The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-10-01

Capt. Elliott has visited every part OF
the island When Assistant Postmaster
General Heath was here some months
ago he accompanied Capt. Elliott, and the
two planned many of the changes which
have since been made.
1 had Il chat with Capt. Elliott the
other day during which I asked him as
to the mails. Said he:
Under the Spaniards the postal and
telegraph systems were combined. The
telegraph operator was the postmaster.
There was no money order business, and
there was no safety as to the malls. Let
tiers were often opened and money ex-
tracted. Many of the officials claimed the
right to tamper with all letters and the
postal service was in reality a spy sys-
TEN under government supervision. AT
that time man did not dare to put
business secret into a letter, and men
were often sent to JAIL Oh the basis of
information gotten from letters which
they had sent. AT present we find it diff
cult to make our Porto Rica1 postmas-
tiers understand that they have not. the
right to open the letters intrusted to their
care
"You have changed this long ago?'
said /. pa
"Of course replied Capt Ellfott.zs.ssone
improvements have been made by Mr..
Robinson, who was IN charge of the post
office before I came here We at once
separated the telegraph and postal sys-
tenn We relieved the towns of the ex-
penses of their postoff1ces and established
new offices everywhere: There are now
ninety-one postofflces here, covering every
part of Porto Rico. Only the important
offices have American postmasters.''
THE chief expense, of the postal bus
| iness," Capt. Elliott went on, d" is in
carrying the mails. We. have 600 miles of
road to cover, nearly all of which are
star routes. Most of the mails go in tin
boxes, which are strapped to the backs
of ponies Each mail carrier has two
sits between them as he jegs his way
from one postoftce to another
do the Porto Ricans use the mails?''
| Yes indeed. Even the little towns de-
mand mails seven days of the week, ever,
| If they get only two or three letters each
mail. These people are, you know, very
/ illiterate. The common people cannot
read nor write and only aboutgone man
! in fifteen has any education Whatsoever
UNCLE SANS TELEGRAPHs.
The telegraph system is now managed
entirely by the war department. It is
under the signal service corps, with Col.
| w. A. Glassford in charge Col. Glass
| ford is one of the most efficient men of
| O,ucle Dam SISldl corps. lie is d coca
! executive and has become noted through
number OF his experiments -in.the lines
of thought transmission. Among other
things. he has. -sent-nessa ges further by
| heliograph than any other man in the
world.
! Some years ago he sent a message from
a mountain in Colorado to one in Utah. q
distance of 1S9 miles, by means of the
Telegraph. These messages were flashed
from one point to the other by mirrors.
The Morse telegraph alphabet was used.
The dots and dashes were made by the
flashes of the sun on the mirrors. This
experiment attracted great attention at
| the time, and was subject of general
discussion in the scientific journals of
| this country and Europe
Here in Porto Rico, in addition to the
| telegraph, Col. Glassford has established
Photograph station on the island of
| Viegues. His men are at the station on
| that island day and night, and they flash
dispatches by the sun during the day and
| by a lantern at night to the signal corps
men on the mainland, who redispatch
| them by telegraph to different parts Of
| the island.
| Col. Glassford vas with Gen. Miles dur
| ing his campaign in Porto Rico. When
! the army was about five miles from
Guayama it was desired to connect it
| with that town. 1t was necessary to DO
| it at once, and Col GIassford succeeded
in making the connection by utilizing
the barbed wire fences for his lines. This
was, I believe, the first time that mill
! tary telegraphing has been done in that
way.
| At present there are Geographic stations
! all over Porto Rico There are about one
| hundred men in the signal corps engaged
as operators, signalists, repairmen and
clerks. They belong mostly to the volun-
! teer signal corps, and are very efficient.
! Col. Glassford tells me that when we
! took possession of the island the most of
| the lines were down. The native opera
tors could not read by sound as our op-
| orators do. They used the old Morse in
] struments which had printing registers,
| and they were surprised to see our mef
| take down messages on typewriters di
| rectly from the wires. Many of these
1 wires were run through the forests. They
| cut through the bamboo and banana plan
| tauons and were connected by vines with
| the ground For this reason new lines
had to ba put up, SO that a practically
/ new Geographic system has been made
| Today there are $50 miles of wire on the
! island, so situated that Gov. Gen. Davis
| can reach any part of it at moment s
notice.
Frank G.. Carpenter