ТОП просматриваемых книг сайта:
The American Postal Service. Louis Melius
Читать онлайн.Название The American Postal Service
Год выпуска 0
isbn 4064066233952
Автор произведения Louis Melius
Жанр Документальная литература
Издательство Bookwire
Penny Postage Attempted
The income from the post office in 1643 was but 5,000 pounds. Ultimately the posts both inland and foreign were farmed out to John Manley for 10,000 pounds a year by an agreement made in 1653. About this time an attorney of York, named John Hill, ventured upon the plan of placing relays of post horses between that city and London and undertook to convey letters and parcels at half the former charge. He aimed to establish penny postage for England, two-penny postage for Scotland, and a four-penny postage for Ireland. But the post office was regarded in that day as a means of revenue and incidentally of political espionage and government did not approve of such individual enterprise. His letter carriers were literally trampled down by Cromwell’s soldiers, and the enterprising attorney narrowly escaped severe punishment. Another attempt at penny postage for London was established by William Duckwra, a custom house employe, and Robert Murray, a clerk in the excise office. Duckwra carried for a penny and registered and insured, both letters and parcels up to a pound in weight and $10 in value. He established hourly collections and ten deliveries daily for the central parts of London and six for the suburbs. The Duke of York had, however, a patent covering this service and suits were laid against him which put an end to his enterprise.
The systematic employment of women in post office and telegraph service was for a long time an experiment and a problem, but it afterwards proved a success. Under new regulations in 1870, women were employed as telegraphists for eight hours daily with pay according to age, intelligence and practical experience. At the close of 1880, there were a thousand women so employed in the cities of London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, and nearly as many in minor postal positions throughout the Kingdom.
General Post Office at London
The necessary authority for the establishment of a general post office at London to cover the British dominions, including the American Colonies, was given by act of Parliament in 1657. Under this act the postal affairs of England were conducted for a great length of time with but little if any improvement. It was not until the memorable pamphlet of Sir Rowland Hill was issued in 1837 that any real progress was made or any attempt made worthy of mention. Postal conditions were so unsatisfactory that he made the whole subject a matter of profound inquiry and his pamphlet on “Postal Reform” stirred the nation and led to a complete reformation of the entire postal system and was the beginning of the British post office as we see it today.
The important events in English postal history given above and that which follows in chronological order are abridged from the Encyclopedia Brittanica, 1891—1720, organization of cross roads and rural posts; 1753, establishment of post office in American Colonies under Benjamin Franklin; 1774, improved mail coaches and organized mail routes; 1821, first conveyance of mail by steam-packet; 1830, first mail coach by railway; 1834, postage stamps invented by James Chalmers, Dundee, Scotland; 1835, overland route to India; 1838, Postal money order system; 1840, general and uniform penny postage (per half ounce); 1855, first street letter boxes put up in London; 1856, Postal Guide issued; 1861, Postal Savings Banks instituted; 1870, transfer of telegraph to state and postal cars introduced; 1881, postal orders issued; 1883, parcel post established.
French and German Postal History
The French Postal System was founded by Louis XI in 1464. It was largely extended by Charles IX, 1565, and generally improved under Henry IV and Louis XIII. Napoleon abolished the board system by which the French service was then conducted and recommitted the business to a postmaster general as it had been under Louis XIII. Napoleon greatly improved the service in all its details, and the measures he adopted and the reforms he introduced in 1802 remained in force for many years afterward and are probably in use now with such additions as developments suggested. The most important reforms in French Postal History were the extension of postal facilities to all the communes, effected under Charles X, 1829; adoption of postage stamp, 1849, under Louis Napoleon. Issue of postal notes to bearer, 1860; Postal Savings Banks, instituted 1880.
The development of the Prussian or present German postal system was mainly due to Dr. Stephan, who was also the chief organizer of the International Postal Union. This Prussian system, incorporated into the admirably organized post and telegraph service of the empire, began with the Great Elector, 1646. In Strasburg a messenger code existed as early as 1443. A postal service was organized at Nuremberg in 1570. The first mail steam packet was built in 1821; the first transmission of mails by railway was in 1847; telegraph service in postal affairs, 1849. A regular delivery by letter carriers attached to the state postal system existed in Berlin as early as 1712.
These principal items of postal history concerning France and Germany are condensed from the excellent articles upon the subject as found in the Encyclopedia Brittanica, edition of 1891, as well as the information on English postal history, for which acknowledgment is made in its proper place relating to the Postal History of Great Britain.
The American Colonial Period
The earliest attempt to provide postal facilities for the colonies was in 1672 when Governor Lovelace, of the New York colony, established monthly service between New York and Boston. An office was later established at Philadelphia from which weekly mail was received and sent. By the signing of letters patent in 1691 the control of the American posts was vested in Thomas Neale, commonly called the “Neale Patent.” In that year Neale and the Royal Postmasters General appointed Andrew Hamilton, Postmaster General of America. All the colonies except Virginia cooperated with him in improving and extending the service. A weekly post was established between Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Boston, Saybrook, New York, Philadelphia, Maryland and Virginia. Five riders were engaged to cover each of the five stages twice a week. In 1707 the crown purchased the good will of the American post and continued John Hamilton, the son of Andrew, in that office at an annual salary of 200 pounds. In the year 1737, Franklin became postmaster at Philadelphia and generally supervised the other offices of the colonies. In 1753 he was one of the deputy Postmasters General, but was dismissed in 1774 by Governor Hutchinson, of Massachusetts, because of his adherence to the patriotic cause.
Under the Continental Congress
But Franklin was not to remain idle for when the Continental Congress met at its second session at Philadelphia, July 26, 1775, they resolved to have a post office system of their own and he was selected to carry on the work. A salary of $1,000 per annum was voted him with permission to employ a secretary and a comptroller with a salary of $340 per annum to each, and a line of posts ordered established from Falmouth, New England, to Savannah, Ga., with postages 20 per centum less than those afforded by parliament. However, Franklin’s great diplomatic ability soon secured him a transfer to a wider field of usefulness and his son-in-law, Richard Bache, who had been comptroller, was named to succeed him. The ledger kept by this gentleman is still preserved among the archives of the Department. It consists of about 3 quines of foolscap, written over in a neat and legible hand. Ebenezer Hazard, who had been the Constitutional postmaster at New York, so termed to distinguish him from the British deputy at that place, was appointed to succeed him. In 1782, an act was passed by the Colonial Congress establishing a line of posts between New Hampshire and Georgia, the salary of the deputies not to exceed 20 per cent of the revenues. The rate of postage at that time on letters weighing not over 1 penny-weight and going not more than 60 miles was equal to 5½ cents and a proportionate charge for greater weights and distances.
The Crown Postmasters
In a well-written article in the Washington, D. C., Evening Star, of July 26, 1913, upon the occasion of the celebration of the one hundred and thirty-eighth year of the American postal service, the activities or self-assumed powers of the English or crown postmasters and its effect in encouraging the independent sentiment of the time was stated as follows:
“These crown postmasters had, or at least they exercised, the right of ‘spying’ upon the mails intrusted to their care. This made it difficult and dangerous for the liberty-loving colonists to communicate with each other. The zealous representatives of England also professed to exercise a supervising