The Washington herald., 1907-10-03

pieces of mail in a year The post-ofhce
is the only part of the Federal govern
ment which deals intimately with Prac-
tIcally all the people
Uncle Sam is now looking for sub
stitaJe for twine in tying up packages
Of letters and other mail. Il takes $780,
600 a year 10 buy the S01o00,0O0 yards of
twine used in the service. What Uncle
Sam wants is d substitute that can be
used many times instead Of just once. He
has got some OF the best inventive genius
IN the country at work trying TO figure
out twine and labor saver II you want
some easy money, if you want an oppor-
tuniJy 10 earn honorable retirement with
a fortune that will enable you to live in
the best hotels, and travel abroad without
having to count your change every time
you buy a cigar give Uncle Sam what
he is looking for, and that viii be your
lot. The amount Of irvine used annually
in the postal service would 80 around the
earth twenty times.
An interesting story of the origin of the
postage stamp is told in the official organ
of the pOstmasters of the country. Some
SiXUy-1Ve years ago Rowland Hill was
travelling in England. lie was staying
at an inn, when .he daughter of the
landlord received letter She looked il
over from one end To the other turned
IL first this way and then that and
finally asked the pOS,man what the
charges were. He replied that ii was a
shilling. She replied that she did not have
the money. and that ne would have to
take the letter back. Hill came To her
rescue, as ne thought by paying for the
letter. But IL embarrassed her, and she
finally confessed 10 him that she and her
.Over neither Of whom were able 10 pay
postage, had evolved little code OF
their own which they put on the outside
Jf the letters and thus they could send
messages TO one another without having
to pay. This put Hill TO thinking, and
the pay-in-aCyance postage stamp re-
suited from that incident.
The Chicago post-oflce books are al
ways out Of balance ] cent. Sixteen years
ago a draft for this amount was given
10 a gentleman in the course Of business.
He died without getting il cashed, and
his son could not get IL cashed without
his Endorsement SO the post-Otice is sull
holdug that penny against the day Of
reckoning, when that draft may come IN
% be CaSled-
The oldest carrier in point of service
in the United States is said 10 be James
Delaney. OF the New York post-oftice.
He is in his eighty-third year, and has
completed dfty years of faithful service,
with a snug little fortune Of $4,000 70
retire on. When he began in the service
3-cent postage was i'm effect on outgoing
mail, The government got cents out OF
il and the carrier / cent The carriers
then carried their mail In knotted ging-
ham handberchiefs.
The youngest letter carrier in the gov
eInment service is John Duwvry, OF
Tonopah. New. He can neither read nor
write and therefore was not able to
put up much of civil-service examina-
ton. But in that town such jobs as
letter carrying go begging, and John
was the only fellow the postmaster could
get TO I'll the place. He goes entirely
by number, comparing the numbers OF
the houses with those the postmaster
puts on the letters. John is going to
to his store of information. He is less
than twenty years old
Nail usually gets to its destination in
the shortest possible time. But Occa-
sionally a letter or a package Of letters
will not show up for years. and they
never tell where they have been in the
meantime Recently a letter showed VI
ar 7
had been mailed three years before Al
Midvale five miles away. Where il had
been in the meantime no one was able
10 say Another package Of letters
showed up recently that had been mailed
over thirty years ago. One of the let.
ters was addressed 10 a man whom II
congratulated upon the birth of a son
When 1t arrived that son had three lit
tie shavers Of his own running around
The strangest post-offce in the world 8.
on the Galapagos Islands. of the coasI
of Ecuador There is no postmaster q
preside over it. IL is nothing but q
barrel. in which letters are deposited
occasionally. All mariners in those
waters know of that post-ofice, and
when in that vicinity go to look ir
the barrel for letters A few Of then
Gently much the worse for wear ant
exposure. and the department is trying
to put them into the hands of the ad
dresses.
It takes an index of $40 pages. with "A
names 10 the page, TO list the names OF
all those who work in the United States
mail service. There are some queer
names in this book. Caesar Hero is q
clerk in the post-office at Louisville. Ky
John A. Thistle is a clerk in the New
York post-office. Warren s. Huckleberry
IS a rural carrier at North Vernon, Ind
Callie Pigg is postmaster at Victory
Tenn. E. V Tiger is clerk in the
Morrist0wn IN j. post-Ofice. Blanche
E Swine is postmaster in Colorado
Byron 6. Coon contributes his endeavors
70 the service in the department al
Washington. William G. Mouse is post
master at Altoona, Mo. Adam Buzzard i:
a Pennsylvania mail messenger. J. H
Goose performs similar service in Louis
lana, while VIII H. Gander is a rura
carrier in Iowa, and A B.. Goslin is a
California postmaster. Henry ". StorB
holds a similar position in Indiana There
are people called Blizzard, Freeze. Burst
Wonder and a thousand other curiou.
names who help carry on the service
1t is interesting TO note, in connection
with the agitation that has been goine
on for some years in favor Of parcels
post. that to-day a man can mail Z
package from Washington 10 Londor
cheaper than he can mail the same pack.
age to Alexandria, seven miles away
In other words, a package that costs
cents TO mail to London viii requir,
something like u cents to send TO Alex
andria This is because they have par.
GELS post in England, and the United
States mas an agreement with that couf
Try.
The letter carriers Of the United State.