How the Post Office Department Helps the Farmer 85 Expediting the Mails on Star Routes 87 Abraham Lincoln Postmaster in 1837 88 A Central Accounting Office for Each County 88 Millions of Money for Good Roads 89 $14,550,000 for Rural Post Roads 91 Mail Extensions by Air and Motor Truck Routes 92 Care Required in Preparing Contracts 93 Birthday American Postal Service 93 List of Postmasters General 94 CHAPTER V _Miscellaneous Matters_ General and Financial Summary 95 Items of Interest 97 Old Laws and Regulations 104 Queer Collection Holiday Mail 108 Feeding the Cats 110 Couple of Distinguished Canines 110 Soldier’s Sister a Mail Clerk 112 INDEX TO ITEMS OF INTEREST 112 THE AMERICAN POSTAL SERVICE CHAPTER I General Postal History The need of communication was doubtless one of the earliest activities of the Ancient World, not for public use but for government purpose. In Holy Writ we learn that the Israelitish Nation made early use of the means at hand. In the first Book of Kings it is stated that Queen Jezebel wrote letters in Ahab’s name, sealed with the King’s seal, and sent them to the elders and nobles in the city. In the Book of Esther mention is made of sending letters by posts to all the King’s provinces. There are also evidences that the Assyrian and Persian nations established stations, or posts a day’s journey apart, at which horses were kept ready saddled with waiting couriers for the transmission of public orders and edicts. Xenophon mentions that Cyrus employed posts throughout his dominions and Herodotus speaks of the large structures erected for post stations. The mail service of China dates far back into antiquity. It is said that in the fourteenth century there were 10,000 mail stations in the empire. Peru, remarkable for its early evidences of civilization, had according to the historian Prescott, communication established from one end of the country to the other. There is, however, nothing to show that ordinary human affairs received any attention at this early period, the activities of rulers being devoted entirely to governmental interest and concern. The affairs of commerce and trade were probably carried on by personal enterprise, by voyages of trade discovery by water or expeditions on land.