Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-29

ritty This mail was collected III the city
OF Brooklyn by Peter Cleary of the
EIcoklNa force. and delivered to Inspector
h"Nic. who. with several assistants.
stamped the letters and cards with
Specially designed AERIAL postal stamp.
This first pouch Of aerial mail was de-
lvered TO Earl l. Ovnlton pioneer aerial
postrnan at the first aerial mail station
ever established in the world. Station
No t." on Nassau Field at J:21 the aft
ernoon Of September -. The aviator was
in hts machine and ready for a flight
He damned the pouch between his
knees started his aeroplane and six
minutes later saw the white flag at the
Mineoli. post office. Mr.. Ovington took
dip in his machine and when over the
head Of Postmaster William Mccarthy
dropped the sack. After waiting to see
that the mail was actually received the
aviator returned TO Nassau Field. exactly
twelve minutes from the time he started.
This experiment was repeated the two
follow ing days. and one of the trips a
sack Of thirty pounds carried over
the route and delivered This is the
greatest step forward IN the history OF
the carriage of mail in the United States.
There Is no more interesting chapter in
the history Of the American nation than
tn" development Of it's maii-carrying ia
ciIities From the lonesome post rider
pushing his way through forest trails.
gloomy mountains and through swollen
rivers 10 the aeropane is a long jump.
During this period almost every mode OF
travel and every means of transporta-
tion in this country within the period of
IL years has been used.
An interesting part of this evolution Is
that none of the primitive methods have
been discarded since the new ones were
adopted. Mails are still carried by the
lone agent upon snowshoes and by his
dog team in Alaska. Post riders are still
riding over routes daily in Isolated parts
OF the country and the agents of the rural
free delivery 20 to every nook and cornr
of the land. The stasecoach is still in
use, as Is also the steamboat, the railroad
train, the trolley car and the automobile,
and they will still be used when the new
chapter in mail transportation is written
in the sky.
The development of the carrying of
Uncle Sans mail pouches has been con-
tinuous with the means Of transportation.
Up TO this time in America the mails
have always been carried under contract
with private individuals corporations.
with the single exception of the govern
ment c.~s- express. which lasted only
two years. from 1886 to 1888. and they
were never transported by means Of gov
ernment-owned methods OF carriage
The first post route in America was au-
thorized by King George | of England
between New York and Boston in 1872
and consisted of monthly service. 1t
lasted but few months, owing to the
difficulties of travel through the wlds of
Connecticut and Massachusetts. Under
letters patent various post systems were
inaugurated in the colonies between 1872
and lI14. In the latter year an indepen-
dent postal system was established for
the colonies In d rect vocation of the
statutes of Queen Anne. CONSTITUTIONAL
was the name given TO this system. The
colonial governments generally recognized
the Constitutional" and before the
Declaration OF Independence the system
had spread throughout the colonies. For
the special convenience of business men
in Bait more and Philadelphia mail
route going oftener than the .Constitu-
tional' was established between the two
cities. In all these early systems of car
rying the mails the post rider was the
agent of travel. riding his horse and bear
ing his sack of mail over the forest trails.
Many were the dangers encountered from
storm, floods and hostile Indians and the
post riders brave and hardy set
Of men to undergo for small pay the work
OF transporting letters and newspapers