The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1920-07-29
COURIER OF GEOGRAPHY.
Relation of Mail Man to Growth of
Civilization.

master, or your rural route carrier,
has a past?
He is the agent by which the long
arm of Uncle Sam taps your shoulder
one, two, maybe three times a day,
yet he is so unobtrusive that you
probably do not know him half as
we'll as the policeman or the school
teacher.
Recently, however, he has been IN
the public eyes by the presentation OF
his need for increased pay, and, IN
this connection, the National Geo.
graphic Society calls attention to him
as an historic figure.
ssThe history of the postal service
and it's employees extends to the days
of the Romans when the earliest
known means of transmitting mes
sage was by COURIER says bulletin
from the Washington, D. c., head
quarters of the society. 'These ad-
mirable organizers, the Romans,
marked by post. the place in the
road where the relay of one runner
by another was effected; thus they
named our system long before it was
born. :
THE first letter post seems to have
existed in the Hanse towns in the
thirteenth. century in order to facll1-
tate relations between the merchants
of the various members of the Hanse-
attic League. .
'The British postofice had its be-
ginning in the sixteenth century and
our own colonial methods OF handing
mail were inherited from our British
forefathers. Long before the. people
had any means of exchanging either
personal or official letters, the king
had established a system for convey
ing his personal messages and official
documents by royal messengers. IN
the reign of King John this petulant
monarch paid out a. large sum for
postal service and charged it to the
household and wardrobe accounts.
Messengers who were thus entrusted
with matters of state had to be above
suspicion. They. went the whole dis
tance and were paid according to the
length and danger of their Journeys.
ssWhen Edward w found the Scots
were too hot upon his trail he decided
that he needed a system OF commun1-
cation between mis- own headquarters
and those of his fighting forces, 50 ne
had horses placed at twenty-mlie IN
tervals on the road between England
and Scotland. That was our present
Ipostofice system in embryo. Finally
in 1912, Sir Brian Turke became the
first Postmaster-Genera of Britain,
and personally took charge OF all the
royal messengers.
Persons OF, less, Importance than
kings had to arrange to send their
letters by their servants, messengers
merchants, Or friends, but there is
evidence that by the close of the
fifteenth century regular couriers be-
tween a few main points were en-
ployed.
-. s'In a Privy Council Proclamation
in 1903 the duties Of mail carriers
were made extremely arduous. The
postman had to have two leather
bags lined with 'bayes,' or cotton, for
his letters. He had to toot horn
whenever he saw anyone approaching,
or at least four times in every mile,
he might not delay more than fifteen
minutes at any point, and he had to
make at least seven miles an hour IN
summer and five in winter. Beside
this, he had to keep record OF the
name and address Of the sender and
recipient of each letter.
s'In 1888 New England proposed to
}the British sovereign that postof1ce
system be established in the colonies,
as it was so useful and absolutely
necessary His majesty paid no at
tention to the plea, but Richard Fair
banks, in the same year, set up an or
fee in Boston to receive letters from
ships. He undertook to deliver the
letters received and charged penny
for each letter. He also received mall
for outgoing ships, but no one was
forced to send mail through his Office.
ssWhat a step it is from these days
to system that specially delivers our
eager and anxious words, carries our
parcels, registers our valuables, banks
our money or transmits it to pay our
bills. and was the Paul Revere Of our
drafts for. service in the World War,
calling Americans to Concords and
Bunker Hills On the fields of Fland-
ersi
To-day, in many sections of our
country, the farmer has his daily pa
per just as the Wall Street banker has
his, and often he has superior ad-
vantage in that the mail man who de-
livers it to him is his friend, and may
add verbal bulletins on items of local
interest.
"a thrilling story of the devotion
of mail men to their, duties is that of
the Pony Express, the first rapid
transit mail line across the 1855
miles of prairie desert, snow-capped
mountain peaks, and alkali wastes be-
tween the Missouri river and the Pa
cific coast. It was inaugurated in
1860 in order that the west might be
kept more closely in touch with the
north in view Of the trouble brewing
from the slavery question, and,
though it had an existence of only,
sixteen months, it made the east and
west only ten days apart at time of
crisis.
''The date of starting was to be
March 26, 1860, and Forts kearney,