The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-05-24

The Post-Oflce Department forwards all
kinds Of express. including farm produce
and merchandise. There are regular wagon.
for such work. I see them at the stations
piled high with crates and baskets.
When ] came into the big depot at Leip-
sio yesterday I heard a hen cacxling and a
duck u scking.
By and by a rooster crowed. and I looked
about for a farmyard in the heart OF this
city Of e half-million people.
I found 1t on the top Of the mail wagons,
each of which was driven by a postman in
uniform. The wagons were loaded with
crates of ducks. chickens and other fowls.
One box contained two white pigeons and
another a dozen big turkeys.
Thefe were postage stamps on the back
OF the boxes. and I was told that they had
been aent in from the country through the
post al so much per pound.
! took a photograph Of the wagons, their
helmetkd drivers laughing as I did so.
h German States, with the exception of
Bav aria and wurtemberg. are in the i'm
perial postal service. which is one Of the
largest in Europe.
It has 10000 employees and about $1,000 Of
ficers. 1t handles a. billion copies of print
ed matter, a billion postal cards and about
two billion letters every year. and it does
IL at a profit.
Our Post-Onice Department annually runs
behind. That Of Germany runs ahead. She
gives a better service than we do at a
lower rate. and at the same time makes a
profit Of 81. OOo.o 900 out Of it.
Berlin. for instance. has a pneumatic
tube system superior to any quick deliv-
cry system OF New York.
By It telegrams, letters and postal cards
can be snt from one part Of the city to
another More quickly than by telegraph, at
a cost offs cents q card or ~ cents per
letter.
If you pay II cents you can have a pre-
paid answer. This post is called the rohr,
by a red lamp. and are to be found In all
parts Of Berlin.
TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE
BELONG TO GOVERNMENT.
The telegraph and telephones Of Germany
belong to the Government. and consequent
~ their charges are lower than ours, The
rate for all Germany and Austria-HunRarv
Is II. cent a word, while that to Belgium.
Denmark. Holland and Switzerland is only
2n cents.
You can send a dispatch to England. Nor.
way or Italy for less than 4 cents per word
and to almost any place in Europe for less
than 5 cents.
1 have spent some time here with Brain
ard n. Warner, Jr., one OF the youngest
and brightest men in our consular service.
He has been making an Investigation of
No v AUG, duu, through ulm, j am
able to tell you something Of the book
metropolis of Europe.
Leipsio does more book handling than
any other city in the world in proportion
to its size.
1t has 500 book stores and publishing es-
adjustments. 1t has almost 200 different
printing houses and about 5000 publishing
firms represented by agents.
1t has a book publishers exchange and
clearinghouse. and its arrangements are
such that books are sent out daily by the
thousands from here to all parts Of Ger
many.
There are 6.0o0 retail book dealers in the
Empire. and the bookstores of Austria
and German Switzerland are fed from here.
All publishers have their agents 1T Leip-
sic. and many keep full stocks Of books on
hand so that they can supply orders at an
hours notice.
There is a regular system Of sending
out books BY, cheap freight n express