P HOfcTER'e. C b 
Vol. LXVIII. No. 3092 
NEW YORK, MAY 1, 1909 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR 
PARCEL POST IN GERMANY. 
A Great Public Service. 
Part 1. 
Our plan is to put before our readers the facts regard¬ 
ing the parcels post service in foreign countries. We 
want our people to know what Europeans can do in the 
way of mailage transportation. The first article follows. 
Much of it was printed in the “Ctjlholic Times’’ several 
years ago. It was written by .T. C. Monaghan, former 
United States Consul In Germany, and is endorsed by 
the l’ost Office Department. 
Anyone who has stood in a German post-office at 
the counter where parcels are received for transpor¬ 
tation to places far and near and has seen the con¬ 
stant stream of private carriers—men, women and 
children, pouring in through the doors with pack¬ 
ages' of all descriptions and sizes and lining up in 
never - ending rows be¬ 
fore a half a dozen and 
more receiving officials; 
who has watched heavy 
wagons driving up to 
the doors and deposit¬ 
ing hundreds' of pack¬ 
ages all directed from 
a single manufacturing 
house; and who has no¬ 
ticed the mountains of 
parcels heaped up in the 
rear rooms of the post- 
office cannot but have 
been forcibly struck 
with the magnitude of 
the parcel - post system 
o f transportation i n 
Germany and its im¬ 
mense importance a n d 
value to the industrial 
and commercial inter¬ 
ests of the Empire. The 
writer remembers dis¬ 
tinctly the deep impres¬ 
sion w h i c h t h e first 
sight of this great trans¬ 
portation agency in its 
feverish activity made 
upon him, and his con¬ 
viction that the inaugu¬ 
ration of such a system 
throughout the United 
States would prove an 
inestimable blessing and 
would revolutionize num¬ 
erous cumbrous, time-killing, expensive and incon¬ 
venient, though under present conditions unavoid¬ 
able, methods in the retail business. 
Every package must be accompanied by a parcel- 
post address card about 4x6 inches in size, with 
black print on yellow paper of the strength of a com¬ 
mon postal card. Where a number of packages are 
sent to the* same address three may be sent under 
one address card unless one or more of them are 
also to be registered, insured, or a collection made 
on delivery. In the latter cases every package must 
be accompanied by its own address card. Every 
address card is divided into two parts. A third of 
the card to the left is devoted to the address of the 
sender of the package, the stamp of the receiving 
post office and for any communication that the sender 
may wish to make to the addressee. "This part is 
detached from the rest of the card on the delivery 
of the package and forms a convenient record of 
the day and place of its despatch, name of sender 
and his communication. The other two-thirds' of 
the card contains the address of the intended re¬ 
ceiver of the package, a right-hand upper corner for 
stamps, a blank for the indication of the number or 
character of the packages sent, the weight of the 
package as determined by the receiving official at the 
post office, and a distinguishing number correspond¬ 
ing to that of the parcel and given to if at the post 
office. At the top of the back of the card next to 
the one-third left blank for communications is a 
space for the storage number (if kept in stored for 
any direction of the sender in regard to the delivery 
of the package, and then a place for the signature 
of the receiver in case of insured packages with 
declaration of value. The rest of the card contains 
directions as to its use and the more important regu¬ 
lations respecting the transportation of parcels by 
post office. The address cards may be bought at the 
post-office for the price of the stamp upon them if 
stamped and at the rate of 2D for five cents (20 
pfennige) if unstamped. The use of private cards 
is also permissible provided such cards are made in 
exact imitation of the standard official card. 
The package itself must also be addressed in the 
same manner as the card attached to it. In addition 
it must show whether the package is “registered” or 
to be “delivered per special messenger” or a certain 
amount “collected upon delivery,” etc. In case the 
package consists of a crated, living animal a further 
direction must be stated, as: “If not delivered, re¬ 
turn to -”; or “If not delivered, send to - 
or “If not delivered, sell”; or “If not delivered tele¬ 
graph sender,” etc. All addresses must be written 
plainly with names' in full and street numbers. 
Where packages are insured their full value must 
be written upon the package itself as well as upon 
the card. 
In the case of lighter objects of little value which 
can withstand pressure and which have no moist or 
fatty exterior a simple wrapping of ordinary' paper 
is sufficient. All heavier objects weighing more than 
six pounds or thereabouts must be put up in several 
covers of heavy wrapping paper. Parcels of greater 
value which suffer easily from moisture, pressure or 
rubbing must be covered with oilcloth or pasteboard 
or be packed in boxes covered with heavy lining 
material. Fluids shipped in bottles and flasks must 
be packed in special cases or baskets. Live animals 
must be boxed so as not only to protect them from 
injury but also safeguard the officials who handle 
the cases. 
The packages must also be so tied or sealed that 
the contents cannot be examined without appreciable 
injury to the package. Insured packages with a de¬ 
clared value must be securely sealed by the use of 
sealing-wax and a stamp. In case of specially- 
locked packages or cases' of well-made casks no 
further sealing is required. Detailed regulations gov¬ 
ern the shipment of coins and paper money and 
other valuable paper which require greater safeguards. 
Ordinary parcels arc 
sent only by the accom¬ 
modation trains and not 
by the limited trains. It 
frequently happens, how¬ 
ever, that in case of live 
animals, flowers, etc., 
rapid shipment is highly 
desirable if not abso¬ 
lutely necessary. Pro¬ 
vision is made that on 
condition of the pay- 
m c n t of an excess 
charge of one mark (24 
cents) such parcels will 
be sent on the limited 
trains and delivered on 
their arrival by special 
messenger. In such cases 
the parcel pays the reg¬ 
ular charge which will 
be given presently, plus 
the special messenger 
charge of 10 cents and 
one mark. 
Urgent shipments can¬ 
not be registered or in¬ 
sured. They must be 
easily distinguishable 
through the attachment 
of a special colored card 
with the word “urgent” 
written o r stamped i n 
large letters. The ad¬ 
dress card must be 
marked in like manner. 
Ordinarily a delivery of packages is made from 
the receiving post office twice a day and sometimes 
oftener in large cities. Where a package is to be 
hurried to its' destination a special messenger may 
be sent out in the familiar manner. The charge 
in such cases is 10 cents in case of delivery within 
the city arid 22 cents in case of rural delivery. In¬ 
stead of delivering the entire package the messenger 
may be instructed to deliver the card alone, thereby 
giving notice to me receiver of the arrival of a 
package. In the tatter case the charge is the same 
as in case of the delivery of letters, money orders, 
etc., namely, five cents for city delivery and 15 cents' 
for special rural delivery. If the sender pays the 
special messenger this fact must be recorded on the 
address' card as well as on the package itself in the 
words “Bote bezehlt” (messenger paid). In other 
cases the charge is collected on the delivery of the 
parcel. 
In the absence of a special delivery the parcel is 
taken out to the addressee on the regular daily route 
either in the morning or in the afternoon by the 
parcel-post delivery wagon. The charge for deliv¬ 
ery varies with the weight of the package and its 
THE RURAL MAIL CARRIER—FILL HIS CART WITH PARCELS. Fig. 196. 
