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No. 4. Thirty inches in length, and 36 inches in circumference. No. 5. Twenty-six inches in length, and 28 inches in circumference. The body of these pouches is made of good and substantial leather, well tanned, weighing for sizes numbered 1 and 2, 8 ounces, and for the smaller sizes 7 ounces to the square foot; the bottoms, handles, and flaps are of good skirting leather, well tanned, and the seams well and strongly secured with the best tinned-iron rivets and burs or washers, the latter 1 inch apart.

Each of the leather pouches is provided with a metallic label case or holder.

CLASS B.-MAIL-CATCHER POUCHES.

(One size.)

Thirty-six inches in length, and 36 inches in circumference, made of closely woven cotton duck, impervious to rain.

Each of these pouches has a leather drawing-strap and buckle, so attached and arranged that it may be contracted or pursed up in the middle when hung upon the crane, from which it is taken by the catcher on a passing mail-car.

Each of these pouches has also a handle at the bottom and top, consisting of a wrought-iron ring (galvanized), one-fourth of an inch in diameter of metal, and 12 inches in diameter of its inclosed space.

CLASS C.-LEATHER HORSE MAIL BAGS.

(Three sizes, adapted to conveyance by horseback.)

No. 1. Body, 48 inches in length in longest part, and 21 inches in width in the widest parts, and 12 inches across the narrowest part or middle. Ends or bottoms (of elliptical form) 26 inches in length in the longest parts and 14 inches wide at the widest part.

No. 2. Body, 45 inches in length in the longest part, 18 inches in width at the widest parts, and 11 inches across the middle or narrowest part. Ends or bottoms 24 inches in length at the longest parts and 12 inches wide at the widest part.

No. 3. Forty-two inches in length at the longest part, 16 inches in width at the widest parts, and 10 inches across the middle or narrowest part. Ends or bottoms 20 inches in length at the longest parts and 10 inches wide at the widest part.

Each bag is to have two suitable loops, rings, straps, and buckles, so made and arranged as to connect it with the stirrup-straps of a saddle.

These bags are made of good and substantial bag-leather, well tanned, weighing for the body 7, and for the bottoms 8 ounces to the square foot; the seams sewed, are made with a welt, and secured strongly with waxed-thread stitches; when made wholly or in part with rivets, are so done as to chafe neither horse nor rider.

14 CEN, PT 2

CLASS D. JUTE CANVAS MAIL SACKS.

(Three sizes.)

No. 1. Forty-three inches in length and 62 inches in circumference. No. 2. Forty-one inches in length and 48 inches in circumference. No. 3. Thirty-two inches in length and 38 inches in circumference. The sacks of size No. 1 are made of closely-woven jute canvas, weighing 16 ounces to the yard of 31 inches width; each thread of the warp is composed of two spun yarns twisted together, weighing 1 ounce to 60 yards, and each thread of the woof is a single spun yarn weighing 1 ounce to 78 yards.

The sacks of size No. 2 are to be made of jute canvas weighing not less than 9 ounces to the yard of 24 inches width, with warp and woof the same as described for size No. 1.

The sacks of size No. 3 are made of thinner canvas, weighing 4 ounces to the yard of 193 inches width.

The sacks of sizes Nos. 1 and 2 are made with a tabling or hem at the top 2 inches wide, upon which a sufficient number of eyelets, ten to the former and eight to the latter, are well wrought, and those of size No. 3 have a tabling or hem at the top of half an inch, without eyelets or grommets.

CLASS E.-COTTON CANVAS MAIL SACKS.

(Three sizes.)

No. 1. Of same dimensions as size No. 1, of jute, made of cotton duck weighing 12 ounces to the yard of 22 inches width, and thread of the warp and of the woof being composed of three spun yarns twisted together, the former measuring 118 yards to the ounce, and the latter 124 yards to the ounce. The tabling or hem is 13 inches wide, with ten well-wrought eyelets.

No. 2. Of same dimensions as jute sack No. 2, and of same material as described for cotton canvas sack of size No. 1. Tabling or hem 12 inches wide, with eight eyelets wrought thereon.

No. 3. Of the same dimensions as jute sack No. 3, made of cotton canvas weighing 8 ounces to the yard of 28 inches width; each thread of the warp and woof being composed of two spun yarns twisted together, the former measuring 330 yards to the ounce, and the latter 220 yards to the ounce.

All the mail-bags, of every class, have "U. S. Mail" (with number of its size) stenciled upon them in large letters and figures, the canvas sacks so marked both inside and outside.

The mouth or opening of each pouch and bag of classes A, B, and C is so constructed as to admit of its being locked with a padlock, and, when so locked, to secure its contents from any abstraction that may be attempted without opening the lock or without any traceable mark of violence left upon the bag or pouch. The mouths of the canvas sacks

are constructed with eyelets, so that they may be tied with a string. The average number of new mail-bags put in use annually in the United States is about as follows:

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Specimens of all the different styles, eighteen in number, of mail locks in use since the year 1800 were placed on exhibition in a case marked a, Division IV, viz:

One brass mail lock, used from 1800 to 1812.
One brass mail lock, used from 1812 to 1825.
One brass mail lock, used from 1825 to 1842.
One iron mail lock, used during same period.
One brass mail lock, used from 1842 to 1852.
One iron mail lock, used during same period.
One brass mail lock, used from 1852 to 1862.
One iron mail lock, used during same period.
One brass mail lock, used from 1862 to 1870.
One iron mail lock, used during same period.
Two brass mail locks, used from 1870 to 1876.
One brass mail lock, used during same period.
Three register pouch locks, used during same period.
One street letter-box lock, used during same period.
One specimen mail lock, latest improvements.

XIII. THE FREE-DELIVERY SYSTEM.

The rapid and uninterrupted growth of the postal service had caused to be felt, at an early date, the necessity for various devices by which to facilitate the delivery of letters and papers, and from time to time experiments were made, resulting in slight improvements in the forms and arrangement of general-delivery cases of "wheels," and in the style of private letter-boxes.

In 1862 there existed, in a number of cities, a "penny post," a paid carriers' delivery, the carriers remunerating themselves by the collection of a voluntary fee of from 1 to 2 cents on each piece of mail matter delivered by them. In five cities this service had the partial recognition of the Post-Office Department, while in the others it was altogether a local arrangement.

Free delivery, as a system, was first put in operation in the United States, with the sanction of law, July 1, 1863, in compliance with an order from the Postmaster-General, establishing it in forty-nine cities under the provisions of an act of Congress, approved March 3, 1863, by

which act the employment by the Department of letter-carriers at regular salaries, to be paid from a fund appropriated for that purpose, was authorized, and the inauguration of the system in such cities as might be designated by the Postmaster General was provided for. At the date of the passage of this act a similar service existed in France, Austria, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Prussia, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, The Netherlands, Denmark, and the Hanseatic cities.

A paragraph from the order above referred to will partially explain the views and expectations then entertained:

It is supposed by some to be an error to give increased accommodations to the public, without increased expense, when our revenues are deficient. I reason otherwise. Correspondence grows in proportion to the facilities afforded for carrying it on, so that, if we provide for prompt deliveries and prompt mailings of letters, we shall greatly increase our income. To this end we should have, not only frequent deliveries, but must collect promptly from boxes, put up throughout the city, so as to bring the post-office to every one's door.

It was further predicted that "free delivery," properly organized and conducted, would greatly diminish the number of letters forwarded to the dead-letter office as "not called for," many of which failed to be received by the persons addressed by reason of having been misplaced in large general-delivery cases.

The first official record of the progress of this service is to be found in the annual report of the Postmaster-General for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1864, which states the number of free-delivery post-offices in operation to be 66, the number of letter-carriers 685, and the cost of the service for that year to be $317,061. During the first year of its existence, the new service, in a number of cities, had been misunderstood by the public and the post-office officials; the latter in some instances not being in accord with the policy of the Department in regard to this matter, and the resulting mismanagement and inefficiency was so widespread as to render the system for a time extremely unpopular. At the close of the following year, June 30, 1865, the number of free-delivery offices had been reduced to 45. During the next year only one was added to the list, making the number 46 in 1886.

Through increased efficiency and zeal in both general and local management, and through improvements in equipments, furniture, and fixtures, the service gained in popularity during each succeeding year to such an extent that applications were from time to time received for its extension to cities which did not possess it. These applications were granted in the case of all cities whose population was large enough to warrant the establishment of the system. At the present time it is estimated that 75 per cent. of the delivery service in cities having a population of 20,000 and upwards is performed by letter-carriers. In the large cities the facilities thereby afforded for local correspondence have long been appreciated, and no inconsiderable portion of the postal revenues is derived from the free-delivery service in those cities.

The annual reports of 1865 and 1875 show the number of free-delivery offices in those years to have been 45 in the former year and 87 in the latter, an increase of 42 offices in ten years. The number of carriers employed during those years was 757 and 2,195, respectively, and the cost of the service $448,664 and $1,880,041. While there is no record of income from local delivery in 1865, it was reported in 1875 at $1,974,559, a very large proportion of which is believed to be the result of the facilities for local correspondence afforded in large cities by the free-delivery system.

The stamp division of the Post-Office Department reported $12,847,437 as the proceeds of the sales of stamps and stamped envelopes in 1865, and $25,477,511 in 1875, an increase of nearly 100 per cent. in ten years. As the rates of postage have been in some cases reduced, it necessarily follows that there must have been a much larger increase in the amount of mail matter handled. The number of dead letters reported as received at the "dead-letter office" in 1865 was 4,377,087, and in 1875 as 3,628,808. Had the number of dead letters increased during the ten years referred to in a ratio corresponding to the increase in the sales of stamps and stamped envelopes, the number of such letters received would have reached 8,500,000 in 1875, showing a falling off of nearly 5,000,000 letters in the business of the dead-letter office. To this result the free delivery system has in no small degree contributed.

XIV. THE POSTAL MONEY-ORDER SYSTEM.

An office, called the "Centennial branch post-office of Philadelphia, Pa.," was, by order of the Postmaster-General, opened for business on the 10th day of March, 1876, in the United States Government Exhibition building at Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pa. The statistics of this office during the continuance of the International Exhibition, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, inclusive, are given elsewhere in this ap pendix. The money order, like the other divisions of this office, though established for the accommodation of the exhibitors, officers, attendants and visitors at the Exhibition, was intended also to illustrate the practical workings of the money-order system.

The domestic money-order system of the United States went into operation November 1, 1864, in pursuance of an act of Congress approved May 17 of the same year. By this act $100,000 was appropriated from the public treasury, out of which to defray the expense of inaugurating the system.

At the close of the fiscal year ended June 30, 1865, eight months after the commencement of the business, the Auditor of the Treasury for the Post-Office Department reported 142 money-order offices in operation, at which 74,277 orders, amounting to $1,360,122.52, had been issued, and 70,573, amounting to $1,291,972.22, had been paid. The orders repaid

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