Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-01-14

days and the swift airplane darting
above the mountains and prairies at
the present time. Yet transporting
the mails through the air was not a
wild flight of the imagination to the
early citizens Of the American re-
public AS matter of fact, the
American public then was intensely
Interested in the speedy dispatch OF
the mails between post offices and
offered frequent suggestions TO the
Postmasters General serving as heads
of the Post Office Department.
One Of these, astonishingly pro-
phetic of the future. was made in
1922, when the editor Of the Free
mans Journal, published at Norris
town, Pa. advised Postmaster Cen
eral Mclean that il might be pos
sible to carry the mails by the use
of flying ships" The editor Of this
publication wrote as follows:
1--WE would advise the Postmaster
General to avail himself OF the novel
and very ingenious flying machine
invented by James Bennett of Phila-
delphia. by which we conceive the
mails would be transported with
more celebrity and their arrival at the
places Of destinat ton be much more
certain than is the case at the pres
ent''
While the Post Office Department
evidently could not avail itself of
such friendly advice at that time.
this does not mean that it was en-
tirely wasted. for in. less than one
hundred years later the mails are
actually being Transported by flying
! machines with more CELEBRITY" and
with arrival at their places Of des-
tination much more certain" lust as
was originally predicted by the ed:-
tor of the Freeman's Journal.
In this connection too, ii should
/ ~. n
days operation of the Stagecoach
loaded with mail one man was killed.
while the mails last year were car
ried two million miles without a
single fatality.
An Early Commission.
Illustrative Of the mode of the
selection of the postmasters in those
days is an ancient commission issued
by Postmaster General Mclean to
Thomas Lindsey, esquire, the first
postmaster to serve at Cherry Ridge,
Pa, that was recently unearthed
Printed in quaint italics on age-eaten
| Is, 1924. and shows the old seal of
the Post Office Department, long since
abandoned. with the design OF the
god Mercury, with wings on his
| feet The commission reads like this:
know We; that confiding in the
| integrity. ability and punctuality OF
| Thomas Lindsey, esquire, I do appoint
| him as postmaster and authorize him
! to execute the duties Of that Office
at Cherry Ridge, Wayne county, state
of Pennsylvania. according to the
! laws Of the United States and such
| regulations conformable thereto as he
| shall receive from me; to hold said
| Office of postmaster with all the
| powers, privileges and emoluments to
| the same belonging, during the pleas
ure of the Postmaster General of the
, United States for the time being"
That the game of politics was
| played in the early history Of the
republic even more than now with
regard to the distribution of federal
| patronage Is indicated by the specific
clause in this commission declaring
that the tenure of office of the Cherry
! Ridge postmaster may be ended at
the pleasure of the Postmaster Gen
eral.
Prompt to Use Railroads.
The year 1886 saw the beginning OF
the transition from the stage coach
to the railroad car as a means of
| transporting the mails. It was at
| this period that the first railroad
lines were constructed IN the United