The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-06-27
lITE ER ATU r E.

FOOTPRINTS OF LETTRR-CARRIBRj Or hns
TORY OF THB WORLDS CoRREsPoNDRNoE. by
James Rees J. o. Lippincott Co.: Phlla'
delphia.
A field never before attempted to be covered
has been selected by MIR. Rees, and he has sue.
eeeded in throwing out number Of small lights
which illumine without entirely enlightening
IT, II wouh seem as though he settled upon no
fixed system in arranging his worS, but pitch
Eorked together all the raw material which
came within his control. While he presents to
ma fe new facts, yet the chief merit consists
in having in one volume what was heretofore
scattered through newspapers, and know only
nv oral acquaintance to our people. The indie.
finite title of the book favors this, making it
sort of universal repository for everything, from
"Franklins Grave" to the ranking privilege.
We believe, that, SO far the Post
Office and postal system are concerned,
he has treated of them very thoroughly,
but IN manner entirely too desultory to be
recommended. The writer begins with the
ori,in of writing, subject on which he IS
evidently in the dark and comes by natural
Transition on to the commencement OF the
system of Post Offices which now abound. OF
these be speaks inteiligently, although in many
cases we cannot agree with his views. For
instance, on page 339 he tavors the abolition Of
the law OF 1926, which authorizes "every printer
Of newspapers to send one paper to each and
every other printer OF newspapers within the
United States free of postage" He argues that
the system should be abolished, as ii gives but
small privileges to the publisher who is not
entitled to any, and at the same time involves
an enormous expense to the United States. The
taxes are paid by the people, and if those
privileges awarded to the people be increased
thereby, who should object to the expense
Every one reads newspaper, and
when il is remembered that every copy
of a good paper is compiled of extracts
taken from hundreds of sources, the import
ance of having every facility for securing them
becomes apparent. the free law was abolished
a paper would be restricted in Its exchanges,
only the best would be taken, and many OF the
occasional good things which appear in gene
rally bad paper would be lost 1t is, in fact the
same as though copy of every ne wspaper was
sent free to every house in land, for they get
the cream OF its contents for their three cents in
daily paper. 1t is tar more for the public good
than tor the publishers good, that the present
excellent law operates. The whole work, how
ever, is interesting, and should be read by those
wh6 adIalre desultory literature. The follow
ing sketch of the Railroad Postal system is
worthy of republication
"1hs system, VIII ch was suggested by the cele
Drated Rowland. Hill, origicaLed at a period IN
English postal history when the requirements of
trade and commerce demanded revlsal OF the
code. Perhaps NO man was better quaited for the
purpose than was MIR Hill. In 1909 raj road post
offices were in use for mali bags. Each railway COM
pany provided a car, when desired to do SO by the
Postmaster. General for the exclusive use of the
mails these cars were fitted up with boxes to
facilitate the distribution and reception of the mails
On the London and Liverpool Road 1S39l it required
fhac and ann m n two npla
ass0rt receive, and hand out the mails; such is the
rapidity of travel, and so numerous ale the post
Offices upon this route. subsequently these cars
were used Tor the dstribution of letters IN large
Cities by asserting them on the routes Not only
such distributions made on the cars Tor al the
principal stations on the line of the railroads before
the arrival of the cars, but distributions tor the
cidentaly for the entire district OF country through
which the lines are in operation II was some time
before postal department coud be made sensible
OF the necessity OF tue system IN our country fer-
baps no other country IN the word possessed
larger amount of railroad travel and postal extent
than ours, ano yet the spirit OF old togylsm was
hard to be subdued in the encounter Young America
had witt it this subject nor was 1t until the cars
were almost forced upon the department (eXperl-
mentally that they were first introduced. These
experiments were made on the routes from Chicago,
lnlnols, TO Clinton, Davenport, and Dubuque,
Iowa, with the most satisfactory results, were
those between Washington and New York. The
attention OF the public was called to this new postal
system by the Postmaster Genera William Denni-
sony In his report or the fiscal year 1854, who stated
one dsSiy line between New York and Washington
and by means of clerks taken temporarily from the
Post Offices at Washington Baltimore, Philadelphia
ana rev York, letters intenued tor distribution at
either of these points distributed in the and
so arranged that they can be despatched without
delay connecting routes
"AmOng the railroads upon which these cars
placed are the Pennsylvania Central, between Phila-
delphia and Pitsburg; in TACT the system is now
fully estab shed that II has become an essen la ele
ment in the whole organization of the postal depart
ment. Those employed in the several Post Offices
from which the light OF order radia es under this
new system, can fully appreciate the advantages
sUting from It, as merchants and others already ac'
knowledge,
This radiated head of the Phoenix
as rises above the ashes of the old J0gy system.
"Mall matter rom every direction Will reach our
sooner, his VIII show al once how essential to
merchants is this new Improvement; nor can we at
this early period OF It's introduction calculate all the
advantages likely to result from 1t. The idea of q
Post Office performing Its distributing duties a
railway going at the rate OF thirty miles an hour is
one of those scntiatiOns of genus which only
emits light once in centurY-that century the
present"
IT. B. Peterson has issued during the past
week another edition OF Mr.. Gaskell's short
stories including "The Grey Woman" "The
Doom of Joe Grifiths," and others. 1t is like
all that has flowed from that authoress-a most
entertaining and absorbing work. Its old popu-
larity will secure it renewed favor. The same
house has just commenced to receive the ad-
vanced proof sheets of novel by Mrs. Henry
Wood, which we anticipate with pleasure
The United States Seruice Mdgdzine has spicy
article on "Nicknames," from which we make
the following eXtracts:-