The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-11-29

HISTORY or THE POSTCARD.
England and Now indispensable
Throughout the World.


From the London Times.
The issue of larger postcards to-day
(NSoy. l, 1880 is concession by the post
office which will be hailed with great sat
isfaction by postcard writer's, whose num-
Der is legion. 1t is one that has for some
time been widely agitated for in this coun-
try. Both the inland and the foreign
cards will be increased in size to five and
one-half inches by three and one-half
inches, and these cards will eventually
displace the present thin inland and stout
oblong cards, and the present foreign
cards. They will be sold at the same
prices as those for the cards they super
sede, and The stout court" cards will con-
tinue to be issued. Likewise, the maxi
mum size of private cards will be incTeas-
ed to five and one-half inches by three
and one-half inches to correspond with
the size of the new cards. These changes
may not seem in themselves of vast inn
portance, but when the number of persons
whom they viii affect is taken into ac-
count they certainly appear deserving of
notice. The Postmaster General states
that the number of postcards used in the
year is at present at the rate of 3S2,-
200 900. which means that if the whole pop
ulation were given TO postcard writing
the average number of cards used by each
person would be 9.5. So rapid, indeed
has been the growth of correspondence by
postcard that the number now used an
nually Is more than double the number
used twelve years ago. These are inter
esdng and noteworthy facts, and the
change which takes place to-day in the
size of the cards WILL without question
mark a further important development in
the history of the postcard, brief glance
at which may not be inopportune at The
present moment
Born i'm Germany.
This humble, though very useful, factor
in the social economy of this country
dates back nearly thirty years. 1t was on
Oct. l, 1870. that postcards were intro
duced here. The idea, however, was not
due to native ingenuity, for similar cards
had been brought into use in Austria just
one year previously. being sold at two
l1reutzers each. But the merit of invent
ing the idea is really due to Dr. Ste
phan, the late indefatigable German Post
master General, who in 1855 submitted to
the delegates of a German Postal Con-
gress, held at Carlsruhe in that year, a
new kind of letter in the shape of an open
postcard (offenes postblatO, on one side
of which were TO be written the name
and address, and on the other side the
communication. These cards were to be
sold at a very low rate of postage. The
/ plan, however, was not adopted, owing TO
the fact that the German postal service
had not at that time the necessary uni
form organization, and also to a fear that
its adoption would tend to decrease the
revenue Whether or not this scheme was
known to DR.. Emanuel Herman of Wen
ma is not recorded but ii is the fact that
that gentleman made a similar suggestion
in 1863 to the Austrian postofiice. Ii ap-
| pears that DR.. Herman was forcibly
struck by the fact that large number OF
letters was sent the Importance of whose
| contents We're in no proportion to the
waste of trouble and polite sentences in
| volved, and which might as well have
| been forwarded without covers. One-third
| of all the letters, he reckoned, contained
/ merely simple information which might
easily have been posted open at a lower
| rate of postage. SO imbued was he with
| the idea that he forthwith suggested it. IN
an article TO the Neue Freie Presse, to the
Austrian postofiice authorities, who recog.
nized the value and Importance of the
! proposition so promptly that it was car.
ried into effect on Oct. of the same year
| The plan met with immediate popular ia.
vor, as may be judged by the fact thai
| in the first month of their use as MANY
| as 2,926,lO2 cards were sold The success.
OF the system soon attracted the atten.
| ton of other countries and six month,
later was brought into use by the Nortf
German Confederation. The Southern
| German states soon followed suit, as die
also Belgium, Britain and France, ant
| within less than five years postcards wer,
being sold in every civilized country in tn,
| world
Adopted i'm England.
In our own country the subject wal
brought to the notice Of the postal author
tiles by means of an article published il
the Scotsman Of Sept. II, 1869. There wal
also considerable agitation by private in
divlduals, but the idea was at first re
| jeeted. On Feb H. 1870, however. Dr.
Lyon Playfair (afterward Lord Playfair
| presented am extensively signed memoria
In favor of what was termed a card
| post" with the result that inquiries wer,
| instituted in Austria The Investigation
would appear. 60 have been quite satisfac
tory, for a proposal 10 Issue postcard
formed part of the Newspaper Postag,
| bill Of 1870. and the~system came into ac
tual operation, as already stated, on oct
| Of that year. II Is curious TO recall a
the present day the ridicue and even hos
| tlity with which the postcard was met OF
it's Introduction. The main argumen
| against the postcard was that Il wouls
afford an opening for the iil-directed ef
| forts Of those who indulge In public libe
| and defamation Of character for the pur
poses OF venting their spite and malice
The argument was OF course, not without
4 reason, for the moral assassin Is unhappi