Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-02-01
The History Of
The Letter

washington, Jan. ol.-FTOm tlle use
of the dromedary in biblical times to
the swiftly flying mail plane of today
the history of the letter. as written
means of communication between
peoples. was traced by Assistant
Postmaster General w. Irving Glover
in speech recently to postmasters
and postal employees in postal con-
ference convention at Winston Salem,
y. G..
"On the post Office job" he said.
nothing can take the place of the
individual. While in many great
industries the human equation has
been reduced to a minimum, no one
has yet invented anything to take the
place of a man. in the delivery OF
letters. Today. as a hundred years
ago, we are dependent on the nerve
and the sense of loyalty of a human
being for the punctual delivery of our
mail regardless of the weather and
everything else.
THE history Of the postal service
goes back as far as the sixth century
L. c., 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
decade while the number of employees
has increased only nine per cent.
THE use of postage stamps is now
so common and the mailing of letters
so general that it 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 forbiddlnS
the massacre. This is the verse tnat
describes the sending of the mes
sengers:
And he wrote in the King Ahas-
uerus' name, and sealed it with the
Kings ring; and sent letters by posts
on horseback, and riders on mules'
camels and young dromedanes.
The Romans. too, sent their letters
by mounted couriers. The courier
carried the message about twenty
miles when he would come 10
'posta' where another messenger Was
stationed with a fresh morse. ne,
in turn, would be relieved by sun
another courier Thus relay AFTER
relav the letter was sped on until
nj last it arrived at it's destined
'posta,' meaning station or stopping
nlace. and from that word we OBTAIN
the word post as found in post once,
postcard and many similar words.
I'm the times of Benjamin Franklin,
each letter was charged for by the
sheet instead of by weight, and also
for the distance it was carried. Zen
cents was charged for one sheet, ~
cents for two sheets; and so on. and
for every fifty miles another 1ull lee
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 800
of the wear, 33,600,000 letters Slip
int, the box To carry this great
volume of letters, there was sold
fourteen billion postage stamps, 81
million special delivery stamps, IS
million newspaper wrappers. 62 mil
lion postage due stamps used on short
maid mail matter and billion postal
cards printed and sold. and. all
we used and sold IS billion
units during the last fiscal year, and.
again, to carry this vast quantity of
mail we operate a 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 215,00O miles
daily