POSTOFFICE DEPARTMENT 



4790 



POSTOFFICE DEPARTMENT 



The postal sen-ice of Great Britain and Iiv- 

 land is under the direction of the P> 

 General, who is a member of the Privy Coun- 

 cil and of the Cabinet. He is the only official 

 in the department who ivsigns with the Cabi- 

 net, all other emj ' .ng under the civil 

 service regulations There are about 250,000 

 employees, divided among 25,000 post of:' 

 and in normal times the total number of letters 

 deli\ - 3.500,000,000, over 

 Qty per h> .id of population. 



All other countries have- modeled their sys- 

 ifl to some extent on that of Great Britain. 

 The Prussian postoffice was first established 

 in 1646. and later other German states adopted 

 similar plans. Until the beginning of the nine- 

 teenth century the office of Postmaster-General 

 of the Empire was hereditary in the family of 

 the counts of Thurn and Taxis, and all postal 

 ice, though nominally under government 

 control, was practically a private enterprise. 

 Later the north German states formed a postal 

 union, which was superseded in 1871 by the 

 present system, in which the states retain the 

 management of their own postal service, except 

 that they use the same stamps and together 

 form an imperial postal district. Only Bavaria 

 and Wiirttemberg have separate issues of 

 stamps. The German service has over 40,000 

 post offices, with 250,000 employees, and in nor- 

 mal times handles each year about 3,500,000,000 

 letters. The number of postcards used, over 

 2,000,000,000 a year, is more than are handled in 

 any other country. 



The French postoffice dates from the year 

 1464, and as early as 1643 included a parcel 

 post. During the Franco-German War the 

 Postoffice Department transmitted letters des- 

 tined for Paris first by carrier pigeon and later 

 by balloon. The French service to-day has 

 about 15,000 post offices, handling each year 

 approximately 3,500,000,000 pieces of mail mat- 

 ter, including 1,500,000,000 letters. Statistics 

 for the Russian postal service are few, but it 

 is estimated that the number of letters deliv- 

 ered is about the same as in France, although 

 other classes of mail matter are much less im- 

 portant. 



In the United States. This one postal system 

 is greater than that of any European country. 

 The number of letters delivered each year in 

 the United States is from twelve to fifteen bil- 

 lion greater than that of Great Britain, Ger- 

 many, France and Russia combined. There are 

 over 56,000 post offices and more than 300,000 

 employees, who handle one-third of the total 



postal business of all the civilized nations. The 

 United States postal service handles from 750,- 

 000 to 850,000 letters every hour of the day 

 and night, every day in the year. It issues and 

 pays each day about 250,000 money orders, 

 and registers 125,000 letters and parrels. The 

 annual receipts average $300,000,000, or about $3 

 for each man, woman and child in the country; 

 the expenditure for the service is always greater 

 than the receipts. The average distance trav- 

 eled by pieces of mail matter is 700 miles. The 

 entire vast system is under the control of the 

 Postoffice Department, one of the executive 

 departments of the government, whose head. 

 the Postmaster-General, is a member of the 

 President's Cabinet. 



Development. The earliest record of a post- 

 office in North America appears in the general 

 court or assembly of Massachusetts in 1639, 

 when the house of a certain Richard Fairbanks 

 was 



"appointed for all letters, which are brought 

 from beyond the seas, or are sent thither, to 

 be left with him, and he is to take care that 

 they are to be delivered or sent according to 

 direction." 



Nearly twenty years later a postal service was 

 established in Virginia, and in 1672 a monthly 

 post between New York and Boston was put 

 into operation. In 1691 a royal patent vested 

 in one Thomas Neale the right to operate an 

 intercolonial postal service, and from this event 

 dates the real beginning of the postoffice in 

 America. Service was begun in 1693, the post- 

 riders traveling from Portsmouth, N. H., to 

 several points in Virginia, taking many days 

 for the journey. In 1707 the Crown purchased 

 the good-will of this private organization, and 

 until 1775 managed the colonial service as a 

 branch of the general postoffice in London. 

 The development of this service is intimately 

 associated with Benjamin Franklin, who from 

 1753 to 1774 was deputy Postmaster-General 

 for the colonies. Franklin was removed from 

 office in the latter year because he had earned 

 the government's displeasure by signing a peti- 

 tion for the removal of Governor Hutchinsou 

 of Massachusetts. The patriotic movement 

 was then so far advanced, however, that the 

 colonies organized an intercolonial service of 

 their own. 



During the Revolutionary War the service 

 was more or less disorganized, and it was not 

 until 1794 that the department was put again 

 on a satisfactory basis. Since then the post- 

 office has developed in marvelous fashion; in 



