The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-02-09

invented. II Is one OF the STSdNeSt, II
not the greatest, employers of labor
in the world. 1t earns more money
than the steel trust, the greatest COM
bination of capital in the world. 1t
penetrates every sown, hamlet and viii
lage, even crossing the glaciers of
Alaska with news for the lonely i'm
migrant. 1t penetrates the wilds of the
tropics It is all pervading and uni
versal. We hardly realize what an
enormous machine it is, with what
smoothness and precision it operates.
The first essentials are explicit instruc-
tions on every phase of the matter.
strict economy ana quick movement.
The subject is so great and the oper-
alton of the postoffice machinery so
very sure that 1t will be impossible
to give more than simple outline OF
the present methods pursued by the
department and some historical notes
on the origin of its present complex
regulations.
History of Postal Department
THE postoff.ce department is cock
istent with the beginning of our gov
ernment. The first Postmaster General
was the sage and philosopher, BenJa-
min Franklin and even now his por-
trait hangs in the office OF the POST
master General in Washington.
master General there were no railroads,
no steamboats, and no method OF com
munication except the primitive one OF
early ages, and over the whole OF the
North American colonies there existed
only 70 postoffices. OF course there were
postoffices before the time of Franklln'
but they were small affairs and quite lim-
tied in their work and usefulness. Ihe
first postoffice In what is now the Uni
ted states was probably the one started
in Boston in 1889, the first postmaster
being Richard Fairbanks.
''The administration of the postoffice
department is divided between the Post
master General, who is head OF every
thing, and four leading departments, or
divisions, presided over by four assistant
postmaster generals, each having Juris-
diction over certain branches of the SER
vice.
1.-THE questions of wages and appoints
ments allowances of all kinds, and gem
eral questions of administration etc, are
handled by the first assistant postinas-
ter general In addition to the duties
assigned to the first assistant In connec-
tion with the office of the Postmaster
General. he Is really the official who at
tends to the appointments OF postmasters,
and while the political power in all ap-
pointments rests with the President OF
the United States, the details OF the ao-
ministration of this one item take up d
large part of the time of good many
men. In the year 1911 there were oS,za Z
postoffices In the United States, of whicn
81 243 were fourth-elass offices.
Letter Carriers in 1862
"The letter carrier system, which IS In
charge of the first assistant postmas-
ter general, was naugurated In 1852, ana
at that time carriers went from house to
| faa nf | 2 cents
for each letter delivered Uniform de-
livery was inaugurated in 1868 In 40 cities
of the United States, and it is now free
in 1900 offices. Special delivery service
was started In 1885.
THE railway mail service, and every
thing pertaining to the transportation OF
mail. is handled by the second assistant
the annual expenditure of the railway
mail service alone amounts to over Sso,-
O0OO00 YOU can see what an enormous
amount of work this one branch has to
look after.
''The third assistant postmaster gen
eral handles the finances, and the Is
suing of all kinds OF stamps envelopes,
etc When 1t Is remembered that the
revenue of the postoffiee department is
about $3.50, 100000 per year. and that the
expenditures are about the same, one
can imagine that the duties falling upon
the head OF this department are, to say
the least of itNnutiferious. 1t may be
of interest to note that adhesive stamps
were not in use until lo5f, and that money
orders and the registry system were not
perfected until after 1860 Up until 1868
the rates of postage were very high, let
ters being sent only 800 miles for scents.
and for distances over 800 miles 10 cents
was charged. uniform rate was estab-
lished in 1868.
Woman Changed England's System
1.-The reason England adopted a low
rate of postage was from the action OF a
woman Postmaster General Rowland.
away back in the '40s, saw carrier
present a letter to a young woman In
some country town, and the postage was
something like 20 cents in our money.
with tears in her eyes she asked the
carrier to let her look at the envelope,
which he did. She then returned II TO
him with the statement that she could
not afford to pay the postage, and that
he would have to take the letter back.
The Postmaster General stepped up to the
young lady and offered to pay the ~
cents postage exactly as a gentleman
| from Birmingham would have done. But
she refused it. saying that she had an
| understanding with her sweetheart to
| the effect that If her name was written
| certain way everything was all right.
But IL IL We're written another way she
would pay the postage. She said that
| they had been writing this way to find
every week IL each were well without
any expense whatever to themselves. The
| postoffice department in England has
! discovered as a great many gentlemen
| have, there Is no use in trying to circum-
| vent a woman when she has her mind
made up. The whole postoffice system
of Great Britain was changed on account
of this incident as described, and cheaper
postage followed.
"The fourth assistant postmaster gen.
eral has charge of supplies of all sorts
and of the rural mail service. The rural
mail service was started in 1896 as an
experiment. and today there are over l.
100000 miles of rural mail routes in the
United States and the annual expendi-
ture amounts to nearly s40.000,000. In the
state of Alabama alone there are some
thing like 81, 600 miles of rural routes and
about 100 rural carriers. The Birming-
ham postoffice pays out to these carriers
about $100O,000 yearly.
1.-The assignment of the parcel post
has not been definitely made to any de-
partment but is under the u1rect control
OF the Postmaster General himself 1t
might be proper right here to say that,
leaving out political and personal feel
ings. the Postmaster General has made
magnificent record in the last four
years He has brought the income and
the disbursements of the postoffice de-
partment to a practical equality. At the
time he took charge there was a deficit
of over $17O00,000 per annum. In the four
years of his service he has saved the
government In expenditures something