Miscellaneous Matters
General and Financial Summary
_Revenue_:
Entire receipts, 1916 $312,057,688.83
Ordinary postal revenues 303,232,143.36
From money order business 8,130,545.47
Postal savings 695,000.00
_Expenditures_:
On account of current year, 1916 $297,637,128.87
On account of previous years 8,566,904.27
———————————————
Total expenditure $306,204,033.14
Excess of revenue over expenditure, 1916 5,853,655.69
_Rural free delivery_, 1916:
Cost per patron, 1915 $2,060
Cost per patron, 1916 1,966
Annual cost, 1916 51,715,616.00
_City delivery_, 1916, 34,000 _carriers_:
City delivery, cost of, 1916 $43,000,000
Cost per capita (estimated) 1.75
_Star route_, 1916:
Annual cost $7,726,975.00
_Postal savings_:
Number of depositors, 1916 602,937
Balance to credit of depositors, 1916 $86,019,885.00
_Money orders_:
Orders issued, 1916 121,636,818
Amount $719,364,950.46
_Stamp books_:
Number issued, 1916 28,005,930
_Postal cards_:
Number issued, 1916 1,047,894,800
Value $10,784,307.00
_Dead letters_:
Letter and parcels received, 1916 10,839,890
Money value found in undelivered letters $2,303,119.56
Net revenue from sale of undeliverable articles $53,665.69
_Mail bags_, 1916:
Number pouches available 600,000
Number sacks available 4,000,000
Cost of pouches $0.70
Cost of catcher pouches .80
_Mail locks_, 1916:
Number general mail locks in use 1,000,000
Cost, each 8½ cents; to repair, 3 cents
_Division of supplies_:
Appropriation, blanks, stationery, etc., 1916 $2,500,000.00
_Special delivery_:
Amount expended for service, 1916 $633,713.21
Number of pieces delivered yearly 32,000,000
_Railway mail service_, 1916:
Number of clerks 19,000
Number of mail routes 3,500
Salaries paid $26,000,000.00
Correct handling of mail 99.984 per cent
Cost of transportation $57,900,000
_Star routes_:
Number, 1916 11,187
Length of miles 147,167
Average cost per mile, length $54.16
Average cost per mile of travel $0.1026
Annual cost $7,726,975.00
Routes on which there is found rate service 195
Number pounds carried, 1917 23,411,604
Cost $280,738.08
Cost per hundred pounds $1.20
Number of Star routes discontinued on account
of rural delivery service from Jan., 1904, to
June, 1917 7,450
Cost $2,577,728
Length in miles 72,340
1900 1917
Number of routes 22,834 11,208
Cost mile of length $19.02 $54.56
Cost mile of travel 3.83 cents 10.24 cents
Cost per route $224.81 $723.00
_Registration and insurance_:
Total registration, paid and free 39,236,569
Amount collected fees $3,427,053.10
Insured parcel post, total pieces 24,936,082
Total fees $1,067,192.29
C. O. D. pieces 6,300,546
Fees $630,054.60
Items of General Interest
Statistics show that although 70 per cent of parcel post matter comes
from the fifty largest cities of the country, these cities only receive
17 per cent of parcels for delivery. The smaller post offices which
receive 65 per cent of the parcels, dispatch only 9½ per cent.
* * * * *
The annual readjustment of the salaries of presidential postmasters,
will, according to the provisions in the postal appropriation bill
for 1917, be based on the gross receipts for the four quarters ending
December 31, instead of March 31, as heretofore.
* * * * *
Eligibles for fourth-class postmaster places are selected in the order
of their civil service rating unless good and sufficient reasons to the
contrary are submitted to the Department. Of 32,000 of such eligibles,
89.5 of those whose names appeared first on the list were appointed. In
8 per cent the second highest were selected, and in 2.5 per cent, the
third.
* * * * *
The number of postmasters in the United States are, according to
classes, 567 in the first, 2,211 in the second, 6,414 in the third, and
46,742 in the fourth class. Total, 55,934.
* * * * *
Custer County, Montana, has one of the longest mail routes in the
United States. This line runs from Miles City to Stacey, Olive,
Broaddus, Boyer, Graham, and Biddle. It is said to be 126 miles long
and some contend that it is longer.
* * * * *
The longest star route in the United States is from Helper to Vernal,
Utah, 116 miles, and the price the Government pays is $38,678.70 per
annum. The longest route in Alaska, is overland, Barrow to Kotzbue, 650
miles. The shortest route is in Pennsylvania, from Keiser to Natalie,
65/100. There is one route in New York, Delhi to Bloomville, 8 miles
and back, twelve times a week, for which the contractor receives but 1
cent per annum, no doubt considering the advantage of carrying the mail
as a sufficient compensation for taking the job at such a rate.
* * * * *
There are 3,010 counties in the United States, 984 have rural service
and steps are being taken to see what can be done with the remainder,
though any considerable progress in such direction must be slow as a
great deal of preliminary work must be done before any real action can
be taken.
* * * * *
That fractions count in a great business organization such as the Post
Office Department, will be seen when it is stated that postmasters
during the year, 1916, accounted for a total of $131,625.90, arising
from gains in fractions of a cent where stamped envelopes and wrappers
were sold in odd quantities.
* * * * *
The annual per capita of expenditure for postage in the United States
has increased since 1912 from $2.58 to $3.04, and the gross postal
revenue from $246,744,015 to $312,057,688. In the fiscal year of 1857,
the first full year in which prepayment of postage by means of stamps
was compulsory under the Act of March 3, 1855, the per capita use of
stamps was but 19 cents. The increase of population in this period has
been 257 per cent. Of postage stamp consumption 4,968 per cent.
* * * * *
The sales of postage stamps and other stamped paper for the fiscal year
1916 aggregated $277,728,025.20, an increase of $21,521,481.49, the
greatest sales and the largest increase ever recorded, exceeding the
entire sales of the fiscal year 1873, which amounted to $20,324,817.50.
* * * * *
The Post Office Department was removed to Washington, D. C., first
Monday in December, 1800, the seat of Government being changed to the
District of Columbia at that time.
* * * * *
Over 100 years ago the question of patronage was already a disturbing
feature in the management of public affairs. Gideon Granger, of
Connecticut, Postmaster General in 1814, who had been an active and
efficient official in the administration of President Madison, lost his
place on account of some disagreement with the President, regarding the
appointment of postmasters. It is not clear whether he resigned or was
displaced, but the differences of opinion with President Madison led to
his retirement from the service.
* * * * *
Joseph Habersham, of Georgia, Postmaster General in the administration
of General Washington, 1795, was the first one of the long line of
Postmasters General to sit in the Capital of the Nation, he coming to
Washington when the seat of Government was established there in the
year 1800.
* * * * *
Post route and rural delivery maps made by the Government are on a
scale of 1 inch to the mile. These maps show all public roads, rural
routes, school houses, churches, streams, etc., and negative prints can
be purchased at 35 cents each by application to the Third Assistant
Postmaster General.
* * * * *
The number of claims filed with the Solicitor for the Post Office
Department in 1916, for the value of postage stamps lost by burglary of
post offices, was 690, amounting to $144,440.54, as compared with 720
claims, amounting to $197,011.88, filed in 1915. It will be seen that
while the number of claims is approximately the same, the amount is
$52,571.34 less.
* * * * *
It was the custom in 1857 and prior thereto, to publish the names of
the postmasters in connection with the post offices as is indicated
by an old Postal Guide published by D. D. T. Leech at that time. This
was then easily enough done, for the offices then numbered but 13,600
and changes were not as frequent as at present. The First Assistant
Postmaster General had in his Bureau 18 clerks, the Second Assistant,
26, the Third Assistant, 25, and the Chief Clerk of the Department, who
had charge of the Inspection Service, had 18. There were then but 11
distributing offices in all of New England including Pennsylvania, 8 in
Virginia, and the Carolinas, 3 in Georgia, 4 in Ohio, 2 in Illinois,
Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana,
Arkansas, and Iowa, and 1 each in Maryland, Michigan, Indiana, Texas,
and California. Aaron V. Brown, of Tennessee, was the Postmaster
General. The abbreviation for Massachusetts was then “M.S.” as is seen
by an old dating stamp of that period.
* * * * *
In 1868 money orders were issued at the rate of 10 cents for all
orders not exceeding $20. By act approved June 8, 1872, the rate was
reduced to 5 cents for all orders not exceeding $10. By this change
the Government lost, in the two succeeding years on account of this
reduction, 2.84/100 on every order issued on the 5-cent basis, showing
that such rate at that time was too low.
* * * * *
There were 2,405 rural carriers separated from the service during the
year 1915, of which number 1,228 resigned, 232 died, and 618 were
removed. In 1916, there were 2,602 changes, 1,844 carriers resigned,
208 died and 550 were removed.
* * * * *
Almost the entire expense incident to the operation of the rural mail
service is in the compensation paid to carriers. On account of their
unusual duties, which include the sale of stamps and stamped paper,
registration of mail, transaction of money-order business, etc., duties
not required of city delivery carriers, it is stated that carriers
maintaining a motor vehicle of the capacity required by the Department,
who work eight hours a day and carry perhaps as much as 50,000 pieces
of mail a month, should receive not less than $2,000 per annum.
* * * * *
The total number of miles of railroad in the United States in 1830
was 23, and 634 miles in 1834, on which mail covering 78 miles, was
carried. In 1844 the mileage had increased to 4,377 and mail carried
on 3,714 miles. In 1854 the mileage was 16,720, in 1864, 35,085, in
1874, 70,278, and in 1882, 104,813, with corresponding increase of mail
carriage. There are now 3,479 railroad mail routes with a length in
miles of 234,175.13 and an annual travel of 502,937,359.43 miles.
* * * * *
The decision of President Wilson to place all postmasters of the
country under the civil service law will take away $16,587,300 of
public patronage from the customary method of disposal. At the first
of the year there were 567 first-class offices in the country paying
salaries ranging from $3,000 to $8,000, or a total of $2,014,300.
Included in this list were the post offices in New York, Chicago, St.
Louis, Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Indianapolis,
Kansas City, Detroit, Cleveland, Toledo Columbus, Atlanta, and other
large cities. There were 2,213 second-class offices, salaries ranging
from $2,000 to $2,900, or a total of $5,235,500. Third-class, 7,437
paying from $1,000 to $1,900 yearly, or a total of $9,337,500.
Fourth-class postmasters are already under the civil service law.
* * * * *
From 1816 to 1845, a letter carried not over 30 miles paid 6¼ cents,
over 80 and under 150 miles, paid 12½ cents, and if the letter weighed
an ounce, four times these rates were charged. In 1851 the 3-cent rate
was reached for distances less than 3,000 miles, and in 1853 distance
limit was abolished and the rate made uniform. This system led to a
deficiency in 1860 amounting to over $10,000,000. The restriction of
service during the Civil War, it being then confined to the densely
populated States of the north, allowed a surplus to appear amounting
in 1863 to $2,800,000. After the war, deficiencies became the rule for
many years, diminishing, however, from year to year as the country
became more thickly settled.
* * * * *
By official order it is stated that the Department commends and will
give record credit marks to rural carriers whose efforts result in
greater quantities of farm products being transported through the mails.
* * * * *
Notwithstanding the growth of the service together with the added
work of the postal savings system and the parcel post, the Department
service in Washington has been reduced by 200, with a resultant saving
of over $166,000 per annum because of the adoption of methods of
operation which develop efficiency, and permit the changes so necessary
to progressive improvement.
* * * * *
It is estimated that the cost of extending rural free delivery service
throughout the entire country will be $100,000,000, additional. This
seems like a vast sum for one form of public service, but country-wide
extension is also a vast proposition and its benefits would be so
immeasurably great if it could be accomplished, that the nation might
consider the money well spent for such a purpose.
* * * * *
It may not be generally known that fully 80 per cent of all civil
service employees of the Government are in one way and another
connected with the postal service. This shows how vast and widely
extended this service must be and how intimately connected with the
public welfare.
* * * * *
The objectionable use to which window-delivery service in the cities
of the country may be subjected, has led to an active and vigorous
campaign by the Department to check the possibility of making this
public accommodation a channel for unworthy purposes, and this active
effort has, it is believed, been productive of great good in such
direction.
* * * * *
The danger to life and limb by service in postal cars, to which
attention is called elsewhere, has led to increased effort to provide
cars of all-steel construction for better protection in this naturally
hazardous service. One thousand of this pattern have within a recent
period been added to those already in use and a liability law enacted
for the relief of employes. The risks which must be taken in this
service demand that the best possible protection that can be given
should be afforded that the dangers of the rail may be lessened to the
least degree.
* * * * *
The mails of the United States were first carried on steamboats from
one post town to another in 1813, the Government paying not over 3
cents for each letter and 1 cent for newspapers.
* * * * *
Railroads were declared post routes by act of Congress in July, 1838,
and the mails carried thereon.
* * * * *
This administration is certainly doing all it can to save money in
various directions. An opportunity was presented in the motors returned
to the Department for repair. These motors have been neglected in many
instances through indifference or lack of mechanical knowledge on the
part of postal employes. Each returned motor is now given careful
examination by an expert electrician and from the knowledge thus
gained, additional instructions as to proper handling of this class of
equipment will be sent out. The same is true of old cancelling machines
which have lain idle for a number of years but by the adoption of newly
designed mechanical attachments have been converted into serviceable
equipment at a nominal cost.
* * * * *
The increase in expenditure for rural delivery by periods was as
follows: 1897, first year, $14,840. Third year, 1900, increased to
$420,433. In 1905, to $20,864,885. In 1910, to $36,914,769, and in 1916
to $51,715,616.
* * * * *
Revision of the rural delivery service to eliminate duplication,
unnecessary retracing and unjustifiable special facilities was
conducted in 329 counties in twenty-nine States during the fiscal year
of 1916, at a reduction in cost of $1,359,162. This saving with that
made in readjustments in the fiscal year of 1915, made it possible
to grant all applications for new service and extensions where the
requirements have been met. It is estimated that the whole territory
now covered by rural service, with such necessary revision, could be
operated at a reduction in cost of $3,500,000.
* * * * *
The commercial shortage in the paper industry is being to some extent
remedied, at least so far as the Post Office Department can aid and
assist, by urging the cooperation of every employe in the conservation
of the waste paper in all of the larger post offices of the country.
Paper-baling machines are now supplied to the postmasters for this
purpose, which not only contributes to economy in use and adds to
the visible supply, but is a matter of revenue as well, for what was
formerly regarded as waste, and destroyed, is now made a matter of
profit.
* * * * *
The numberless curiosities gathered from unmailable and unreclaimed
articles which found their way into the Dead Letter Office from time
to time, together with the many articles of postal interest to those
who delight in antiquities--the old mail coaches used in the west, the
dog sledges used in the Alaskan service, the carriers in uniform of all
nations and the many features of interest too tedious to enumerate here
and which formed a veritable collection of postal wonders and delighted
thousands of people when gathered for display purposes on the first
floor of the Post Office Department are now, in part at least, in the
National Museum at Washington and are well worthy a visit when people
come to the Capital City on a sight-seeing tour.
* * * * *
The period of greatest activity in extension and general progress of
Rural Delivery was from 1900 to 1905, the appropriations running from
$450,000 in 1900 to $21,116,000 in 1905. On February 1, 1902, the rural
letter carriers were placed under the civil service by executive order.
* * * * *
Salary increases in the Rural Delivery service have been as follows:
August 1, 1897, $300; July 1, 1898, $400; July 1, 1900, $500; March
1, 1902, $600; July 1, 1904, $720; July 1, 1907, $900; July 1, 1911,
$1,000; September 30, 1912, $1,100; July 1, 1914, $1,200.
Some Old Laws and Regulations
NOTE.--In some old postal publications dating back to 1843 and 1857, a
number of curious laws and regulations appear which may be of interest
to people who delight in antiquarian research. Where no date or Act of
Congress is mentioned in the paragraphs following, they refer to laws or
regulations prior to 1843 or between that date and 1857. These items are
published simply as indicating the peculiar views and opinions of the
time, and are not to be taken as an official guide for the present day,
for changes may have been made in some cases, amendments in others, some
superseded by later enactment and all more or less affected by later
conditions and needs. No attention can therefore be given them except
as phases of other days, unless indeed existing laws and regulations
make them, or some of them still operative and in force, which may be
determined by consulting the laws and regulations of today.
* * * * *
To Senators and Members of Congress, the franking privilege was
originally limited to 2 ounces in weight, excess to be paid for. Act of
March 3, 1825.
* * * * *
The sum of 4 cents was allowed for advertising each letter remaining
unclaimed in a post office if published in more than one newspaper.
Section 35, Act July 2, 1836, Act of 1825, Section 26, allowed but 2
cents for each letter, published three times.
* * * * *
Newspaper publishers could have printed or written notice sent to
subscribers stating the amount due on subscription, which shall be
attached to paper and the postmaster shall charge for such notice the
same postage as for a newspaper. Act of 1825.
* * * * *
No ship or vessel arriving at any port in the United States shall make
entry or break bulk until the mails are delivered to the postmaster by
the master of such ship or vessel. Penalty was $100. Act of 1825.
* * * * *
Section 1, Act of March 2, 1847, permitted deputy postmasters whose
compensation for last preceding year did not exceed $200 to send
letters written by himself, and to receive through the mail written
communications addressed to himself in his private business which shall
not exceed ½ ounce, free of postage. Regulation 293, allowed every
deputy postmaster to frank and receive free all his letters, public and
private, subject to the ½-ounce weight. This privilege did not extend
to his wife or any other member of the family.
* * * * *
Paid letters might be forwarded by private opportunity to places where
no post offices were established.
* * * * *
Postmasters were not allowed to give credit for postage, but if it was
done, letters addressed to such persons on which postage was paid or
tendered by him could not be detained.
* * * * *
Act of August 31, 1852, allowed letters enclosed in _stamped envelopes_
to be sent out of the mail.
* * * * *
By joint resolution of February 20, 1845, the Postmaster General could
make contracts with railroads for carrying the mail without advertising
for bids as was then the custom.
* * * * *
The postmaster, or one of his assistants, was required, before office
was swept or otherwise cleaned of rubbish, to collect and examine all
waste paper in order to guard against possibility of loss of letters
or mail matter by falling to the floor or mingling with waste paper.
Observance of rule was strictly enjoined, its violation constituted a
grave offense. They were also admonished in mailing letters or packets
to use all wrapping paper fit to be used again, and the sale of such
paper was strictly forbidden.
* * * * *
As late as 1843, postmasters were officially known as “Deputy”
postmasters following the old custom from the beginning.
* * * * *
If a newspaper began to arrive at the office in the course of the post
office quarter, deputy postmasters should demand postage in advance of
the subscriber up to the end of that quarter. At the end of a quarter,
they might refund postage on so many of the newspapers as had not
arrived during the quarter. Advance payment of postage was invariably
demanded and unless complied with no papers should be delivered even
though the postage was tendered on them singly. (Act, 1825.)
* * * * *
Carriers were required to receive and convey a letter (and the money
for its postage when tendered) if delivered more than a mile from a
post office and to hand it with the money, if paid, into the first post
office at which carrier arrived. A penalty of $50 attached on failure
to do so. (Act of 1825).
* * * * *
Postmasters were forbidden to show any preference between one person
and another in the arrival or delivery of mail by the unlawful
detention of any letters, packages, pamphlet or newspaper. A fine not
exceeding $500 was the penalty and the person was forever prohibited
from serving as postmaster. (Act of July 2, 1836.)
* * * * *
A ferryman who by wilful neglect or refusal to transport mail across
a ferry thereby delaying the same, was to be fined $10 for every ten
minutes of such delay. (Act of March 3, 1825.)
* * * * *
Letter carriers employed at such post offices as the Postmaster
General may direct, were allowed to collect 2 cents for each letter
they delivered. For letters lodged at the post office by direction
of the individual, the postmaster was to receive 1 cent; newspapers
and pamphlets ½ cent; letters received by carrier for deposit in a
post office, 2 cents, to be paid to the postmaster for a fund for
compensation of carriers. This was known as the “penny post” and was in
vogue until the day of free delivery.
* * * * *
Section 38, Act of March 3, 1825, provided that: Any person confined
in jail on any judgment in a civil case obtained in behalf of the Post
Office Department, who makes affidavit that he has a claim against the
General Post Office, not allowed by the Postmaster General, and shall
specify such claim in the affidavit, that he could not be prepared for
trial by lack of evidence, the court being satisfied in those respects,
may be granted a continuance by the court until the next term, and
the Postmaster General authorized to have such party discharged from
imprisonment if he has no property, of any description, but such
release shall not bar a subsequent execution against the property of
the defendant.
* * * * *
A postmaster was not allowed to receive free of postage, or frank any
letter or packet, composed of, or containing anything other than paper
or money. (Sec. 36; Act of July 2, 1836.)
* * * * *
According to the Postal Laws and Regulations of 1843, only a free
white person could carry the mail and any contractor who employed or
permitted any other than a free white person to convey mail was subject
to a penalty of $20.
* * * * *
At post offices where the mail arrived between 9.00 o’clock at night
and 5.00 in the morning, the postmaster was allowed a commission not
to exceed 50 per cent on the first $100 collected in any one quarter
(Act of March 3, 1825), but the commission was afterwards increased
to 70 per cent. (Act of June 22, 1854.) No allowance on this account
was, however, to be made unless accompanied by a certificate signed by
postmaster upon a prescribed form.
* * * * *
Post riders and other carriers of mail collecting way letters on which
postage had been paid, were allowed 1 cent each for such service by the
postmaster when such letters were delivered at the post office.
* * * * *
“Express mail service” could be established by the Postmaster General
if deemed expedient, for the purpose of conveying slips from newspapers
in lieu of exchanges, or letters, except such as contained money, not
exceeding ½ ounce in weight, and public dispatches, marked as above, at
triple rates of postage.
* * * * *
Employment of extra clerks was permitted and authorized when actually
needed to answer some information called for by Congress. Copyists,
etc., were paid at the rate of $3 a day; other service $4 when actually
and necessarily employed. (Act of August 26, 1842.)
* * * * *
Section 442, Chapter 60, says: “Every deputy postmaster will consider
himself the Sentinel of the Department in regard to its affairs in
his immediate vicinity; and he will carefully observe and promptly
report to it everything tending to affect its interests or injure its
reputation.”
* * * * *
Section 445 says: “If a mail carrier having the mail in charge becomes
intoxicated, the Deputy Postmaster will instantly dismiss him, employ
another at the expense of the contractor and report the facts to the
Department.”
* * * * *
Section 382, Chapter 53. “Deputy postmasters are in the habit of
settling their printer’s bills only once in two or three years and then
forwarding the advertising account for several quarters at once. This
must not be done. All such accounts must be forwarded with the returns
to which they belong.”
* * * * *
Section 379. “No allowance for furniture will be made to any post
office when the net proceeds do not amount to $20 per year.”
* * * * *
Act of 1825, Section 39, and Act of 1863, Section 41, says the carriers
of the “United States City Dispatch Post” in New York, and other city
dispatch posts, wherever established, are authorized to charge and
collect 3 cents on each letter deposited in any part of the city, and
delivered at another.
* * * * *
Act of 1825, Section 38, states a deputy postmaster will not open, nor
suffer to be opened, any packet of newspapers, not addressed to his
office, under a penalty of $50. A penalty of $20 was to be imposed on
any person not authorized to open mails, who shall open any packet of
newspapers not directed to himself.
* * * * *
Regulations 324 and 325 says that the franking privilege travels with
the person possessing it and can be exercised in but one place at
the same time, and prohibited deputy postmasters or other privileged
persons from leaving their frank behind them upon envelopes to cover
public or private correspondence in their absence.
Queer Collection in Holiday Mail
Some years ago, the Cincinnati, Ohio, post office, gave an account
of the queer combinations and collections of articles found loose
in the mails at the Christmas season owing to the carelessness of
senders. These articles vary from value to worthlessness, utility to
uselessness. Money, jewelry, articles of dress, dainty ribbons to
choice silk patters, tableware, and even to “corn shellers.” Many of
the articles named were doubtless in combinations and sent to one
address, but being carelessly wrapped or addressed, they could not be
assembled for identification or identified singly for delivery in the
great majority of cases. The list is given for the benefit of readers
who delight in curious things. These articles were held for a week for
possible identification and then sent to the Dead Letter Office. No
attempt has been made at classification as more interest is excited by
taking them as they come. Some of the combination must have been very
amusing. List is as follows:
A cabinet photograph, pair rubber sleeves, 2 silver quarter-dollars,
sewing machine shuttle, piece of white swiss goods, 2 dimes, a brass
key, package common tea spoons, 5 cents and 8 childs’ cards from
Beamsville, Ont., for Mrs. J. Carl, Tallahassee, Ala., and sent to the
postmaster of that place for delivery. Two unstamped letters, one to
Mrs. Rebecca Washington, the other to Wm. Cummings; 65 cents, plated
butter knife, gold plated lead pencil, silver quarter, 2 combination
tools, 2 pen knives, lot photographs, pension affidavit of Jasper
Acres, pair knit stockings, 6 books, false mustaches, pearl pen holder,
box of pills, patent corn sheller, 2 electrotype plates of “Sellers
Cough Syrup,” yellow and purple knit hoods. Christmas cards, studs,
2 small drills, peacock feather, fountain pen, ladies brooch, butter
knife, felt soles, letter in match box addressed to postmaster Berlin,
sugarspoon, celluloid, ring, sleeve buttons, 25 cents, hair switch,
open letter to J. Lyon, Red, Ky., Ind., which was delivered to him.
Two pen knives, dime, box violin strings, ladies fashion bazaar,
bottle “Fruit Laxative,” plain gold ring, ear rings, breast pin, and
thimble (snide), paper needles, book “Bad Boy’s diary,” pencil, large
pen knife, 70 cents, unstamped letter to Adelaide Long, iron hook, toy
knitting machine, 2 tops of sleeve buttons, hair chain, lot crayons,
chalk, letter to P. O. Wickley, Augusta, Me., unstamped, containing 70
cents in stamps, child’s book “The Proud Little Lady,” magic lantern,
watch chain, masonic charm, ½-dozen teaspoons, paper needles, childs
mits, comforter and doll, 2 harmonicons, Bible, child’s gingham dress,
2 sticks of candy. A wallet containing a gold double eagle, $20
bill, 9 $5 bills, 3 $10 bills, found by F. A. Montague, in a pouch
from Lewisburg, Tenn., and returned to postmaster of that town to be
delivered upon receipt to the sender.
Gold plated pencil, unaddressed envelope, containing pair of lisle
thread gloves, black and white stamped ribbon, uninclosed letter
containing $1 marked from “Joe to Gus,” two-cent piece, gold and jet
pencil holder, butter knife, tidy, white apron, pair baby socks, blank
check book, dominoes, black cord and tassel, red worsted shawl, tidy.
Wooden box, lot of candy, assortment of rubber sheep. Letter from R.
MacFeeley, Washington, D. C., to Capt. A. M. Corliss, without envelope,
one cent, German picture cards, meerschaum cigar holder, woman’s head
design. Three plain rings, four watch charms, compass, horseshoe cigar
cutter, two lanterns, pearl handled table knife, billiard ball, silver
quarter sewed in some knit work, whisk broom, a false tooth, two black
ties, three New Year cards, hair switch, curry comb, vanity case,
stuffed Aunt Dinah, game “Old Maid,” box Mason’s blacking with brush,
fiddle strings.
Feeding the Cats
It is perhaps not generally known that cats are kept and fed at the
public expense in some of the larger post offices of the country. Some
years ago (and it may still be the custom) an appropriation of from
$80 to $100 was annually made for this purpose for the benefit of the
New York post office, and $30 to $40, spent for like service at the
Philadelphia office. In an article in the _Philadelphia Record_ it was
stated that a man in that city had a contract for keeping these feline
employes of the office in provisions, and it was also mentioned that
there are about 1,000 of these useful domestic animals in the employ of
the Post Office Department and they are paid for their services by food
and shelter. It is estimated that about $1,000 per annum is expended in
this way at the principal post offices and large public buildings of
the country.
Ferrets are also often employed for this purpose in the great public
buildings in Washington when the rodents get too numerous and damage
to papers and files likely to occur. The common practice of eating
lunches in these government buildings tends to the spread of this
annoying condition and the cats in the public service are held to be a
useful and necessary convenience in hunting down and interfering with
the nibbling propensities of this pest to domestic as well as public
economy.
A Couple of Distinguished Canines
Mention is made in another article of the employment of cats in post
offices as “mousers,” and they doubtless contribute their share towards
public benefit. The dog, man’s most faithful friend, so eulogized in
song and story, has also, it seems, his part in public interest and
concern. For many years the postal clerks of the country paid great
attention to “Owney” an adventurous terrier dog who attached himself to
the Railway Service and whose exploits as a traveler and companion on
many postal trips and runs made him a familiar and welcome acquaintance
wherever he established his temporary domicile. His faithfulness,
friendship and fellowship, in his way of showing it, was the topic of
discourse when he made his occasional visits and his praises were told
in many a newspaper story and he wore the numerous decorations and
medals with which he was bedecked, the gift of admiring friends, with
all the dignity and grace becoming a dog so honored and esteemed.
“Owney” had an humble imitator and counterpart in canine sagacity and
wisdom in a dog at Mount Carmel, Pa., whose watchful guardianship of
the office mail and general fidelity won him such deserved recognition
at home as a remarkable example of what a dog can be taught to do, that
his fame spread abroad, was brought to public attention at Washington
and the post office people awarded him special recognition in the shape
of a handsome collar, raised by subscription. He got his name in the
newspapers, but whether all this honor and glory turned his head and
his attention elsewhere, or some evil-minded person, jealous of the
costly collar he wore, appropriated it and the dog also, is not known,
but after being thus honored and decorated and set apart from the rest
of the canine fraternity, this famous dog suddenly disappeared and was
never heard of again.
Soldier’s Sister a Mail Carrier
President Wilson has issued an executive order allowing the Postmaster
General to appoint as temporary rural mail carrier, during the absence
of the regular carrier on military duty, the person on whom the support
of the dependents of the regular carrier devolves, without regard to
civil service requirements, if the substitute is found competent. The
first appointment under the order is that of Miss Edith Strand, of
Princeton, Ill., whose brother was called into the military service,
leaving her to care for the family.
Notice
In a pamphlet giving a brief history of the postal service, compiled by
Mr. Stanley I. Slack during the administration of Postmaster General
Charles Emory Smith from which a few general facts are taken relating
to our early postal history, appears a statement that use had been
made of the following works--Journal kept by Hugh Finlay, 1773-74,
Brooklyn, 1867. Joyce “History of the British Post Office; The Early
History of the Colonial Post Office by Mary E. Wooley; Leech and
Nicholson’s History of the Post Office Department, Washington, 1879,
and the contributions of the Postal History of the United States by C.
W. Ernst of Boston in Vols. XX, 1895, and XXI, 1896; Journal of the
Postal Union.” As none of these authorities have been consulted in
the publication of this work, or access had to any of them for such
purpose, this explanation is made so that if anything from the above
mentioned publications appears herein, drawn from Mr. Slack’s pamphlet,
the necessary acknowledgment might hereby be made and due credit given.
INDEX TO ITEMS OF INTEREST
Annual readjustment salaries, 93
Claims for stamps lost by burglary, 95
Credit marks for rural carriers, 97
Cost, country-wide extension rural delivery, 97
Difference in dispatch parcel post matter, 93
Department force at Washington reduced, 97
Eligibles, fourth-class postmasters, 93
Expenditure rural delivery by periods, 98
First Postmaster General to sit at Capital, 94
Gain to Department in fractions of a cent, 94
Increase rural carriers’ pay, 96
Longest mail route, 93
Longest star route, 93
Loss to Government by low money order rate, 95
Mails first carried on steamboats, 98
Number of counties having rural service, 93
Names of postmasters mentioned in 1857, 95
Number of postmasters affected by order of President, 96
Per capita expenditure for postage, 94
Patronage 100 years ago, 94
Period of greatest activity, rural service, 99
Post routes, rural delivery maps, 95
Postal employes in public service, 97
Paper baling machines, 99
Postal curiosities in National Museum, 99
Postmasters by classes, 93
Postage stamp sale, 1916, 94
Railroads declared post routes, 98
Rural carriers separated from service, 1915-1916, 96
Rates of postage, 1816 to 1853, 96
Revision of rural service, 98
Shortest postal route, 93
Salary increases, rural carriers, 99
Saving money by motor repairs, 98
Sale postage stamps, 1916, 94
Total railroad mileage, 1830, 96
Window delivery service, 97
When the Department was moved to Washington, 94
* * * * * *
Transcriber’s note:
--Obvious errors were corrected.