Year Post- Extent of Gross Revenue Gross Expenditure
(Fiscal) offices Post-routes of Department of Department
(Number) (Miles)
1800 903 20,817 $ 280,806 $ 213,884
1850 18,417 178,672 5,499,985 5,212,953
1860 28,498 240,594 8,518,067 19,170,610
1870 28,492 231,232 19,772,221 23,998,837
1880 42,989 343,888 33,315,479 36,542,804
1890 62,401 427,990 60,882,098 66,259,548
1900 76,688 500,989 102,354,579 107,740,267
1910 59,580 447,998 224,128,658 229,977,224
1921 52,050 1,152,000 263,491,274 620,993,673
COMPARISON OF MONEY-ORDERS AND POSTAL NOTES ISSUED,
FISCAL YEARS 1865 to 1921, INCLUSIVE
No. of Domestic Money-orders Issued
Money-
Fiscal order
Year Offices Number Value
1865 419 74,277 $ 1,360,122.52
1870 1,694 1,671,253 34,054,184.71
1875 3,404 5,006,323 77,431,251.58
1880 4,829 7,240,537 100,352,818.83
1885 7,056 7,725,893 117,858,921.27
1890 9,382 10,624,727 114,362,757.12
1895 19,691 22,031,120 156,709,089.77
1900 29,649 32,060,983 238,921,009.67
1905 36,832 53,722,463 401,916,214.78
1910 51,791 77,585,321 558,178,028.35
1915 55,670 105,728,032 665,249,087.81
1920 54,395 149,091,944 1,342,267,597.43
1921 54,183 144,809,855 1,313,092,591.08
---------------------------------------------------------------
No. of International Money-orders Postal Notes Issued
Money- Issued in U. S.
Fiscal order
Year Offices Number Value Number Value
1865 419
1870 1,694 $ 22,189.70
1875 3,404 102,250 1,964,574.88
1880 4,829 221,372 3,463,862.83
1885 7,056 448,921 6,840,358.47 5,058,287 $9,996,274.37
1890 9,382 859,054 13,230,135.71 6,927,825 12,160,489.60
1895 19,691 909,278 12,906,485.67
1900 29,649 1,102,067 16,749,018.31
1905 36,832 2,163,098 42,503,246.57
1910 51,791 3,832,318 89,558,299.42
1915 55,670 2,399,836 51,662,120.65
1920 54,395 1,250,890 23,392,287.46
1921 54,183 876,541 16,675,752.16
[Illustration]
_The Post-office of General Concern_
There is no governmental activity that comes so uniformly into intimate
daily contact with different classes of this country's inhabitants, nor
one the functioning of which touches practically the country's entire
population, as does the United States postal system. Mr. Daniel G.
Roper, in a volume highly regarded by postal executives, entitled "The
United States Post-Office," called the postal service "the mightiest
instrument of human democracy." This system, as we know it to-day,
represents the growth, development, and improvement of over a century
and a third. In the last seventy-five years this growth has been
particularly marked; the total number of pieces of all kinds of mail
matter handled in 1847, for instance, was 124,173,480; in 1913 it was
estimated that 18,567,445,160 pieces were handled, and to-day about
1,500,000,000 letters are handled every hour in the postal service.
In 1790 the gross postal revenues were $38,000 in round numbers and
the expenditures $32,000. In 1840 the revenues were $4,543,500 and
expenditures $4,718,200. In 1890 the revenues were $60,880,000 and the
expenditures $66,260,000. In 1912 the revenues were $247,000,000 and the
expenditures $248,500,000.
The revenue of the postal service for the fiscal year ending June 30,
1921, including fees from money-orders and profits from postal-savings
business, amounted to $463,491,274.70, an increase of $26,341,062.37
over the receipts for the preceding fiscal year, which were
$437,150,212.33. The rate of increase in receipts for 1921 over 1920 was
6.02 per cent., as compared with an increase in 1920 over 1919 of 19.81
per cent.
The audited expenditures for the year were $620,993,673.65, an increase
over the preceding year of $166,671,064.44, the rate of increase being
36.68 per cent. The audited expenditures for the fiscal year were
therefore in excess of the revenues in the sum of $157,502,398.95, to
which should be added losses of postal funds, by fire, burglary, and
other causes, amounting to $15,289.16, making a total audited deficiency
in postal revenues of $157,517,688.11. The material increase in the
deficiency over that for 1920 was due to large increases of expenditures
made necessary by reason of the re-classification act allowing
increased compensation estimated at $41,855,000 to postal employees,
and to increased allowances of more than $30,000,000 for railroad
mail transportation resulting from orders of the Interstate Commerce
Commission under authority of Congress.
The revenues of this department are accounted for to the Treasury
of the United States and the postmaster-general submits to Congress
itemized estimates of amounts necessary under different classifications;
Congress, in turn, makes appropriations as it deems advisable.
In 1790 there were a total of 118 officers, postmasters, and employees
of all kinds in the postal service. Postmaster-General Work to-day
directs the activities of nearly 326,000 officers and employees. The
number of post-offices in the United States in 1790 was seventy-five; in
1840 the number had increased to 13,468; in 1890 it was 62,401; and on
January 1, 1922, there were 52,050. The greatest number of post-offices
in existence at one time was 76,945, in 1901, but the extension of
rural delivery since its establishment in 1896 has caused, and will
probably continue to cause, a gradual decrease in the number of smaller
post-offices.
_The Post-office in Colonial Times_
The first Colonial postmaster, Richard Fairbanks, conducted an office
in a house in Boston in 1639 to receive letters from ships. In 1672
Governor Lovelace of New York arranged for a monthly post between
New York and Boston, which appears to have been the first post-route
officially established in America. Much of this route was through
wilderness, and the postman blazed the trees on his way so that
travelers might follow his path. This route, however, was soon
abandoned.
In 1673 the Massachusetts General Court provided for certain payments
to post messengers, although the first successful postal system
established in any of the Colonies was that of William Penn, who, in
1683, appointed Henry Waldy to keep a post, supply passengers with
horses, etc. In the following year Governor Dungan of New York revived
the route that had been established by Governor Lovelace, and, in
addition, he proposed post-offices along the Atlantic coast. In 1687
a post was started between certain points in Connecticut. The real
beginning of postal service in America seems to date from February 17,
1691, when William and Mary granted to Thomas Neale authority to conduct
offices for the receipt and despatch of letters. From that time until
1721 the postal system seems to have been under the direction of Andrew
Hamilton and his associates. In the latter year John Lloyd was appointed
postmaster-general, to be succeeded in 1730 by Alexander Spotsward. Head
Lynch was postmaster-general from 1739 to 1743, and Elliott Berger from
1743 to 1753.
In July, 1775, the Continental Congress established its post-office
with Benjamin Franklin as its first postmaster-general. Mr. Franklin
had been appointed postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737. Samuel Osgood,
of Massachusetts, however, was the first postmaster-general under
the Constitution and Washington's administration. From Samuel Osgood
to Hubert Work there have been forty-five postmasters-general, that
official becoming a member of the President's cabinet in 1829.
_Fast Mails of Pioneer Days_
Post-riders and stage-coaches were the earliest means of transporting
the mails, to be followed by steamboats, railway trains, and, in time,
by airplanes.
In considering our modern mailing methods, no feature of the development
of our postal system is more striking than the improvement that has been
made in methods of mail transportation.
Up to a few decades ago, pony express riders sped across the western
part of our country, and back, carrying the "fast mail" of the days when
Indians and road-agents constituted a continual source of annoyance
and danger to stage-coach passengers and drivers, and made the
transportation of valuables extremely hazardous. The coaches carried
baggage, express, and "slow mail," as well as passengers, while the
"fast mail" was handled exclusively by pony riders.
The inimitable Mark Twain has given us a great word-picture of these
pony express riders, from which we quote the following:
In a little while all interest
was taken up in stretching our necks and watching for
the "pony rider"--the fleet messenger who sped across
the continent from St. Joe to Sacramento, carrying
letters nineteen hundred miles in eight days! Think of
that for perishable horse and human flesh and blood to
do! The pony rider was usually a little bit of a man,
brimful of spirit and endurance. No matter what time
of the day or night his watch came on, and no matter
whether it was winter or summer, raining, snowing,
hailing, or sleeting, or whether his "beat" was a level
straight road or a crazy trail over mountain crags and
precipices, or whether it led through peaceful regions
or regions that swarmed with hostile Indians, he must
be always ready to leap into the saddle and be off
like the wind! There was no idling time for a pony
rider on duty. He rode fifty miles without stopping,
by daylight, moonlight, starlight, or through the
blackness of darkness--just as it happened. He rode a
splendid horse that was born for a racer and fed and
lodged like a gentleman; kept him at his utmost speed
for ten miles, and then, as he came crashing up to
the station where stood two men holding fast a fresh,
impatient steed, the transfer of rider and mail-bag
was made in the twinkling of an eye, and away flew
the eager pair and they were out of sight before the
spectator could get hardly the ghost of a look. The
postage on his literary freight was worth five dollars
a letter. He got but little frivolous correspondence
to carry--his bag had business letters in it, mostly.
His horse was stripped of all unnecessary weight, too.
He wore a little wafer of a racing-saddle, and no
visible blanket. He wore light shoes, or none at all.
The little flat mail-pockets strapped under the rider's
thighs would each hold about the bulk of a child's
primer. They held many and many an important business
chapter and newspaper letter, but these were written
on paper as airy and thin as gold-leaf, nearly, and
thus bulk and weight were economized. The stage-coach
travelled about a hundred to a hundred and twenty-five
miles a day (twenty-four hours), and the pony rider
about two hundred and fifty. There were about eighty
pony riders in the saddle all the time, night and
day, stretching in a long scattering procession from
Missouri to California, forty flying eastward, and
forty toward the west, and among them making four
hundred gallant horses earn a stirring livelihood and
see a deal of scenery every single day in the year.
[Illustration: _The Pony Express Rider._
Photo by Courtesy of American
Telephone & Telegraph Company ]
We had had a consuming desire,
from the beginning, to see a pony rider, but somehow or
other all that passed us and all that we met managed
to streak by in the night, and so we heard only a whiz
and a hail, and the swift phantom of the desert was
gone before we could get our heads out of the windows.
But now we were expecting one along every moment, and
would see him in broad daylight. Presently the driver
exclaims:
"HERE HE COMES!"
Every neck is stretched further,
and every eye strained wider. Away across the endless
dead level of the prairie a black speck appears against
the sky, and it is plain that it moves. Well, I should
think so. In a second or two it becomes a horse and
rider, rising and falling, rising and falling--sweeping
toward us, nearer and nearer--growing more and more
distinct, more and more sharply defined, nearer and
still nearer, and the flutter of the hoofs comes
faintly to the ear--another instant and a whoop and a
hurrah from our upper deck, a wave of the rider's hand,
but no reply, and man and horse burst past our excited
faces, and go winging away like a belated fragment of a
storm!
So sudden is it all, and so like a flash of
unreal fancy, that but for the flake of white foam left
quivering and perishing on a mail-sack after the vision
had flashed by and disappeared, we might have doubted
whether we had seen anything at all, maybe.
_Mail Transportation To-day_
Mails are now carried over about 235,000 miles of railroads. Service
on the railroads is authorized and paid for under a space basis
system authorized by Congress and approved by the Interstate Commerce
Commission.
The present post-office organization dates from about 1836, as the
period that followed that year was one of transition from stage-coach to
rail car for the transportation of mails. As railway mail service was
increased and extended, sometimes railroad companies made arrangements
with contractors to handle it. Occasionally contracts were transferred
to the contractors at the same rates received by the railroads.
Frequently the compensation was divided pro rata as far as the railroad
covered the route. It was not uncommon for postmasters in large cities
to make the arrangements for the department. Naturally such a lack of
uniformity of procedure and control invited irregularities of one kind
or another, although they were for the most part not serious ones, and
were eventually corrected and a system of standards and of unified
control put into effect.
_Origin of Mail Classes_
In 1845 any letter that weighed one half ounce or less was classified
as a single letter without regard to the number of sheets it contained;
a five-cent rate was charged for distances under three miles and ten
cents for greater distances. In 1847 the postage-stamp was officially
adopted and placed on sale July 1 of that year at New York. In the year
1848, 860,380 postage-stamps were sold; in 1890, 2,219,737,060 stamps
were sold, and in 1921 there were issued to postmasters 14,000,000,000
adhesive stamps, 1,100,000,000 postal cards, 2,668,000,000 stamped
envelopes, and 80,800,000 newspaper wrappers.
In 1850 the rates were reduced to three cents for any distance less than
three hundred miles, if prepaid, and five cents if not prepaid, and, for
a greater distance, six cents if prepaid and ten cents if not prepaid.
The prepayment of postage was finally made compulsory in 1855. In 1863
a uniform rate of three cents for single letters not exceeding one half
ounce in weight was adopted for all distances, and twenty years later,
in 1883, the two-cent letter was adopted. In 1917 the rates of three
cents on letters and two cents for postal cards were adopted, the extra
cent in each case being for war revenue. On June 30, 1919, however, the
three-cent letter rate and the two-cent postal-card rate expired by
limitation, and the two-cent letter rate and one-cent postal-card rate
returned.
When the parcel post was established in 1913, and the air mail service
was inaugurated in 1918, special stamps were issued, although they
were soon discontinued. Our friends who collect stamps may be glad
to know that a philatelic stamp agency has been established under
the third assistant postmaster-general at Washington, which sells to
stamp-collectors at the face-value all stamps desired which are in stock
and which may have special philatelic value to stamp-collectors.
_Emergency Measures During the War_
As a war measure, on July 31, 1918, by executive order issued in
accordance with a Joint Resolution of the House and Senate, the
telegraph and telephone systems of the United States were placed under
the control of the postmaster-general, and on November 2, 1918, the
marine cables were also placed under his control. These utilities were
conducted by a wire control board, of which the postmaster-general was
the head. The marine cables were returned to their owners May 2, 1919,
and the telephone and telegraph lines were returned to their owners in
accordance with an act of Congress on August 1, 1919, having been under
government control just one year.
When the telegraph was invented, in 1847, the first line between
Washington and Baltimore was built through an appropriation authorized
by Congress. Then, as now, there were public men who advocated
government ownership of the wire systems as a means of communication,
the same as the postal service. It was placed in private control,
however, one year after its inauguration, and has grown up under that
control. The Government's operation during the war of both the wire
and railroad systems seems to have cooled the ardor of even the most
enthusiastic advocates of government ownership of such utilities.
Early in 1919 the Post-office Department used the wireless telegraph in
connection with air mail service. A central station is located in the
Post-office Department Building at Washington, and other stations are
located in cities near the transcontinental air mail route from New York
City to San Francisco. Experiments are being made with the wireless as
a means of directing airplanes in flight, especially during foggy and
stormy weather, and it is expected planes will ultimately be equipped
with either wireless telegraph or telephone outfits. On April 22, 1921,
the Post-office Department adopted the use of the wireless telephone
in addition to the wireless telegraph service, and is now using both
in the air mail service, and also for the purpose of broadcasting to
farming communities governmental information such as market reports
from the Agricultural Department and the big market centers. It is not
contemplated, however, that the Post-office Department will maintain the
wireless telegraph and telephone except as an aid in the development
of the air mail service; only when not in use for this purpose is it
utilized to broadcast the governmental information referred to for the
benefit of farming communities and without expense to them.
_The Post-office in the War_
As may be imagined, the work of the Post-office Department consequent
upon the war was enormous; it participated in and did war work for
practically all other departments of the Government. Besides the great
increase of ordinary mail as a result of the war, it assisted in the
work of the draft, the Liberty Loans, the Red Cross service, food, fuel,
and labor conservation, the enforcement of the Alien Enemy and Espionage
laws, and nearly every war activity placed upon it some share of the
burden. The Post-office Department, whose function is purely civil, with
responsibility for a business service that must not be interrupted, kept
open channels of communication upon which the vital activities of the
Nation depended, and unquestionably made material contributions toward
the successful prosecution of the war.
The department was of assistance to the Department of Justice, the
Bureau of Intelligence of both the Army and the Navy; the Department
of Labor, in collecting data relative to firms and classes of labor in
the country; the Department of Agriculture, the Shipping Board, and
various independent bureaus of the Government. Under proclamation of the
President, postmasters of towns having populations of 5000 or less had
the duty of registering enemy aliens. The department collected all the
statistics and lists of aliens for the Department of Justice. A similar
work was performed with respect to the duties of the Alien Property
Custodian. Nine million questionnaires were distributed for the War
Department, each being handled three times during the first draft; about
thirteen million questionnaires were distributed in the second draft.
The department distributed literature for the Liberty Loans and the
Red Cross, and assisted in the sale of War Savings Stamps and Internal
Revenue Stamps. New postal service was established for the soldiers at
nearly a hundred cantonments in this country. When the American forces
went abroad an independent postal service was established in France by
the Post-office Department which was later turned over to the military
authorities. That the United States postal service was the only one in
the world that did not break down during the war might well be cause for
pardonable pride.
_Beginning of Registered Mail, Postal Money-orders,
Savings, Free Delivery, Special Delivery,
Parcel Post, and Air Mail_
The registry service was established in 1855 and the money-order
service was established in 1864. About $1,500,000,000 is transmitted by
money-orders annually. Postal-savings service was established January
3, 1911, and during the first year the deposits reached a total of
$677,145. The increase in this department has been continuous each year,
and in a recent year the amount was over $150,000,000. The parcel-post
system was established January 1, 1913, and now nearly three billion
parcels are handled annually.
In 1863 the innovation of free delivery of mail in forty-nine cities
was undertaken, for which 449 carriers were employed. In 1890, 454
cities enjoyed free delivery of mail and 9066 carriers did the work. In
1921 there were about 3000 city delivery post-offices and about 36,000
carriers. The Post-office Department owns and operates almost 4000
automobiles in the collection and delivery of mail in cities, but this
is a small part of the number operating under contract. The regular use
of the automobile in the postal service dates back only to 1907. The
feature of special delivery of mail was inaugurated in 1885.
The first regular air mail route was inaugurated May 15, 1918, between
Washington and New York, a distance of about 200 miles, the schedule
being two hours, compared with about five hours for steam trains.
[Illustration: _Airplane mail equipment._]
An air route between Cleveland and Chicago was inaugurated May
15, 1919, and between New York and Cleveland July 1, 1919. The
Transcontinental Air Mail Route from New York to San Francisco,
inaugurated September 8, 1920, is the only route at present in
operation. This coast-to-coast route is 2629 miles in length, passing
through Cleveland, Chicago, Omaha, Cheyenne, Salt Lake City, and Reno.
Relays of planes are used, but, contrary to the general impression, mail
is not carried all the way by air; instead, planes pick up mail which
has missed trains and advance it to points where it will catch through
trains.
Three rural routes, the first ones, were established in 1896 in West
Virginia. By 1900 there were 1259; in 1906, 32,110; 1912, 42,199; on
January 1, 1922, there were 44,007. Rural routes now in operation cover
a total of 1,152,000 miles and the number of patrons served is about
30,000,000. The Rural Free Delivery Service brings in but about one
fourth of its cost. There are also about 11,000 contract mail routes
(star routes) serving communities not reached by rail or rural routes.
_Postal Business Increases_
In the five years from 1912 to 1917, the increase in the volume of
business as reflected by the annual gross receipts of the post-office
was 33.64 per cent., and in the ten-year period from 1912 to 1921,
inclusive, it was 87.84 per cent. During this decade there was a
decrease in postal receipts in but one year as compared with the
previous year, and that was in 1915, when the percentage of decrease was
0.23 per cent. For the ten years mentioned the percentage of increase
in receipts for each year over the previous year was as follows: