Putnam patriot., 1927-02-25
POST OFFICE IS THE
 BIGGEST BUSINESS

than btlng narrative m form How ever, the address was most interestint as showing the wonderful develou ment of this great branch of the fed eral government. Mir. Gagne said.
 Out of the mists of beginning dawned civilization. And what i civilization2 Civilization is communi cation. Thus the peerage of posta communication is established at tn very roots of history
 America's most cherished qualit, is the pioneer spirit of it's people The United States postal system, ii the spirit of America. has been pioneer in the l7th, 18th. and l9tl centuries, and now, with the openin. of the goth century, fl is abreast oi the foremost in progressive ingenuity and invention and service.
 IL was a mail courier who blazef the first trail between New York anc Boston
 It was the mail coach which brought into existence the old Boston-New York, Philadelphia-B Baltimore turnpike the first great American highway.
 Benjamin Franklin. as deputy post. master general. made this post road serving the scattered colonial settle ments show greater income than the principal post road between Eng land and Scotland.
 Richard Fairbanks. who conducted an office in a Boston tavern in 1889 to receive letters from ships, was the first colonial postmaster.
 Benjamin Franklin in i775 became the first Postmaster General of the United States.
 Railroads were patronized by the postal service from the time the first few miles of track were laid. Sub sidiaries through the postal service made possible the maintenance of many of the early railroads.
 The railway post office was adopted in the United States in 1864.
 The postal service has always been on the heels of the pioneer settlers as they advanced westward Service today to Point Barrow on the north ermost tip of Alaska, and to the iso- lated miners in the fastnesses of the mountains. bears out the motto. Where American citizens go, the mail must go.'
 Gummed postage was adopted Tn the United States in is47,
 Postal Union
 Postmaster General Montgomery Blair initiated the movement in 1861 which resulted in the formation of the universal Postal Union. A concrete example of this international eo- operation is found in the fact that the letter sent for five cents to Aus tralia today cost S2.04 in 1857.
 It was the demand of the postal service which first brought night trains on the railroads, and the first fast mail trains were followed by fast passenger trains.
 The money-order system was adopt ed in 1864.
 postmen today bring mail to the doors of millions of homes. Free de livery of mail service in cities began in 1863.
 Postal Savings Banks, the greatest savings bank in the world was start ed in 1911.
 k. r. D. service brings the city to the country. This rural service was started in 1896.
 Parcel post was adopted in 1913.
 Air mail service was started May IS. 1918. For several years it has been operating an advancing service oa t.anscontinental route 5000 long from New York to San Francisco, and earned in 1922 and 1923 the honor of making the greatest contri- button to the progress of American aviation.
 Pioneering must never stop in the postal service. Faster, faster, the re- lay must be made This summer the postal service. if Congress agrees, will inaugurate through service, twenty eight hours. between New York and the city at the Golden Gate. One-third of this journey will be at night.
 The Mails Must Move
 Almost every conceivable type Q! transportation is used to move the mails-railroads steamboats, auto mobiles. airplanes. motorbeats. wa gous. horses. pneumatic tubes, belt eonveyors, motorcycles, bicycles. th1 sled of the Arctic, and even the "doe car. The dog ear' Is an Alaskan invention.
 The postal service now uses 5,09d postal ears. Automobiles are running a race for numerical supremacy with the railway postal cars. There are now 4,900 in operation carrying the mails.
 And besides handling the mails the biarest single business operates through postal savings. the biggest savings bank in the world. Its total deposits in 1928 were SI34.45s, ,lO5. The United States government stands back of this bank.