The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-08-15
HOW OUR POSTAL SYSTEM WAS
EXTENDED TO THE PHILIPPINES

troops marching in. and after stacking
their arms. disbanding, l made NV way
to the postoffice.
When l introduced myself TO the Of
ficfals of the Manila postoffice on the
afternoon of August 18th, at about the
time the Spanish flag was being hauled
down in the walled city, my purpose
was to at once seize the stamps on
hand and whatever finds there might
be. I was received by the postmaste
general of the Philippines and the
postmaster of Manila and very courte-
ously shown through the office. but
could see no stamp department. and
When l tnally made inquiry regarding
1T / was informed that no stamps were
sold in the postoffice. This seemed to
me very peculiar and I confess that I
thought l was being made the victim
of Spanish duplicity until a foreign
consul explained to me later in the day
that under the Spanish system all
stamps were sold by an officer CORE
spending to our collector of internal
revenue, at a discount to private in
diViduals, who in turn sold to the pub
lie at face value. One of these con-
tractors had little booth in the rear
of the lobby of the pOstOffice and when
his place was closed as it very fire.
quently was, the would-be purchaser
of stamps had to search for them in
the small shops.
The government owned and operated
the telegraph system and issued a set
OF telegraph stamps, of the same size
| as postage stamps, which were sold to
private individuals at discount, the
same as the postage stamp. When a
message was sent the sender first as
certained what the cost was to be,
hunted up a man who had telegraph
stamps to sell, and, after affixing the
necessary stamps to the back of the
message, presented it to the operator
The general idea seems to have been
to have as few officials as possible han
die public funds. regardless of the
question of convenience to the people.
1t is to be presumed that they knew
with whom they were dealing and it
is not for me to critcse.
Queer Spanish Postal Methods.
Those who are familiar with the
working machinery of the modern
American postoffice would not be able
tot fully appreciate the difference be-
tween it and the Manila office as l
found it on the 18th of August, al
though they could not fail to notice
that the whole postoffice outfit was
very crude. There was not such a
thing as letter case for distribution
that is to say, cases with pigeon holes
similar to postoffice delivery boxes
| Letters We're placed in large cupboards
| each with folding doors. with shelves
| labeled to show what mail they con-
tanned. A bill was made out for every
| package dispatched, showing so many
official letters and so many private let
tiers. to be tied up in the package.
| There were no paper racks. Paper
mail was not distributed directly into
sacks, but was placed in boxes la
beled to town, province or country, ar.
ranged in rows on the sides of the mail.
| ing room. When dispatch was tc
| be made the papers We're taken from
| the boxes. counted and placed in a sacl
with the letters. Sacks We're sealed
no locks were used on any mail.
| For the Spanish malls and foreign
| exchanges a very good quality of can
vas sack was used. For inter-insulal
of better quality than the wheat or po
tato sacks in use in the states.
! There We're no lock-boXes or boxes
accessible to the public. In fact.
have not been able to find such a thing
as a modern lock of Yale pattern ir
| Manila; nor was I, until recently, able
to secure an ordinary spring lock for the
postoffice door so that the door may be
kept locked without boiling or locking
it from the outside.
The boxes for city delivery were ar.
ranged around three sides of a quad.
rangular space. of which the fourth
side faced the lobby and had two de-
| livery windows. Mail was called fol-
at these windows. Every box holder
| had issued to him a pasteboard receipt
| and this was presented by the party
calling for mail Some of the boxes
had numbers showing that at one time
in bygone years the boxes had beer