New Britain herald., 1929-08-09
also sent mail by travelling friars

also sent mail by travelling friars to other esta ablishments of monks. | "The first instance in relatively modern times in which the public was admitted to the use of the royal post was in France in 14S1, under Louis NI The rates were so high, 1 however. that only few nobles were able to take advantage of the privilege More important was the step taken in 1544 by Philip l of Spain and Germany, who, finding his royal purse unable 10 pay the con- i tractor who operted his government 1 u courier service, granted the latter | the privilege of carrying mail for i private citizens for a price. During the remainder of the 18th century and thereafter the practice of carry ing mail for individuals and organl- cations was adopted by many Of the l governmental services of Europe. l U. $. System Grew From British
 "The postal system of the United States had it's roots directly in the British system The latter grew up | by degrees from the royal cour'cr service, as on the continent. During +most of the 17th century the postal privilege was farmed out but m I16S5 the service was taken over ana operated by the government. The system was extended to the Amcr1- | can colonies; but owing 10 the great stretches of wilderness it was for q long time slow and primitive. Ben | iamin Franklin was postmaster gen. l eral toward the end of the colonial period and first admitted newspa- pers to the post. After the break with Great Britain, Franklin was made first postmaster general Of the independent American system.
 'rhe postal service was then halting one along the Atlantic sea- 1 board. Gradually after the birth Of the United States. it was improved in the coastal states and began to 1tcach out first with it's post riders and later with it's stage coaches and steamboats. into the wilderness to the west. By shortly after 1900 the pioneer postmcn were pushing thelr way into the Northwest Territory above the Ohio river and even west of the Mississippi. Independence, Missouri, was given a post office m I1S27. Texas had post offices soon after it's annexation in lS45. and one
 had been established by that tune at St. Joseph, Missouri
 Remarkable Improvements in Past
 Century
 "The discovery of gold in Callfor-
 nia in 1S4C and the rush Of thou-
 sands of emigrants to the west coast,
 made it inevitable that overland
 mail should follow. In 1850 a mail lime reached Salt Lake City. In 1857
 a stage line was established be-
 tween San Antonio and San Diego,
 and in 1858 stage coaches were put into operation between St. Louis and
 San Francisco. covering the distance
 in about 20 days. Then came the
 clattering hoofs of the romantic
 Pony Express of the carly war days
 of 1860 and 6l. which cut the time
 to nine days and. on occasion, less.
 Eight years later the first railway
 bridged the continent; in its broad
 outlines the United States postal sys-
 tenn had been laid down over the
 entire Union.
 "The milestoncs of postal accom-
 plishment have whizzed by at diz-
 zy rate during the past 100 years.
 The railways began to shoulder out
 the stage coach in 1888. Then came
 the development of the keystone In the modern post office structure the railway mail coach in which let ters are sorted while the train speeds them on their way. In 1854 ;. the primitive plan of charging for letters by the number of sheets they contain was discarded and the
 weight system adopted with lower
 rate. About the same time came the envelope, 10 give secrecy to letters
 Gummed stamps and prepayment came in 1S47. and still lower rates | followed in 1851. Letters were first
 registered in 1854. During the Civil war period city delivery, money or , ders, and night carrying of mail on , railways was developed; and in 1875 came the vanguard of the tens of , millions of post cards that now pass through the mails. Rural free de- livery began in 1897, and Ill 19ld the parcel post was put into opera
 tion. The latest important postal ac- , complishment in the United States is the establishment of the air mail The first experimental air mail line U was opened in 1918 between Wash v ington and New York, and in 192s 6 the first affair mail crossed tho continent"
 r