THE

OFFICE GREW

HE story of the British post office since its establishment in the sixteenth century is full of useful and interesting lessons for all Americans who would like to see our own Post Office Department more efficient in the work it already performs and extended into wider fields in the service of the public.

private letters go to the state, and not to the postmaster as heretofore.

Meanwhile, domestic, or as the English call it, inland postal service, had not progressed as far as the foreign. Before 1680 there was no post between one part of London and another. In that year William Dockwra, a private individual, organized his London Penny Post, which "in some respects was superior to that of to-day." There were then 179 places in London where letters might be posted. The rate was uniform, payable in

The deliberate, comprehensive and unusually, lucidly told account given in Dr. J. C. Hemmeon's "History of the British Post Office," published in the Harvard Economic Studies" series, traces the development of the postal communications in the advance, and it was permissible to send letters British Isles from the days when the announcements of state, carried by royal messengers, were the sole means of communication, to the end of the fiscal year 1911. Postal messengers we first find mentioned as early as the reign of King John. They were known as nuncii, and were paid out of the household and wardrobe account of the king. They delivered their letters personally.

and parcels up to one pound in weight, articles or money to the value of £10 might be sent, and the penny payment insured their safe delivery. The carriers traveled chiefly on foot, but in some of the neighboring towns

PENY

S

MOR
१.

THE FIRST POSTMARK ON A BRITISH LETTER (One of the Dockwra postmarks on a letter written by the

Bishop of London to the Lord Mayor, dated December 9,
Penny Post letters and that they were prepaid. The "W"
in the center of the first figure is the initial letter of the receiv-
arrival at the Westminster office, 9 A.M.)
The second figure shows the hour of
ing office, Westminster.

1681. The first figure shows that, at that time, they were

Sir Brian Tuke is the first English Postmaster-General of whom we have any record. He was known as Master of Posts, and he received a salary of somewhat less than $350 a year, as is recorded in the King's "Book of Payments" for the year 1512. He named the "post-men" and was held responsible for the performance of their duties. In addition he had to render an account of the horses used in the conveyance of the mail. During the century that followed slow progress was made in the extensions of the service and facilities they rode on horseback. Dockwra was the of the post office. Then in 1628 Thomas first to make use of postmarks. The earliest Witherings was made "Postmaster-General instance of the use of such marks is on a letter for Foreign Parts," and a new era began. dated December 9, 1681, written by the Witherings' idea was to make the posts self- Bishop of London to the Lord Mayor. supporting, and to extend them from the royal service to the service of the ordinary folk. Dr. Hemmeon asserts that Witherings' name is "without doubt the most distinguished in the annals of the British post office." He laid the foundation for the system of a postal rates and regulations which continued to the time of the penny postage. He brought about increased speed of transmission, and above all, he made the post office a financial success. To do this he sought and succeeded in securing legislation which made the income from The History of the British Post Office. Harvard Eco

nomic Studies, Vol. VII. By Dr. J. C. Hemmeon. Cambridge: Harvard University. 271 pp.

$2.

According to Dr. Hemmeon, the first proposition for a post office in the American colonies came from New England, in 1638, because "a post office was really so useful and absolutely necessary." Nothing was done by the London government, however, for more than fifty years. In 1691 one Thomas Neale was granted a patent to establish post offices in North America. At about the same. time an act was passed by the Colony of Massachusetts, appointing Andrew Hamilton Postmaster-General. Hamilton was afterward retained by Neale as his deputy in North America. When, in 1699, a report was

made to the House of Lords, it was found that Neale and Hamilton had established a regular weekly post between Boston and New York and New York and Newcastle, Pa. There were postmasters in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. The first part of the eighteenth century saw the extension of the postal system in the British colonies and an important growth in the packet service, based on England's increased foreign trade. At this time also the system of mail coaches was established, and there was a consolidation of offices and much greater coöperation.

During the first half of the nineteenth century, the British post office was used as an instrument of taxation. Rates were forced so high that ordinary citizens often resorted to legal and illegal means to evade paying them. A number of reformers argued, in the public prints, that "a tax upon correspondence was not only a poor method of raising money, but its ulterior effect in restricting letter writing was productive of undesirable results upon the people of England industrially and socially." Eventually, the popular cause, championed chiefly by Sir Rowland Hill, forced itself upon the attention of the government, and low and uniform rates of postage for the United Kingdom were agreed upon. Thus, in 1840, the famous Inland Penny Postage was ushered in. Among the numerous In 1875 England joined the other important changes which have characterized the devel- European powers in a general telegraphic opment of the British post office since 1840 agreement, and in 1908 a working agreement are: (1) Successive reductions in rates; (2) was brought about between the Post Office abandonment of the packet-boat service by and the Marconi Wireless Company. the admiralty to private enterprise; (3) the The first telephone was brought to England extension and use of railways; (4) the estab- by Lord Kelvin in 1876. The first company, lishment of a parcels post; (5) the embarking which had developed its operations successof the government in banking and insurance fully by 1878, tried to come to an agreement facilities (postal savings banks) "for the with the post office, but the negotiations thrifty person of small means." The most came to nothing. A series of agreements and radical departure in British postal methods understandings between the post office and during the past decade has been the acquisi- the larger telephone systems covered the tion of the telegraph and telephone systems. period between 1878 and 1905. By the terms The earliest proposal for government own- of an agreement made in the latter year, the ership of the telegraphs of Great Britain Postmaster-General, on the last day of seems to have originated with Thomas Allan, December, 1911, was directed to buy, and the who was later instrumental in establishing National Telephone Company to sell, all the the United Kingdom Telegraph Company. "physical resources, equipment and business In 1854 he proposed to the government, of the telephone company." Improvement through Sir Rowland Hill, the acquisition of in rates and extension of facilities followed the telegraph systems, but without securing this agreement as in the arrangement befavorable action. A number of other propo- tween the post office and telegraph systems. sals were submitted in 1864 and 1866. In Dr. Hemmeon states that from a financial 1868 the Postmaster-General was given authority, by act of Parliament, to begin the taking over of the telegraph systems of the United Kingdom. A uniform rate was at

point of view, government ownership of telegraph and telephone systems of the United Kingdom has not been a success, but he testifies to the betterment of the service and

THE SCRIPTURAL PLAY OF "NOAH'S ARK," AS PRESENTED BY THE SHIPWRIGHTS' GUILD, IN ENGLAND, FOUR CENTURIES AGO

(Model in the Dramatic Museum at Columbia University. The ark is seen drawn up in the village square, with Noah looking out of the window. Once a year, at a religious festival, the guilds produced elaborately scenes from the Bible, to which people from the surrounding country would flock. The settings for the different plays, mounted on wheels, would be driven in succession into the square. As soon as the first play was acted through, the wagon was driven to the next station, where the performance was repeated. The spectators at any one point, without moving, might thus witness

a long succession of scenes)

THE

BY DUDLEY H. MILES

HE first dramatic museum to be estab- who had in mind the Greek amphitheater lished in this country and the only one in would write a much different play from the the world except that in the library of the man who knew that every change of the Paris Opéra-such, conservatively stated, actor's facial expression could be seen from is a recent development in the Department the back row. A scientific study of the drama of English and Comparative Literature at takes account of this influence of theatrical Columbia University in New York City.

conditions on the plays of any age or country. This museum has an even better claim to It is exactly such a scientific method which consideration. It inaugurates the scientific has at length been made easy for students method of studying dramatic history. Plays, by the famous institution on Morningside printed and bound up in volumes, have too Heights. On the third floor of its new Hall long been treated in college courses as mere of Philosophy, now occupied by the graduate literature. To study them in the library is schools of literature, two spacious rooms are to miss their true character. In reality, all set aside for this unique and significant the greatest plays were written to entertain development, which has been named, by or engross an audience seated in some kind a resolution of the Board of Trustees at of theater, whether it be one under the open the March meeting of this year, the Brander sky, hewed from the solid rock of the hillside, Matthews Dramatic Museum, in honor of as in ancient Athens, or a luxuriously fur- the well-known Columbia professor of dranished room in modern New York seating matic literature who has secured its estabonly 299 persons. Obviously, the author lishment.

(This remarkable model of the Fortune Theater in the Dramatic Museum shows the kind of stage for which Shakespeare's plays were written. The only indication of the setting for the different scenes was a throne o. other stage properties situated at the rear. Most of the acting took place forward, where the actor was surrounded on three sides by the audience. That accounts in part for the many long speeches in Shakespeare. A play was then more of an oratorical contest than it is to-day. The galleries, it will be noticed, are the only parts roofed in. The performances were all matinées in broad daylight)

The larger of the two rooms has been re- and scientific value, is the model-room openserved for the library of the museum. Among ing into the library. Upon the walls are a books of all sorts bearing on the history of score of engravings, some representing special the dramatic arts, two special collections performances, such as Molière at his last call for notice. One, containing some 500 appearance and an old French mystery play plays of American authorship, is equalled being acted in the shadow of the village only by the C. Fiske Harris library at Brown cathedral; others showing actors in character University. The other, of about 200 volumes, in the costumes of the period; and a few is considered the largest gathering, outside depicting theaters either from within or the British Museum, of books relating to the without. A great deal of additional graphic celebrated English dramatist of the eigh- material to illustrate the history of the stage teenth century, Richard Brinsley Sheridan. is kept in draws-such as plans of theaters, Eventually the museum will receive the re- photographs of performances, and portraits mainder of the dramatic library which Pro- of distinguished dramatists. The principal fessor Matthews has been accumulating for objects in the room, however, are a group of forty years, including all his material about models which illustrate certain steps in the the great French comic genius Molière a development of the drama. collection which, if equalled at all, is equalled The nucleus of the group is a reproduction only by the one in the Harvard College of the stage on which a medieval mystery Library or by the library of Mr. Chatfield- play was acted. Three manuscripts of a Taylor in Chicago.

The unique feature of the museum, in

passion play presented at Valenciennes in 1547 contain illuminated or colored drawings

(This interesting model in the Dramatic Museum shows how the forerunners of the present road companies presented their plays in the court-yard of a village inn. There was of course no scenery, nor any considerable use of "make-up" or costume. Yet the visit of the strolling troupe gathered a goodly audience on the galleries about the court. That may have been occasioned partly because the play was supposed to be educational. "The Nice Wanton," which the model represents, had such characters as Iniquity, Vice. Worldly Shame, and presented the life of man from the cradle to the grave to impress the truth that the wages of sin is death)

Sea of Tiberius, at another the Mediterranean. Thus, on a single multiple stage, as it may be termed, were indicated enough places to furnish forth a course of action lasting all day, for frequently the plays were of such duration.

duced. When the French Government was twenty square feet was called at one time the preparing its exhibit for the Paris Exposition of 1878, it included a special collection of sets of scenery. Among them was a model of this Valenciennes play, constructed from a drawing in the manuscripts under the direction of a noted authority on medieval drama, M. Marius Sepet.

Several years ago Professor Matthews obtained permission to have an exact dupliFrom this reproduction it was clear even cate of the Paris model of this instructive to the uninitiated that in that far-away age medieval setting made by MM. Duvignaud there was no attempt to produce illusion. and Gabin, the makers of the original. This The art of the theater was seen to be vastly was the beginning of the present museum. different from what it is to-day. There was A few years later Mr. E. Hamilton Bell gave no effort to make the stage look like a room the university the second model, a reprein an actual house, or to use back curtains sentation of the famous Palais-Royal theaso painted as to deceive the eye into thinking ter, built by Richelieu in 1639 and occupied it was gazing at mountains miles in the dis- after 1661 by the Shakespeare of France, tance. On the contrary, a dozen or a score Molière, and his company. Thus stage of different places might be shown or rather conditions in two flourishing periods of French indicated at once, and indicated in a very dramatic history are illustrated so clearly summary way. A chair between two columns that any one who has been inside a playbecame the great hall of a royal palace. house can understand how dramas were