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 352

��The Railway Mail Service,

��THE RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE.*

By Colonel Thomas P. Cheney.

[Superintendent New England Division United States Railway Mail Service.]

��It is not the purpose of this paper to give a history of the growth of this important branch of the government service, so much as to impart, perhaps to an indifferent degree, the methods of its intricate workings, and the care and study employed to expedite the vast correspondence of the country. A system as colossal as the Railway Mail

���railroads in different parts of the country promises within a few years to give great rapidity to the movements of travelers, and it is a subject worthy of inquiry whether measures may now be taken to secure the transportation of the mail upon them. Already have the railroads between Frenchtown in Mary- land and New Castle in Delaware, and

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��-Durrin:

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��YE PASTE MAILE OF YE OLDEN TYME.

��Service of this country is, could not be between Camden and South Amboy in

��organized but through a process of development meeting needs as they arise. This development is best shown by a comparative illustration from an early date to the present time.

In 1811, there were 2,403 post-offices, and during the year the mail was carried

��New Jersey, afforded great and import- ant facilities to the transmission of the great Eastern mail." The lines of rail- way at that time, 1834, amounted to seventy-eight miles.

In 1838, the Railway Mail Service began with 1,913 miles of railroad

��46,380 miles in stages, and 61,171 miles throughout the country,

in sulkies and on horseback. In Post- were carried over 4,092

master-General Barry's report for the way, which increased in

fiscal year ending November i, 1834, 563 miles. it is said, that, " The multiplication of The miles of annual

��In 1846, mails miles of rail- 1882 to 100,-

transportation

��* Illustrated by pen and ink sketches furnished by the author.

�� �