MAIL SERVICE IN THE UNITED STATES
Rubey, Thomas L.
Mail Service In The United States m Development Of A Government Function That Serves People With Increased Facilities; Air Service To Be Feature 0} The Future By THOMAS L. RUBEY (Congressman from...
...In the early days every one had to take his letters to the post office in his city, town, or village...
...in 1914, $1,200...
...A few years ago we passed a law making pro...
...Since that time city delivery has been established in about 2,000 cities, requiring more than 35,000 carriers to do the work efficiently...
...The success of the experiment is evidenced by the fact that the last Congress appropriated nearly $70,000,000 for this purpose, and there are now more than 43,000 rural mail carriers making daily delivery to the farmhouses throughout the country, distributing letters, packages, and papers to more than 28,000,-000 people...
...For several years the system has been practically self-supporting...
...Post offices were created and the mail was carried by post from one principal city to another...
...in 1907, $900...
...comparatively few of these go astray or become lost...
...vision for the use of steel cars and providing for the gradual elimination of all wooden mail cars...
...the salaries paid to the carriers were very meager...
...The message to be conveyed was written on one side, the letter was then folded with the reading matter on the inside, sealed with sealing wax or paste, and the address written on the outside...
...It requires eight planes to „ carry the mail daily over these routes, flying 1,906 miles each day, carrying an average of 2,100 pounds of first-class mail—84,000 letters, over 30,000,000 letters annually...
...The first test was made from three cities in West Virginia—Charleston, Uvilla, and Hall-town...
...Some 35 or 40 Members who had introduced bills got together and after a number of meetings and after very careful consideration agreed upon a bill and instructed Mr...
...The Rural Route Service, inaugurated as an experiment, was begun very conservatively...
...across the river, in full view, on the crest of the hill in Arlington Cemetery, stood the historic home of Robert E. Lee, while to the north a short distance towered the great Washington monument...
...not have enough left, even with the incret^HB are now giving him, to maintain himseljHffd family in comfort...
...That being the case, it is up to Congress to determine how that money can be spent to the best advantage...
...At first the maximum amount that anyone could have on deposit in a postal savings bank was $1,000, but in 1918 Congress increased this amount to $2,500...
...Envelopes were not in general use...
...Postal Money-Order System THE use of the postal money order as a means of remitting safely through the mails small sums of money came into use as early as 1864...
...In the Sixty-fourth Congress we began to get results, and after a vigorous fight in both House and Senate we got through the act of July 11, 1916, providing the following sums of money to be spent in cooperation with the States: Five million dollars for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1917, $10,000,000 for 1918, $15,-000,000 for 1919, $20,000,000 for 1920, and $25,-000,000 for 1921...
...In the early days of the Republic Congress passed laws and appropriated money for the construction and maintenance of public highways...
...Within a very short time the air service will reach from coast to it will be established between the cities of the country, and in a few years will extend from this country to Panama and on to South America...
...New York and Washington, established May 15, 1918, a distance of 218 miles, time two and one-half to three hours...
...Air Service To Be Feature 0} The Future By THOMAS L. RUBEY (Congressman from Missouri) THE HIGH cost of living affects the rural carrier more than any other postal employee, for the reason that he has to ca~re not^ only for himself and family but he must also feed his teams and keep up his equipment...
...It was also customary in those early days to send letters through the mail without prepaying the postage...
...Samuel Osgood was the first Postmaster General under the Constitution, appointed September 26, 1789...
...This experiment was a decided success...
...Promptly at the appointed time, 10:40 a. m., the plane, filled to its capacity with mail and driven by an expert Army aviator, started on its way, first running along the ground on its wheels or a short distance, then gradually rising, it circled above the crow 1 and, amidst the plaudits of the vast multitude, ft took its course like a huge bird straight for its destination, the city of New York, 218 miles sway...
...Many Members of the House introduced bills upon that important subject, but to my former colleague from Missouri, Hon...
...Congress very promptly made provision for carrying into effect this authority by creating and establishing the Post Office Department...
...A letter in those days consisted of a* single sheet of paper...
...in 1900, $500...
...Shaw happened to be in the office of the Postmaster General, Cave Johnson, when the first delivery of stamps was made by the contractor, and that Mr...
...The primary object o£ a star route is to carry the mail from one post office to another and incidentally to deliver mail to people living along the route...
...This' was first accomplished in the large cities...
...Rivers from the floor above...
...In 1897 the maximum amount paid to any carrier was $300 per annum...
...There are a great many postmasters who receive less than $100 a year...
...The Postal System is therefore one of the oldest institutions of our Government...
...Since that time increases have been made from time to time...
...The rate of postage then depended not only upon the size of the letter but also upon the distance the letter was carried...
...Under this provision star-route carriers have been able to get some little measure of relief...
...Star Routes Inaugurated STAR ROUTES have been in existence under one name or another ever since we have had a Postal System...
...More than 90 per cent of all the receipts come from the sale of postage stamps...
...A DOG'S LIFE Rivers has come home and was stumbling over things in the dark hallway...
...Air Mail Service ON May 15, 1918, I Witnessed a scene I shall never forget...
...Stamped envelopes came into use in 1853, registered letters in 1885, postal cards in 1873, and the special-delivery service in 1885...
...Parcel Post System AGREAT, advanced step was taken when the parcel-post law was passed...
...Government Aid to Post Roads rpHERE is nothing that will benefit the rural 1 mail service as much as the improvement of the roads over which the mail is now carried or over which the mail may be carried in the future...
...The President was there, accompanied by members of his Cabinet...
...For several years the system has been practically-self-supporting...
...Members of Congress have received many letters during the last two or three years, calling their attention to the increased cost of living and asking that their compensation be increased...
...FOR A LONG time the people in the country had to go many miles to get their mail...
...The Postal Savings System was inaugurated in January, 1911, as a means of encouraging people of small means to save their earnrhgs...
...The purpose of establishing rural delivery was extending to those residing in the farming communities, as far as practicable, those same advantages and conveniences of mail service that had been enjoyed by those residing in the cities...
...Conditions have greatly changed since the postal salaries were fixed a number of years ago, and Congress finds itself face to face with the problems of making such necessary increases as will give to the employee a just and reasonable compensation for his labor and, if possible enable him to lay up something for the future...
...That policy was discontinued and more than a hundred years elapsed before Congress again assumed the great and important function of aiding the States in the construction of public roads...
...Only a few years ago, in 1896, Congress made available $40,000 to be used as an experiment in the establishing of rural routes...
...It is said that Mr...
...called Mrs...
...in 1911, $1,000...
...In the early days of the Republic Congress passed laws and appropriated money for the construction and maintenance of public highways...
...When our bill reached the Senate, however, it was stricken out of the Post Office appropriation bill, and in its place was -substituted a provision for the appointment of a commission to investigate the question of Government aid to post roads, and an appropriation of $500,-000 was made to enable the Secretary of Agriculture and the Postmaster General jointly 'to carry on some experiments iu the construction of post roads...
...In the next Congress, the Sixty-third, another good-roads bill was taken up and passed by the House...
...Members of Congress are anxious to see this service extended from year to year...
...Three air service man routes have been established...
...During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1918, there were 122,004,447 money orders issued, amounting to $194,649,519.15, from which the Government received $6,138,197.42 in revenue...
...The prepayment of postage was not required by law until 1855...
...in 1902, $600...
...Recognizing that star-route carriers had a just cause of complaint, because of the changed conditions which had come upon them by reason of the increased cost of food, feed, and living generally, Congress inserted in the post office appropriation bill in 19*8 a provision which authorized the Postmaster General to investigate the conditions arousing from contracts in star routes, and authorized him to adjust their compensation...
...The money used in defraying the expense of the Post Office Department comes from those who use the mails...
...The maximum salary is $1,000 per annum, but only a very few receive that amount, while a very large number receive only a few hundred dollars...
...The marvelous development of the mail car service is but another illustration of the great progress of the Postal Service along many lines...
...In these cars the clerks work day and night distributing mail while the trains are traveling sometimes at a high rate of speed...
...That bill was not acted upon by the Senate, so that nothing was accomplished in the way of road legislation in that Congress...
...In fact, a very large part of the letters were so sent and the person receiving the letter paid the postage...
...Soon thereafter the Continental Congress, on July ¦36, 1775, established a postal system and placed it in charge of Mr...
...The use of railway mail cars was tried out in 1862, over the Hannibal & St...
...entire rural population of the United States...
...That being the case, it is up to Congress to determine how that money can be spent to the best advantage...
...Every* new car put into the service new must be constructed of steel, and more than half the cars now in use are either in part or entirely of steel construction...
...There are today in the service, in round numbers, 10,000 first, second, and third class postmasters, taken all together, while there are 4^,000 fourth-class postmasters...
...but the Postmaster General shall not be bound to consider the bid of any person who has willfully or negligently failed to perform a former contract...
...Thus, after long year sof effort, we see the Congress giving valuable aid to the States and through the states to the counties and communities in the building of public roads...
...What are you growling about, dear...
...Cleveland to Chicago, established May 15, 1919, distance 325 miles, time three and one-half to four hours...
...I quote the provision of the statute enacted many years ago: All contracts for carrying the mail shall be in the name of the United States, and shall be awarded to the lowest bidder tendering sufficient guarantee for faithful performance, without other reference to the mode of transportation than may be necessary to provide for due celerity, certainty, and security thereof...
...This service is a hazardous one, and Congress has by legislation sought to safeguard the clerks as much as possible...
...When the Revolution came Franklin was dismissed because of his affiliation with the American cause...
...That policy was discontinued and more than a hundred years elapsed before Congress again assumed the great and important function of aiding the States in the construction of public roads...
...and New York to Cleveland, established July 1, 1919, distance 4110 miles, time four and one-half to five hours...
...Postage stamps were first issued by the Government in 1847...
...The rural carrier, after paying these necessary expenses.^ml...
...How different conditions today are...
...Dorsey W. Schackleford, belongs more credit than to any other member...
...There were just two denominations—the 5-cent stamp, which bore the portrait of Franklin, and the 10-cent stamp, which bore the portrait of Washington...
...In 1918 we authorized the Postmaster General to make experiments in the use of the parcel post in the marketing of farm products, and made an appropriation for that purpose...
...Under the provisions of this bill the maximum salary will be $1,700...
...There is no doubt but that we have gone beyond the billion-dollar mark in the domestic money-order business of the country...
...That bill was sent to the Committee on Agriculture...
...i The fourth-class postmasters are acknowledged by all to be the poorest paid employees of the Government...
...His untiring' energy and his zeal and determination to secure legTHERE is nothing that will benefit the rural mail service as much as the improvement of the roads over which the mail is now carried or over which the mail may be carried in the future...
...Shackleford to introduce it...
...The official figures for the last fiscal year are not yet available, but the estimated transactions for that year, based on increases of approximately 9.24 and 22 per cent, respectively, are as follows: Money orders issued, 132,587,000...
...As early as 1737 Benjamin Franklin was made postmaster at Philadelphia and had supervision over some of the other offices in the Colonies...
...The mails were transmitted from post office to post office by the Government but everybody had to go to his post office to get his mail...
...I am growling," he answered in his deepest bass voice, "to drown the barking of my shins...
...in 1904, $720...
...The railway mail car has become a traveling post office, and there are now in use 5,647 such cars...
...It has had a very remarkable growth, as it is now universally used to send money from one section of the country to another...
...If he uses an automobile, he must pay three times as much for his gasoline, and correspondingly high for tires and other repairs...
...The prices he has to pay for corn, oats, hay, and feed of every kind are higher than ever before...
...City carriers were first inaugurated in the city of New York in 1864...
...On June 30, 1919, there was on deposit in these banks, in round numbers, $167,000,000...
...The Sixty-fifth Congress amended the act of July 11, 1916, and supplemented the appropriations made therein by $50,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1919, $75,000,000 for 1920, and $75,000,000 for 1921, all of said money to be spent in cooperation with the States...
...Could those three great Americans have viewed that remarkable scene in Potomac Park on that beautiful day in May, a little more than a year ago, their hearts would have been filled with pride at the progress and the development of this their beloved country...
...More than 90 per cent of all the receipts come from the sale of postage stamps...
...and in February, 1919, $1,500...
...Franklin...
...It is related that the first stamps sold by the Government were purchased by Henry Shaw, the father of Henry Shaw, jr., the noted humorist who wtote and lectured under the name of Josh Billings...
...I remember well that when I was a small boy they used to send me to town, some three miles away, to get the mail...
...In 1918 there were 10,958 star routes in operation, at a cost of a little more than $8,000,000...
...Railway Mail Car Service THERE are so many features connected with the progress and development of our great Postal System that it is impossible to go into details with each one...
...To this must be added increased cost on the necessary repairs to his equipment...
...Here city carriers were provided and the mail delivered daily to the very door of the citizens...
...Millions of letters, cards, packages, etc., pass through the mails every day, and so perfect has the system become that but THE money used in defraying the expenses of the Post Office Department comes from those who use the mails...
...They must furnish their own fixtures and a place in which to conduct the business...
...These postmasters serve in the smaller towns and- villages in the country communities...
...Let me briefly recount the history of this legislation...
...Our foiefathers when they framed the Constitution recognized the importance of this becoming a great governmental function, and very wisely gave to Congress control over it when they w.ote into that instrument the provision, "Congress shall have power to establish post offices and post roads...
...She went by the' name of "Old Pony," and many is the time I have ridden Old Pony over what was then to me a long, lonely road, to get the mail and bring back the country papers...
...The routes were started the same day, October 1, 1896...
...The first.good-roads bill to pass Congress in recent years was passed in the Sixty-Becond Congress...
...Senators, Representatives, and people from almost every walk of life came to witness the inauguration of the use of aeroplanes fur carrying the mail...
...In time, however, the system was perfected and brought to a high point of efficiency...
...The routes are self-supporting and the Post Office Department is actively engaged in planning additional routes...
...In the act of February, 1919, we authorized him to inaugurate the experiment of operating motor-vehicle truck routes, in order to facilitate the collection and delivery of food from the producer to the consumer, and to aid in the delivery to the producer of articles needed in production...
...It has been taken advantage of principally by the wage earners in the large labor centers of the country...
...The first of these country motor-express routes was inaugurated July 1. A few weeks ago, when Congress had under consideration the resolution relative to the sale of the food held by the War Department, we inserted a provision authorizing the War Department to use the parcel post in the sale and distribution of that food, and it is to-day being used extensively for that purpose...
...islation upon this subject was an inspiration to his colleagues...
...in 1912, $1,100...
...Conditions have greatly changed since the postal salaries were fixed a number of years ago, and Co-gress finds itself face to face with the problems of making such necessary increases as will give to the employee a just and reasonable compensation for his labor, and, if possible, enable him to lay up something for the future...
...If i letter consisted of two sheets, double postage was charged, and if thrse sheets were used, three times the amount was charged, and so on...
...In 1898 the maximum salary was made $400...
...amount of same, $1,120,500,000...
...revenue received $7,487,-000...
...The compensation paid at these smaller offices is so small that it is getting to be very difficult for the department to secure anyone to fill them...
...A few hundred yards away was he great me moral erected to the memory of the immortal Lincoln...
...Beginnings of Our Postal System DURING the colonial days England established in a limited way a postal system among the Colonies...
...A vast crowd assembled on the aviation field on the banks of the historic Potomac in the city of Washington...
...The department has grown and developed until today it is the one department of the Government that is brought into close touch with every citizen of the Republic...
...While the gcod roads men of the House were disappointed by this action, yet we were encouraged, because a beginning had been made, and some legislation had been secured...
...Our own system in America therefore dates from July 26, 1775...
...The very nature of their service demands that they be at their offices many hours each day in order that the people may be accommodated...
...It is impossible to get relief for star-route carriers, no matter however great their necessities may be, for the reason that these routes are let by contract...
...After careful consideration by the subcommittee and some changes, we reported it back with a favorable report and the Agriculture Committee in turn reported it to the House with the recommendation that it be passed...
...I had the distinguished honor of presiding over the House of Representatives during the several days it was under consideration...
...My grandfather owned a pony, noted for her gentleness as well as for her extreme old age...
...Joseph Railway in my own State of Missouri...
...Shaw asked permission to purchase one of each kind...
...Postage Stamps Were Unknown TO-DAY millions of stamps of various kinds and denominations are in daily use and it is hard to believe that there was a time when stamps were not used and when postage wa3 paid in actual money...
...In order to expedite its passage it was offered as an amendment to the Post Office appropriation bill...
...Rural Routes Are Started...
...In 1916 we wrote into the law this provision: That rural mail service shall be extended so as to serve, as nearly as practicable, the...
...The bill was then by that committee referred to a subcommittee, of which I had the honor of being chairman...
...There is no department of the Government that comes in such close contact with all the people as the Post Office Department...
...The system was inaugurated January 1, 1913, and to-day packages 'to the number of 4,000,000 are distributed 'daily throughout the country, and delivered not only to those who reside in the cities, but also to the farmers residing out upon the rural routes...
Vol. 12 • January 1920 • No. 1
