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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
“The post office led in the unification of the colonists. Paul Revere was the confidential post rider of Massachusetts. The tea party in Boston Harbor would have been but a neighborhood affair but for the agency of the post office and the patriotic publishers who spread the news up and down the Atlantic coast.
“The postal service did more than any one other agency to unify and unite the colonists. It brought their interests and endeavors to a common meeting point. It brought the leading men and women to know and exchange ideas one with another. Printing presses were established about the same time that the postal service was begun in America. Postmasters enjoyed the privilege of sending their mail free of postage, so most postmasters became publishers. In this way the news of the doings of the various jealous colonists was disseminated and the opinions of these early postmaster-publishers were given wide circulation. It added an incentive to trade and intercourse. By making the colonists acquainted it dissipated jealousies. The growth of the post office from the humble beginning of a sturdy carrier from New York to Boston loaded with ‘divers letters and small portable packages’ (you see they had parcel post even in those days), solidified the colonists and made their independence possible.”
Post Offices and Post Roads Established
During the Continental Government, the receipts of all the post offices did not exceed $35,000 and in 1789 were $10,000 less. February 20, 1792, an act was passed establishing post offices and post roads within the United States, the first general law. The contracts made were to run eight years and the salary of the Postmaster General was increased to $2,000, and $1,000 for his Assistant. The original number of post offices (that is for the first year) was seventy-five and the mail routes less than 2,000 miles over which mails were carried by horse, stage, or sailing packets. In 1795, the number of postoffices had increased to 453, and the routes to over 13,000, and the net revenue to over $42,000. This closes the period of Continental management, except ordinary details and changes which bore no relation to any especial object or purpose.
The Period of Progress
From 1801 dates the great advance in modern methods, ideas and accomplishment. It then occupied forty days to get a letter from Portland, Me., to Savannah, Ga., and bring back an answer, and forty-four at Philadelphia for a reply to one addressed to Nashville, Tenn. Ten years later the time had been reduced to twenty-seven and thirty days. By 1810 there were over 2,400 post offices and the post routes covered over 37,000 miles. Marked improvements began soon after this period. The office of Second Assistant Postmaster General was created and the scale of postages changed. Single letters of one piece were charged from 8 to 25 cents, according to distance. Sunday delivery of mail at post offices was inaugurated about that time in the face of great objection from the religious bodies of the country, the strife being kept up for many years.
In 1813 the mails were first conveyed in steamboats from one port town to another, the Government paying 3 cents for each letter and 1 cent for newspapers. The postal laws of 1816 made a further change in postage which lasted until 1845. The new scale charged letters consisting of one piece of paper, not going over 30 miles, 6 cents; not over 80 miles, 10 cents; not over 150 miles, 12½ cents, and not over 400 miles, 18¾ cents, and for greater distances, 25 cents. On the ninth of March, 1829, Hon. William T. Barry, of Kentucky, was commissioned Postmaster General by President Jackson, and called to a seat in his Cabinet, being the first Postmaster General to receive that honor.
Postage Stamps Introduced
Early in 1836, pony expresses as they were called, were put into operation on the principal turnpike roads of the Southern and Western States for the purpose of carrying letters of persons desiring greater expedition, press news and Government dispatches, at triple the ordinary rates, but the experiment was abandoned, not proving profitable. In July, 1838, the Department was reorganized and an Auditor appointed. The office of Third Assistant Postmaster General was also created at that time. Railroads were declared post routes by act of Congress, in July, 1838, and the mails carried upon them. Postage stamps of the five-and ten-cent denominations with the faces of Franklin and Washington, respectively, were introduced in 1847. Previously all postages were collected entirely in money, prepayment being optional. July, 1851, a new series of stamps was adopted, consisting at first of denominations of 1 and 3 cents, but afterwards of larger amounts.
Progressive Steps Taken
Rapidly sketched for reference, the more important progressive steps that followed show that during the administration of President Tyler, while Hon. Charles A. Wickliffe, of Kentucky, was Postmaster General, many reforms were instituted, such as cheapening the postage, improving the manner of letting routes by contract, prohibiting private expresses, and restricting the franking privilege. Prior to this period, letters were not rated by weight but by enclosures. For instance, a letter containing three banknotes for which the single letter charge would be 18¾ cents for over 150 miles, was then charged 75 cents, the inclosure making it a quadruple letter. Under the new system the rate was measured by the weight, all weighing not over half an ounce were regarded as single letters and carried for 5 cents for distances not over 300 miles and 10 cents for greater distances. In 1850 the “foreign desk,” from which ultimately grew the admirable arrangement of the Postal Union, was instituted by Hon. Horatio King, of Maine. Through the efforts of Judge Hall, of New York, Postmaster General under President Fillmore, the postage on letters was reduced to 3 cents. The registration system came in under Postmaster General Campbell, of Pennsylvania, during the administration of President Pierce. The Free Delivery Service was inaugurated in 1863 by Hon. Montgomery Blair, of Maryland, also the money order system in 1864, in Lincoln’s administration. The Railway Mail Service dates from July, 1862, when Judge Holt, of Kentucky, ordered its establishment, the first railway postoffice being from Quincy, Ill., to St. Joseph, Mo., on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railway.
Historical Data
A summary of historical data covering some of the principal features of postal progress may be given in chronological order as follows: Postage stamps first issued at New York, July, 1847; stamped envelopes first issued, June, 1853; letters registered, July, 1855; newspaper wrappers, Act of Congress, February, 1861; Free City Delivery, July, 1863; Money Order System, November, 1864; International Money Orders, October, 1867; Postal Cards, May, 1873; Postage reduced to 2 cents, October, 1883; Special Delivery, October, 1885; Rural Delivery, October, 1896; Postal Savings, January, 1911; Parcel Post, January, 1913.
The maximum number of post offices in the United States, 76,945, was reached in 1901, since which time by the introduction of rural delivery the number has steadily declined, 21,011 having been discontinued. July, 1916, there were 55,934 in operation. Extent of post routes in miles in 1790 was 1,875. In 1915 the number was 1,672,169. The miles of service performed in 1915 amounted to 617,527,795. The entire compensation paid to postmasters in 1789 was $1,657. In 1916 the estimated amount was $31,150,000.
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