The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1923-03-23
VOLUME OF mail
Assistant Postmaster Gives Fig
ures That Stagger.
Probably Few Americans Realize the
Extent of the Wonderful Business
Transacted by Department.

From the use of the dr0medary in
biblical times to the swiftly flying
mail plane Of today, the history of the
letter, as written means of COM
munication between peoples, was
traced by Assistant Postmaster Gen.
eral w. Irving Glover in speech re-
Gently to postmasters, and postal en-
ployees in a postal conference conven-
ton at Winston-S Salem, N. G.
ION the post Office job" he said,
nothing can take the place of the in
dividual. While in many great indus
tries the human equation has been
reduced to minimum, no one has
yet invented anything to take the
place of man in the delivery Of let
tiers. Today, as hundred years ago,
we are dependent on the nerve and
the sense of loyalty of human being
for the punctual delivery of our mail
regardless Of the weather and every
thing else.
"The history of the postal service
goes back as far as the Sixth century
b. G. and may be called the hand
maid of civilization and, tracing 1t
from the dispatch bearer Of the Assy-
rian and Roman times to the airplane
service Of the present day, the postal
business has doubled in the last de-
cade while the number Of employees
has increased only 8 per cent.
''The use of postage stamps is now
so common and the mailing of letters
SO general that 1t seems as If there
never was time when this practice
was unknown. But the stamp itself
is comparatively new, while the send
ing of letters is older than Solomon.
"The Book of Esther in the Bible
tells Of how King Ahasuerus, learning
from Queen Esther that Hannah had
ordered the death of all the Jews,
commanded Mordecai to call together
the scribes and send letters to every
province of the kingdom fOrbidding
the massacre.
1.-THE Romans, too, sent their letters
by mounted couriers. The courier
carried the message about twenty
miles when he would come to a 'posta,'
where another messenger was sta
toned with a fresh horse. He, in
turn, would be relieved by still anoth-
er courier. Thus by relay after relay
the letter was sped on until at last it
ARRIVED at its destined 'posta,' mean
ing station or stopping place, and
from that word we obtained the word
post as found in post Office, post
card and many similar words.
''In the times Of Benjamin Franklin
each letter was charged for by the
sheet instead of by weight, and also
for the distance 1t was carried. Ten
cents was charged for one sheet, 20
cents for two sheets, and so on, and
for every so miles another full fee
was added. Envelopes were not used
in those days, the letter simply being
folded up and sealed.
"And now we come to the stagger-
ing figures showing the growth of
this great business. In every single
hour of the "a there are mailed
100000 letters and in every day of
the 365 of the year 100000 letters
slip into the box. To carry this great
volume of letters there was sold a.
000O0O.000 postage stamps, 100000
special delivery stamps, 3S,O0O.000
newspaper wrappers. $1,000, 900 post,
age due stamps used on short paid
mail matter and l,O0O,OOO,O00 postal
cards printed and sold. and, all count
ed, we used and sold $4,000, 100000
units during the last fiscal year. And
again. to carry this vast quantity of
mail we operate very large motor
truck service, having in operation to-
day 4,433 motor vehicles, and then in
the carrying of this volume Of mail
by railroad it requires 21,000 railway
mail clerks, who cover 215,O00 miles
daily"