Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1893-04-13
AMERICAN MAILS IN 1899.
transportation of Letters In Early Colo
NAL Times.

transportation of Letters In Early Colo
| NAL Times.
American post Office men in general,
and especially those at work on the line
from Portsmouth, N. H., to Philadel-
phla. Pa, including the offices at Bos-
ton, New Haven, New York and Burl-
lngton, should be reminded that this
year, 1898, is the bi-centenary of the
American postal service. To be sure,
there were post Offices in this country
before 1893, but there was no American
mail service between the several colo
mes. The post offices at Boston, New
York, Philadelphia and other seaports
mo inland offices existed) dealt in ship
letters and operated under municipal
authority, thc customary fee for a letter
delivered or sent out of the count try
being one penny. In New York the fee
used to be three stivers Every vessel
used to have bag for carrying letters,
but there is no record that any captain
or supercargo ever received more than
the delivery fee named.
intercourse between the American
colonies, previous to 1898, was so Slight
as not to call for special facilities or
regular lines In urgent cases special
messengers were sent, but The bulk of
correspondence, such as it was, went
by friends, especially in coastwise yes
sells. The first idea for postal line
along the coast from New England to
the Carolinas originated in New York.
and was approved by their lordships in
cd OF Ct ~f
the gross receipts were paid over to the
Duke of York. OF course, the plan
failed. Before there could be any gross
receipts, somebody had to pay for post
riders to travel those long roads from
Nova Scotia to Carolina, of which the
great men in London expected profits
for the duke. Not to mention other
schemes, Andrew Hamilton, of East
Jersey, had occasion to go to London
in consequence of the Andres troubles.
He was far-sighted man, and while
he was in London patent for an Amer
lean post office was issued to Thomas
Neale, and Andrew Hamilton was APP
pointed American postmaster general
an appointment so happy that after
lapse of two centuries we ought to be
thankful for it. Hamilton, the father
of the American post office, was very
wise man and he was successful.
He had nothing to start with other
than the patent, which gave him a mo-
nopoly, but might arouse the opposition
of the colonies and their local postmas.
ters He had to select a post route
through a country very little travelled.
He had to engage trusty mail carriers.
He had to buy horses and the regula-
ton horns for his post riders. He had
to replace the local post offices, and he
had to get the consent of each colony
for his postage rates. Late in the sum-
mer of 1892 he returned from London to
America, where he travelled from colony
to colony, getting from each what he
could in the way of subsidies and law,
and then starting his mail service.
Jealousy between the colonies was
great, the prejudice against strangers
was greater, and distrust of sugges-
tions from the mother country was
greatest Hamilton overcame all OBJ
stacles; he actually induced all colonies
to pass substantially the same post
office act, prescribing the same postage
rates; he obtained from each colony
what authority he required, and in 1893
the mail was carried from Portsmouth,
n. H., then known as Piscataqua, to
Philadelphia and beyond. It has been
carried ever since with but accidental
Interruptions. The mail route was from
Portsmouth to Boston, Saybrook, New
Haven, New York, Perth Amboy, Bur.
lington and Philadelphia. The chief
point beyond was New Castle.
The question may well be asked,
which was the greater achievement to
create this service, or to get Pennsyl-
vania. New York and Massachusetts,,
not to mention the other colonies, to be
of one mind in renouncing local rights
and local offices, to agree on a postal
system that did not exist, aud to prom
Use money to carry the enterprise into
effect Neither before nor after 1898
has there been like triumph in all
American legislation. The greatest of
these Hamilton acts is the Massachu-
sets law of June 8, 1893, which pro-
vides even for the receiving stamp to
be put on all mail matter; but the most
important. perhaps, isthe Pennsylvania
act, passed on May so, 1903, at Philade:-
phia.
The reason for this statement is the
fact that the Massachusetts, act was
disallowed by their lordships in Lon
don, while the Pennsylvania act was
not subject to superior approval Vir-
ginia, New York and Connecticut
passed similar acts; New Hampshire
helped. If a date for the great bi-cen-
tenary of the American post office must
be named, May 80 appears to be the
most appropriate, the earlier steps
being preliminary. while the Pennsyl-
vania act assured the success of Hamil-
tons plan, and was promptly followed
by the post-riders making their regular
weekly trips between Portsmouth and
Philadelphia. If there is to be gen
eral celebration it ought to be in the
latter city, Hamilton deserves monu
ment, which ought to stand in front of
the Philadelphia post Office.
More than any one thing, Hamilton's
post office served to establish closer
union between the several colonies and
their people. His post Office was not
only great civilzer, but vast politi-
cal need that helped to establish the
United Colonies, just as the post Office
under Benjamin Franklin, in 1775.
helped in no small degree to establish
the United States. No depar tment of
the national government, except the
post Office, can boast of an unbroken
history covering two centuries, and no
service had for its originator and head
man superior to Andrew Hamilton. =
n. Y. Postal Record
This Is q Big Country.
Great Britain, European Turkey.