[51] The island is situated in the Ohio River, one hundred and eighty-eight miles below Pittsburg, and two and a half miles from the beautiful little town of Parkersburg.
[52] We were told by an officer of the department that the meaning of this section of the postal law is not made sufficiently clear, but it is generally understood by those who have control of an office. This is not the case; for we know one large newspaper (weekly) proprietor who, taking the section literally, sends a very large edition of his paper through the Philadelphia post-office to all his subscribers, and defends himself under this order from the general post-office:— “Weekly newspapers (one copy only) sent by the publisher to actual subscribers within the county where printed and published, free.”
[53] New York Review.
[54] For a number of these addresses the author is indebted to that excellent paper entitled the “United States Mail.”
[55] There is a small paper published in Albany, New York, entitled the “Stamp Collector’s Record.” It is entirely devoted to the cause of stamps and their collectors. It furnishes also considerable information upon the subject in connection with foreign stamps.
[56] The number of individuals employed in the English post-office is very considerable. On the 31st of December, 1857, it gave employment to twenty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty-one persons, while the number has been since considerably increased. More than two thousand of these clerks are employed in the chief office in London. The number of persons employed in the post-office of France amounts to twenty-six thousand and seventy-one; but then it should be remembered that the extent and population of France are greater than the extent and population of Great Britain.
[57] It may be added here that these deliveries are distinct from what is termed the “general delivery.” As all the principal mails arrive in London in the morning, there are but three deliveries a day by the carriers of the general post. These carriers are distinguished from those belonging to the two-penny post or city delivery by wearing the livery of the department, viz.: a scarlet coat with a blue collar, and buttons stamped with an impression of the royal arms.
[58] Persons anxious to examine more closely into this subject, which, however, is now settled, no doubt finally, by a compromise with the parties, are referred to the opinion of the court, “United States vs. Kochersperger,” in report of the postmaster-general for the year 1860.