The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-01-15
CUBAN POSTAL AFFAIRS.
Director Rnthbone Reports the Prog
gr~-~ of Year.

gr~-s of Year.
The report OF the Director General OF
| the Posts OF Cuba. which was recently
made public. contains an interesting ac-
count OF the establishment Of the money
order system on the island. Director
estes e. hathfore was appointed a.
soon as Cuba NJ. officially turned over
10 the United >t,s authorities on the
ISL OF January. - 70 and he Immediately
set about -e@ trdsting the postal al.
/ iaiss, OF ths i.,uS He found the con-
| dition OF are r. considerably upset and
the mode % rNelring and delivering the
mail entirely snsulted to modern BUSH
| ness demands In consequence many
changes have been wrought In the last
twelve months in the postal service. and
II has been the aim OF the director gen
eral to introduce as rapidly as possible
the American system to all parts OF tho
island; at the same time he did
not wish to appoint as postrnas-l
ters those who were not IA
uiliar with the general nature OF the
island and it's inhabitants. and consc-
quently he retained all the postmasters
OF the old Spanish regime who would
take the oath OF Office and declare allie
glance to American authority. The work
progressed so satisfactorily that by the
end OF the fiscal year there were $50
ouices in operation, distributed among the
SIX provinces follows: Havana so:
Matanzas. As: Pinar del Rio 30; Puerto
Principe, 4; Santa Clara. 81; Santiago.
80 At these z39 Offices there were. on
June 30. $50 employees. including post
masters and acting postmasters OF these
81 were Americans and 476 were Cubans
At the close of the fiscal year. free de-
livery had been established at twenty
three Offices. and ninety-six carriers were
employed in the delivery OF the mail
o. the money order department Mr.
Rathbone says:
ION the first day Of January. 1899. the
money order service was in operation at
thirty-two military postal stations on the
island. all of which were then being con-
Quoted as branch Offices OF the New York
city postofice. Steps were taken as soon
as possible to make independent Offices OF
these and the work OF disseminating them
as branches of New York was begun on
February IL. when Cienfuegos was discop-
tinued and the same action was taken with
Havana on the following day, February Is.
The work was not completed until March
Is. On June 80. 1899 there were thirty
seven money order offices In operation on
the island and the system began TO be bet
ter understood by the people Outside Of
the soldiers at these Offices. the system
little used on the list of January. The peo-
pie generally It'd not understand 1t. and
therefore did not appreciate it. However.
the facilities for exchange. both foreign and
were so limited that business
men were ready to consider any plan which
seemed to embody the elements of safety.
and economy. The price fixed
on the money orders was low enough to
attract the attention OF those who wanted
exchange, and all that was then needed
was the experience to demonstrate that ths
system was safe and reliable. This. OF
course, we knew was true. but the people
here. naturally conservative and not al
together trustful OF the new condition OF
things, we're slow to place their confidence
in the system of exchange proposed by the
money order system. | am very glad to
be able to say that this part of the service
has been handled SO well that confidence
in it has grown from the first and tho
rapidly of the growth is shown by the in
crease of business during the quarter end
ed June 80 over that Of the quarter ended
March 81, 1899.
For the quarter ending March 81 there
/ 400. the amount OF which was SiS.99112.
while for the quarter ending June 30 there
were 1906 orders issued. representing an
amount OF S12.513.99. an increase OF 1856
orders and an increase in amount OF $780,
j22-SI Fer the same quarters the number
OF orders paid was Ii2 and 3.267. respec-
lively. an increase OF 2.555. and the
respectively. were s25.954-7e and
,iS2, $500, an increase OF sos. 1899, For
these quarters the International orders is
sued in Cuba. and payable in the United
States as certified by the Havana exchange
DfIice, we're large and showed a correspond
ing increase. Ending March 81 the quar-
ter's business showed that $3.50 orders were
Issued, for the amount OF s174,9sS.91. while
for the next quarter. ending June so. Hoe
orders were issued for the amount of $40.
I2f O6 the totals being 1I.764 in number Of
5!t...srs sz=iiss,; anu 500. 107.97 in The amount
they represented. The increase in each was
almost double; the increase in number of
orders being SEQ. and in amount $780,
40 10. When it is borne in mind that dur
ng the first OF these quarters the United
States Army in large numbers. was yet
IN the island and used the money order
system very freely, and during the last
quarter a very large percentage OF the
lrmy was gone. it is not hard to see that
he great increase came because OF the
,rGgiug popularity CT the money order
ystem among the people Of the island. TIE
lumber of international orders paid was
mall. compared with those issued
For the first quarter the number of or
iers paid was ISL. the amount being sl2.-
"a 20, while for the second quarter the
number OF orders paid was 1.029. an in
.rease OF AS. and the amount was S2i,-
81 42. an increase OF Sli. f26-I5-