Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-07-26
POSTAL SERVICES
ANNIVERSARY DAY
Founded 1873 Years Ago and
Helped to Unity American
Colonies
franklin FIRST P. m. G.:
SALARY, ST. 900 A YEAR
Original Route Extended From Fall
mouth, in New England, to
Savannah, Ga.

Today is the 13sth anniversary OF the
founding OF the United States postal
service. and although no formal cele-
bration is to be held by the Post Office
department. those employees who re-
member the date are thinking of the
contracts between the postal service then
and now. 1t was July &c. 1775. almost
| one year before the independence of the
colonies was declared, that the freedom
of the postal service was asserted.
Benjamin Franklin was the first Post
master General, and he received a salary
of S1,f00 year The first postal line
under Independent supervision was from
Falmouth, in New England. to Savannah,
Ga. The British service existed in the
colonies from 1862 to ITO 1t consisted
of one line paralleling the coast with
| branches few and far between. This
service was administered by private
parties under grant from William and
Mary, and then directly by the British
government.
Spied on the Mails.
These crown postmasters had, or at
least they exercised, the right of spy
ing upon the mails intrusted to their
care. This made it difficult and danger
Gus for the liberty-loving colonists to
Gus representatives of England also pro-
fessed to exercise supervising care
over the newspapers which Were printed
in the colonies, and made arbitrary
rules and regulations against those who
We're too liberal or outspokcn in their
expressions of condemnation of things
as they then were and who dared to
urge the liberty and independence Of
the colonists. Some papers were shut
out of the mails and some were forced
70 A md
sterling was demanded to carry $50
papers 100 miles.
The post office led in the unification of
the colonists. Paul Revere was the con-
fidential post rider of Massachusetts, The
tea party in Boston Harbor would have
been but q neighborhood affair but for the
agency of the post office and the patriotic
publishers who spread the news up and
down the Atlantic coast
The postal service did more than any
! one other agency to unity and unite the
colonies. 1t brought their interests and
endeayorS to common meeting point. II
brought the leading men and women to
know and exchange ideas one with an
other Printing presses were established
about the same time that the postal serv-
ice was begun in America Postmasters
enjoyed the privilege of sending their mai
free of postage, SO most postmasters be-
came publishers. In this way the news OF
the doings Of the various jealous colonists
was disseminated and the opinions of these
early postmaster publishers We're given
! wide circulation. It added an incentive to
| trade and intercourse. BY making the
colonists acquainted it dissipated jeal-
| oussies. The growth of the post Office
from the humble beginning of q sturdy
carrier from New York to Boston loaded
with divers letters and small portable
packages you see they had parcel post
even in those days., solicited the colon
lists and made their independence pos
sible.
Maryland Editor Its Father.
There was one intrepid editor who re-
fused to be either briDed. bulldozed or
put out of the business o. urging free
dom for the colonies He insisted that
Magma Charta gave him the right to use
the facilities afforded upon equal terms.
When his papers We're refused the
mails he set about establishing what he
called "a constitutional American post
Office" He issued a circular July .,
IVA. announcing his plan. and went
about the colonies soliciting support.
Committees were appointed and subscrip-
tons of money secured. postlnasters
designated. riders secured and service es-
tablished. which was instantly patronized.
Crown post riders found the roads I'M
safe and resigned. Goddard was printer
of the Maryland Journal. printed at Bal
timore, and by the early part of 1775 he
had thirty offices and nine post riders.
covering the territory from Massachu-
sets to Virginia, including Georgetown
oE-the-Potomac.
So runs the story till we arrive at the
great day of American postal history.
Goddards was private service, operat-
ed in opposition to the still existing
British service. Goddard had declared
his desire to have the Continental Con-
gress assume charge and administer this
service for all the people.
The Continental Congress took the mat
ter up and appointed a committee COM
posed Of Mr.. Franklin, Mr. Lynch, Mr..
Lee, Mr.. Willing. Mr.. Adams and Mr..
p. Livingston who brought in their re-
port July %, 1T5.
The report was taken up and consider
ed the next day. July 26, 1875, when it
was resolved, That a Postmaster General
be appointed for the United Colonies =
salary of $1,000 per annum I"
that line of post be appointed from
Falmouth in New England to Savannah
in Georgia that postage rates
shall be 20 per centum less than those
appointed by parliament
The record of the Continental Congress
on that day. postal independence day.
then closes with the unanimous election
of BENJAMIN Franklin to be Postmaster
General.
So Franklin, who had been deposed by
the British from this very post, was
placed in charge of a constitutional
American post Office for the United
Colonies almost one year before the Dec
laration of Independence.