ten post offices in
the neighborhood. Mr. Urquhart is the father of eight Republican voters.

The Silver Creek and Mossy Rock post offices, in Lewis County, Washington,
were established March 15, 1875. John Tucker was the first postmaster at Silver
Creek. He had a weekly mail, and the carrier, in order to cross Cowlitz River,

476

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

had to put his mail and saddle in a canoe and paddle across, leading his horse by
his side, and the current was often so strong that he was obliged to proceed up
stream a hundred yards in order not to land too far below. His horse soon learned
to swim straight across, however.

E. G. White, postmaster at Osceola, Washington, was born in New Hampshire
in 1837. He had to do with the post office at Landaff, N. H., in 1858-9, and at
Georgetown, Mass., from 1861 to 1863. He emigrated to Washington in 1873, and
was appointed postmaster at Osceola in '77. The office nearest to Osceola at that
time was Wilkeson, 11 miles away. The carrier made one trip a week, and had to
ford the fiery White River, a wild mountain torrent. He was drowned in 1879,
and neither the carrier nor the mail was ever recovered ; but Postmaster White
hired another carrier and notified the Department. Six offices have been estab-
lished since 1877 in the territory formerly served by the Osceola office.

N. A. Wheeler, postmaster at Alpowa, Washington, is another old-timer. He
has an idea that the chief need of the postal service is to have people understand
it, and know how to use it. He would print in circular form articles from the
Postal Guide, and send them in packages of a hundred or a thousand, as occasion
might require, to every post office, so that they might be distributed to all. These
would be saved and continually referred to, and the educational benefit would be
tremendous. He would even have a law passed to prevent any person from
sending a letter upon which the return request was not printed, and if persons
did not desire their names to appear on the envelopes they could have a box and
print the box number. He would even go farther and provide that no letter
should be dispatched in the mails which had not been provided with the Govern-
ment stamped envelope.

Some of the old postmasters whose service has not been contin-
uous are :

Name.

Date of first appointment.

Office.

State.

John Datesman

March 31, 1832

Fennersville

Pennsylvania

Jesse M. Perrine

May 5, 1836

Perrine

Pennsylvania

William H. Wallace

July 30, 1841

Port Homer

Ohio

John Wilson

July 14, 1849

Plato

Illinois

John Lackland

May 23, 1853

Principio

Maryland

John C. Spencer

February 10, 1854

East Clarendon

Vermont

Jasper Workman

July 13, 1855

Bald Knob

West Virginia

Christopher B. Stout

December 10, 1856

Readington

New Jersey

Christian Schneider

December 30, 1856

Orland

Indiana

Hiram Smith

April 3, 1858

Bashan

Ohio

John B. Stone

May 10, 1858

Roxalana

West Virginia

William H. Balcom

February 12, 1859

Argo

Illinois

Elijah Watson

April 3, 1860

Rushville

Missouri

William Wagner

September 18, 1861

Buck's Ranch

California

John B. Wissler

November 30, 1861

Brunnerville

Pennsylvania

The most notable of the veterans whose terms of service in one locality have
been for any reason interrupted is William H. Wallace, postmaster at Hammonds-
ville, Ohio. He has seen sixty-two years of postal work. In June,, 1830, A. G.

THE OLDEST POSTMASTER.

477

Richardson was postmaster at Wellsville, Columbiana County, Ohio, and Mr.
Wallace was his assistant. The next year Mr. Wallace opened, in partnership
with Jacob Groff, a general store at Mouth of Yellow Creek, Jefferson County,
Ohio, and upon his application a post office was established there, and Mr. Graff
was made postmaster. Mr. Wallace was his assistant, but at the end of three
years, on a dissolution of partnership, he was really postmaster. In 1839 Mr.
Wallace removed to Port Homer, where he opened another store. In 1841 he was
appointed postmaster at Port Homer by Postmaster General Granger. In 1852 he
removed his post office to Hammonds ville, in Jefferson County, and was appointed
postmaster there by Judge Hall. At Hammondsville he was also express agent
forty years ago, and this position Mr. Wallace still fills. He says:

"Old time rates of postage were figured thus: for a single letter carried 30
miles, 6% cents, called then a tip; thence up to 80 miles, 10 cents; thence up to
150 miles, eleven pence (12)^ cents);
thence up to 400 miles, three fips (18%
cents); 400 miles or to any part of
the United States, 25 cents. Store-
keepers in those early days were in
the habit of taking all kinds of coun-
try or farm trade for goods, and
where a post office was connected
With the store, it was as common to
take produce for letters and papers
as for goods. The prices of produce
varied some seasons, but butter and
eggs were always low in summer,
the prevailing price being 6^ cents
a pound for the former and 5 cents
per dozen for the latter. To illus-
trate: to pay postage on a 25 cent
letter it required the amount of
the following articles separately: 4
pounds of butter, 5 dozen of eggs,
2 bushels of oats, 2 bushels of pota-
toes, 13^3 pounds of common coarse
wool, a little over % bushels of wheat,
and other articles in proportion. To
illustrate further the cost of the ex-
pense of correspondence: Suppose a
farmer and family communicated
with a New York correspondent and
had to receive 32 unpaid letters, he
must sell a good milch cow to foot
the postage bill, for $8 would buy a

good cow. It made it obligatory upon the postmaster, as far as it was possible
for him to scrutinize rigidly every letter, and if it consisted of two pieces of
paper, then double postage was charged."

WM. H. WALLACE, HAMMONDSVILLE, O.

Mr. Wallace goes on:

" I have travelled in the stage when it
reach Philadelphia from Pittsburg. One
county town for the whole county was a
scanned its columns ; and if they did, the
under their eye.' Then farmers and
hoppers. Ask them the governor's name
families of some prominence in the county
newspaper."

took three days and three nights to
newspaper of small dimensions in the
rule, and many in the county never
general or far off news did not come
farmers' sons were dubbed clod-
and they could not tell it. I know of
when I was a boy, that never saw a

478 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

Again Mr. Wallace says:

" Just seventy-three years ago in the city of Baltimore, I witnessed the hanging,
for robbing the United States mail, of the noted Haire and his co-worker, then
the greatest robbers of mails. Then it was a death penalty to rob the United
States mail. Shortly after was another hanging in the same city that I witnessed.
Hutton and Hull robbed the mail not far out of the city, and murdered the driver,
Heaps. Heaps and his family lived in the city, and his children were my play-
mates. There were no express lines, the mails being the only public mode to
send money. The villains stopped the mail coach in the night with none but the
driver aboard. He was ordered to give up the mail. This he did ; but it was
concluded, fearing detection and arrest, to take the driver's life by shooting and
stabbing, each taking a hand. They then tied the two horses by the lines to a
tree, and made off with the mail. They visited the city next day and were
arrested. Hutton was an old offender, and young Hull inveighed as an accom-
plice. He was only about twenty years old; had studied medicine in Utica where
his father, who was a druggist, lived.

"My first trip on business to Philadelphia was sixty-one years ago by mail
stage, and I returned home via the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as far as it was
built. The road was made to Ellicott's Mills, thirteen miles, with strap rail; two
horses tandem; capacity of coach twelve or fifteen; rate of speed ten miles per hour.
This mode was continued until finished to Frederick, when I was again a passenger;
next, pony-sized locomotives from Baltimore to Cumberland, thence by mail stage
to Brownsville, Pa. I crossed the Alleghenies twenty-six times before the railroad
traversed them. The robbery of the mails while en route by stage was common,
and for safety at times postillions were brought into requisition. The common
way of carrying money by person was to encase it in a leathern belt, or silk
bandanna handkerchief, and placing around the body next to the bare hide.
Stockton and Stokes of Baltimore were the first stage owners that I have any
recollection of more than seventy years ago; the next Reside and Slaymaker over
the Baltimore route. My first trip over the Alleghenies from Baltimore to Browns-
ville was in the month of August, 1820, just seventy-two years ago the past August,
in my bare head and bare feet. The sun was hot, and so was the pike road.

" On March 4, 1829, General Jackson succeeded Mr. Adams as President, and
the way the Postmaster General, John McLean, and the postmasters of any note
had to fly the track, was a caution. ' To the victors belong the spoils ' was the
ruling motto. I visited Washington fifty-eight years ago; was formally introduced
to General Jackson at the White House by a member of Congress, and had a good
little talk. He held in his hand a two-cent clay pipe, which he had been smoking.
I also had a good talk with Henry Clay. One day when the House was not in
session my member of Congress seated me on the speaker's chair, saying, 'Now
you can say that you have sat in the speaker's chair.'

" Neither Philadelphia nor New York was flooded then with periodicals. No
Tribune, no Herald, no Times, no Ledger. In regard to men of great wealth, they
did not flourish, leaving out Stephen Girard. The Ridge ways were spoken of;
Cornelius Vanderbilt of New York was then taking in pennies for ferrying with
his skiff, ferrying in his teens; John Jacob Astor and his wife cleaned and pre-
pared furs, and she said they must wait till they would get ahead before they
could afford to eat a cooky. Large hotels did not abound in either city. Nearly
fifty years ago the Washington House on Chestnut Street was opened. On my
arrival in Philadelphia in the morning, after a three days' and three nights' stage
ride from Pittsburg, a friend said to me, ' A new hotel has just opened on Chest-
nut Street; try that for a change.' I accordingly repaired to the place, entered
my name, etc. When dinner was announced, I entered the dining room and there
was a most sumptuous repast, and a corps of caparisoned waiters. But behold!
not a solitary guest besides myself; and all the waiters wanted to take a hand at
serving me. It was really a strange ordeal to pass through, but I finally came
out all right."

Mr. Wallace was born in Frelighsburg, in the Province of Quebec, Dec. 2, 1811.
His maternal progenitors originated in Germany and his father's people in the

THE OLDEST POSTMASTER.

479

land of William Wallace. His maternal grandfather laid out the town where
William H. Wallace was born, and called it after his own name. He was a surgeon
in the British Navy and descended from the same stock as Victoria. Mr.
Wallace's father was a prosperous merchant and manufacturer in Canada,
and when the War of 1812 broke out (being an American, born in Massachusetts,
and never having sworn allegiance to the Crown) closed up his business at a heavy
sacrifice and left for the United States. He finally settled in Baltimore.

OLD POSTMASTERS WHOSE TERMS HAVE BEEN INTERRUPTED.

John Datesman, postmaster at West Milton, Pennsylvania, was born in 1810 in
Northampton County. He began the general mercantile business at Fennersville,
Monroe County, in 1831, and gave the place its name, and was appointed postmaster
there March 31, 1832. After a service of four years he went to Union County and
bought the land where West Milton now stands. There he started a general store,
named the place West Milton, and was appointed postmaster March 6, 1862. This
position he still holds. In Fennersville, he was appointed justice of the peace;
and at West Milton he was elected to this office for ten years. Mr. Datesman was
for a number of years the most extensive grain dealer in all his region. His first

480 THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

goods were bought in Philadelphia and brought to West Milton in canal boats.
Grain from Union, Centre, and Clinton Counties was hauled to West Milton by
teams. Mr. and Mrs. Datesman celebrated their golden wedding in 1881 and their
sixtieth anniversary in July, 1891. They have four grown-up sons and three
grown-up daughters.

Jesse M. Perrine, postmaster at Utica, Pennsylvania, was last appointed June 17,
1889 ; but he is entitled to consideration among the oldest postmasters. His official
experience extends back to May 5, 1836, when he was appointed postmaster at
Perrine, Mercer County, Pennsylvania. The mails then came but once a week on
horseback through the forest trails and over uncertain roads of a newly settled
country. In the fall of 1842, another member of the family, Enoch Perrine, was
appointed postmaster at Perrine, but in June, 1845, Jesse M. Perrine was re-ap-
pointed and he held the position until April 22, 1854, when he was again succeeded
by Enoch Perrine. In 1863, Jesse M. Perrine moved to Utica and became post-
master April 6, 1866, holding the office until Sept. 10, 1885, when he resigned in
spite of the remonstrances of both Democrats and Republicans. He was re-
appointed by President Harrison June 17, 1889, and is still in office. Postmaster
Perrine is now seventy-eight years old.

John Wilson, postmaster at Plato, Illinois, was first appointed postmaster July
14, 1849. He stayed until July, 1850. In October, 1852, he was re-appointed, and
he held the position until March, 1891. His first appointment dates from the
establishment of the Plato office. The Wilson family received considerable mail
from Baltimore, Ohio, and Danville, and it was very inconvenient to get mail
from Pickamink, the nearest post office, which was four miles distant ; and then,
too, the saving of postage was an important consideration. Accordingly Mr.
Wilson appealed to the Department. It was intended that his father should be
postmaster, but the appointment was finally made in the son's name. At that
time one could count, on the fingers, the settlers along the Iroquois River from
Spring Creek for twelve miles north. At first the office was patronized by six
settlers only. In 1849, though Plato (on paper) was the greatest town between
Lafayette and Chicago, disputing the supremacy of Bunkum (now the village
of Iroquois), then the county seat. It was the boom town of Grand Prairie in
those days. It had water navigation, and wharves, and mills, and shops, and lots
(all on paper) were sold according to plat, at fabulous prices, to eastern capital-
ists. John Wilson was a young surveyor and civil engineer, having been sent
from Danville to lay out the town. He remained through all its vicissitudes.

The postmaster at Principio, Maryland, John Lackland, was first a clerk in the
post office at Principio in 1848. In 1849 the office was moved to College Green;
and in 1853, when it was moved back again to Principio, Mr. Lackland was ap-
pointed postmaster. He stepped out during the administration of Buchanan, but
was appointed again under Lincoln. He has held the office ever since. The mail
service at his office was interfered with only twice during the war, once when the
Massachusetts troops were attacked at Baltimore, and second at the time of one
of the raids into Maryland, when Baltimore was put under martial law.

J. C. Spencer, postmaster at East Clarendon, Vermont, first saw service in
1852, when he was assistant. In 1854 he was appointed postmaster by James
Campbell. He went out under Buchanan, but Montgomery Blair appointed him
again in '61.

THE OLDEST POSTMASTER. 481

Jasper Workman, postmaster at Bald Knob, West Virginia, was first commis-
sioned as postmaster in the summer of 1855. Bald Knob post office was at that
time the only one between Boone Court House and Oceana, the county seat of
Wyoming County, and the distance between these two points was forty-five miles.
Between Bald Knob and Logan Court House, which was thirty miles to the west-
ward, there was no office, and between Bald Knob and Peytonia, which was thirty-
five miles to the northeast, there was no office. Mr. Workman says :

" When the War of the Rebellion broke out, a party of Confederates on a second
visit to this place searching for arms seized the post office, in which I had about
$16 worth of stamps and envelopes, and divided these and other booty among
them. The key of the office I saved. On this occasion I was taken prisoner and
kept tied to my brother William, also a prisoner, for one day and a night. During
the war there was no post office here; and here through all that period I remained,
caring for a young family and my aged parents; and through all the horrors of
those times I stood true to the old flag and to my convictions. After the war,
during the administration of President Johnson, I was again appointed postmaster
at this, my old station. I am proud to say that during my official administration
no charge of any kind has been preferred against me. Two years after my second
appointment I was paid a salary, and from the first salary the Post Office Depart-
ment at Washington deducted $16.06, the price of the stamps and envelopes which
were confiscated by the Confederates."

C. B. Stout, postmaster at Centreville, New Jersey, was first a clerk in the Reacf-
ington, New Jersey, post office in 1846. In 1856 Mr. Stout was himself postmaster
at Readington, but in 1862 he resigned and removed to Centreville. His commission
as postmaster at that place is signed by Montgomery Blair, and dated April 8, 1862.

Christian Schneider has been postmaster at Orland, Steuben County, Indiana,
practically since December 30, 1856. He was appointed then by James Camp-
bell, but in 1861 James Plass was put in his place. Mr. Schneider was deputy,
however, and in 1865 he was again appointed postmaster. From the first of
January, 1857, to the present time Mr. Schneider has not been out of his office
a week. In early times Orland had a semi-weekly mail from Flint, Indiana, and
Bronson, Michigan, but later it was made daily from Bronson to Orland. In 1870,
the Orland office was made a money order office, and in the last twenty-two years
Mr. Schneider has issued nearly 5,000 postal notes, and over 20,000 money orders.
He was born in Germany in 1818, and came to this country in 1846. He has lived
in Orland ever since this last date; and although almost seventy-five years old
writes a fine, clear hand, and is a venerable, sturdy character.

Hiram Smith was postmaster of Bashan, Ohio, until August 15. He was first
appointed in April, 1858. During his thirty-four years of service Mr. Smith
missed but four mails. One was interfered with by snowstorms and two by high
water in the river ; and the fourth was lost in fording. He resigned at sixty-
seven on account of ill-health and old age. Bashan is a small office in a beautiful
country three miles from the Ohio River.

John B. Stone was appointed postmaster at Roxalana, West Virginia, May 10,
1858, by Postmaster General Aaron V. Brown, during Buchanan's administration.
The mail was then carried once a week on horseback from Charleston to Glenville,
Gilmer County, a distance of eighty miles, with only half a dozen offices on the
entire route; and often the mails were delayed two or three weeks on account of
high water and bad roads. In his earlier years as postmaster Mr. Stone's annual
income from the service ranged from two dollars to two dollars and a quarter.

482

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

During the war there was practically no postal service at Roxalana for several
years on account of the "Rangers" that infested all of the back counties of the
state. • Mr. Stone's commissions have been signed by nineteen postmasters general,
and he now serves the second and third generations of his original patrons.

Wm. H. Balcom, postmaster at Argo, Illinois, was born in 1810. He was
appointed postmaster at Argo, February 12, 1859 ; and he served continuously in
that capacity till August 19, 1892.

Elijah Watson was postmaster at Rushville, Missouri, from April 3, 1860, to
February 14, 1876. During the various changes of administration no attention
was paid to Mr. Watson's politics, and during all this time the faithful old post-
master hardly lost a day from his office. Mr. Watson was re-appointed March 28,
1877, and he is still the postmaster at Rushville. This is a village of less than
300 inhabitants, yet six railroads pass, and Postmaster Watson, who is now
seventy-six years old, "makes" twenty-four mail trains daily, carrying the
pouches on his back nearly half a mile. He has never lost a single letter.
Once during the war bushwhackers broke into his office and robbed it of the
supply of stamps. At another time guerrillas attempted his life.

William Wagner, postmaster at Buck's Ranch, ' Calif ornia, went to Plumas
bounty over forty years ago, and has lived at Buck's Ranch since June, 1860.
He remembers the first mail route from Oraville to Quincy, established in 1859, the
first regular route in Plumas County. There was little change in the transpor-
tation of mails in the sixties, but in the seventies there was a fruitful field in
Plumas County for the straw bidder. A happy thought of one contractor was to
carry the mail by any route he chose, so it eventually got to its destination.
Letters for near-by post offices were carried by way of Sacramento, and thence to
Reno, one hundred miles to the eastward. When complaint was made the con-
tractor was influential enough to have the Buck's Ranch post office removed
thirteen miles to suit his convenience, and a man was appointed postmaster who
could neither read nor write. But this flagrant performance was held up in time.

John B. Wissler, postmaster at Brunnerville, Pennsylvania, up to June 18, '92,
says :

"I have before me a letter in sheet form, folded, mailed at Baltimore, June 24,
1829. The postmark stamped in red, the postage '10' put on with pen and red
ink. The addressee had to pay ten cents to get it. The writer has this apology
inside : ' I should have paid this letter, but they never go so safe.' In 1858 we
received our mail at Lititz ; any patron of the store passing through Lititz
brought the mail, some forgetting to leave it here until days after they had
carried it around in their pocket. In 1860 I made application for a post office but
failed, being a Republican in politics. In 1861 I applied again and got the post
office established through the Hon. Thaddeus Stevens."

The following old postmasters have lately retired after long and
honorable periods of service s

Name.

Served.

Office.

State.

Charles Emery
H. B. Stiles
Jacob Renwald

Sept. 15, 1853, to Nov. 15, 1892
June 5, 1861, to Oct 20, 1892
Feb. 13, 1864, to Oct. 17, 1892

Townsend Harbor

Brookline

Summitville

Massachusetts

New Hampshire

Iowa

THE OLDEST POSTMASTER.

483

One of the oldest living ex-postmasters is Dr. John Follett Baker, of Batavia, New
York. He was born at Roxbury, New York, September 14, 1815. He began the
study of medicine at twenty, and was graduated from the Geneva Medical College
in January, 1841. He was a Whig, and his services to his party were early recog-
nized by his selection as a school commis-
sioner; and in June, 1841, President William
Henry Harrison appointed him postmaster
at Otselic, in Chenango County, N. Y. At
that time he was the youngest postmaster
on the records. Dr. Baker is among the
acknowledged leaders of his profession in
western New York. He has discovered a
specific remedy for the cure of cerebro-
spinal meningitis; and in 1866 he was
called to the chair of surgery in the Penn-
sylvania Homoeopathic Medical College,
but was obliged to decline. He has always
taken a deep interest in politics, and has
been in his day an acknowledged leader in
public affairs as well as in medicine. He
secured the passage by the New York
Legislature of '47-'48 of a bill to secure the
better recognition of his chosen profes-
sion ; and he has always been notable for
accomplishing things.

DE. JOHN F. BAKER.

But the oldest postmaster is passing
away, and sprightly as he is, and familiar
with the service in the early and the late

times, and beloved as he is by all his neighbors (who know him better than
they do anybody else), his time comes and he travels on. "I am eighty-two,"
the venerated postmaster of Frankfort, Indiana, said a year ago. "I go, I trust,
to the better land." He did not survive the perils of winter.

John Barner reached Bloomington, Indiana, the site of the State University, in
1828. He used to say : '

" There was then a mail route from Louisville, Ky., through New Albany,
Salem, Bedford, Bloomington, Martinsville, the Bluffs, of White River, to Indian-
apolis, the seat of government. The mail was carried on horseback by Colonel
Green, once a week, and on nearing the towns he would sound his long tin trum-
pet to announce to the citizens the arrival of the United States mail 'on
horseback.' There was a mail route from Madison through Columbus and
Franklin to Indianapolis — one from Cincinnati, via Lawrenceburgh, Greensburgh
and Shelbyville to Indianapolis, and a route from Cincinnati via Oxford, Liberty,
Connersville and Rushville to the state capital. I think as early as 1830 a stage
was run on this route by John Lister, one among the first contractors for coach
service in the State.

" The Cumberland or National Road, from the east through Columbus, and
Richmond, Ind., Indianapolis, Terre Haute, Springfield, 111., Jefferson City, Mo.,
— the road was ' cut out,' large trees removed, and the centre grubbed in 1828,
'29, '30 and '31. Through Indianapolis on west the mails were first carried on
this road on horseback, and frequently detained for a week on account of
high water ; no bridges at that date. Stages and wagons got through the deep

484

THE STORY OF OUR POST OFFICE.

soil, as far back as 1842 on this road by prying out the wheels at the deepest
mud holes.

" The Michigan road was surveyed and marked from Lake Michigan through
Logansport, by act of the State Legislature, approved in January, 1828, under a
treaty made with the Miami Indians for the lands with which to construct the
road. This road was from Madison, Ind., to the lake. It became a mail route,
and the mail was carried on horseback from the state capital north to the lake
in 1833. A portion of this route was through swamps, and had to be travelled
around to shun the impassable obstructions. After coaches, or stages, were put
on the route, from about 1836 to 1852, passengers starting in the coaches were
compelled to get out and carry a fence rail to pry the wheels of the vehicle out
of the many mud holes on the road. Horses frequently sunk to midsides in
water and mud.

" The first mail was carried on horseback from Lafayette via Jefferson four
miles west, to Frankfort, twenty-four miles east of Lafayette, in the year 1830.
The county seat was located and lots sold July 12, 1830. Col. Samuel D. Maxwell
was the first postmaster and first county clerk — a gentleman of fine culture and
one among the best citizens and pioneers. He was afterward mayor of Indian-
apolis. The first mail I saw arrive in the city was in April, 1832, the year I
settled here. The 'postboy,' a young man, John Ross, carried it from Lafay-
ette to Jefferson on horseback and then on foot to Frankfort, four miles, in a
small pouch like an old pair of saddle-bags. I was appointed postmaster at this
place in February, 1834, to succeed the first postmaster. I was then a poor young
man, a mechanic, with a small family, and was well pleased with the position, as I
thought it might bring a little revenue — about $30 per quarter. The first mail I
opened was on the 3d day of February, 1834. Jerry Dunn, the ' post boy,'

reached the western suburbs of the
town and tooted aloud his tin horn.

"Sometimes a new citizen residing
near the principal stream, Sugar Creek,
would send the carrier back with a
note reading as follows: 'From my
knowledge of Sugar Creek the mail
cannot pass over with safety;' signed
Joseph Wood; consequently we were
without a mail for two weeks. In 1838,
1839, and 1840, a four-horse coach was
put on a ' new route,' as it was called,
from Indianapolis north on the Michi-
gan road via Kirklin, Frankfort, Jef-
ferson and Huntersville to Lafayette.
This line of stages ran daily between
the points named. It generally took
day and night to run the sixty-five
miles. The coaches were well loaded
with passengers from the east ' going
west.' Daniel Hunter, the contractor,
finally failed, and the coaches were
taken off the line. In 1848 Jacob
Jones put coaches on the line from