Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-28
WANAMAKER'S SCHEMES.
POSTAL SAVINGS AND TELEGRAPH.
AND TELEPHONES.

Details OF His Deposit scheme-special
Rates for Transmitting News-Pneu-
matic Mail Collections-InsuringR Regis
tered Letters and Other Proposed Plans.
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DIsPATCH.1
| WASHINGTON, Feb. 27.-Postmaster Cen
| eral Wanamaker has most at heart just now
| scheme to invite the people to deposit
| their savings with the Government, using
| the postofices as places of deposit. He says:
''The making Of money is part of the genius
| of the American, but the saving of it is not
so conspicuous.
There isa most eager demand for the
as is shown by the numerous letters and
petitions addressed on the subject to the
Department and to Congress. A plan sug-
gested is to issue at postofices, certificates
of deposit, bearing interest at the rate of
halt-a-cent day on 500. or little less
| than 2 per cent per annum-principal and
interest payable to the deposition on demand
| at any money order Office. Sums deposited
should not be less than 81, and any amount
over SO might draw interest, always from
the beginning of the month after the de-
posit was made. The Secretary of the
Treasury could receive the money, keeping
account of deposits from each State separ-
ately, and put it in circulation by offering
the funds obtained in each State as loan,
to the national banks of the same State, ex-
acting suitable rate of interest.
The Postmaster General expresses conf
dence that the telegraph and telephone will
become important adjuncts to the Postofice
Department within very few years. He
says that there will be no difficulty in blend
ing telegraphy with the present postal sys-
TEN, using for service the force already under
pay. This accomplished, kilograms could be
sent between any two points for q cent a
word, which would bring the luxury of
quick interchange of intelligence within
reach of persons of moderate means Special
rates would be given to the newspapers and
the use of certain wires might be given to
the press associations at merely nominal
tariff during certain hours of the night
when their lines would otherwise be COM
paratively idle,
tTen-cent telegraphic messages and g.
cent telephone messages, in connection with
the postal service, are near possibilities"
says Mr.. Wanamaker. Collection boxes
In the towns could receive the messages,
written on stamped cards like postal cards.
From these receptacles they would be
gathered at frequent intervals, conveyed to
the central Office and dispatched. In rural
parts the most important benefits would be
obtained by the adoption of this system.
News of approaching frosts could be
promptly spread by telephone over country
districts and fruit-growing regions,
giving warnings which would save valuable
crops and the days market prices for cattle,
grain and produce might be obtained by
the farmers direct by inquiry from others
than the buyer who drives up to the, farm
house in his buggy"
: Another innovation contemplated by the
Postofice Department is the tubular post.
Before very long it is expected that all
cities and large towns in the United States
will have systems of pneumatic tubes for
transmitting mail. This method has proved
most successful in London, Paris and else
where. Collections are made half-hourly,
the metal carriers travelling at the rate of 80
miles an hour or more. The cost of tubu-
lar message in Paris is 10 cents; in Vienna
6 cents.
1t is hoped to obtain authorization by
Congress Of system OF insuring registered
letters, the Government guaranteeing the
safety of their contents and becoming re-
sponsible for the same in return for small
additional fee. At the same time it is pro-
posed that the charge for registry stamp
shall be reduced from 10 cents to 3 cents