The improvement in means of communication which has taken place in the Philippines since the American occupation is almost revolutionary. I well remember my tribulations in the Spanish days, resulting from the inadequacy of the mail system. There were long delays in receiving letters sent from Manila to the more important towns in the archipelago, but if, as was usually the case with us, one was living in a small and more or less isolated provincial town, he was fortunate to get his letters at all. They would be forwarded from place to place by irresponsible native carriers, and under the most favourable circumstances were likely to be greatly delayed in transmission. There was little respect for the privacy of letters. On one occasion I arrived at Joló, confidently expecting a large mail, only to be disappointed. A week later my companion, Dr. Bourns, was calling upon a German resident of that place. Lying in a waste-basket he saw a letter written in a hand which he recognized as that of one of my friends. He thereupon called upon the German to deliver any other letters he might have for me, and some were produced, but others had been thrown away! We found that our mail had begun to come prior to our arrival, and as the Spanish postmaster did not know any persons named Bourns or Worcester he turned it over to this man to see whether he could make out whom it was for. The latter opened the letters, read them, and threw them away. But this was not the worst of it. There was a time when for months I received no letters, and my companion no newspapers or magazines. Then the arrangement was reversed. I got my letters but no papers or magazines, while he had papers but no letters. Under the Spanish régime letter carriers in Manila received the munificent salary of $46 per annum, but were authorized to collect a charge of three-quarters of a cent on every article of mail delivered by them, except letters from foreign countries and letters passing between persons living in Manila. The Spanish government did not admit general merchandise to the mails, but accepted only samples and medicine. We admit all classes of merchandise except certain objectionable things and certain articles dangerous to the mails or to those handling them. We have increased the maximum allowable weight of mail packages to eleven pounds, and on January 1, 1913, established a "collect on delivery" service under which merchants and others may send goods through the mails and have the charges thereon collected from the addressee before delivery. These are important and valuable extensions of the service, and greatly benefit the Filipinos as well as the merchants by bringing people throughout the islands into touch with shops from which they can order the goods they need.