and the care and study employed to expedite the vast correspondence of
the country. A system as colossal as the Railway Mail Service of this
country is, could not be 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 46,380 miles in stages, and 61,171 miles in sulkies and on
horseback. In Postmaster-General Barry's report for the fiscal year
ending November 1, 1834, it is said, that, "The multiplication of
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 Maryland and New Castle in Delaware, and between
Camden and South Amboy in New Jersey, afforded great and important
facilities to the transmission of the great Eastern mail." The lines of
railway at that time, 1834, amounted to seventy-eight miles.

In 1838, the Railway Mail Service began with 1,913 miles of railroad
throughout the country. In 1846, mails were carried over 4,092 miles of
railway, which increased in 1882 to 100,563 miles.

The miles of annual transportation of mail by railroad in 1852 amounted
to 11,082,768, which increased to 113,995,318 in 1882, with an increase
in the number of Railway Mail Service employees from 43 in 1846 to 3,072
in 1882. This wonderful expansion was but proportional with the
development of the country at large. At the close of the war of the
Rebellion, business was at its height. Industry and intelligence were
seeking together new channels for their diffusion. The Pacific Railway