The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-03-26

tenn was established, and In January,
1857. the prepayment of postage was
made compulsory. With this prepay
ment exacted, however, the deficit In
the department for the year 1859 was
nearly $2s,000,000. due in great measure
to the abuse of the franking privilege.
The much -agitated free delivery sys.
tenn was established in 1853, and In
that year an International postal union
convention was held in Paris, giving
great impetus to the cause Of inter-
national facilitation of the mails. The
money order system was introduced in
the year following. the franking privi-
lege was abolished. and the distance
specification In postal rates was set
aside. leaving the domestic letter rate
at cents for each half ounce. Postal
cards came in 1873.
The railway mail service, the wonder
of the postofiice department. was test
ed for the first time on Aug. ~, 1864.
George Il. Armstrong. of Chicago, was
the founder Of It and on the Iowa
division Of the Northwestern Railway
he demonstrated the feasibility of dis
tributing mail In a railway car, in
stead of hauling it as so much freight
and dumping it by tons into some ter
minal postoffice. Today, $500 postal
clerks distribute mail in $500 railway
postofiices. travelling over 175,O00 miles
of railroad. Seventy miles of elec-
trio and cable railway are traversed
and apartments are reserved in sixty
five steamboats,. In 1898 these men
handled 12,225.0o0,00O pieces of first.
second and third class mail, to say
pothing of city drop mail and the
enormous business of the registry office.
In the same year 2S.753,000 money or
ders were written, aggregating $204, =
$4,000 in value.
The railway service has developed
beyond the dreams Of it's founder, un-
til now the examination of railway pos /.
tai clerks upon the intrcacies of mail
routes and postal geography is one of
the most difficult in any branch of pub
lie service. From the Chicago center
| alone eighty-four railway postal cars
move in and out every twenty-four
hours.
DECREASE IN POPULAR RATES.
CIVIL service came in 1889: was
scoffed. praised, blamed: grew and was
obstructed; waXed and waned. But it
Is an institution today almost univer-
sal in its embrace of the department
and looked upon as the great incen :
tive to perfect conduct of the post
office service.
Letter postage was cut from 8 cents
n half ounce to cents in 1888, and two
years later congress doubled the per-
missable weight of each letter under
the 2-cent rate An enormous increase
of mail followed each of these conccs-
sions. After these came the special
messenger service, the newspaper
rate of 1 cent a pound. pneunati tic
tubes. canceling machines and the
scores of economical makeshists that
have lent so much to the rapid hand
ling and distribution of the United
States mail. The fast mail service of
the department is one of the wonders
of this age Of wonders. The institution
itself in all it's ramifcations is one OF
| the great creations of civilization, en-.
bracing in it's conduct almost every
range Of human interest.
No age of the material world. per-
haps. eve. will make man insensible to
the stress of wind and weather. That
they should be the subjects of govern.
mental concern, however, was of late
necessity made so by the increased
knowledge of meteorology. as we'll as
| by the business of agriculture and the
hazards of shipping. AS an institution
however, the weather buerau of the
United States in 1898 sent out los, 900
| bulletins and 5,240,OO0 weather maps
interesting alike to farmer. gardener
stock raiser, sailor and even the young
woman who, according to season, nigh;
| hpan in m
a sleigh ride. Boards of trade bust.
ness houses. public offices and the
schools and colleges of the country re.
ceived most of these diagrams OF
meteorological conditions.
SOME FAMOUS WEATHER OBJ.
SERVERS.
| Torricelli, as the pupil of Calico
discovered the principle of the baroma
ter in 1643. Fahrenheits thermometer
was nearly a hundred years later ir
making Its appearance. DR.. John Lin
ing, of Charleston. S c.. began to k er
the first record Of temperatures in 1888
Benjamin Franklin. in 1747. made some
interesting and highly valuable weather
observations, pointing to the fact tha,
a storm-wind always blows toward tnt
| storm m-center. Jefferson at Monticello
was ii weather observer. and through
him an interesting fact has been es
tablished as to the temperatures on the
day Of the signing of the Declaration
of Independence. In The Forum fol
May 1898, Prof ,7sor Willis +. Moore
chief of the United States weather
bureau. writes:
| contrary to the Statements which
believe have been made bv some his
torians. the Fourth Of July 1876, wa.
a cool day; for the great authcr of the
Declaration of InGcpencencn did no,
fail to read his thermometer in Phila
delphia on that day. An examination
Of his papers in the State Department
made by an official of the weathe,
bureau. proved that he took severa
readings"
These readings, taken at s o'clocl
and o'clock in the morning and at
o'clock and 3 o'clock, afternoon AM
evening, show that the maximum tenn,
perature for the day was 76 degrees
| with a minimum of eS degrees