Evening star., 1897-04-27

The Vnited states First Among Nh
tions I'm Respect to Correspondence.
From the New York sun

t1ons In Respect TO correspondence.
From the New York sun.
There are 2o0.oOO post Offices in all the
countries of the world enjoying organized
facilities of correspondence. and of this
rumber 1o.000 are in the United States. In
respect of the number of letters and postal
cards written and received the revenue and
disbursements of the department, the ex-
tent, promptness and accuracy of letter de-
livery. as well as In the number OF post
offices. the United States stands at the
head of all other nations. Germany follow
irg second. Great Britain third and Aus
tria, among European nations fourth. The
United States sells in a year 2.VnOp.SO
2-cent stamps which is equivalent TO l,J1i.-
0o0D0 letters sent through the mails In a
year. In addition to this the United States
sells in -a-year GnVDooo l-cent stamps.
some of which are used for letter. though a
larger number for newspaper and circular
postage: l2,SU1,0Vo Scent stamps, 2o.po.eD
AGENT stzirips and D.OO0Wo scent stamps.
mostly used for letters sent from this coun-
try for foreign delivery. More than 1.01.
OOooO0 letters a year. therefore, paying full
postage, and exclusive of postal cards. are
written in the United States.
The business Of the German and Of the
English post office department is less than
half as large. The postal card system in
Germany is In much more general use than
In England. and IL is for this reason, per-
haps that Germany keeps ahead of Eng
land in respect of the amount OF corre-
spondence done The number Of post Offices
in Great Britain by the last official state
n.ent. made on January l. 1897, was 2n.27..
exclusive OF what is officially called In
England THE road and pillar letter box"
There are 1J0000 employees of the post Of
flee department in Great Britain. OF whom
$500 are women and girls. The number of
post office employees In Germany. where
teleGraphic communication Is a part of the
post Office system is 12i.gDD. The number 6f
letters handled by the Austrian post Office
department in a year is 1!tl,WD.vD. and of
these two-thirds are handled in that por-
tion OF the empire which comes under the
designation of Austria. and one-third only
is handled In the portion officially known
as Hungary The Germans in Austria, as
well as in Germany. are great letter writ
ers. and in those cities of the United States
Gus mere letters are written In a year pro-
portiopately than in cities in which the
German population is small
The Italian post office handles 30 0.GD.oo0
letters year. the post Office department
of Spain 120.0o000o. of Canada lU0.Ua. a.00
of Holland lO0Wo.0UO. of Belgium l25.0O00l0
and OF Russia 20o.VO0.0O. a considerable
proportion of which is carried on what ARE
called "the mail coach roads," upon which
postal service the imperial government
maintains JO.mo horses. In France the
rumber of ietters handled by the post Of
nee department is about 100000 900 in a
year and the receipts of the department
are about S35.00o0Oo. or one-half OF those
OF the United States. The French govern-
ment however does a considerable express
business, handling more than 409D6p
Parcels. or at the rate of one to each in
habitant of the country In each year. The
expenditures of the Post Office Department
in the United States exceed the receipts by
from sS.0Oo.OO to I0,OoO. 900 in an ordinary
year. When times are bad there is less
corresponding done.