The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1857-05-25

Ihe system or internal exchanges, by the /
granting of money orders, by one Post Office
or another, has been great public conven-
fence and benefit in England. One great OBJ
stacle to its introduction into our Post Office
system is the incompetency Of tha officers
who are selected for partizan services rather
than for any qualifcations-to manage it, |
and the frequent changes Of incumbents that
occur from the mode of their appointment
1t is an accommodation however which the
people viii insit upon, and the government
will have to provide for it.
The British Post Office is constantly in
creasing its accommodations, by collecting
letters from, and distributing them to the
people at their dwellings and business places,
and saving to individuals the time of going to
and from and attending at the place of general
delivery, which is tax upon correspondents
greater, by far, than the tax of postage. 1t
is piece of public economy. In every COM
munity its members make hundreds of use
less visits to the Office to learn if letters have
arrived. If they knew letters would be
brought to them, as soon as received, these
fruitless e-rands would be saved;-in large
cities one man can distribute the letters that
five hundred separate men would lose half an
hour each in going to the office for. The
English Post Office is placing "Pillar letter
boxes''-in form like cylinder cast-iron stoves
in every street in large towns, into which
letters are dropped, and taken away by post
Office runners before the departure of each
- al IaliraraI "a
as received, to the parties to whom they are
addressed, free of charge. These accommoda-
tons have been extended to more than 900
new places the past year, where they were
not enjoyed before, ct an extra expense OF
moro than s2co, 900. Tho free delivery is
not confined to letters, but includes newspa-
pers, books, and parcels Of all kinds These
increased facilities multiply correspondence
50 rapidly as to give large remuneration fol
the outlay.
The actual gain in the number of letters
per annum in Great Britain from 1850 &c
Is56-in six years-was 1S1 ,S24, 1852, being a;
many as the people of the United State:
write in yearl The number of letters writ
ten now in year in Great Britain is 402,-
100000 more than they wrote in the yeal
1885. The number Of letters written in tbs
United States from lisa to 1856, inclusive
was 1852, 104, 64s, and in Great Britain dur
ing the years 1858, u, IS and IS, ,7s9 ,o76,7
or 136, 600, 900 more in four years than tn,
people of the United States have writer
since the adoption Of the Constitution! Th'
city of London has written and sent by pos
during the last ten years-1S47 to 1855
s20, 527 ,0s9 letters, and the United States il
that time only SIS ,525, 54el If we go bacl
more than ten years, the difference is stil
greater. According TO the returns, the PEG
pie of Great Britain write 20 letters each Pc
snnum. In the United States the average i
only fire for each inhabitant- Does any on
doubt, with the social habits, and the univer
sal diffusion of knowledge of reading ant
writing that exists in this country, that tn
correspondence Of our people would not ex
coed that Of the people of England if the.
had equal facilitiesl $500.