Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-02-05
Postal Cards in Canada.

When, few weeks ago, the telegraph flashed
the news TO this province that the Hon. John
Hill, member of congress of the United States,
had introduced bill authorizing the issue of
cheap postal or correspondence cards, it would
surely have puzzled the general reader TO know
how or in what manner such seemingly unim-
portant information could in any way interest
or affect the Canadians.
Yet the news was electrical, and put life into
the veins of these thoroughly phlegmatc partly
British ard altogether blue-nosed Canadians,
which was wonderful. Friend met friend on the
street and congratulations were passed. 81 al
ways told you" said Jones to Brown, THAT
those Yankees were not as CUTE as represented"
"Ah ~ said Browd "we'll teach them, my boy;
wen show them how to advance with the age"
All this, no doubt, will puzzle your readers as
much as the actions and words themselves puz-
Zed your correspondent; but when l explain
that postal cards have now been in use 10 these
provinces for many months, and that it is the
opinion of the Canadians that the Hon. John
Hill borrowed his idea from them, cleaning
may be had of the reason for the congratula-
tons.
As matter Of present interest to the United
States, | propose TO give few particulars as to
the working ofthe system here
The card issued by the Canadian government
is four and half inches long by three inches
wide, and in thickness is but little more sub
stanual than heavy letter paper On It's face
are the words, Canada Post Card" fac
smile Of one cent stamp, and "The address
only to be written on this side" Below are
three lines upon which to write the direction,
and that is all. The reverse of the card is per-
fectly blank, and upon this may easily be
written lcgiby from twelve to eighteen lines OF
correspondence. The card indeed is an exact
copy of those issued by the English govern
ment, and now so extensively in use in Great
Britain, and, therefore, if the praise for oiigi-
mating is be rendered to any country, it is
farther off than Canada to where the United
States must remit it.
Although not many months in operation the
cards ale general fayortes here Merchants
buy them by the thousands aud having had
their cards, circulars or prospectuscs pilrted
on the back, scatter them broadcast. Hitherto
they had TO buy envelopes, STAMPS and paper.
and pay besides for folding the circular and
placing the stamps on the envelopes, at a total
cost per circular of fully three cents. Now it
Is but one cent. As a consequence it is safe to
estimate that the transmission of circulars by
the mails has Increased over FIVE hundred per
cent; such, at least, is the estimate OF the post
office department, and believe these figures to
be below the mark. Besides merchants, every
conceivable sort of business is benefited by these
cards Schools send QUE their circulars thereon,
newspapers their prCspeetuSes for coming vol
umes; book publishers also do the same; rail-
road companies send their time tables; and in
almost innumerabe numbers Is the printed Cir
cular on the postal card sent forth ny business
OF their being an immense success.
In the ordinary run of correspondence only
about one letter in ten Is necessarily private,
or such that it may not be seen by strangers,
and perhaps in niuety-nine times out of hun
dred even that letter may be SO worded as to
cause it to be ambiguous TO all save the sender
and receiver. | speak of ordinary CORES pond-
| ence and not such secret affairs as love-ctters,
| tradesmen's bills, refusals of discounts from
banks, and others of that sort For such,
even with the advent OF open letters, will yet
| remain the old three-cent private and closed
envelopes. The opposition generally made TO
| the cards on the grounds that tradesmen will
| send dunning demands thereon, banks will
| make known your lack of credit, and that
| threats will he forwarded couched in
language particularly intended so that your
| servants, or others through whom the cards
may pass, may be informed OF certain of your
actions, or possibly be informed of what you
| never did or said, is not verified by the work
ing of the system here. Tradesmen never
| send such notices unless their customer re-
| fuses TO treat with them in any reputable way;
Danks, Tor their own SakeS, are civil to the eX-
| tent OF three cents to every one, as a habit of
| sending open letters would innre their bus
| mess; and to the BLACKBOARD and backmaer
tine card offers no better facilities for his in
suits than did an open letter before, or the ex-
| posed back of an envelope.
| these oppositions overruled the card proves
| itself an invaluable aid to correspondence. A
pencil has been introduced, the writing of which
is almost indcible. With dozen cards in his
coat pocket, the bulk of which is not equal to
Two letters, the traveller by rail is able to report
his doings as he goes along and at each station
post office box awaits his mlssiye, besides the
| mall messengers on many of the trains. With
these conveniences of correspondence the mail
matter of the Canadas has increased nearly five
hundred fold. A little village postoffice lately
| VISITED received before the time of post cards,
| some Thirty letters day. if nVpraupS
| ly one hundred and fifty cards. As regards Sc
crecy in large cities, the reading of the postal
cards by the postof1ce clerks is an impossibility
and even in the smaller offices the postmaster is
not willing TO wade through fifty or sixty docu-
menis, all of them ambiguously couched, to
CLEAN literally nothing.
Punch takes off the cards by making postmis-
tress answer an inquirer who wanted to know
why the mail was delayed so much Of late, ""In-
| deed, mann, there's so many Of these postcards
| now for me to read off that it fakes my whole
time. so that can't attend to the office" But
Punch treats, generally, the utmost extreme.