Evening star., 1926-05-23

undying spirit of the pioneers flames
anew in the successful invasion of the
uucharted airways that stretch far
above the open prairieS, wooded hills
and mountain CragS between the At
lautic and Pacific Oceans.
But the fascinating history of the
mails of the Nation is an elusive Odys-
Soy. 1t must be run down from any
number OF angles, each of them more
interesting than the other.
Richard Fairbanks first represented
the flying figure of Mercury in Amer
iCa as the postmaster at Il Boston
tavern III the year 1889, but it was not
until Benjamin Franklin was ap-
pointed deputy Postmaster General In
1853. over Il century later that an or
gdulZatjon. remotely indicative of the
word service" came into being.
toUlierS al that day often took
iunGer To arrive in Boston from Phila-
d"lphia than did the average traveller.
ana ihuS the mails were not merely
few and far between. but they were
uncertain to the last degree. Trips
were made twice Il month. but the
journey through the dense woods and
past treacherous Indians required
some six weeks and Franklin at once
set about improEiMg the system by
Installing weekly excursions and open
tnS mp new routes throughout the
South as far as Savannah. Paul Re-
We're was one of the noted post cour
ieYs Of the revolutionary period.
The first notable highway of the
nation was brought into existence by
The numbering of the heavy mail
coaches along the Boston-New York
Philadelphia Baltimore turnpike, the
route followed by the fast mail trains
If today. And just as the Roman mes
senGerS sped along the famous old
army roads of Gaul. Britain and spain
and changed their tired horses for
fresh ones at the relay stations called
'pUSta.' 50 the couriers of the co.
1onial days and the pony express rid
erS OF a century later repeated his
tory IN the service of their country's
malls.
Neither snow, nor rain. nor heat
nor gloom, nor night stays these cour.
iers from the swift completion of
thoir appointed task" is the stirring
slogan of the Service" and had its
inception in the loyalty Of the pioneer
poStmen who first traversed the thinly
settled colonies, and later branched
out like a network across the plains,
past the fertile fields beyond the Mis-
souri, Basin, ana across the Rockies
IN the faint trail Of Lewis and Clark,
nn what later became the we'll worn
path of The Buttertield mail route
Perry w. Fuller Of Baltimore has
just acquired a rare old stamp issued
hT tn" Alexandria, Va, post office in
the days when the siaGe coach was
the conVeyor Of the mails, and accord
inS 10 report, though this stamp had
value Of ; cents at its issue. it is
worth 10000 today, and is only the
third Ot its kind in existence. The
Federal Government lad not at that
time begun To offer stamps, bur post
masters sold them. If desired, or sim
ply marked the envelopes, paid"
<
TEN years before had seen the be.
ginning of the transition from
the stage coach to the railroad car
as method of transporting mail. us
It was in 1886 that The first trains
were run in the United States. though
their schedules were most uncertain.
About that time contracts We're let
t. private individuals to haul the
mail in the stage coaches. and in some
instances p0StmaSterS made their own
arrangements with the railroads TO
handle the mail bags without consult
ing the authorities at Washington.
The compensation was the same to
the railroads that was paid to the
stage coach owners. hut later on the
post office took over all control of mail
Nate contracts, in order to insure
proper connections ar terminals, and
the Postmaster General himself con-
Quoted the negotiations with the steam
carrier executives
CurioualN enough. as It looks to us
today, the railroads were very loath
t" carry mails at night, and consid-
cred r. dangerous To ran trains after
dark. y lette. recently found. ard
dated TD+E1,1llpi. 1SoS ttf,
hy Z. 7. IGyne. esq. president of
the South Carolina and Charleston
Railroad Co. to Postmaster General
Amos Kendall. 1t states that though
the writer is charged with the con-
tract for transportation Of mail be-
tween Charleston and Hamburg, he is
instructed to say that he cannot con-
sent to promise trains at IAN hour
later than half-past seven in the
morning for their arrival here at an
earlier hour than half past four in
the afternoon"
1T was stated to YOU frankly in the
beginning" continues the letter, that
from the character and condition of
our road and the nature OF our coun-
try. il was not deemed safe to under
tax" 10 convey passengers upon it in
tn" night"
He offers. however. to conduct the
dubious experiment. of starting the
trains half an hour earlier in the
morning and keeping them out on the
road as late at 4:30, but it is to be
considered solely in the light of
great favor. and as an experiment.
the outcome of which he fears the
worst
There We're at that time in 1886,
only 200 miles Of railroads in the
country that carried mail. in compari-
son with the present allotment of
231 ,9S1 miles of railroad traCkaGe. But
when the pony express came into he.
ing. following hard IN the footsteps
OF the MCrmons and the gold rush to
California. the accepted mail route to
San Francisco was by steamer to Pan
anna, across the Isthmus by mule
team. and by packet" to the Golden
Gate. an expedition of % days, with
fair wind and weather
Later on, there was a mail stage
out from st. Louis over the Santa Fe
and into southern California. which
took IS days, so that the dizzy speed
of Today letters and S-day kilograms
of the pony express, which was inaug
urated in April, 1860, was as great
stride forward as the transcontinental
railway mail service nine years later.
a CCCRDINCI to the research de-
partment of the Washington
Post Office, the conquering, of the
West had advanced only as far as
The Missouri River. in the central sec
tion Of the country, in 1860. Beyond"
st states. "lay trackless prairies, rug
ged foothills, barrier mountains and
Indians. Further on, beyond the
Rockies, along the Pacific Coast and
4n the Great Basin region, were half
q million Americans, building another