The Washington herald., 1911-01-01

his package by express. In Germany,
where the parcels post has been q
firmly established institution since the
reign Of Maximilian Ia contemporary
Of Henry VII-the> annual total IN about
7.ooo.0oo.0oo parcels.
A resident Of Berlin may mail his
laundry-eleven pounds Of it-within the
city limits. for ~ cents. or to the sub
urbs. ten miles or thereabouts, for
cents. The lowest charge Of the German
parcels post II only ~ cents for
delivery within the city limits Of pack
ages Weighing not more than eleven
pounds. Above that weight there Is q
charge Of 3h cents. For deliveries within
ten miles the charge is 2h cents for
packages up to five and one-half pounds;
packages exceeding that weight cost s
cents. An eleven-pound package may go
anywhere in the Empire for II cents: q
1oo-pound package for 60 cents.
Deliveries are frequent in Germany.
Even from the smallest offices there
are two a day: from the larger they
are as often As letter deliveries. II you
want the postman to call for q pack
age you have merely to drop the office
a post card and the wagon comes around
to your house. Or you may hail the
wagon impromptu. just as the postman
in the United States il hailed
Packages must be sealed or tied so
that they may be easily opened. The
postman is the judge as to whether a
package Is properly bound up or not
Packages may also be registered or in.
sured- II you want a package to be de-
hvered quickly you can secure rapid
service by the addition charge of a
cents. That guarantees a fast train and
special delivery.
With each package a sender frls out
card. This measures four by six
inches and costs a fifth Of q cent plus
the stamp. The card has a coupon On
which is written the name Of the sender.
Even a short note may accompany the
package. The coupon is delivered with
the package. the post-ofice retaining the
rest of the card. This has blanks for
the address. the statement Of the weigh,
character Of the package, storage num-
Der. and signature Of the recipient.
The German postman conveys any
thing that may be safely handled. He
draws the line only at explosives and
caustic acids. For articles which re-
quire very careful handling an addi-
donal rate charge Of so per cent In re-
quired.
The Bustle At the Berlin Office
Inspection Of the parcels post building
at Berlin is interesting. Such grim
hustle. such ordered haste. such sudden
surges of uniformed employees, such
Of baskets. boxes, parcels,
melting into yawning vans: such gallop-
ing Of hoofs without, such ceaseless
trampling within, the whole din domin-
ated by sharp words of command-it sug-
Sested the eve Of battle and the stern
methods of warfare rather than the
Drosaic. humdrum routine OF postal work.
Cocks crowed in their crates, huge mas
tins bayed. canaries from the Harz
shrilly piped: the huge yard of dispatch
could have furnished a fair OF supplied
. settlement; and everything was sent
III a. 'ne right time without hitch.
while Herr Karl kirchhofr, the organizer
and director of all. stood like an admiral
on his bridge to see that all went we'll.
England was without a parcels post
until 1888. year or two earlier 1t had
been asked to send delegates to the in
parcels post congress. but had
to confess that it had no system of
parcels by mail The blind
Henry Fawcett, was chiefly
responsible for the parliamentary measure
which brought about in July. 1888. the in
stallation Of q system Of parcels post
The railroads in England receive IS per
cent Of the parcels post receipts for the
The other European coun-
tries have handled that end Of the ar
q little more economically.
For instance, in Germany-in France and
Italy and Belgium, too-all parcels under
eleven pounds in weight must be carried
for nothing.
Second to Those of Germany.
The parcels post Of France was estab-
lished in 1850. At that time a five-pound
weight limit was imposed, but this was
soon found to be altogether too small
and by leaps and bounds 1t was increased
until it now stands at 1f3 pounds. The
French mails are now conveying about
3. .000, 900 900 packages annually, being sec
ond only to those Of Germany and Eng
land.
In Austria Hungary the parcels post
office also does q banking business. han
ding a system of checks for the purchase
Of articles that are carried by parcels
post. Check books Of 100 blank checks
sold for 30 cents. each check bearing the
sender's name and address. With the
order the post-ofnce takes the money and
guarantees the check. so that it serves
much the purpose Of the American money
order. A check in Austria costs, however,
only three-tenths Of a cent.