Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-01-10
AN INVENTION" ANNIVERSARY
SeuentyIaine Years Ago To-day Britain adopted the Mail SYSTEM
Giving Rise to That Universal and indispensable Scrap of
Paper, the Postage Stamp


DHILATELIsTS should he in high fett'e
L today and very probably they are, for
those amiable lobbyists are too keenly con-
scious OF chronological values to be o%blivious
of a date Of prime significance in the fasci-
Mating lore of stamp collecting. Moreover
those of us whose tastes are less highly
specialized have also in this instance full
warranty to recognize the anniversary. for
January 10 marks the opening move from
which the entire modern system of COM
munication by letter (enemy countries tenn
porar!ly exeepted) is derived.
INVENTIONS so simple as to appear by
i the Illuminating rays Of hindsight in
cyitable have long been imperfectly honored
in a world whose admiration for the mysteri-
Gus is ever profound and prompt. Thus the
linotype, the ~airplane and the wireless pro-
woke. as of course they should. respect and
awe. No one marvcls at the corkscrew and
vet its originator must hSve been an In
genious and perspicacious chap. That he
| was a universal benefactor is admitted on
reflection, though one seldom pauses to
ponder upon the scope and efficacy of his
achievement.
How seldom was disclosed n few years
ago in Paris--that Mecca Of monuments on
an astonishing variety of subjects-when the
suggestion was made that the inventor Of bottle
openers be memorialized In bronze. Probably
rival names were submittcd for his laurels.
for accounts of the grateful construction of
TINT statue have not yet crossed the seas.
but no such confusion exists as regards the
father Of the modern postal service and the
adhesive prepaid postage stamp. He was
Sir Rowland Hill and seventy-nine years ago
today his transparency simple, but none the
less original, scheme went into operation in
the island of Great Britain.
FAMILIAR TO philatelists, but often truly
i surprising to folk without the brother
hood is the fact that postage stamps date
only from 1870. From the days of the
epistolary bricks of Babylonians to the third
year of the reign Of Queen Victoria the de.
livery OF correspondence had been crippled
by complex and unwieldy machinery. Unit
the sixteenth century a trusty friend, a shiI
captain or a governmental legate Irregular,
performed mail carrying functions. The
development of modern Continental Europe
brought forward a much needed semblancs
Of ntandar dlzation and also a most lucratiy,
monopoly.
The German Counts of Thurn and TaXis
we're officially declared hereditary post
masters OF the Holy Roman Empire and o
Spain. It was a. goodly Office profitable tc
it's incumbent. but decidedly less so to patrons
of the service. Mail delivery was both hap
hazard and hazardous and always expensive
Postal arrangements were considerably re
oreanized in Britain under James l, but thel
ioconveniences were numerous. The cost o
dispatching letters was proportioned TO tn
length of their journey. The recipient pal,
the charge. With certain improvements an,
notifications, fostered by the establishment
of regular mail-coach routes. this system OBJ
tanned in England-with limitations in Amer
ica-untii railroads started to revolutioniz
civilization. 1t was soon evident then tina
the awkardness Of postal services was bot
unnecessary and p~itifully archaic.
BRITISH educator with a bent 70
n statistics and reform was aroused to tn
situation. Sir Rowland Hill held no ofc
in the Government and the Postofice De
partment, tainted with clrcumiocution. re