Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 December 1894 — MAILS OF TWO NATIONS. [ARTICLE]

MAILS OF TWO NATIONS.

England's Postal Service Compared with That of the United States. Tiie report of the Postmaster General furnishes an opportunity to make an interesting comparison between the postal service of the United States and that of Great Britain, and the curious features of each, which will correct some popular misapprehensions. The following table furnishes a summary of the services of both countries: Great United „ , Britain. States, lopulatlon 38,000,000 65,000,000 No. of postofflees.. 20,016 69 085 No. of employes... 74,819 101,090 Ao. of women eni..Ployed ■. 10,908 Unknown No. of money order offices 11,107 19,264 value of orders is$143,604,245 $165,235,129 Total receipts of service $52,120,000 $75,050,479 Total cost Of serd vl £C 838,787,115 $84,324,414 Profit to governT uient $13,332,885 Loss to government " .... S 9 935 Total No. letters ” ' ’ ' x handled 1,911,800.000 2,852,220,000 No. dead letters... 6,259,017 6.953,735 Returned to writer 5,397,866 2,231 516 Sent to original address 116,540 58,895 Returned to foreign countries.. .. 210,310 590,787 Could not be delivered .•- 504,301 4,077,537Ao. of lotte I*B posted without addr’s 34,000 30,939 Posted without address containing a money 2.011 No record Amount contained. $20,000 535.255 Registered pieces, total number..,. 11,742.352 15,050.554 Total number could not be delivered. 207,374 1,642 Great Britain has three-fifths as many people as the United States, but they are confined to an area of 121,000 square miles. We have three and one-half times as many postoffices, but they are scattered over an area of 3,501,-109 square miles, which accounts for the difference in the cost of the postal service. The British Government makes a profit of more than $13,000,000 out of her mails every year, while we lose an average of $5,500,000. The deficit during the last year in the United States was larger than ever before and $2,000,000 more than the estimate of the Postmaster General, which was due to the decrease in receipts caused by the financial depression and the falling off in trade. The deficit in 1890 was $5,048,019, and in 1893 $5,177,171. It will be'noticed, top, that there are many more employes in the British service than in that of the United States in proportion to the amount of business transacted, although they are paid much less. This is accounted for also by the fact that the British postal system includes the telegraph, savings banks, and other extra features. The average salary of the British postal employe is not more than one-half of that paid for the same service in the United States. The 101,096 employes in the United States postal service are divided as follows: Postmasters, 69,805; clerks. 12,674; carriers, 11,736; railway mail agents, 6,881. There is no record of the number of women employed in our service. The British use the money order more than the people of the Uijited States, but it will be seen from the figures in the table above that the two countries write about the same number of letters annually. Representatives of the Senator Stanford estate have foreclosed a mortgage or< property which belonged to the estate of Dr. J. B. P. Stillman, an old-time friend of Senator Stanford. The dress of the 4-year-old daughter of David McCord, living at Odon, near Washington, Ind., caught fire from a grate and she was burned to death.