The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-01
SOME THINGS DONE BETTER.

dlepate vent the sneer of being ''un-
American" when, knowing how some
matters of public convenience are han
died in this country and learning how
they are mana aged in others the convic-
ton rises into expression that, in spite
of this being the land of the free and
the home of the brave" and the all-fir-
eldest, smartest designingest and cutest
lot of people who ever made a nation,
some of these things are better done in
other countries than we do them. The
risk is not as great now as it was in
those parlous days when a few patriots
began to agitate for the adoption of civil
service reform, then permanently and
benehcially established in England, for
then the gibes and sneers of disloyalty
fell thick and fast upon their devoted
heads. When we went to the island
continent and borrowed the Australian
ballot system the sneers were fainter:
but there were numbers to turn I'D
their noses at the proposition, inv6fV-
ing, as it did, the idea that any other
PCCplC OOOlu pOSSlDly 10 lnlnSS better
than we could. Now the Torrens meth
Cd Of transferring land titles, simplic-
ity itself and costing cents where our
cumbrous method costs dollars, is max
ing slow Roadway against this same
feeling, reinforced by the selfish inter-
ests of men who make their living by
making and selling those chains of
title called abstracts
1t is a Venturesome attempt for any
one to make to write letters from Eng
land after the field has been so thor
oughly prospected, but Mr.. Curtis finds
material for some very interesting let
ters to the Chicago Record as an after
math of the jubilee; and in one of them
We find a very instructive account of
how that government manages some
things which we either manage govern
mentally or remit to private enterprise
In every village, in every hamlet and
at almost every cross-road," he saws.
and within the radius. of a mile from
any given point in any city or large
town throughout the United Kingdom
can be found an interesting combina-
tion OF postoffice, telegraph Office, tele-
phone station, express Office, banking
office and savings bank, all under the
direction of one or more very polite
young women, with ruddy cheeks.
broad feet and broad accents" The
postage is the same as ours, but there is
free delivery of mail in the country as
we'll as in the town. Your telegram
message, condensed into twenty words.
including the address and signature
Will be sent by this young woman to
any part of the kingdom for sixpence,
or 1214 cents Of our money Or you can
talk with one in a neighboring town
over the telephone for three minutes at
charge of six cents for each twentv
five miles of distance, increasing the
cost for each three minutes by three.
pence Or if you wish to send a small
parcel by express she will send it for
you by post. There were 672,3 900
such parcels sent last year at an aver
age cost of 10 cents each.
The telephone service was taken on
last year and extends only to service
between towns, the private companies
occupying the local field; but the ex-
pertinent is so satisfa Glory that it will
be taken entirely over eventually by
the postal department. The postal saw
ings branch has 6,453, 597 depositors, with
nearly $500000,000 to their credit Dec.
81, 1896, $3.50, 900 of which were de-
posted last year, involving 11,SS4,977
transactions; s13O,OO00OO were drawn
out, and LIS, 236 new accounts were
opened. Two and a half per cent Is
paid, while private savings banks pay
per cent. The least deposit allowed
is one shilling, but stamps are sold for
penny and when a card of them con-
tains shilling the card is deposited
and the account opened. When the de-
post reaches 81 900 interest ceases. The
largest number of depositors are chill
dren and young folk, with house SER
wants the next in number. The depos-
its are invested in government bonds.
or consols, bearing per cent, and the
half per cent gain suffices to pay the
expenses and last year provided sur