Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1913-08-29

pr ~ = aauutry. To his neighbor, Fran
We Easfnar. afterward postmaster Of
I StS 90 nnder President Grant, he said
os carly as 1851, as quoIed 6y Gen. Carr
I'm his work: Il tell you, ME-. Eastman,
we do not yet know wlat 70 DO with our
nos of1ces. We have Due village here
lp.e,,nared TO the city we snail have. This
col con- [Testern country IS still almost
SaS' ne settlers and even SO, the mails
en- en- ore hourly dumped into the post
o ota eli M the entire space and par-
49, 49, +bo men Unless something is done
adyS relief the postotfce system will
braak down of its own weight"
Thought Hin Crazy.
The year afterward, IN 1862, when he
lbad time to elaborate MS plan, he had
Ianother talk with Col Eastman. He
Informed Mr.. Eastman That he had
4 Thought out a way TO Ieheve the post.
1 officas IF the country, and to save an
4 ;,,a.,oy,Sa amount of money to the gov
arnmanf In new or enlarged buildings
on 70 work notable economy of time
a. Tho TRANSPORTATION Of the mails. I'm
Dor tb;s nlan he thought the postofice
TI,;ldj1ge wOuld not for many years re-
oS.ira fo no enlarged and the time 1t
Too. To transport the mails from one side
~ q country to the other would be
reduced to a very few Gays. To Col.
/ I5aafnoan he said. excitediy, 4 am gong
/ r. mi the postofice upon wheels. COL
| Eastman, in his "REMINISCENCES OF Ihua
memorable interview says: qiu not
asE him if he was crazy, but had my
sus, icions. :, L. a;v,;s-
corcas. "Still later, Mr. Armstrong
called mon me at my Office (the Chicago
| ST;r,as neu,snaper) to ask my assistance
&C. . nawsns herman to set before the
nnbiic in . favorable light the fact that
! he had invented a railway postal car.
He then first made known to me that
his plans were complete and that upon
day named and fixed he would run it
mon the Chicago g. North Western rail-
way"
II took two years after the conception
of his plan for postal reform before
Mr.. Armstrong could get the attention
of the postmaster general. At IT nad
NOT been for the horrors of the Civil
war. there is no doubt that he would
have induced the department to make q
test of his plans much earlier. He i'm
patiently waited until the summer of
1864. when he addressed three letters to
the postmaster general, following closely
one upon the other and dated May 10
and Ii and June 10, respectively. These
now famous letters, really the founda-
ton stones Of the present perfected rail-
way mail service, attracted wide atten-
ton among businessmen and postal Off
Gals. Mr.. Armstrong had them print
ed in pamphlet form at his own ex-
pense and distributed wherever he
thought that the seed would grow.
The result Of these letters was the fol-
lowing letter to Mr.. Armstrong from
Postmaster General Blair:
Post Odice Department, July 1, 1864
sir-You are authorized to test by actual ex-
pertinent, upon such railroad route or routes as
you may select at Chicago, the plans proposed
by you for simplifying the mail service. You
will arrange with railroad companies TO furnish
suitable cans for travelling post Offices; designate
head offices with their dependent Offices; prepare
forms of blanks and instructions for all such
Offices and those the rriroad not head Of
fees, also for clecks of travelling post offices.
To aid you In this work you may select some
suitable route agent whose place can be sup
pied with a substitute at the expense OF the
department.
When your arrangements are complies you viii
report them in full.
NJ. BLAIR, Postmaster General.
10 George B. Armstrong, Chicago, Ill.
Hon0red by Memorial.
There are two or three men who en-.
listed themselves enthusiastically In the
embryonic cause at this time. One of
these was former Vice President Schuy-
Ter Colfax, who had been chairman Of
the house committee on postoffices and
postroads and was familiar with Mr.
Afmstreng's plans and ambitions. MIR.
CoIfax, as speaker of the house, was
able to give great assistance when the
subject was brought before congress. H.
| w. Reyes, postmaster at Madison, at
that time power III Wisconsin politics
and a devoted friend Of Mr.. Arm
strong's, was potential In having the
Wisconsin legislature pass, on April 8,
1865, memorial endorsing Mr.. Arm
strongs postal reform.
! The memorial passed by the legis-
latuIe Is as follows:
memorial to the postmaster general for the
early establishment OF the new railway distrib
uting postotace system upon the principal rail
roads iu the state Of Wisconsin
The memorial of the legislature of the state
OF Wisconsin respectfully represents:
That the important and rapidly increasins
business interests OF the state OF Wisconsin de
mand the early Introduction and establishment Of
the new railway distributing postotice system
upon the leading railroads Of this state. That
under the present system Of distribution Of let.
tiers at postoftices a delay of twelve hours and
UPWARDS is necessarily Incurred at the ChicHgo
office in the transmission Of letters from Wis
conisn to eastern cities and other points in the
country. That, in the opinion Of your memorial.
! lists, the railway mall system Is Of greai
practical utility; that Its success, whenever and
wherever introduced. is beyond question; and
that IT will confer q great and incalculable ben
eft and advantage upon the business interests O
our state. we full believe.
| Therefore your meulOrialists would respectfully
and earnestly ask its application to the prtn.
cipal railroads In tine state of Wisconsin.
First Out of Chicago
The first railway postoflice in the
/ United States was established by Mr..
| Armstrong under Postmaster General
! Blairs Instructions on August %, 1864.
on the Chicago & North Western rail-
way. 1t ran between Chicago, ILL.,, and
! Clinton. Ia. and was d sort Of crude
compartment fitted up for the purpose
in the end Of a baggage car. The Rock
| Island road followed the North Western
as the second to adopt the system and
| the Burlington was the third. The first
complete railway postoffice car was built
in 1867 by the Chicago & North w tern
road and ran between Chicago and Fort
| Howard, Wis. The ear was built after
plans drawn by Mr.. Armstrong, assisted
by Jerome B. Johnson, for many years
superintendent of mails at the Milwau-
kee postofiice
There was the bitterest opposition to
Mr.. Armstrong; plans on the part OF
the postal officials and the railroads as
well. They thought him a monomaniac
on the subject OF postal reform. The
new cprvina was enbsanfad - br Ell