Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-05-26
KING Of PERSIA
HAD FIRST POSTAL
SYSTEMIC HISTORY
Postmaster Prepares Manual
Describing Growth and De-
veolpment of Service.

Minneapolis. - Correspondence of
The Associated Press. THE earliest
known postal system was that of Cyrus
the Elder, king of Persia, in 500 B. c.,
according to the postoffice manual pre-
pared here for use as a textbook in the
schools of the United States. The man.
uai was compiled by Postmaster E. A.
Purdv of Minneapolis and a group of
specialists, in the postoffice, with the
encouragement of Postmaster General
Will Hays and his successor, DR.. HUI
bert Work, in the belief that the diffu-
sion of information about the postof-
flee would save the government millions
of dollars annually. Besides explain
ing the functions of the postoffice and
most efficient ways of using it, the
manual outlines the history of postal
service.
Kept Mounted Couriers
King Cyrus, according to the man
uai. maintained mounted couriers to
dispatch messages from post to post.
The book then relates that similar
methods prevailed among the Romans
during the time of Augustus, B. G.
81. and later in France under Charlie
letter-post for commercial purposes,
~" - tpPtaAc ~ AoNG III
mated in the Ramse towns early in the
twelfth century and a century later.
the University Of Paris established an
efficient postal system. China also
maintained a post system at an early
date, about 1880.
Inception of the American p~ostoffice
came with it's earliest settlement, the
book narrates. 1t passed from the cof-
fee-house letter depository to actual
when legislation was passed In
Massachusetts in 1880 and Virginia in
1857. Under the later legislation, a
house would be designated by colonial
law as the appointed place for all let
which are brought beyond the seas
or are to be sent thither," the owner
of which would receive a penny for
every letter. but who must answer all
miscarriages through his own neglect"
The colonial law of Virginia provided
that every planter must keep a mes
senger to convey dispatches as they
arrived. to the next plantation. ION
pain for forfeiting a hogshead of to-
for default
Were Private Enterprises.
Gradually a postal service was es-
tablished along the coast between the
colonies. and in 1872 there was
a monthly post from New York to Bos-
ton. In 1892 a private enterprise was
granted to get up posts in North Amer
ica to Thomas Neal, and the postal af-
fairs of the colonies were thus conduct
I'd until ITO when the postal service
II the British Empire was consolidated
INTO n organization. with New York
It's chief American office.
An early act of the continental con-
established postoffices and
from Falmouth. Maine. to
Ga. the manual continues.
country. In 1853 he was appointed
postmaster at Philadelphia. and the
acting postmaster general in this
In 1853 he was appointed
postmaster general for the colo
1ies, which office he held until 1774
when he was dismissed because of his
active sympathy with the colonists in
heir quarrel with the mother country.
For a while following everything was
confusion. but in July. 1875, the
Continental congress appointed Frank
in the first American postmaster gen
Aral. to manage the postal service |
the colonies. Then postage |
were unknown and postage was
,aid in cash.
Continuing, the textbook tells of the
brought about when in 1884
were carried by steam railway.
four years later, the railroads were de-
by law as postroutes and in 1910
he travelling railway postoffice came
nto being. In 1S47. use of STAMPS was
authorized by the government and in
$50 the prepayment of postage made
pulcnry |