Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-07
Capital Sideliglts
ny WIFE i. KENNEDY.

A On WILL u. KENNEDY.
The Treasury-post once Board, which
Is now wrestling with the hercuiean
task Of providing desperately needed
new Post ONCE buildings all over the
country under q program which already
shapes up 10 approximately half . bill
Lon dollsrs, ID Impressed with the
tremendous growth Of this greatest
business In the world--the United States
Postal Service during the past TO
years, since Samuel Osgood Of Massa-
chusetts, the first Postmaster General.
made his first annual report to George
Washington, showing the gross receipts
to the United States to be $4,000.
The new Postmaster General walter
r. Brown. who is starting in to re-
organize the department. IN making
his studies has been enthrailed by the
wonderfully thrilling and romantic
story Of progress shown In the dusty
! stacks Of prosaic reports. Postmaster
General Brown is proud to be ct the
head Of the one Government agency
that Is nearly self-supporting that di-
rectly serves every other business in
the country, without which any and
all other business would be paralyzed.
In the postal service, Uncle Sam has
more than 300,0 600 partners. OF course,
among $4,000 letter carriers. $4,000
rural carriers, $4,000 postmasters and
IL, 900 railway mail clerks. occasionally
~ frnSa ~
Ment. But 1t Is wonderful piece OF
business machinery Just the same. Civ
ing service to every individual home
and making hearts beat faster. The
creed Of the postal service, worded by
Charles w. Eliot. president emeritus OF
Harvard, Is on the frieze decorating
the Washington City Post Once. as
follows:
Messenger Of sympathy and love;
Servant Of parted friends;
CONSIDER OF the lonely:
Bond of the scattered family:
Enlarger Of the common life;
Carrier Of news and knowledge.
Instrument Of trade and industry;
Promoter Of mutual acquaintance,
OF peace and good viii.
Among men and nations.
From the earliest days civilization has
meant communication.
Roman messengers speeding to the
ends of the empire, changed tired
horses for fresh at relay stations on
the roads to Gaul, Britain. Germans
and Spain. These stations were called
posts" and from this significant term
marketing the relay We get today the
nucleus Of our conception Of the world
wide postal seryice-the post ONCE
and every ones friend. the postman.
It was a mail courier who hlazed thu
first train between New York and Bos.
ton. It was q mail coach which brought
into existence the old Boston-New York
Philadelphia Baltimore turnpike, the
first great American highway. Benja-
min Franklin. as Deputy Postmaster
General. made this pest road serving the
scattered Colonial settlements show q
greater income than the principal post
Richard Fairbanks, who conducted an
ONCE In Q Boston tavern In 1883 to re-
ceive letters from ships, was the firSt
Colonial postmaster.
It was In TITS, Q year before the
Declaration Of Independence. that the
postal system Of the American Colonies
was established by the Continental
Congress and placed In charge of Ben
iamin Franklin. Later, when the Con-
stitution was adopted the system was
taken over bodily and made the Post
once Department Of the United States.
BENJAMIN Franklin received the then
munificent salary Of $1,000 q year,
Railroads were patronized by the
postal service from the time the FIRST
few miles OF track were laid. Subsidies
through the postal service made ros-
sihle the maintenance of many of the
early railroads. The railway post ONCE
was adopted in the United States in
1864.
The postal service has always fol-
lowed on the heels Of the pioneer set
tiers IS they advanced westward. Serv-
ice today to Point Barrow, on the
northmost tip of Alaska, and to the
isolated miners in the Businesses Of the
mountains bears out the motto, Where
American citizens 60 the mails co.
0umsned postage was adopted In the
United States in 1847.
1t was the demands of the postal
service which first brought night trains
on the railroads, and the first fast
mail trains" were followed by fast pas
senger trains.
Almost every conceivable type OF
transportation Is used to move the
mails steamboats,, automo-
biles, airplanes, motor boats. wagons,
horses. pneumatic tubes, belt conyeyers.
motor cycles. bicycles. the sleds of the
Arctic and even the dog car" There
are now more than $500 automobiles
In operation carrying the mails. Air
ports and landing fields are being estab-
lished everywhere to accommodate air
mail pilots. with the herald of this type
Of intrepid possman the world hero
Lindhergh, who climaxes the vision OF
Or. Eliot In the creed of the postal
serviee-"prornoter of peace and good
viii among men and nations"
y = 4
Representative Rogers Of Massaehu-
sets has q number Of distinctions. One
OF the little ones that have been kept
something Of secret Is that she Is the
only member Of Congress on the ton
floor OF the House Once Building Ia
have . roll-top desk. II Is the desk
which her late husband had while he
was her predecessor In Congress. It has
been In use by Mr. and Mrs. Rogers con-
| tinu0uSly since 1914