State building through reputation building: Coalitions of esteem and program innovation in the national postal system, 1883-1913

Studies in American Political Development

Volumn 14, Issue 2, 2000, Pages 121-155

  Carpenter, Daniel P ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0034553094     PISSN: 0898588X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0898588X00003382     Document Type: Article

References (203)

1. Richard R. John, Spreading the News: The American Postal System from Franklin to Morse, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995).
2. Daniel T. Rodgers, Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998).
3. I include in this characterization the writings of Stephen Skowronek, Samuel Kernell, Richard Bensel, Elizabeth Sanders, and Scott James. Skowronek, Building a New American State: The Expansion of National Administrative Capacities, 1877-1920 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981); Bensel, Sectionalism and American Political Development, 1880-1980 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982); Sanders, Roots of Reform: Farmers, Workers and the American State, 1877-1917 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999); Thomas G. Gilligan, William J. Marshall, and Barry R. Weingast, "Regulation and the Theory of Legislative Choice: The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887," Journal of Law and Economics 32 (1989): 35-61; Scott C. James, "A Party System Perspective on the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887," Studies in American Political Development 6 (1992). James, "Building a Democratic Majority: The Progressive Party Vote and the Federal Trade Commission," Studies in American Political Development 9 (1995): 331-85; James, Presidents, Parties and the State: A Party System Perspective on Demoicratic Regulatory Choice, 1884-1936 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
4. I include in this characterization the writings of Stephen Skowronek, Samuel Kernell, Richard Bensel, Elizabeth Sanders, and Scott James. Skowronek, Building a New American State: The Expansion of National Administrative Capacities, 1877-1920 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981); Bensel, Sectionalism and American Political Development, 1880-1980 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982); Sanders, Roots of Reform: Farmers, Workers and the American State, 1877-1917 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999); Thomas G. Gilligan, William J. Marshall, and Barry R. Weingast, "Regulation and the Theory of Legislative Choice: The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887," Journal of Law and Economics 32 (1989): 35-61; Scott C. James, "A Party System Perspective on the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887," Studies in American Political Development 6 (1992). James, "Building a Democratic Majority: The Progressive Party Vote and the Federal Trade Commission," Studies in American Political Development 9 (1995): 331-85; James, Presidents, Parties and the State: A Party System Perspective on Demoicratic Regulatory Choice, 1884-1936 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
5. I include in this characterization the writings of Stephen Skowronek, Samuel Kernell, Richard Bensel, Elizabeth Sanders, and Scott James. Skowronek, Building a New American State: The Expansion of National Administrative Capacities, 1877-1920 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981); Bensel, Sectionalism and American Political Development, 1880-1980 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982); Sanders, Roots of Reform: Farmers, Workers and the American State, 1877-1917 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999); Thomas G. Gilligan, William J. Marshall, and Barry R. Weingast, "Regulation and the Theory of Legislative Choice: The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887," Journal of Law and Economics 32 (1989): 35-61; Scott C. James, "A Party System Perspective on the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887," Studies in American Political Development 6 (1992). James, "Building a Democratic Majority: The Progressive Party Vote and the Federal Trade Commission," Studies in American Political Development 9 (1995): 331-85; James, Presidents, Parties and the State: A Party System Perspective on Demoicratic Regulatory Choice, 1884-1936 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
6. I include in this characterization the writings of Stephen Skowronek, Samuel Kernell, Richard Bensel, Elizabeth Sanders, and Scott James. Skowronek, Building a New American State: The Expansion of National Administrative Capacities, 1877-1920 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981); Bensel, Sectionalism and American Political Development, 1880-1980 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982); Sanders, Roots of Reform: Farmers, Workers and the American State, 1877-1917 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999); Thomas G. Gilligan, William J. Marshall, and Barry R. Weingast, "Regulation and the Theory of Legislative Choice: The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887," Journal of Law and Economics 32 (1989): 35-61; Scott C. James, "A Party System Perspective on the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887," Studies in American Political Development 6 (1992). James, "Building a Democratic Majority: The Progressive Party Vote and the Federal Trade Commission," Studies in American Political Development 9 (1995): 331-85; James, Presidents, Parties and the State: A Party System Perspective on Demoicratic Regulatory Choice, 1884-1936 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
7. I include in this characterization the writings of Stephen Skowronek, Samuel Kernell, Richard Bensel, Elizabeth Sanders, and Scott James. Skowronek, Building a New American State: The Expansion of National Administrative Capacities, 1877-1920 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981); Bensel, Sectionalism and American Political Development, 1880-1980 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982); Sanders, Roots of Reform: Farmers, Workers and the American State, 1877-1917 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999); Thomas G. Gilligan, William J. Marshall, and Barry R. Weingast, "Regulation and the Theory of Legislative Choice: The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887," Journal of Law and Economics 32 (1989): 35-61; Scott C. James, "A Party System Perspective on the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887," Studies in American Political Development 6 (1992). James, "Building a Democratic Majority: The Progressive Party Vote and the Federal Trade Commission," Studies in American Political Development 9 (1995): 331-85; James, Presidents, Parties and the State: A Party System Perspective on Demoicratic Regulatory Choice, 1884-1936 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
8. I include in this characterization the writings of Stephen Skowronek, Samuel Kernell, Richard Bensel, Elizabeth Sanders, and Scott James. Skowronek, Building a New American State: The Expansion of National Administrative Capacities, 1877-1920 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981); Bensel, Sectionalism and American Political Development, 1880-1980 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982); Sanders, Roots of Reform: Farmers, Workers and the American State, 1877-1917 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999); Thomas G. Gilligan, William J. Marshall, and Barry R. Weingast, "Regulation and the Theory of Legislative Choice: The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887," Journal of Law and Economics 32 (1989): 35-61; Scott C. James, "A Party System Perspective on the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887," Studies in American Political Development 6 (1992). James, "Building a Democratic Majority: The Progressive Party Vote and the Federal Trade Commission," Studies in American Political Development 9 (1995): 331-85; James, Presidents, Parties and the State: A Party System Perspective on Demoicratic Regulatory Choice, 1884-1936 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
9. I include in this characterization the writings of Stephen Skowronek, Samuel Kernell, Richard Bensel, Elizabeth Sanders, and Scott James. Skowronek, Building a New American State: The Expansion of National Administrative Capacities, 1877-1920 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981); Bensel, Sectionalism and American Political Development, 1880-1980 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982); Sanders, Roots of Reform: Farmers, Workers and the American State, 1877-1917 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999); Thomas G. Gilligan, William J. Marshall, and Barry R. Weingast, "Regulation and the Theory of Legislative Choice: The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887," Journal of Law and Economics 32 (1989): 35-61; Scott C. James, "A Party System Perspective on the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887," Studies in American Political Development 6 (1992). James, "Building a Democratic Majority: The Progressive Party Vote and the Federal Trade Commission," Studies in American Political Development 9 (1995): 331-85; James, Presidents, Parties and the State: A Party System Perspective on Demoicratic Regulatory Choice, 1884-1936 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
10. The very allure of this template conceals its deepest vulnerabilities. Consider whether the establishment of the ICC and the FTC represent an expansion of state power over the private sphere. In law, of course, the answer is undeniable. But in practice? Of course these acts established two long-lasting agencies of deep import in the twentieth century, but it is only by stepping beyond the legislation and examining administrative outcomes that we will ever know this. Moreover, there is good reason to doubt that, as established, either the ICC or the FCC carried much bite. Historians of both independent commissions have concluded that, before the New Deal, they lacked the organizational capacity to intrude deeply into the markets they were established to govern. Of course, analysts like Thomas McCraw and the Hoogenbooms may be wrong, but the debate will hardly be settled with yet another roll-call analysis of the ICA, Mann-Elkins, or the Clayton Act. In short, many existing studies insufficiently recognize that much of state building occurs long after the passage of enabling legislation, and in another arena. McCraw, Prophets of Regulation, chap. 4. Skowronek shows that, with little organization to speak of and in the face of judicial restraint, the ICC was "emasculated" before 1910 ( Building, chap. 5). For a more general indictment, see Ari and Olive Hoogenboom, A History of the ICC: From Panacea to Palliative (New York: W.W. Norton, 1976), 117. The Hoogenbooms show clearly that the ICC lacked any ability to carry out the terms of the Transportation Act of 1920 (107). See also Sharfman, Interstate Commerce Commission, vol. I, 119-32.
11. The very allure of this template conceals its deepest vulnerabilities. Consider whether the establishment of the ICC and the FTC represent an expansion of state power over the private sphere. In law, of course, the answer is undeniable. But in practice? Of course these acts established two long-lasting agencies of deep import in the twentieth century, but it is only by stepping beyond the legislation and examining administrative outcomes that we will ever know this. Moreover, there is good reason to doubt that, as established, either the ICC or the FCC carried much bite. Historians of both independent commissions have concluded that, before the New Deal, they lacked the organizational capacity to intrude deeply into the markets they were established to govern. Of course, analysts like Thomas McCraw and the Hoogenbooms may be wrong, but the debate will hardly be settled with yet another roll-call analysis of the ICA, Mann-Elkins, or the Clayton Act. In short, many existing studies insufficiently recognize that much of state building occurs long after the passage of enabling legislation, and in another arena. McCraw, Prophets of Regulation, chap. 4. Skowronek shows that, with little organization to speak of and in the face of judicial restraint, the ICC was "emasculated" before 1910 ( Building, chap. 5). For a more general indictment, see Ari and Olive Hoogenboom, A History of the ICC: From Panacea to Palliative (New York: W.W. Norton, 1976), 117. The Hoogenbooms show clearly that the ICC lacked any ability to carry out the terms of the Transportation Act of 1920 (107). See also Sharfman, Interstate Commerce Commission, vol. I, 119-32.
12. The very allure of this template conceals its deepest vulnerabilities. Consider whether the establishment of the ICC and the FTC represent an expansion of state power over the private sphere. In law, of course, the answer is undeniable. But in practice? Of course these acts established two long-lasting agencies of deep import in the twentieth century, but it is only by stepping beyond the legislation and examining administrative outcomes that we will ever know this. Moreover, there is good reason to doubt that, as established, either the ICC or the FCC carried much bite. Historians of both independent commissions have concluded that, before the New Deal, they lacked the organizational capacity to intrude deeply into the markets they were established to govern. Of course, analysts like Thomas McCraw and the Hoogenbooms may be wrong, but the debate will hardly be settled with yet another roll-call analysis of the ICA, Mann-Elkins, or the Clayton Act. In short, many existing studies insufficiently recognize that much of state building occurs long after the passage of enabling legislation, and in another arena. McCraw, Prophets of Regulation, chap. 4. Skowronek shows that, with little organization to speak of and in the face of judicial restraint, the ICC was "emasculated" before 1910 ( Building, chap. 5). For a more general indictment, see Ari and Olive Hoogenboom, A History of the ICC: From Panacea to Palliative (New York: W.W. Norton, 1976), 117. The Hoogenbooms show clearly that the ICC lacked any ability to carry out the terms of the Transportation Act of 1920 (107). See also Sharfman, Interstate Commerce Commission, vol. I, 119-32.
13. The very allure of this template conceals its deepest vulnerabilities. Consider whether the establishment of the ICC and the FTC represent an expansion of state power over the private sphere. In law, of course, the answer is undeniable. But in practice? Of course these acts established two long-lasting agencies of deep import in the twentieth century, but it is only by stepping beyond the legislation and examining administrative outcomes that we will ever know this. Moreover, there is good reason to doubt that, as established, either the ICC or the FCC carried much bite. Historians of both independent commissions have concluded that, before the New Deal, they lacked the organizational capacity to intrude deeply into the markets they were established to govern. Of course, analysts like Thomas McCraw and the Hoogenbooms may be wrong, but the debate will hardly be settled with yet another roll-call analysis of the ICA, Mann-Elkins, or the Clayton Act. In short, many existing studies insufficiently recognize that much of state building occurs long after the passage of enabling legislation, and in another arena. McCraw, Prophets of Regulation, chap. 4. Skowronek shows that, with little organization to speak of and in the face of judicial restraint, the ICC was "emasculated" before 1910 ( Building, chap. 5). For a more general indictment, see Ari and Olive Hoogenboom, A History of the ICC: From Panacea to Palliative (New York: W.W. Norton, 1976), 117. The Hoogenbooms show clearly that the ICC lacked any ability to carry out the terms of the Transportation Act of 1920 (107). See also Sharfman, Interstate Commerce Commission, vol. I, 119-32.
14. John comes closest to this linkage, but see also Kielbowicz, News in the Mail: The Press, Post Office, and Public Information, 1700-1860s (New York: Greenwood Press, 1989). A different study of the postal network appears in Oliver W. Holmes and Peter T. Rohrbach, Stagecoach East: Stagecoach Days in the East from the Colonial Period to the Civil War (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983). Wayne Fuller's The American Mail: Enlarger of the Common Life (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972) provides the best general review of postal history. For a similar conclusion on historians' neglect of the postal system, see George L. Anderson, "Banks, Rails and Mails," in The Frontier Challenge: Responses to the Trans-Mississippi West, ed. John G. Clark (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1971).
15. John comes closest to this linkage, but see also Kielbowicz, News in the Mail: The Press, Post Office, and Public Information, 1700-1860s (New York: Greenwood Press, 1989). A different study of the postal network appears in Oliver W. Holmes and Peter T. Rohrbach, Stagecoach East: Stagecoach Days in the East from the Colonial Period to the Civil War (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983). Wayne Fuller's The American Mail: Enlarger of the Common Life (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972) provides the best general review of postal history. For a similar conclusion on historians' neglect of the postal system, see George L. Anderson, "Banks, Rails and Mails," in The Frontier Challenge: Responses to the Trans-Mississippi West, ed. John G. Clark (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1971).
16. John comes closest to this linkage, but see also Kielbowicz, News in the Mail: The Press, Post Office, and Public Information, 1700-1860s (New York: Greenwood Press, 1989). A different study of the postal network appears in Oliver W. Holmes and Peter T. Rohrbach, Stagecoach East: Stagecoach Days in the East from the Colonial Period to the Civil War (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983). Wayne Fuller's The American Mail: Enlarger of the Common Life (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972) provides the best general review of postal history. For a similar conclusion on historians' neglect of the postal system, see George L. Anderson, "Banks, Rails and Mails," in The Frontier Challenge: Responses to the Trans-Mississippi West, ed. John G. Clark (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1971).
17. John comes closest to this linkage, but see also Kielbowicz, News in the Mail: The Press, Post Office, and Public Information, 1700-1860s (New York: Greenwood Press, 1989). A different study of the postal network appears in Oliver W. Holmes and Peter T. Rohrbach, Stagecoach East: Stagecoach Days in the East from the Colonial Period to the Civil War (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983). Wayne Fuller's The American Mail: Enlarger of the Common Life (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972) provides the best general review of postal history. For a similar conclusion on historians' neglect of the postal system, see George L. Anderson, "Banks, Rails and Mails," in The Frontier Challenge: Responses to the Trans-Mississippi West, ed. John G. Clark (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1971).
18. Gabriel Kolko, The Triumph of Conservatism (New York: Free Press, 1963) is the best example. While not from the customary "capture" perspective, Sanders's Roots of Reform argues that the dominant pattern of relationships is between the state and organized agrarians.
19. Gabriel Kolko, The Triumph of Conservatism (New York: Free Press, 1963) is the best example. While not from the customary "capture" perspective, Sanders's Roots of Reform argues that the dominant pattern of relationships is between the state and organized agrarians.
20. As defined here, bureaucratic autonomy prevails when politically differentiated agencies have acquired reputations for capacity and innovation, reputations backed by a support coalition that is uncontrollable by politicians, and reputations that are sufficiently strong to induce legislative, executive and judicial overseers to grant bureaucracies sustained discretionary and operational latitude and to refrain from encumbering the bureaucracy with procedural and fiscal constraints. In other words, bureaucratic autonomy in its most genuine and powerful form exists when elected authorities see it as in their interest to either (1) defer to an agency's wishes for new policy or (2) to grant a wide range of discretion to an administrative agency over an extended period of time. What differentiates autonomy from discretion is the sustained character of the latitude.
21. Hugh Heclo, Modern Social Politics in Britain and Sweden (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974), 305.
22. Bureaucratic reputations are not uniformly positive. For a case where an agency's reputation for inefficacy led Congress to restrict its discretion, see Daniel P. Carpenter, The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming), chap. 10.
23. John F. Padgett and Christopher K. Ansell, "Robust Action and the Rise of the Medici, 1400-1434," American Journal of Sociology 98 (1993): 1259-319; and more generally, Ronald Burt, Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992).
24. John F. Padgett and Christopher K. Ansell, "Robust Action and the Rise of the Medici, 1400-1434," American Journal of Sociology 98 (1993): 1259-319; and more generally, Ronald Burt, Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992).
25. Theda Skocpol, Marshall Ganz, and Ziad Munson, "A Nation of Organizers: The Institutional Origins of Civic Voluntarism in the United States," ms. Harvard University (2000); Gerald Gamm and Robert Putnam, "The Growth of Voluntary Associations in America, 1840-1940," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 29 (1999): 511-57; Elizabeth Clemens, The People's Lobby: Organizational Repertoires and the Rise of Interest Group Politics in the United States, 1890-1925 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997). Sklar, The Corporate Reconstruction of American Capitalism, 1890s-1916, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990); Voss, The Making of American Exceptionalism, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993); Kolko, The Triumph of Conservatism. Boyer, Urban Masses and Moral Order in America, 1820-1920 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978); Beisel, Imperiled Innocents: Anthony Comstock and Family Reproduction in Victorian America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997).
26. Theda Skocpol, Marshall Ganz, and Ziad Munson, "A Nation of Organizers: The Institutional Origins of Civic Voluntarism in the United States," ms. Harvard University (2000); Gerald Gamm and Robert Putnam, "The Growth of Voluntary Associations in America, 1840-1940," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 29 (1999): 511-57; Elizabeth Clemens, The People's Lobby: Organizational Repertoires and the Rise of Interest Group Politics in the United States, 1890-1925 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997). Sklar, The Corporate Reconstruction of American Capitalism, 1890s-1916, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990); Voss, The Making of American Exceptionalism, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993); Kolko, The Triumph of Conservatism. Boyer, Urban Masses and Moral Order in America, 1820-1920 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978); Beisel, Imperiled Innocents: Anthony Comstock and Family Reproduction in Victorian America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997).
27. Theda Skocpol, Marshall Ganz, and Ziad Munson, "A Nation of Organizers: The Institutional Origins of Civic Voluntarism in the United States," ms. Harvard University (2000); Gerald Gamm and Robert Putnam, "The Growth of Voluntary Associations in America, 1840-1940," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 29 (1999): 511-57; Elizabeth Clemens, The People's Lobby: Organizational Repertoires and the Rise of Interest Group Politics in the United States, 1890-1925 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997). Sklar, The Corporate Reconstruction of American Capitalism, 1890s-1916, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990); Voss, The Making of American Exceptionalism, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993); Kolko, The Triumph of Conservatism. Boyer, Urban Masses and Moral Order in America, 1820-1920 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978); Beisel, Imperiled Innocents: Anthony Comstock and Family Reproduction in Victorian America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997).
28. Theda Skocpol, Marshall Ganz, and Ziad Munson, "A Nation of Organizers: The Institutional Origins of Civic Voluntarism in the United States," ms. Harvard University (2000); Gerald Gamm and Robert Putnam, "The Growth of Voluntary Associations in America, 1840-1940," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 29 (1999): 511-57; Elizabeth Clemens, The People's Lobby: Organizational Repertoires and the Rise of Interest Group Politics in the United States, 1890-1925 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997). Sklar, The Corporate Reconstruction of American Capitalism, 1890s-1916, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990); Voss, The Making of American Exceptionalism, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993); Kolko, The Triumph of Conservatism. Boyer, Urban Masses and Moral Order in America, 1820-1920 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978); Beisel, Imperiled Innocents: Anthony Comstock and Family Reproduction in Victorian America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997).
29. Theda Skocpol, Marshall Ganz, and Ziad Munson, "A Nation of Organizers: The Institutional Origins of Civic Voluntarism in the United States," ms. Harvard University (2000); Gerald Gamm and Robert Putnam, "The Growth of Voluntary Associations in America, 1840-1940," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 29 (1999): 511-57; Elizabeth Clemens, The People's Lobby: Organizational Repertoires and the Rise of Interest Group Politics in the United States, 1890-1925 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997). Sklar, The Corporate Reconstruction of American Capitalism, 1890s-1916, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990); Voss, The Making of American Exceptionalism, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993); Kolko, The Triumph of Conservatism. Boyer, Urban Masses and Moral Order in America, 1820-1920 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978); Beisel, Imperiled Innocents: Anthony Comstock and Family Reproduction in Victorian America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997).
30. Theda Skocpol, Marshall Ganz, and Ziad Munson, "A Nation of Organizers: The Institutional Origins of Civic Voluntarism in the United States," ms. Harvard University (2000); Gerald Gamm and Robert Putnam, "The Growth of Voluntary Associations in America, 1840-1940," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 29 (1999): 511-57; Elizabeth Clemens, The People's Lobby: Organizational Repertoires and the Rise of Interest Group Politics in the United States, 1890-1925 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997). Sklar, The Corporate Reconstruction of American Capitalism, 1890s-1916, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990); Voss, The Making of American Exceptionalism, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993); Kolko, The Triumph of Conservatism. Boyer, Urban Masses and Moral Order in America, 1820-1920 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978); Beisel, Imperiled Innocents: Anthony Comstock and Family Reproduction in Victorian America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997).
31. Theda Skocpol, Marshall Ganz, and Ziad Munson, "A Nation of Organizers: The Institutional Origins of Civic Voluntarism in the United States," ms. Harvard University (2000); Gerald Gamm and Robert Putnam, "The Growth of Voluntary Associations in America, 1840-1940," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 29 (1999): 511-57; Elizabeth Clemens, The People's Lobby: Organizational Repertoires and the Rise of Interest Group Politics in the United States, 1890-1925 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997). Sklar, The Corporate Reconstruction of American Capitalism, 1890s-1916, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990); Voss, The Making of American Exceptionalism, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993); Kolko, The Triumph of Conservatism. Boyer, Urban Masses and Moral Order in America, 1820-1920 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978); Beisel, Imperiled Innocents: Anthony Comstock and Family Reproduction in Victorian America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997).
32. Theda Skocpol, Marshall Ganz, and Ziad Munson, "A Nation of Organizers: The Institutional Origins of Civic Voluntarism in the United States," ms. Harvard University (2000); Gerald Gamm and Robert Putnam, "The Growth of Voluntary Associations in America, 1840-1940," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 29 (1999): 511-57; Elizabeth Clemens, The People's Lobby: Organizational Repertoires and the Rise of Interest Group Politics in the United States, 1890-1925 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997). Sklar, The Corporate Reconstruction of American Capitalism, 1890s-1916, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990); Voss, The Making of American Exceptionalism, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993); Kolko, The Triumph of Conservatism. Boyer, Urban Masses and Moral Order in America, 1820-1920 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978); Beisel, Imperiled Innocents: Anthony Comstock and Family Reproduction in Victorian America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997).
33. John, Spreading the News, 64-111; Orren, "The Work of Government: Recovering the Discourse of Office in Marbury V. Madison," Studies in American Political Development 8 (1994): 60-80. These readings of nineteenth-century history are part of a broader reinterpretation of the "party period" of American political development; see the contributions of Ronald P. Formisano and Mark Voss-Hubbard to the roundtable discussion, "Alternatives to the Party System in the 'Party Period,' 1830-1890,"Journal of American History 86 (1999). For a general review of this reinterpretation, see the review essay of (and numerous works cited in) John, "Governmental Institutions as Agents of Change: Rethinking American Political Development in the Early Republic, 1787-1835" Studies in American Political Development 11 (1997): 347-80.
34. John, Spreading the News, 64-111; Orren, "The Work of Government: Recovering the Discourse of Office in Marbury V. Madison," Studies in American Political Development 8 (1994): 60-80. These readings of nineteenth-century history are part of a broader reinterpretation of the "party period" of American political development; see the contributions of Ronald P. Formisano and Mark Voss-Hubbard to the roundtable discussion, "Alternatives to the Party System in the 'Party Period,' 1830-1890,"Journal of American History 86 (1999). For a general review of this reinterpretation, see the review essay of (and numerous works cited in) John, "Governmental Institutions as Agents of Change: Rethinking American Political Development in the Early Republic, 1787-1835" Studies in American Political Development 11 (1997): 347-80.
35. John, Spreading the News, 64-111; Orren, "The Work of Government: Recovering the Discourse of Office in Marbury V. Madison," Studies in American Political Development 8 (1994): 60-80. These readings of nineteenth-century history are part of a broader reinterpretation of the "party period" of American political development; see the contributions of Ronald P. Formisano and Mark Voss-Hubbard to the roundtable discussion, "Alternatives to the Party System in the 'Party Period,' 1830-1890,"Journal of American History 86 (1999). For a general review of this reinterpretation, see the review essay of (and numerous works cited in) John, "Governmental Institutions as Agents of Change: Rethinking American Political Development in the Early Republic, 1787-1835" Studies in American Political Development 11 (1997): 347-80.
36. John, Spreading the News, 64-111; Orren, "The Work of Government: Recovering the Discourse of Office in Marbury V. Madison," Studies in American Political Development 8 (1994): 60-80. These readings of nineteenth-century history are part of a broader reinterpretation of the "party period" of American political development; see the contributions of Ronald P. Formisano and Mark Voss-Hubbard to the roundtable discussion, "Alternatives to the Party System in the 'Party Period,' 1830-1890,"Journal of American History 86 (1999). For a general review of this reinterpretation, see the review essay of (and numerous works cited in) John, "Governmental Institutions as Agents of Change: Rethinking American Political Development in the Early Republic, 1787-1835" Studies in American Political Development 11 (1997): 347-80.
37. For a general overview of the RMS, see History of the Railway Mail Service: A Chapter in the History of Postal Affairs in the United States (Washington, DC: GPO, 1885); also Carpenter, "The Corporate Metaphor and Executive Department Centralization in the United States, 1880-1920," Studies in American Political Development 12 (1998): 162-203. As early as 1864, special agents were riding aboard mail cars and using them to monitor delivery and distribution of mail. See "Monthly Report of D.E. Brainard, Special Agent P. O. Department for the Month of December 1864"; National Archives, Record Group 28, A1 Entry 228A, Correspondence and Reports of Special Agents, Box 2, 1861-1869, Folder for 1865. Hereafter cited in the following fashion: NA, RG 28, A1E 228A, B2, F "1865."
38. For a general overview of the RMS, see History of the Railway Mail Service: A Chapter in the History of Postal Affairs in the United States (Washington, DC: GPO, 1885); also Carpenter, "The Corporate Metaphor and Executive Department Centralization in the United States, 1880-1920," Studies in American Political Development 12 (1998): 162-203. As early as 1864, special agents were riding aboard mail cars and using them to monitor delivery and distribution of mail. See "Monthly Report of D.E. Brainard, Special Agent P. O. Department for the Month of December 1864"; National Archives, Record Group 28, A1 Entry 228A, Correspondence and Reports of Special Agents, Box 2, 1861-1869, Folder for 1865. Hereafter cited in the following fashion: NA, RG 28, A1E 228A, B2, F "1865."
39. For a general overview of the RMS, see History of the Railway Mail Service: A Chapter in the History of Postal Affairs in the United States (Washington, DC: GPO, 1885); also Carpenter, "The Corporate Metaphor and Executive Department Centralization in the United States, 1880-1920," Studies in American Political Development 12 (1998): 162-203. As early as 1864, special agents were riding aboard mail cars and using them to monitor delivery and distribution of mail. See "Monthly Report of D.E. Brainard, Special Agent P. O. Department for the Month of December 1864"; National Archives, Record Group 28, A1 Entry 228A, Correspondence and Reports of Special Agents, Box 2, 1861-1869, Folder for 1865. Hereafter cited in the following fashion: NA, RG 28, A1E 228A, B2, F "1865."
40. For reports of difficulties with regulating railroad schedules, see postal inspectors' materials in the National Archives, as follows: "Monthly Report of D.E. Brainard . . . for the Month of June 1865"; Special agent S.J. Mailes to George McLellan (Second Assistant Postmaster General), Mar. 1, 1869; Mailes to C. Cochron, Jr., Mail Depredation Office, Feb. 1, 1869; all in NA I, RG 28, A1E 228A, B2, F "1865."
41. The tension between postmasters and railway clerks helps explain one of the enduring puzzles of twentieth-century labor politics - why postal workers federated separately from one another, and distinct from the larger federal unions.
42. While John is certainly correct in regarding the distributing postmasters as the middle-level managers of the antebellum system (Spreading the News, 75), it is clear that by 1850 at latest, their ability to coordinate resources and monitor local operations was severely constrained. Kielbowicz also remarks on a growing "cadre" of postal administrators who acted independently and with discretion ( Richard B. Kielbowicz, "Government Goes into Business: Parcel Post in the Nation's Political Economy, 1880-1915," Studies in American Political Development 8 (1994): 150-72). See also Cushing, The Story of Our Post Office, and Wanamaker's 1889 Annual Report, 16-18. Because the railway mail workers were ensconced before the covering in of postmasters and the reform of the contracting system, the railway clerks were among the most durable factions in the late nineteenth-century system.
43. While John is certainly correct in regarding the distributing postmasters as the middle-level managers of the antebellum system (Spreading the News, 75), it is clear that by 1850 at latest, their ability to coordinate resources and monitor local operations was severely constrained. Kielbowicz also remarks on a growing "cadre" of postal administrators who acted independently and with discretion ( Richard B. Kielbowicz, "Government Goes into Business: Parcel Post in the Nation's Political Economy, 1880-1915," Studies in American Political Development 8 (1994): 150-72). See also Cushing, The Story of Our Post Office, and Wanamaker's 1889 Annual Report, 16-18. Because the railway mail workers were ensconced before the covering in of postmasters and the reform of the contracting system, the railway clerks were among the most durable factions in the late nineteenth-century system.
44. While John is certainly correct in regarding the distributing postmasters as the middle-level managers of the antebellum system (Spreading the News, 75), it is clear that by 1850 at latest, their ability to coordinate resources and monitor local operations was severely constrained. Kielbowicz also remarks on a growing "cadre" of postal administrators who acted independently and with discretion ( Richard B. Kielbowicz, "Government Goes into Business: Parcel Post in the Nation's Political Economy, 1880-1915," Studies in American Political Development 8 (1994): 150-72). See also Cushing, The Story of Our Post Office, and Wanamaker's 1889 Annual Report, 16-18. Because the railway mail workers were ensconced before the covering in of postmasters and the reform of the contracting system, the railway clerks were among the most durable factions in the late nineteenth-century system.
45. While John is certainly correct in regarding the distributing postmasters as the middle-level managers of the antebellum system (Spreading the News, 75), it is clear that by 1850 at latest, their ability to coordinate resources and monitor local operations was severely constrained. Kielbowicz also remarks on a growing "cadre" of postal administrators who acted independently and with discretion ( Richard B. Kielbowicz, "Government Goes into Business: Parcel Post in the Nation's Political Economy, 1880-1915," Studies in American Political Development 8 (1994): 150-72). See also Cushing, The Story of Our Post Office, and Wanamaker's 1889 Annual Report, 16-18. Because the railway mail workers were ensconced before the covering in of postmasters and the reform of the contracting system, the railway clerks were among the most durable factions in the late nineteenth-century system.
46. Wanamaker was appointed not for his ideological leanings but for his fundraising ability in Harrison's 1888 presidential campaign. Dorothy Ganfield Fowler, The Cabinet Politician: Postmasters General, 1829-1909 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1943), 207-23. Harrison frequently disagreed with his Postmaster General's policies, and after Wanamaker's proposals of 1890, Harrison asked Wanamaker: "Are you sure of your ground?" (Fuller, RFD, 20-21). Although Wanamaker's immense popularity and goodwill among Eastern financiers compelled Harrison to keep Wanamaker aboard, Harrison gave no support to Wanamaker's initiatives in Congress; Fuller, RFD, 204. For Wanamaker's remarks on the RMS, see 1889 Annual Report, 3-5, 6-9, 17-18, 24 . For a study of Wanamaker's business career, see William Leach, Land of Desire, (New York: Pantheon Books, 1993).
47. Wanamaker was appointed not for his ideological leanings but for his fundraising ability in Harrison's 1888 presidential campaign. Dorothy Ganfield Fowler, The Cabinet Politician: Postmasters General, 1829-1909 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1943), 207-23. Harrison frequently disagreed with his Postmaster General's policies, and after Wanamaker's proposals of 1890, Harrison asked Wanamaker: "Are you sure of your ground?" (Fuller, RFD, 20-21). Although Wanamaker's immense popularity and goodwill among Eastern financiers compelled Harrison to keep Wanamaker aboard, Harrison gave no support to Wanamaker's initiatives in Congress; Fuller, RFD, 204. For Wanamaker's remarks on the RMS, see 1889 Annual Report, 3-5, 6-9, 17-18, 24 . For a study of Wanamaker's business career, see William Leach, Land of Desire, (New York: Pantheon Books, 1993).
48. Wanamaker was appointed not for his ideological leanings but for his fundraising ability in Harrison's 1888 presidential campaign. Dorothy Ganfield Fowler, The Cabinet Politician: Postmasters General, 1829-1909 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1943), 207-23. Harrison frequently disagreed with his Postmaster General's policies, and after Wanamaker's proposals of 1890, Harrison asked Wanamaker: "Are you sure of your ground?" (Fuller, RFD, 20-21). Although Wanamaker's immense popularity and goodwill among Eastern financiers compelled Harrison to keep Wanamaker aboard, Harrison gave no support to Wanamaker's initiatives in Congress; Fuller, RFD, 204. For Wanamaker's remarks on the RMS, see 1889 Annual Report, 3-5, 6-9, 17-18, 24 . For a study of Wanamaker's business career, see William Leach, Land of Desire, (New York: Pantheon Books, 1993).
49. Wanamaker was appointed not for his ideological leanings but for his fundraising ability in Harrison's 1888 presidential campaign. Dorothy Ganfield Fowler, The Cabinet Politician: Postmasters General, 1829-1909 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1943), 207-23. Harrison frequently disagreed with his Postmaster General's policies, and after Wanamaker's proposals of 1890, Harrison asked Wanamaker: "Are you sure of your ground?" (Fuller, RFD, 20-21). Although Wanamaker's immense popularity and goodwill among Eastern financiers compelled Harrison to keep Wanamaker aboard, Harrison gave no support to Wanamaker's initiatives in Congress; Fuller, RFD, 204. For Wanamaker's remarks on the RMS, see 1889 Annual Report, 3-5, 6-9, 17-18, 24 . For a study of Wanamaker's business career, see William Leach, Land of Desire, (New York: Pantheon Books, 1993).
50. Wanamaker was appointed not for his ideological leanings but for his fundraising ability in Harrison's 1888 presidential campaign. Dorothy Ganfield Fowler, The Cabinet Politician: Postmasters General, 1829-1909 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1943), 207-23. Harrison frequently disagreed with his Postmaster General's policies, and after Wanamaker's proposals of 1890, Harrison asked Wanamaker: "Are you sure of your ground?" (Fuller, RFD, 20-21). Although Wanamaker's immense popularity and goodwill among Eastern financiers compelled Harrison to keep Wanamaker aboard, Harrison gave no support to Wanamaker's initiatives in Congress; Fuller, RFD, 204. For Wanamaker's remarks on the RMS, see 1889 Annual Report, 3-5, 6-9, 17-18, 24 . For a study of Wanamaker's business career, see William Leach, Land of Desire, (New York: Pantheon Books, 1993).
51. Fuller, The American Mail, 182; Farmington (ME) Chronicle, Mar. 24, 1892. Sen. Exec. Doc., 166.
52. Fuller, The American Mail, 182; Farmington (ME) Chronicle, Mar. 24, 1892. Sen. Exec. Doc., 166.
53. Fuller, The American Mail, chap. 7.
54. P.H. Woodward, The Secret Service of the Post Office Department, as Exhibited in the Wonderful Exploits of Speaal Agents (San Francisco: A.L. Bancroft & Co., 1886). Business Method of the Post Office Department, 283. On partisan distrust of the agents in the 1850s, see the Circular of Postmaster General Jacob Collamer, Oct. 8, 1850; Inspection Vertical Files, USPS Library. On payment issues and in-fighting, see the correspondence of agents George Plitt, Howard Kennedy, J.G. Patterson, and C.G. McHatten in "Correspondence and Reports of Special Agents, 1836-1845"; NA, RG 28, A1E 228A, F "1842." See also copied correspondence of John B. Furay, Inspection Vertical Files. Plitt quotation in John, Spreading the News, 104. More generally, see Carpenter, Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy, chap. 3.
55. P.H. Woodward, The Secret Service of the Post Office Department, as Exhibited in the Wonderful Exploits of Speaal Agents (San Francisco: A.L. Bancroft & Co., 1886). Business Method of the Post Office Department, 283. On partisan distrust of the agents in the 1850s, see the Circular of Postmaster General Jacob Collamer, Oct. 8, 1850; Inspection Vertical Files, USPS Library. On payment issues and in-fighting, see the correspondence of agents George Plitt, Howard Kennedy, J.G. Patterson, and C.G. McHatten in "Correspondence and Reports of Special Agents, 1836-1845"; NA, RG 28, A1E 228A, F "1842." See also copied correspondence of John B. Furay, Inspection Vertical Files. Plitt quotation in John, Spreading the News, 104. More generally, see Carpenter, Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy, chap. 3.
56. P.H. Woodward, The Secret Service of the Post Office Department, as Exhibited in the Wonderful Exploits of Speaal Agents (San Francisco: A.L. Bancroft & Co., 1886). Business Method of the Post Office Department, 283. On partisan distrust of the agents in the 1850s, see the Circular of Postmaster General Jacob Collamer, Oct. 8, 1850; Inspection Vertical Files, USPS Library. On payment issues and in-fighting, see the correspondence of agents George Plitt, Howard Kennedy, J.G. Patterson, and C.G. McHatten in "Correspondence and Reports of Special Agents, 1836-1845"; NA, RG 28, A1E 228A, F "1842." See also copied correspondence of John B. Furay, Inspection Vertical Files. Plitt quotation in John, Spreading the News, 104. More generally, see Carpenter, Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy, chap. 3.
57. P.H. Woodward, The Secret Service of the Post Office Department, as Exhibited in the Wonderful Exploits of Speaal Agents (San Francisco: A.L. Bancroft & Co., 1886). Business Method of the Post Office Department, 283. On partisan distrust of the agents in the 1850s, see the Circular of Postmaster General Jacob Collamer, Oct. 8, 1850; Inspection Vertical Files, USPS Library. On payment issues and in-fighting, see the correspondence of agents George Plitt, Howard Kennedy, J.G. Patterson, and C.G. McHatten in "Correspondence and Reports of Special Agents, 1836-1845"; NA, RG 28, A1E 228A, F "1842." See also copied correspondence of John B. Furay, Inspection Vertical Files. Plitt quotation in John, Spreading the News, 104. More generally, see Carpenter, Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy, chap. 3.
58. P.H. Woodward, The Secret Service of the Post Office Department, as Exhibited in the Wonderful Exploits of Speaal Agents (San Francisco: A.L. Bancroft & Co., 1886). Business Method of the Post Office Department, 283. On partisan distrust of the agents in the 1850s, see the Circular of Postmaster General Jacob Collamer, Oct. 8, 1850; Inspection Vertical Files, USPS Library. On payment issues and in-fighting, see the correspondence of agents George Plitt, Howard Kennedy, J.G. Patterson, and C.G. McHatten in "Correspondence and Reports of Special Agents, 1836-1845"; NA, RG 28, A1E 228A, F "1842." See also copied correspondence of John B. Furay, Inspection Vertical Files. Plitt quotation in John, Spreading the News, 104. More generally, see Carpenter, Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy, chap. 3.
59. Beisel, Imperiled Innocents; Fowler, Unmailable: Congress and the Post Office (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1977). R.W. McAfee to W.J. Vickery, Chief Inspector, Nov. 30, 1906; NA, RG 28, Accession Records of Inspection Service, B 3. Reed to Cortelyou, Nov. 4, 1905; Cortelyou to Reed, Jan. 12, 1906; in NA, RG 28, E 36, B 1, File "American Medical Association."
60. Beisel, Imperiled Innocents; Fowler, Unmailable: Congress and the Post Office (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1977). R.W. McAfee to W.J. Vickery, Chief Inspector, Nov. 30, 1906; NA, RG 28, Accession Records of Inspection Service, B 3. Reed to Cortelyou, Nov. 4, 1905; Cortelyou to Reed, Jan. 12, 1906; in NA, RG 28, E 36, B 1, File "American Medical Association."
61. Wayne Fuller, The American Mail: Enlarger of the Common Life (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972), 277. In my analyses I have used the annual "Roster of Post Office Inspectors and Clerks in Division Offices," NA, RG 28, E 234, Records of the Division of Post Office Inspectors, Rosters 1898-1909. Analysis of these records indicates that the most common background for inspectors - at least 49 percent by 1900 - was prior employment with the Railway Mail Service. Because the background measure I use reports only the most recent position of all inspectors, it excludes those individuals who had RMS experience and then worked for a different division in the department before their appointment as inspector. As a result, this measure understates the fraction of inspectors with RMS experience, and the percentages reported may be regarded as lower bounds on the true fraction.
62. Second Assistant Postmaster General J. Louis Ball to J.M. Masten, Assistant Superintendent RMS, Mar. 3, 1894; NA, RG 28, E 102, B 1, V 2/27/1894-1/28/1898, 4. G.F. Stone, Acting Second Assistant Postmaster General, to Masten, May 9, 1894; RG 28, E 102, B 1, V 2/27/1894-1/28/1898, 67. Mulrose, Second Assistant Postmaster General, Washington, DC, to Masten, Feb. 2, 1895; RG 28, E 102, B 1, V 2/27/1894-1/28/1898, 233. The department generally disdained subletting. W.S. Shallenberger to Irvin W. Mayfield, Jan. 10, 1903. RG 28, E 102, B 1, V 1, 6. G.F. Stone to W.C. Heckman, Assistant Superintendent, R.M.S., Dec. 20, 1895; RG 28, E 102, B 1, V 2/27/1894-1/28/1898, 355.
63. As postal officer Marshall Cushing noted in 1893, "The great bulk of an inspector's work consists of simple irregularities in the mail service. The fourth-class postmasters do not carefully observe the rules and regulations, and hence much carelessness, where there is no dishonesty, results" (The Story of Our Post Office: The Greatest Government Department in All Its Phases, [Boston: A.M. Thayer & Co., 1893], 313). Stone to Heckman, Nov. 3, 1894; NA I, RG 28, E 102, B 1, V 2/27/1894-1/28/1898, 185-86. 2nd Asst P.M. Gen J. Louis Ball [?] to W.C. Heckman, Asst Supt RMS, St. Louis, MO, Feb. 27, 1894; NA I, RG 28, E 102, B1, V 2/27/1894-1/28/1898. In other cases, the department questioned postmasters' preferences to hire through kin and friendship networks. G.F. Stone to J.M. Masten, May 26, 1894; NA I, RG 28, E 102, B 1, V 2/ 27/1894-1/28/1898, 92. Terry in Congressional Record [54-2]. Feb. 25, 1897, 2351.
64. As postal officer Marshall Cushing noted in 1893, "The great bulk of an inspector's work consists of simple irregularities in the mail service. The fourth-class postmasters do not carefully observe the rules and regulations, and hence much carelessness, where there is no dishonesty, results" (The Story of Our Post Office: The Greatest Government Department in All Its Phases, [Boston: A.M. Thayer & Co., 1893], 313). Stone to Heckman, Nov. 3, 1894; NA I, RG 28, E 102, B 1, V 2/27/1894-1/28/1898, 185-86. 2nd Asst P.M. Gen J. Louis Ball [?] to W.C. Heckman, Asst Supt RMS, St. Louis, MO, Feb. 27, 1894; NA I, RG 28, E 102, B1, V 2/27/1894-1/28/1898. In other cases, the department questioned postmasters' preferences to hire through kin and friendship networks. G.F. Stone to J.M. Masten, May 26, 1894; NA I, RG 28, E 102, B 1, V 2/ 27/1894-1/28/1898, 92. Terry in Congressional Record [54-2]. Feb. 25, 1897, 2351.
65. A different analysis in which costs are first regressed upon receipts also shows marked declines. I mention here two measurement concerns that may plague the following analyses. First, my use of nominal cost aggregates for each office-year "ignores" inflation in a technical sense. To account for inflation, I include the office's free delivery receipts as a denominator or control in all analyses. Whatever national, regional and local monetary factors are inflating cost aggregates should also be inflating receipts aggregates in nearly the same fashion. Indeed, in the absence of annual local-level price indices for the period 1896 to 1910 (to my awareness), this procedure offers the only reasonable control for price inflation. A more persuasive objection is that, because the standard errors for cost and operations variables shrink over time, the panel is not variance-stationary. Hence regime shifts in the denomination or coefficient value of receipts may render any estimates inconsistent.
66. I include the second three variables because I am interested in indices that correlate with the probability and the severity of local inspection. Intuition and anecdotal evidence suggest that longer-tenured agents who had better learned the procedures of inspection were more likely to crack down upon city offices. Because the National Archives data - Record Group 28, Entry 234-code only the most recent promotion, they exclude inspectors who were trained in the RMS and who took an indirect route to the inspectors' corps. Hence the measures here are a lower bound on the fraction of inspectors who were RMS-trained.
67. James E. Rauch, "Bureaucracy, Infrastructure, and Economic Growth: Evidence from U.S. Cities During the Progressive Era," American Economic Review 85 (1995): 968-79.
68. This section follows a more extended discussion in chap. 5 of Daniel P. Carpenter, The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Organizational Reputations and Policy Innovation in Executive Agencies, 1862-1928 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming). (For railway mail pay figures, see Postmaster General, 1911-1912 Annual Report, 37-38. The Outlook, June 10, 1911; "A Check on Postal Efficiency," The Outlook, Sept. 7, 1907, 13-14; "Working Under Difficulties," American Review of Reviews, Mar. 1910, 266. Taylor, "At Your Door-Step: The Neighborly Service of the United States Post Office," The Survey May 6, 1916, 133. Frank B. Lord, "Reforms in the Postal Service," National Monthly, 150; "A Practical Reform," Baltimore Sun, June 22, 1914. Babcock, "More Light on Postal Matters," Twentieth-Century Magazine, June 1911, 222. For evidence on the institutional constancy of railway payments during this period, see Reports of Payments for Railway Mail Transportation, 1876-1928, NA I, RG 28, UD Entry 68. See also "Laws Respecting Pay for the Transportation of Mails on Railroad Routes and for Railway Post Office Cars," Appendix A (pp. 19-20) in Letter from the Postmaster General, Submitting A Report Giving the Results of the Inquiry as to the Operation, Receipts, and Expenditures of Railroad Companies Transporting the Mails, and Recommending Legislation on the Subject (Washington, DC: GPO, 1911). HED [62-1] No. 105.
69. This section follows a more extended discussion in chap. 5 of Daniel P. Carpenter, The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Organizational Reputations and Policy Innovation in Executive Agencies, 1862-1928 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming). (For railway mail pay figures, see Postmaster General, 1911-1912 Annual Report, 37-38. The Outlook, June 10, 1911; "A Check on Postal Efficiency," The Outlook, Sept. 7, 1907, 13-14; "Working Under Difficulties," American Review of Reviews, Mar. 1910, 266. Taylor, "At Your Door-Step: The Neighborly Service of the United States Post Office," The Survey May 6, 1916, 133. Frank B. Lord, "Reforms in the Postal Service," National Monthly, 150; "A Practical Reform," Baltimore Sun, June 22, 1914. Babcock, "More Light on Postal Matters," Twentieth-Century Magazine, June 1911, 222. For evidence on the institutional constancy of railway payments during this period, see Reports of Payments for Railway Mail Transportation, 1876-1928, NA I, RG 28, UD Entry 68. See also "Laws Respecting Pay for the Transportation of Mails on Railroad Routes and for Railway Post Office Cars," Appendix A (pp. 19-20) in Letter from the Postmaster General, Submitting A Report Giving the Results of the Inquiry as to the Operation, Receipts, and Expenditures of Railroad Companies Transporting the Mails, and Recommending Legislation on the Subject (Washington, DC: GPO, 1911). HED [62-1] No. 105.
70. This section follows a more extended discussion in chap. 5 of Daniel P. Carpenter, The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Organizational Reputations and Policy Innovation in Executive Agencies, 1862-1928 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming). (For railway mail pay figures, see Postmaster General, 1911-1912 Annual Report, 37-38. The Outlook, June 10, 1911; "A Check on Postal Efficiency," The Outlook, Sept. 7, 1907, 13-14; "Working Under Difficulties," American Review of Reviews, Mar. 1910, 266. Taylor, "At Your Door-Step: The Neighborly Service of the United States Post Office," The Survey May 6, 1916, 133. Frank B. Lord, "Reforms in the Postal Service," National Monthly, 150; "A Practical Reform," Baltimore Sun, June 22, 1914. Babcock, "More Light on Postal Matters," Twentieth-Century Magazine, June 1911, 222. For evidence on the institutional constancy of railway payments during this period, see Reports of Payments for Railway Mail Transportation, 1876-1928, NA I, RG 28, UD Entry 68. See also "Laws Respecting Pay for the Transportation of Mails on Railroad Routes and for Railway Post Office Cars," Appendix A (pp. 19-20) in Letter from the Postmaster General, Submitting A Report Giving the Results of the Inquiry as to the Operation, Receipts, and Expenditures of Railroad Companies Transporting the Mails, and Recommending Legislation on the
71. This section follows a more extended discussion in chap. 5 of Daniel P. Carpenter, The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Organizational Reputations and Policy Innovation in Executive Agencies, 1862-1928 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming). (For railway mail pay figures, see Postmaster General, 1911-1912 Annual Report, 37-38. The Outlook, June 10, 1911; "A Check on Postal Efficiency," The Outlook, Sept. 7, 1907, 13-14; "Working Under Difficulties," American Review of Reviews, Mar. 1910, 266. Taylor, "At Your Door-Step: The Neighborly Service of the United States Post Office," The Survey May 6, 1916, 133. Frank B. Lord, "Reforms in the Postal Service," National Monthly, 150; "A Practical Reform," Baltimore Sun, June 22, 1914. Babcock, "More Light on Postal Matters," Twentieth-Century Magazine, June 1911, 222. For evidence on the institutional constancy of railway payments during this period, see Reports of Payments for Railway Mail Transportation, 1876-1928, NA I, RG 28, UD Entry 68. See also "Laws Respecting Pay for the Transportation of Mails on Railroad Routes and for Railway Post Office Cars," Appendix A (pp. 19-20) in Letter from the Postmaster General, Submitting A Report Giving the Results of the Inquiry as to the Operation, Receipts, and Expenditures of Railroad Companies Transporting the Mails, and Recommending Legislation on the Subject (Washington, DC: GPO, 1911). HED [62-1] No. 105.
72. This section follows a more extended discussion in chap. 5 of Daniel P. Carpenter, The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Organizational Reputations and Policy Innovation in Executive Agencies, 1862-1928 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming). (For railway mail pay figures, see Postmaster General, 1911-1912 Annual Report, 37-38. The Outlook, June 10, 1911; "A Check on Postal Efficiency," The Outlook, Sept. 7, 1907, 13-14; "Working Under Difficulties," American Review of Reviews, Mar. 1910, 266. Taylor, "At Your Door-Step: The Neighborly Service of the United States Post Office," The Survey May 6, 1916, 133. Frank B. Lord, "Reforms in the Postal Service," National Monthly, 150; "A Practical Reform," Baltimore Sun, June 22, 1914. Babcock, "More Light on Postal Matters," Twentieth-Century Magazine, June 1911, 222. For evidence on the institutional constancy of railway payments during this period, see Reports of Payments for Railway Mail Transportation, 1876-1928, NA I, RG 28, UD Entry 68. See also "Laws Respecting Pay for the Transportation of Mails on Railroad Routes and for Railway Post Office Cars," Appendix A (pp. 19-20) in Letter from the Postmaster General, Submitting A Report Giving the Results of the Inquiry as to the Operation, Receipts, and Expenditures of Railroad Companies Transporting the Mails, and Recommending Legislation on the Subject (Washington, DC: GPO, 1911). HED [62-1] No. 105.
73. This section follows a more extended discussion in chap. 5 of Daniel P. Carpenter, The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Organizational Reputations and Policy Innovation in Executive Agencies, 1862-1928 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming). (For railway mail pay figures, see Postmaster General, 1911-1912 Annual Report, 37-38. The Outlook, June 10, 1911; "A Check on Postal Efficiency," The Outlook, Sept. 7, 1907, 13-14; "Working Under Difficulties," American Review of Reviews, Mar. 1910, 266. Taylor, "At Your Door-Step: The Neighborly Service of the United States Post Office," The Survey May 6, 1916, 133. Frank B. Lord, "Reforms in the Postal Service," National Monthly, 150; "A Practical Reform," Baltimore Sun, June 22, 1914. Babcock, "More Light on Postal Matters," Twentieth-Century Magazine, June 1911, 222. For evidence on the institutional constancy of railway payments during this period, see Reports of Payments for Railway Mail Transportation, 1876-1928, NA I, RG 28, UD Entry 68. See also "Laws Respecting Pay for the Transportation of Mails on Railroad Routes and for Railway Post Office Cars," Appendix A (pp. 19-20) in Letter from the Postmaster General, Submitting A Report Giving the Results of the Inquiry as to the Operation, Receipts, and Expenditures of Railroad Companies Transporting the Mails, and Recommending Legislation on the Subject (Washington, DC: GPO, 1911). HED [62-1] No. 105.
74. This section follows a more extended discussion in chap. 5 of Daniel P. Carpenter, The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Organizational Reputations and Policy Innovation in Executive Agencies, 1862-1928 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming). (For railway mail pay figures, see Postmaster General, 1911-1912 Annual Report, 37-38. The Outlook, June 10, 1911; "A Check on Postal Efficiency," The Outlook, Sept. 7, 1907, 13-14; "Working Under Difficulties," American Review of Reviews, Mar. 1910, 266. Taylor, "At Your Door-Step: The Neighborly Service of the United States Post Office," The Survey May 6, 1916, 133. Frank B. Lord, "Reforms in the Postal Service," National Monthly, 150; "A Practical Reform," Baltimore Sun, June 22, 1914. Babcock, "More Light on Postal Matters," Twentieth-Century Magazine, June 1911, 222. For evidence on the institutional constancy of railway payments during this period, see Reports of Payments for Railway Mail Transportation, 1876-1928, NA I, RG 28, UD Entry 68. See also "Laws Respecting Pay for the Transportation of Mails on Railroad Routes and for Railway Post Office Cars," Appendix A (pp. 19-20) in Letter from the Postmaster General, Submitting A Report Giving the Results of the Inquiry as to the Operation, Receipts, and Expenditures of Railroad Companies Transporting the Mails, and Recommending Legislation on the Subject (Washington, DC: GPO, 1911). HED [62-1] No. 105.
75. This section follows a more extended discussion in chap. 5 of Daniel P. Carpenter, The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Organizational Reputations and Policy Innovation in Executive Agencies, 1862-1928 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming). (For railway mail pay figures, see Postmaster General, 1911-1912 Annual Report, 37-38. The Outlook, June 10, 1911; "A Check on Postal Efficiency," The Outlook, Sept. 7, 1907, 13-14; "Working Under Difficulties," American Review of Reviews, Mar. 1910, 266. Taylor, "At Your Door-Step: The Neighborly Service of the United States Post Office," The Survey May 6, 1916, 133. Frank B. Lord, "Reforms in the Postal Service," National Monthly, 150; "A Practical Reform," Baltimore Sun, June 22, 1914. Babcock, "More Light on Postal Matters," Twentieth-Century Magazine, June 1911, 222. For evidence on the institutional constancy of railway payments during this period, see Reports of Payments for Railway Mail Transportation, 1876-1928, NA I, RG 28, UD Entry 68. See also "Laws Respecting Pay for the Transportation of Mails on Railroad Routes and for Railway Post Office Cars," Appendix A (pp. 19-20) in Letter from the Postmaster General, Submitting A Report Giving the Results of the Inquiry as to the Operation, Receipts, and Expenditures of Railroad Companies Transporting the Mails, and Recommending Legislation on the Subject (Washington, DC: GPO, 1911). HED [62-1] No. 105.
76. This section follows a more extended discussion in chap. 5 of Daniel P. Carpenter, The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Organizational Reputations and Policy Innovation in Executive Agencies, 1862-1928 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming). (For railway mail pay figures, see Postmaster General, 1911-1912 Annual Report, 37-38. The Outlook, June 10, 1911; "A Check on Postal Efficiency," The Outlook, Sept. 7, 1907, 13-14; "Working Under Difficulties," American Review of Reviews, Mar. 1910, 266. Taylor, "At Your Door-Step: The Neighborly Service of the United States Post Office," The Survey May 6, 1916, 133. Frank B. Lord, "Reforms in the Postal Service," National Monthly, 150; "A Practical Reform," Baltimore Sun, June 22, 1914. Babcock, "More Light on Postal Matters," Twentieth-Century Magazine, June 1911, 222. For evidence on the institutional constancy of railway payments during this period, see Reports of Payments for Railway Mail Transportation, 1876-1928, NA I, RG 28, UD Entry 68. See also "Laws Respecting Pay for the Transportation of Mails on Railroad Routes and for Railway Post Office Cars," Appendix A (pp. 19-20) in Letter from the Postmaster General, Submitting A Report Giving the Results of the Inquiry as to the Operation, Receipts, and Expenditures of Railroad Companies Transporting the Mails, and Recommending Legislation on the Subject (Washington, DC: GPO, 1911). HED [62-1] No. 105.
77. This section follows a more extended discussion in chap. 5 of Daniel P. Carpenter, The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Organizational Reputations and Policy Innovation in Executive Agencies, 1862-1928 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming). (For railway mail pay figures, see Postmaster General, 1911-1912 Annual Report, 37-38. The Outlook, June 10, 1911; "A Check on Postal Efficiency," The Outlook, Sept. 7, 1907, 13-14; "Working Under Difficulties," American Review of Reviews, Mar. 1910, 266. Taylor, "At Your Door-Step: The Neighborly Service of the United States Post Office," The Survey May 6, 1916, 133. Frank B. Lord, "Reforms in the Postal Service," National Monthly, 150; "A Practical Reform," Baltimore Sun, June 22, 1914. Babcock, "More Light on Postal Matters," Twentieth-Century Magazine, June 1911, 222. For evidence on the institutional constancy of railway payments during this period, see Reports of Payments for Railway Mail Transportation, 1876-1928, NA I, RG 28, UD Entry 68. See also "Laws Respecting Pay for the Transportation of Mails on Railroad Routes and for Railway Post Office Cars," Appendix A (pp. 19-20) in Letter from the Postmaster General, Submitting A Report Giving the Results of the Inquiry as to the Operation, Receipts, and Expenditures of Railroad Companies Transporting the Mails, and Recommending Legislation on the Subject (Washington, DC: GPO, 1911). HED [62-1] No. 105.
78. This section follows a more extended discussion in chap. 5 of Daniel P. Carpenter, The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Organizational Reputations and Policy Innovation in Executive Agencies, 1862-1928 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming). (For railway mail pay figures, see Postmaster General, 1911-1912 Annual Report, 37-38. The Outlook, June 10, 1911; "A Check on Postal Efficiency," The Outlook, Sept. 7, 1907, 13-14; "Working Under Difficulties," American Review of Reviews, Mar. 1910, 266. Taylor, "At Your Door-Step: The Neighborly Service of the United States Post Office," The Survey May 6, 1916, 133. Frank B. Lord, "Reforms in the Postal Service," National Monthly, 150; "A Practical Reform," Baltimore Sun, June 22, 1914. Babcock, "More Light on Postal Matters," Twentieth-Century Magazine, June 1911, 222. For evidence on the institutional constancy of railway payments during this period, see Reports of Payments for Railway Mail Transportation, 1876-1928, NA I, RG 28, UD Entry 68. See also "Laws Respecting Pay for the Transportation of Mails on Railroad Routes and for Railway Post Office Cars," Appendix A (pp. 19-20) in Letter from the Postmaster General, Submitting A Report Giving the Results of the Inquiry as to the Operation, Receipts, and Expenditures of Railroad Companies Transporting the Mails, and Recommending Legislation on the Subject (Washington, DC: GPO, 1911). HED [62-1] No. 105.
79. Fuller, RFD: The Changing Face of Rural America (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1964); Kernell and McDonald, "Congress and America's Political Development: The Transformation of the Post Office from Patronage to Service," American Journal of Political Science 43 (1999): 792-811.
80. Fuller, RFD: The Changing Face of Rural America (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1964); Kernell and McDonald, "Congress and America's Political Development: The Transformation of the Post Office from Patronage to Service," American Journal of Political Science 43 (1999): 792-811.
81. For a pictorial review of early stage and star route symbolism, see James Bruns, Mail on the Move (Polo, IL: Transportation Trails, 1992). Fuller, RFD, 54, 84. Lena Hecker, The History of the Rural Free Mail Delivery in the United STates, (M.A. thesis, University of Iowa, 1920), 25-26.
82. For a pictorial review of early stage and star route symbolism, see James Bruns, Mail on the Move (Polo, IL: Transportation Trails, 1992). Fuller, RFD, 54, 84. Lena Hecker, The History of the Rural Free Mail Delivery in the United STates, (M.A. thesis, University of Iowa, 1920), 25-26.
83. For a pictorial review of early stage and star route symbolism, see James Bruns, Mail on the Move (Polo, IL: Transportation Trails, 1992). Fuller, RFD, 54, 84. Lena Hecker, The History of the Rural Free Mail Delivery in the United STates, (M.A. thesis, University of Iowa, 1920), 25-26.
84. Annual Report of the Postmaster General, House Exec. Doc. No. 1, Part 4, (Washington, DC: GPO, 1889), 27. Beckwith wrote Wanamaker on February 20, 1890, enclosing a copy of House Bill 3322, entitled "A Bill to extend the Free Delivery System of the Post Office Department, and for other purposes" (NA I, RG 233, HR 51A-F30.1, Box 71). Beckwith also asked for Wanamaker's "opinion as to the advisability of its passage, and an estimate of the increased expense incident thereto." Wanamaker responded two weeks later with enthusiasm: "the Bill meets with my entire approval in every feature, and its passage would, in my judgment, accommodate a large number of people with additional postal facilities." To document the latter point, Wanamaker enclosed a calligraphic script list of all post offices still without free delivery, yet which had garnered revenues of $5,000 or more in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1890 (Wanamaker to Hon. C.D. Beckwith, Mar. 4, 1890; ibid., Box 71). Bingham sent his proposal - Senate Bill No. 925 - to Wanamaker on December 16. Wanamaker dissuaded Bingham from the broader expansion in his letter of December 23 (ibid.). He informed Bingham that the Senate's plan would result in extension of free delivery to at least 573 post offices, perhaps as many as 700. Many of these offices "will not have the requirements as to lighted streets, good side-walks, numbered houses, and names of streets at intersections." Wanamaker reasoned that the Senate would be lucky if 400 such towns were even to apply for the service. He concluded that "300 or 350 offices having the necessary requirements, will be the maximum number which will apply and can be properly inspected and established."
85. Annual Report of the Postmaster General, 1890-1891. Wanamaker "was the first to suggest officially through his annual report of 1891 that a rural delivery department be added as a branch of the United States Post Office" ( Hecker, The History of the Rural Free Mail Delivery in the United States, 20). See also Fuller. RFD, 17, 22.
86. Annual Report of the Postmaster General, 1890-1891. Wanamaker "was the first to suggest officially through his annual report of 1891 that a rural delivery department be added as a branch of the United States Post Office" ( Hecker, The History of the Rural Free Mail Delivery in the United States, 20). See also Fuller. RFD, 17, 22.
87. Annual Report of the Postmaster General, 1890-1891. Wanamaker "was the first to suggest officially through his annual report of 1891 that a rural delivery department be added as a branch of the United States Post Office" ( Hecker, The History of the Rural Free Mail Delivery in the United States, 20). See also Fuller. RFD, 17, 22.
88. The Journal characteristically worried, as did the Grange and other farm organizations, about the efficiency and potential cost overruns of a department-run system. From the star-route scandals of the 1880s, rural experience with postal service in the late nineteenth century had been painful. Cushing, The Story of Our Post Office, 30-32, 351, 439. Farm Journal statement appears in Sen. Exec. Doc., May 3, 1892, 180. Gibbons, John Wanamaker, 279-80. Hal Barron, Mixed Harvest: The Second Great Transformation in the Rural North, 1870-1930 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997), 174-88. Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the National Board of Trade, 1888, (Boston: Crosby & Co., 1888), 159-62. The Board also favored one-cent postage in succeeding years.
89. The Journal characteristically worried, as did the Grange and other farm organizations, about the efficiency and potential cost overruns of a department-run system. From the star-route scandals of the 1880s, rural experience with postal service in the late nineteenth century had been painful. Cushing, The Story of Our Post Office, 30-32, 351, 439. Farm Journal statement appears in Sen. Exec. Doc., May 3, 1892, 180. Gibbons, John Wanamaker, 279-80. Hal Barron, Mixed Harvest: The Second Great Transformation in the Rural North, 1870-1930 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997), 174-88. Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the National Board of Trade, 1888, (Boston: Crosby & Co., 1888), 159-62. The Board also favored one-cent postage in succeeding years.
90. The Journal characteristically worried, as did the Grange and other farm organizations, about the efficiency and potential cost overruns of a department-run system. From the star-route scandals of the 1880s, rural experience with postal service in the late nineteenth century had been painful. Cushing, The Story of Our Post Office, 30-32, 351, 439. Farm Journal statement appears in Sen. Exec. Doc., May 3, 1892, 180. Gibbons, John Wanamaker, 279-80. Hal Barron, Mixed Harvest: The Second Great Transformation in the Rural North, 1870-1930 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997), 174-88. Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the National Board of Trade, 1888, (Boston: Crosby & Co., 1888), 159-62. The Board also favored one-cent postage in succeeding years.
91. The Journal characteristically worried, as did the Grange and other farm organizations, about the efficiency and potential cost overruns of a department-run system. From the star-route scandals of the 1880s, rural experience with postal service in the late nineteenth century had been painful. Cushing, The Story of Our Post Office, 30-32, 351, 439. Farm Journal statement appears in Sen. Exec. Doc., May 3, 1892, 180. Gibbons, John Wanamaker, 279-80. Hal Barron, Mixed Harvest: The Second Great Transformation in the Rural North, 1870-1930 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997), 174-88. Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the National Board of Trade, 1888, (Boston: Crosby & Co., 1888), 159-62. The Board also favored one-cent postage in succeeding years.
92. The Journal characteristically worried, as did the Grange and other farm organizations, about the efficiency and potential cost overruns of a department-run system. From the star-route scandals of the 1880s, rural experience with postal service in the late nineteenth century had been painful. Cushing, The Story of Our Post Office, 30-32, 351, 439. Farm Journal statement appears in Sen. Exec. Doc., May 3, 1892, 180. Gibbons, John Wanamaker, 279-80. Hal Barron, Mixed Harvest: The Second Great Transformation in the Rural North, 1870-1930 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997), 174-88. Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the National Board of Trade, 1888, (Boston: Crosby & Co., 1888), 159-62. The Board also favored one-cent postage in succeeding years.
93. Philadelphia Bulletin, October 20, 1891; Baltimore American, Oct. 20, 1891; in "Free Delivery System," 52-53. On Wanamaker's lobbying efforts, see Gibbons, John Wanamaker, I, 281. Wanamaker spoke in favor of RFD to the Manufacturer's Club of Philadelphia - a group of elites whom he knew well from his career as a chain-store developer - on September 21, 1891. See Milwaukee News, Sept. 22, 1891, quoted on p. 32 of Wanamaker's voluminous report "Free Delivery System," [hereafter "Free Delivery System"] May 3, 1892; Sen. Exec. Doc. No. 92, 52nd Congress, 1st sess. For a broadcast repetition of Wanamaker's call for rural petitions, see the editorial of the Spokane Spokesman, Feb. 5, 1892, "Free Delivery System," 144-45). Grangers' support for RFD was not universally enthusiastic; at the 1891 convention, a minority of the Grange's Committee on Resolutions proposed that the National Order table the RFD resolutions and wait upon matter for a few years. The eventual resolution was adopted by only a 27-19 vote; National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, Journal of Proceedings (1891) (Philadelphia: J.A. Wagenseller, 1891), 99.
94. Philadelphia Bulletin, October 20, 1891; Baltimore American, Oct. 20, 1891; in "Free Delivery System," 52-53. On Wanamaker's lobbying efforts, see Gibbons, John Wanamaker, I, 281. Wanamaker spoke in favor of RFD to the Manufacturer's Club of Philadelphia - a group of elites whom he knew well from his career as a chain-store developer - on September 21, 1891. See Milwaukee News, Sept. 22, 1891, quoted on p. 32 of Wanamaker's voluminous report "Free Delivery System," [hereafter "Free Delivery System"] May 3, 1892; Sen. Exec. Doc. No. 92, 52nd Congress, 1st sess. For a broadcast repetition of Wanamaker's call for rural petitions, see the editorial of the Spokane Spokesman, Feb. 5, 1892, "Free Delivery System," 144-45). Grangers' support for RFD was not universally enthusiastic; at the 1891 convention, a minority of the Grange's Committee on Resolutions proposed that the National Order table the RFD resolutions and wait upon matter for a few years. The eventual resolution was adopted by only a 27-19 vote; National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, Journal of Proceedings (1891) (Philadelphia: J.A. Wagenseller, 1891), 99.
95. Philadelphia Bulletin, October 20, 1891; Baltimore American, Oct. 20, 1891; in "Free Delivery System," 52-53. On Wanamaker's lobbying efforts, see Gibbons, John Wanamaker, I, 281. Wanamaker spoke in favor of RFD to the Manufacturer's Club of Philadelphia - a group of elites whom he knew well from his career as a chain-store developer - on September 21, 1891. See Milwaukee News, Sept. 22, 1891, quoted on p. 32 of Wanamaker's voluminous report "Free Delivery System," [hereafter "Free Delivery System"] May 3, 1892; Sen. Exec. Doc. No. 92, 52nd Congress, 1st sess. For a broadcast repetition of Wanamaker's call for rural petitions, see the editorial of the Spokane Spokesman, Feb. 5, 1892, "Free Delivery System," 144-45). Grangers' support for RFD was not universally enthusiastic; at the 1891 convention, a minority of the Grange's Committee on Resolutions proposed that the National Order table the RFD resolutions and wait upon matter for a few years. The eventual resolution was adopted by only a 27-19 vote; National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, Journal of Proceedings (1891) (Philadelphia: J.A. Wagenseller, 1891), 99.
96. Philadelphia Bulletin, October 20, 1891; Baltimore American, Oct. 20, 1891; in "Free Delivery System," 52-53. On Wanamaker's lobbying efforts, see Gibbons, John Wanamaker, I, 281. Wanamaker spoke in favor of RFD to the Manufacturer's Club of Philadelphia - a group of elites whom he knew well from his career as a chain-store developer - on September 21, 1891. See Milwaukee News, Sept. 22, 1891, quoted on p. 32 of Wanamaker's voluminous report "Free Delivery System," [hereafter "Free Delivery System"] May 3, 1892; Sen. Exec. Doc. No. 92, 52nd Congress, 1st sess. For a broadcast repetition of Wanamaker's call for rural petitions, see the editorial of the Spokane Spokesman, Feb. 5, 1892, "Free Delivery System," 144-45). Grangers' support for RFD was not universally enthusiastic; at the 1891 convention, a minority of the Grange's Committee on Resolutions proposed that the National Order table the RFD resolutions and wait upon matter for a few years. The eventual resolution was adopted by only a 27-19 vote; National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, Journal of Proceedings (1891) (Philadelphia: J.A. Wagenseller, 1891), 99.
97. Philadelphia Bulletin, October 20, 1891; Baltimore American, Oct. 20, 1891; in "Free Delivery System," 52-53. On Wanamaker's lobbying efforts, see Gibbons, John Wanamaker, I, 281. Wanamaker spoke in favor of RFD to the Manufacturer's Club of Philadelphia - a group of elites whom he knew well from his career as a chain-store developer - on September 21, 1891. See Milwaukee News, Sept. 22, 1891, quoted on p. 32 of Wanamaker's voluminous report "Free Delivery System," [hereafter "Free Delivery System"] May 3, 1892; Sen. Exec. Doc. No. 92, 52nd Congress, 1st sess. For a broadcast repetition of Wanamaker's call for rural petitions, see the editorial of the Spokane Spokesman, Feb. 5, 1892, "Free Delivery System," 144-45). Grangers' support for RFD was not universally enthusiastic; at the 1891 convention, a minority of the Grange's Committee on Resolutions proposed that the National Order table the RFD resolutions and wait upon matter for a few years. The eventual resolution was adopted by only a 27-19 vote; National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, Journal of Proceedings (1891) (Philadelphia: J.A. Wagenseller, 1891), 99.
98. Philadelphia Bulletin, October 20, 1891; Baltimore American, Oct. 20, 1891; in "Free Delivery System," 52-53. On Wanamaker's lobbying efforts, see Gibbons, John Wanamaker, I, 281. Wanamaker spoke in favor of RFD to the Manufacturer's Club of Philadelphia - a group of elites whom he knew well from his career as a chain-store developer - on September 21, 1891. See Milwaukee News, Sept. 22, 1891, quoted on p. 32 of Wanamaker's voluminous report "Free Delivery System," [hereafter "Free Delivery System"] May 3, 1892; Sen. Exec. Doc. No. 92, 52nd Congress, 1st sess. For a broadcast repetition of Wanamaker's call for rural petitions, see the editorial of the Spokane Spokesman, Feb. 5, 1892, "Free Delivery System," 144-45). Grangers' support for RFD was not universally enthusiastic; at the 1891 convention, a minority of the Grange's Committee on Resolutions proposed that the National Order table the RFD resolutions and wait upon matter for a few years. The eventual resolution was adopted by only a 27-19 vote; National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, Journal of Proceedings (1891) (Philadelphia: J.A. Wagenseller, 1891), 99.
99. Philadelphia Bulletin, October 20, 1891; Baltimore American, Oct. 20, 1891; in "Free Delivery System," 52-53. On Wanamaker's lobbying efforts, see Gibbons, John Wanamaker, I, 281. Wanamaker spoke in favor of RFD to the Manufacturer's Club of Philadelphia - a group of elites whom he knew well from his career as a chain-store developer - on September 21, 1891. See Milwaukee News, Sept. 22, 1891, quoted on p. 32 of Wanamaker's voluminous report "Free Delivery System," [hereafter "Free Delivery System"] May 3, 1892; Sen. Exec. Doc. No. 92, 52nd Congress, 1st sess. For a broadcast repetition of Wanamaker's call for rural petitions, see the editorial of the Spokane Spokesman, Feb. 5, 1892, "Free Delivery System," 144-45). Grangers' support for RFD was not universally enthusiastic; at the 1891 convention, a minority of the Grange's Committee on Resolutions proposed that the National Order table the RFD resolutions and wait upon matter for a few years. The eventual resolution was adopted by only a 27-19 vote; National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, Journal of Proceedings (1891) (Philadelphia: J.A. Wagenseller, 1891), 99.
100. Philadelphia Bulletin, October 20, 1891; Baltimore American, Oct. 20, 1891; in "Free Delivery System," 52-53. On Wanamaker's lobbying efforts, see Gibbons, John Wanamaker, I, 281. Wanamaker spoke in favor of RFD to the Manufacturer's Club of Philadelphia - a group of elites whom he knew well from his career as a chain-store developer - on September 21, 1891. See Milwaukee News, Sept. 22, 1891, quoted on p. 32 of Wanamaker's voluminous report "Free Delivery System," [hereafter "Free Delivery System"] May 3, 1892; Sen. Exec. Doc. No. 92, 52nd Congress, 1st sess. For a broadcast repetition of Wanamaker's call for rural petitions, see the editorial of the Spokane Spokesman, Feb. 5, 1892, "Free Delivery System," 144-45). Grangers' support for RFD was not universally enthusiastic; at the 1891 convention, a minority of the Grange's Committee on Resolutions proposed that the National Order table the RFD resolutions and wait upon matter for a few years. The eventual resolution was adopted by only a 27-19 vote; National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, Journal of Proceedings (1891) (Philadelphia: J.A. Wagenseller, 1891), 99.
101. Philadelphia Bulletin, October 20, 1891; Baltimore American, Oct. 20, 1891; in "Free Delivery System," 52-53. On Wanamaker's lobbying efforts, see Gibbons, John Wanamaker, I, 281. Wanamaker spoke in favor of RFD to the Manufacturer's Club of Philadelphia - a group of elites whom he knew well from his career as a chain-store developer - on September 21, 1891. See Milwaukee News, Sept. 22, 1891, quoted on p. 32 of Wanamaker's voluminous report "Free Delivery System," [hereafter "Free Delivery System"] May 3, 1892; Sen. Exec. Doc. No. 92, 52nd Congress, 1st sess. For a broadcast repetition of Wanamaker's call for rural petitions, see the editorial of the Spokane Spokesman, Feb. 5, 1892, "Free Delivery System," 144-45). Grangers' support for RFD was not universally enthusiastic; at the 1891 convention, a minority of the Grange's Committee on Resolutions proposed that the National Order table the RFD resolutions and wait upon matter for a few years. The eventual resolution was adopted by only a 27-19 vote; National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, Journal of Proceedings (1891) (Philadelphia: J.A. Wagenseller, 1891), 99.
102. Fuller argues forcefully that local-level farm support for RFD was negligible before Wanamaker's announcements: "Perhaps because they could visualize no practical substitute for their antiquated postal system, farmers had never demanded a change in their mail service before 1891" ("Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," Annals of Iowa 41 (1972): 1050). Most petitions were blank forms with ledgers for signatures, printed and distributed by farm journal editors. The Louisville Home and Farm printed these with its November 15, 1891 edition, vowing to send to "Brother Wanamaker a Christmas present of a petition with 4,000,000 names, that his name may resound down the vista of time, through countless generations, as the greatest benefactor the country people ever had" (excerpted in "Free Delivery System," 98). Summit County Farmer's Alliance resolution appears in ibid., 7. Fuller also makes it clear that Wanamaker's announcement was decisive in stimulating congressional support for RFD (The American Mail, 105; "Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," 1050). Free Delivery of Mail in Rural Districts, House Report No. 1352, 52nd Cong., 1st Sess. (CIS 3046, Vol. 5), 1. Hecker, History of the Rural Free Mail Delivery, 20.
103. Fuller argues forcefully that local-level farm support for RFD was negligible before Wanamaker's announcements: "Perhaps because they could visualize no practical substitute for their antiquated postal system, farmers had never demanded a change in their mail service before 1891" ("Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," Annals of Iowa 41 (1972): 1050). Most petitions were blank forms with ledgers for signatures, printed and distributed by farm journal editors. The Louisville Home and Farm printed these with its November 15, 1891 edition, vowing to send to "Brother Wanamaker a Christmas present of a petition with 4,000,000 names, that his name may resound down the vista of time, through countless generations, as the greatest benefactor the country people ever had" (excerpted in "Free Delivery System," 98). Summit County Farmer's Alliance resolution appears in ibid., 7. Fuller also makes it clear that Wanamaker's announcement was decisive in stimulating congressional support for RFD (The American Mail, 105; "Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," 1050). Free Delivery of Mail in Rural Districts, House Report No. 1352, 52nd Cong., 1st Sess. (CIS 3046, Vol. 5), 1. Hecker, History of the Rural Free Mail Delivery, 20.
104. Fuller argues forcefully that local-level farm support for RFD was negligible before Wanamaker's announcements: "Perhaps because they could visualize no practical substitute for their antiquated postal system, farmers had never demanded a change in their mail service before 1891" ("Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," Annals of Iowa 41 (1972): 1050). Most petitions were blank forms with ledgers for signatures, printed and distributed by farm journal editors. The Louisville Home and Farm printed these with its November 15, 1891 edition, vowing to send to "Brother Wanamaker a Christmas present of a petition with 4,000,000 names, that his name may resound down the vista of time, through countless generations, as the greatest benefactor the country people ever had" (excerpted in "Free Delivery System," 98). Summit County Farmer's Alliance resolution appears in ibid., 7. Fuller also makes it clear that Wanamaker's announcement was decisive in stimulating congressional support for RFD (The American Mail, 105; "Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," 1050). Free Delivery of Mail in Rural Districts, House Report No. 1352, 52nd Cong., 1st Sess. (CIS 3046, Vol. 5), 1. Hecker, History of the Rural Free Mail Delivery, 20.
105. Fuller argues forcefully that local-level farm support for RFD was negligible before Wanamaker's announcements: "Perhaps because they could visualize no practical substitute for their antiquated postal system, farmers had never demanded a change in their mail service before 1891" ("Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," Annals of Iowa 41 (1972): 1050). Most petitions were blank forms with ledgers for signatures, printed and distributed by farm journal editors. The Louisville Home and Farm printed these with its November 15, 1891 edition, vowing to send to "Brother Wanamaker a Christmas present of a petition with 4,000,000 names, that his name may resound down the vista of time, through countless generations, as the greatest benefactor the country people ever had" (excerpted in "Free Delivery System," 98). Summit County Farmer's Alliance resolution appears in ibid., 7. Fuller also makes it clear that Wanamaker's announcement was decisive in stimulating congressional support for RFD (The American Mail, 105; "Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," 1050). Free Delivery of Mail in Rural Districts, House Report No. 1352, 52nd Cong., 1st Sess. (CIS 3046, Vol. 5), 1. Hecker, History of the Rural Free Mail Delivery, 20.
106. Fuller argues forcefully that local-level farm support for RFD was negligible before Wanamaker's announcements: "Perhaps because they could visualize no practical substitute for their antiquated postal system, farmers had never demanded a change in their mail service before 1891" ("Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," Annals of Iowa 41 (1972): 1050). Most petitions were blank forms with ledgers for signatures, printed and distributed by farm journal editors. The Louisville Home and Farm printed these with its November 15, 1891 edition, vowing to send to "Brother Wanamaker a Christmas present of a petition with 4,000,000 names, that his name may resound down the vista of time, through countless generations, as the greatest benefactor the country people ever had" (excerpted in "Free Delivery System," 98). Summit County Farmer's Alliance resolution appears in ibid., 7. Fuller also makes it clear that Wanamaker's announcement was decisive in stimulating congressional support for RFD (The American Mail, 105; "Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," 1050). Free Delivery of Mail in Rural Districts, House Report No. 1352, 52nd Cong., 1st Sess. (CIS 3046, Vol. 5), 1. Hecker, History of the Rural Free Mail Delivery, 20.
107. Fuller argues forcefully that local-level farm support for RFD was negligible before Wanamaker's announcements: "Perhaps because they could visualize no practical substitute for their antiquated postal system, farmers had never demanded a change in their mail service before 1891" ("Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," Annals of Iowa 41 (1972): 1050). Most petitions were blank forms with ledgers for signatures, printed and distributed by farm journal editors. The Louisville Home and Farm printed these with its November 15, 1891 edition, vowing to send to "Brother Wanamaker a Christmas present of a petition with 4,000,000 names, that his name may resound down the vista of time, through countless generations, as the greatest benefactor the country people ever had" (excerpted in "Free Delivery System," 98). Summit County Farmer's Alliance resolution appears in ibid., 7. Fuller also makes it clear that Wanamaker's announcement was decisive in stimulating congressional support for RFD (The American Mail, 105; "Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," 1050). Free Delivery of Mail in Rural Districts, House Report No. 1352, 52nd Cong., 1st Sess. (CIS 3046, Vol. 5), 1. Hecker, History of the Rural Free Mail Delivery, 20.
108. Fuller argues forcefully that local-level farm support for RFD was negligible before Wanamaker's announcements: "Perhaps because they could visualize no practical substitute for their antiquated postal system, farmers had never demanded a change in their mail service before 1891" ("Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," Annals of Iowa 41 (1972): 1050). Most petitions were blank forms with ledgers for signatures, printed and distributed by farm journal editors. The Louisville Home and Farm printed these with its November 15, 1891 edition, vowing to send to "Brother Wanamaker a Christmas present of a petition with 4,000,000 names, that his name may resound down the vista of time, through countless generations, as the greatest benefactor the country people ever had" (excerpted in "Free Delivery System," 98). Summit County Farmer's Alliance resolution appears in ibid., 7. Fuller also makes it clear that Wanamaker's announcement was decisive in stimulating congressional support for RFD (The American Mail, 105; "Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," 1050). Free Delivery of Mail in Rural Districts, House Report No. 1352, 52nd Cong., 1st Sess. (CIS 3046, Vol. 5), 1. Hecker, History of the Rural Free Mail Delivery, 20.
109. Fuller argues forcefully that local-level farm support for RFD was negligible before Wanamaker's announcements: "Perhaps because they could visualize no practical substitute for their antiquated postal system, farmers had never demanded a change in their mail service before 1891" ("Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," Annals of Iowa 41 (1972): 1050). Most petitions were blank forms with ledgers for signatures, printed and distributed by farm journal editors. The Louisville Home and Farm printed these with its November 15, 1891 edition, vowing to send to "Brother Wanamaker a Christmas present of a petition with 4,000,000 names, that his name may resound down the vista of time, through countless generations, as the greatest benefactor the country people ever had" (excerpted in "Free Delivery System," 98). Summit County Farmer's Alliance resolution appears in ibid., 7. Fuller also makes it clear that Wanamaker's announcement was decisive in stimulating congressional support for RFD (The American Mail, 105; "Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," 1050). Free Delivery of Mail in Rural Districts, House Report No. 1352, 52nd Cong., 1st Sess. (CIS 3046, Vol. 5), 1. Hecker, History of the Rural Free Mail Delivery, 20.
110. The revenue statistics appear in "Free Delivery System," 8-9. The quotes appear on pp. 63, 59, respectively. Whether the general revenue boosts are attributable to RFD or something else is difficult to discern from POD data. Departmental statisticians tried to control for "natural" revenue growth in the post offices by calculating the average annual increase in earnings for the two years preceding the experiments. Whether or not the controls were proper, contemporary newspapers noted the care with which the Post Office had calculated and presented the revenue data. See the discussion of reputation formation below. The vast majority of newspaper editorials advocating RFD mentioned the experiments in some way or another. Although I have not made an exact tabulation, the 340 mentioning the POD is probably a lower bound on this number (see Table 5 below).
111. For Accotink Farmers' Club resolution, see Sen. Exec. Doc. No. 92, 52nd Cong., 1st Sess., Letter from the Postmaster General in response to Senate resolution of January 13, 1892, relative to the extension of the free delivery system to rural districts (May 3, 1892.), 7. For Luzerne and Summit county resolutions, see ibid., 5, 7.
112. For Accotink Farmers' Club resolution, see Sen. Exec. Doc. No. 92, 52nd Cong., 1st Sess., Letter from the Postmaster General in response to Senate resolution of January 13, 1892, relative to the extension of the free delivery system to rural districts (May 3, 1892.), 7. For Luzerne and Summit county resolutions, see ibid., 5, 7.
113. Minneapolis Journal, Aug. 24, 1891; "Free Delivery System," 21. New York Press, Sept. 9; ibid., 27. Butler(MS.) Record, October 10, 1891; ibid., 43. For block-quoted editorials, see ibid., 56, 60, 66, 130, 144-45.
114. Minneapolis Journal, Aug. 24, 1891; "Free Delivery System," 21. New York Press, Sept. 9; ibid., 27. Butler(MS.) Record, October 10, 1891; ibid., 43. For block-quoted editorials, see ibid., 56, 60, 66, 130, 144-45.
115. Minneapolis Journal, Aug. 24, 1891; "Free Delivery System," 21. New York Press, Sept. 9; ibid., 27. Butler(MS.) Record, October 10, 1891; ibid., 43. For block-quoted editorials, see ibid., 56, 60, 66, 130, 144-45.
116. Minneapolis Journal, Aug. 24, 1891; "Free Delivery System," 21. New York Press, Sept. 9; ibid., 27. Butler(MS.) Record, October 10, 1891; ibid., 43. For block-quoted editorials, see ibid., 56, 60, 66, 130, 144-45.
117. Minneapolis Journal, Aug. 24, 1891; "Free Delivery System," 21. New York Press, Sept. 9; ibid., 27. Butler(MS.) Record, October 10, 1891; ibid., 43. For block-quoted editorials, see ibid., 56, 60, 66, 130, 144-45.
118. Minneapolis Journal, Aug. 24, 1891; "Free Delivery System," 21. New York Press, Sept. 9; ibid., 27. Butler(MS.) Record, October 10, 1891; ibid., 43. For block-quoted editorials, see ibid., 56, 60, 66, 130, 144-45.
119. I offer two caveats on this brief statistical exercise. First, the tabulation of editorial "credit-assignment" is not a particularly interpretive matter. Those editorials assigning credit to the POD almost universally fail to even mention Congress or any of the farm organizations of the day. Second, the editorials do not constitute a properly construed random sample, though they might. It is possible that Wanamaker selected only those editorials that assigned credit to his department. This explanation seems implausible for two reasons, however. First, Wanamaker had an incentive to select from as broad a collection of editorials - politically and geographically - as possible. To have selected only those editorials which credited him with the idea would have been to restrict the apparent press favor for his primary aim - the statutory establishment of a rural free delivery program. Second, the preponderance of editorials crediting Wanamaker over those that do not is large. If the POD were selectively incorporating press clippings to give itself they would have had to go to extreme lengths to locate over 200 editorials to skew the results.
120. "Free Delivery System," 83, 116, 103, 90, 121, respectively.
121. Leach, Land of Desire, chap. 2. Stuart Ewen, Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976); Dorothy Steward Seyward, "Comfort Magazine, 1888-1942: A History and Critical Study," University of Maine Bulletin 62 (1960): 1-108. Cushing, Story of Our Post Office, 747-66.
122. Leach, Land of Desire, chap. 2. Stuart Ewen, Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976); Dorothy Steward Seyward, "Comfort Magazine, 1888-1942: A History and Critical Study," University of Maine Bulletin 62 (1960): 1-108. Cushing, Story of Our Post Office, 747-66.
123. Leach, Land of Desire, chap. 2. Stuart Ewen, Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976); Dorothy Steward Seyward, "Comfort Magazine, 1888-1942: A History and Critical Study," University of Maine Bulletin 62 (1960): 1-108. Cushing, Story of Our Post Office, 747-66.
124. Leach, Land of Desire, chap. 2. Stuart Ewen, Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976); Dorothy Steward Seyward, "Comfort Magazine, 1888-1942: A History and Critical Study," University of Maine Bulletin 62 (1960): 1-108. Cushing, Story of Our Post Office, 747-66.
125. On Wanamaker's request see Fuller, "Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," 1051. Fuller also points to congressional uncertainty as "the greatest obstacle to establishing a system" (1051, n.4). For editorial concern about the postal deficit, see " Free Delivery System," 173, 123, respectively. See also the excerpted editorial of the N. E. Homestead, (Springfield, MA), Nov. 7, 1891; ibid., "Free Delivery System," 92.
126. On Wanamaker's request see Fuller, "Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," 1051. Fuller also points to congressional uncertainty as "the greatest obstacle to establishing a system" (1051, n.4). For editorial concern about the postal deficit, see " Free Delivery System," 173, 123, respectively. See also the excerpted editorial of the N. E. Homestead, (Springfield, MA), Nov. 7, 1891; ibid., "Free Delivery System," 92.
127. On Wanamaker's request see Fuller, "Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," 1051. Fuller also points to congressional uncertainty as "the greatest obstacle to establishing a system" (1051, n.4). For editorial concern about the postal deficit, see " Free Delivery System," 173, 123, respectively. See also the excerpted editorial of the N. E. Homestead, (Springfield, MA), Nov. 7, 1891; ibid., "Free Delivery System," 92.
128. On Wanamaker's request see Fuller, "Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," 1051. Fuller also points to congressional uncertainty as "the greatest obstacle to establishing a system" (1051, n.4). For editorial concern about the postal deficit, see " Free Delivery System," 173, 123, respectively. See also the excerpted editorial of the N. E. Homestead, (Springfield, MA), Nov. 7, 1891; ibid., "Free Delivery System," 92.
129. On Wanamaker's request see Fuller, "Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," 1051. Fuller also points to congressional uncertainty as "the greatest obstacle to establishing a system" (1051, n.4). For editorial concern about the postal deficit, see " Free Delivery System," 173, 123, respectively. See also the excerpted editorial of the N. E. Homestead, (Springfield, MA), Nov. 7, 1891; ibid., "Free Delivery System," 92.
130. Newspaper editorials concurred that the $10,000 was insufficient for genuine experimentation. The Harrisburg Telegraph complained that "the amount was not sufficient to give the movement a comprehensive test" (12), while the Chicago Inter-Ocean described it as a "very small appropriation" ("Free Delivery System," 12, 40, 59, respectively. Kernell and McDonald, "Congress and America's Political Development," 9. See Machen's remarks in Rural Free Delivery in Carroll County, MD"; Document No. 691, 56th Cong., 1st Sess., 2. For a discussion of Bissell's reasons for refusing to spend the experimental RFD funds, see Gibbons, Wanamaker, I, 281.
131. Newspaper editorials concurred that the $10,000 was insufficient for genuine experimentation. The Harrisburg Telegraph complained that "the amount was not sufficient to give the movement a comprehensive test" (12), while the Chicago Inter-Ocean described it as a "very small appropriation" ("Free Delivery System," 12, 40, 59, respectively. Kernell and McDonald, "Congress and America's Political Development," 9. See Machen's remarks in Rural Free Delivery in Carroll County, MD"; Document No. 691, 56th Cong., 1st Sess., 2. For a discussion of Bissell's reasons for refusing to spend the experimental RFD funds, see Gibbons, Wanamaker, I, 281.
132. Newspaper editorials concurred that the $10,000 was insufficient for genuine experimentation. The Harrisburg Telegraph complained that "the amount was not sufficient to give the movement a comprehensive test" (12), while the Chicago Inter-Ocean described it as a "very small appropriation" ("Free Delivery System," 12, 40, 59, respectively. Kernell and McDonald, "Congress and America's Political Development," 9. See Machen's remarks in Rural Free Delivery in Carroll County, MD"; Document No. 691, 56th Cong., 1st Sess., 2. For a discussion of Bissell's reasons for refusing to spend the experimental RFD funds, see Gibbons, Wanamaker, I, 281.
133. Newspaper editorials concurred that the $10,000 was insufficient for genuine experimentation. The Harrisburg Telegraph complained that "the amount was not sufficient to give the movement a comprehensive test" (12), while the Chicago Inter-Ocean described it as a "very small appropriation" ("Free Delivery System," 12, 40, 59, respectively. Kernell and McDonald, "Congress and America's Political Development," 9. See Machen's remarks in Rural Free Delivery in Carroll County, MD"; Document No. 691, 56th Cong., 1st Sess., 2. For a discussion of Bissell's reasons for refusing to spend the experimental RFD funds, see Gibbons, Wanamaker, I, 281.
134. Fuller, RFD, 56; "Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," 1051.
135. Fuller, RFD, 56; "Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," 1051.
136. Gary explicitly cleaved to an incremental strategy in the growth of the system, arguing that RFD should be expanded "not immediately, or in all districts at once, but in some gradual and gradated form, the character of which might be regulated by the tenor of the reports herewith presented as to the experimental service." "Free Rural Delivery," Senate Document No. 171, 55th Cong., 2nd Sess., (Mar. 3, 1898), 3. Fuller, RFD, 34-35.
137. Gary explicitly cleaved to an incremental strategy in the growth of the system, arguing that RFD should be expanded "not immediately, or in all districts at once, but in some gradual and gradated form, the character of which might be regulated by the tenor of the reports herewith presented as to the experimental service." "Free Rural Delivery," Senate Document No. 171, 55th Cong., 2nd Sess., (Mar. 3, 1898), 3. Fuller, RFD, 34-35.
138. Annual Report of the Postmaster General, 1898, 155, 246. Fuller, "Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," 1053; The American Mail, 76.
139. Annual Report of the Postmaster General, 1898, 155, 246. Fuller, "Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," 1053; The American Mail, 76.
140. Annual Report of the Postmaster General, 1898, 155, 246. Fuller, "Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," 1053; The American Mail, 76.
141. For sample petitions to Congress for the establishment of RFD and for routes, see NA, RG 233, Box 175, Folder 18.7. A number of the petitions were sent out by The Homestead, Springfield, Massachusetts, Postmaster General, Annual Report, 1900-1901. See also Fuller, RFD, 41. Even petitions to the House Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads mentioned the POD as the primary proponent of the RFD system. Pomona Grange petition (Vandergrift, PA) to Hon. E.E. Robbins, Mar. 4, 1898; NA, RG 233, HR55A-H21.5, Box 246. Meigs County (OH) Farmers' Institute petition from Racine, Ohio; NA, RG 233, HR56A-H21.9, Box 110.
142. For sample petitions to Congress for the establishment of RFD and for routes, see NA, RG 233, Box 175, Folder 18.7. A number of the petitions were sent out by The Homestead, Springfield, Massachusetts, Postmaster General, Annual Report, 1900-1901. See also Fuller, RFD, 41. Even petitions to the House Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads mentioned the POD as the primary proponent of the RFD system. Pomona Grange petition (Vandergrift, PA) to Hon. E.E. Robbins, Mar. 4, 1898; NA, RG 233, HR55A-H21.5, Box 246. Meigs County (OH) Farmers' Institute petition from Racine, Ohio; NA, RG 233, HR56A-H21.9, Box 110.
143. Machen, "Rural Free Delivery in Carroll County, MD," 1-3. Because Machen commenced the experiment in December, skeptics complained that the POD was trying to sabotage the experiment by starting operations in the most difficult month. So convinced was Machen of the inherent efficiency of his division and of the sure profitability of the RFD program, however, that he decided to demonstrate its value in the most difficult delivery months of winter.
144. Machen, "Rural Free Delivery in Carroll County, MD," 1, 11-12.
145. Act of April 21, 1902, Ch. 563, 32 Stat. L., 1237.
146. Machen, "Rural Free Delivery in Carroll County, MD," 4-5.
147. There were occasional exceptions to the department's authority over service design. Rural legislators resisted the attempts of the Department to standardize mailbox specification (Fuller, RFD, 46-47). Instead, the POD was allowed to grant authority to fourteen companies to produce mailboxes according to department specifications, an authority which mandated that the companies include the common imprimatur "Approved by the Postmaster General."
148. See Preliminary Report of the Joint Commission on the Business Method of the Post Office Department and the Postal Service, Senate Reports, 60th Cong., 1st Sess., vol. 4, (Dec. 2, 1907-May 30, 1908), 39. Examples abound of rural agents defying Congress in the belief that they held local power. A case in Georgia is illustrative. A RFD agent there had planned some route changes that met with the dissent of Sen. Alexander S. Clay. The route alterations nonetheless went through. Clay was concerned that the POD was exerting too little control over the agent, who "thinks he is the Post Office Department" ( Fuller, RFD, 45-46). The department had granted this authority to its rural agents in part because it was so informationally dependent upon them (Fuller, RFD, 46).
149. See Preliminary Report of the Joint Commission on the Business Method of the Post Office Department and the Postal Service, Senate Reports, 60th Cong., 1st Sess., vol. 4, (Dec. 2, 1907-May 30, 1908), 39. Examples abound of rural agents defying Congress in the belief that they held local power. A case in Georgia is illustrative. A RFD agent there had planned some route changes that met with the dissent of Sen. Alexander S. Clay. The route alterations nonetheless went through. Clay was concerned that the POD was exerting too little control over the agent, who "thinks he is the Post Office Department" ( Fuller, RFD, 45-46). The department had granted this authority to its rural agents in part because it was so informationally dependent upon them (Fuller, RFD, 46).
150. See Preliminary Report of the Joint Commission on the Business Method of the Post Office Department and the Postal Service, Senate Reports, 60th Cong., 1st Sess., vol. 4, (Dec. 2, 1907-May 30, 1908), 39. Examples abound of rural agents defying Congress in the belief that they held local power. A case in Georgia is illustrative. A RFD agent there had planned some route changes that met with the dissent of Sen. Alexander S. Clay. The route alterations nonetheless went through. Clay was concerned that the POD was exerting too little control over the agent, who "thinks he is the Post Office Department" ( Fuller, RFD, 45-46). The department had granted this authority to its rural agents in part because it was so informationally dependent upon them (Fuller, RFD, 46).
151. For an agent's request for Haugen's backing on a decision to close a small post office and discontinue a star route, see special agent Gilbert Guttersen to Haugen, July 11, 1900; Haugen Papers. On third-class appointments, see C.P. Grandfield (First Assistant Postmaster General) to Haugen, Aug. 7, 1908; and Grandfield to Haugen, Aug. 21, 1908; Calmar File. On Guttersen's promotion of Haugen, see Guttersen to Haugen, June 2, 1900; Box 120. See also Guttersen to Haugen, June 9, 1900; May 28, 1900 (Box 120), May 1900 File. For the adverse decision on Haugen's attempts to get RFD for the Calmar and Ossian cases, see special agent Johnson to Haugen, Jan. 9, 1901; Calmar File, [Department File "Rural-F-118-HAB"]. Machen's initials appear at the top right corner of the letter. All citations in Gilbert Haugen Papers, Iowa State Historical Society.
152. Fuller, RFD, 64. Kernell and McDonald, "Congress and America's Political Development," 799, 804.
153. Fuller, RFD, 64. Kernell and McDonald, "Congress and America's Political Development," 799, 804.
154. For Washington officials the relationship between literacy and revenues was an ineluctable fact. City free delivery revenues provided the best indication; revenues were sharply higher where patrons were more literate. In a statistical analysis of the revenue data used in Tables 2 and 3 above, I find that city revenues plummeted where illiteracy was high, that is, precisely in those Southern states where Republicans were weakest after 1896. The statistical relationship is robust (t = -6.1). For Olson's reasoning in the Calmar and Decorah cases, see Olson to Machen, Sept. 29, 1900; Haugen Papers, RFD Correspondence, Calmar File. Fuller, "Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," 1054. Kernell and McDonald also find a positive association between route allocations after 1898 and allocations from 1895 to 1898. This is consistent with the revenue maximization incentives of the Department and the experimental nature of RFD. The Post Office was more likely to approve routes next to those with established revenue streams.
155. In some respects, the department's choice patterns amounted to outright age discrimination. One Iowa post office was terminated because "the postmaster, who is about eighty years of age, is unable to look after the office." For discussion of Smith's order, see his Annual Report, 1901, 11-12. Also Fuller, "Rural Free Deliver in Hardin County," 1061; Fuller, RFD, 87. Grandfield to Haugen, Dec. 22, 1908; Haugen Papers.
156. In some respects, the department's choice patterns amounted to outright age discrimination. One Iowa post office was terminated because "the postmaster, who is about eighty years of age, is unable to look after the office." For discussion of Smith's order, see his Annual Report, 1901, 11-12. Also Fuller, "Rural Free Deliver in Hardin County," 1061; Fuller, RFD, 87. Grandfield to Haugen, Dec. 22, 1908; Haugen Papers.
157. In some respects, the department's choice patterns amounted to outright age discrimination. One Iowa post office was terminated because "the postmaster, who is about eighty years of age, is unable to look after the office." For discussion of Smith's order, see his Annual Report, 1901, 11-12. Also Fuller, "Rural Free Deliver in Hardin County," 1061; Fuller, RFD, 87. Grandfield to Haugen, Dec. 22, 1908; Haugen Papers.
158. Carroll County, Maryland, for instance, had ninety-four fourth-class postmasters and dozens of star-route (horseback) mail carriers. They "vigorously denounced" Machen's experiment and "succeeded in creating in some quarters a strong but temporary opposition to the service." See Machen's report, "Rural Free Delivery in Carroll County, MD," 4; Fuller, RFD, 51-52, 100 ff.
159. Carroll County, Maryland, for instance, had ninety-four fourth-class postmasters and dozens of star-route (horseback) mail carriers. They "vigorously denounced" Machen's experiment and "succeeded in creating in some quarters a strong but temporary opposition to the service." See Machen's report, "Rural Free Delivery in Carroll County, MD," 4; Fuller, RFD, 51-52, 100 ff.
160. Fuller, "Rural Free Delivery in Hardin County," 1049-72.
161. Roy Alden Atwood, "Routes of Rural Discontent: Cultural Contradictions of Rural Free Delivery in Southeastern Iowa, 1899-1917," Annals of Iowa, III, 48 (1990): 264-73, 269 and n.14.
162. Aggregate statistics from "Statistics of the postal service from 1862 to 1912," in Roper, Postal Policies and Problems. See Kernell and McDonald, "Congress and America's Political Development," Fig. 1. Congressional Republicans were keenly aware of the immense political value of the rural carriers ( Fuller, RFD, 59).
163. Aggregate statistics from "Statistics of the postal service from 1862 to 1912," in Roper, Postal Policies and Problems. See Kernell and McDonald, "Congress and America's Political Development," Fig. 1. Congressional Republicans were keenly aware of the immense political value of the rural carriers ( Fuller, RFD, 59).
164. Aggregate statistics from "Statistics of the postal service from 1862 to 1912," in Roper, Postal Policies and Problems. See Kernell and McDonald, "Congress and America's Political Development," Fig. 1. Congressional Republicans were keenly aware of the immense political value of the rural carriers ( Fuller, RFD, 59).
165. Fuller, RFD, 87-88.
166. I provide a more thorough discussion of the parcel post debate and the development of postal savings in The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy, chap. 5.
167. Bills introduced for parcel post generally allowed the department to classify and transport all articles not exceeding eleven pounds, though early proposals allowed for a weight-limit of 60. See S.1020, "A bill for the consolidation of third and fourth class mail matter," 56th Cong., 1st Sess., read Dec. 11, 1899; House Post Office Committee Files, NA, RG 233, HR56A-H21.9. See also S. 5115, reprinted in Sen. Doc. No. 366, "Proposed Extension of Parcel Post," 60th Cong., 1st Sess. On agrarian support, see The Parcel Post: Memorial Presenting the Farmers' Position on the Parcel Post in Connection with the Post Office Appropriation Bill, Sen. Doc. No. 895, 62nd Congress, 2nd Sess., Aug. 3, 1912 (Washington, 1912). Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business: Parcel Post in the Nation's Political Economy," Studies in American Political Development 8 (1994): 150-72. Kielbowicz contends that parcel post was "arguably the deepest federal thrust into public enterprise in the early 1900s" (ibid., 150, n.2).
168. Bills introduced for parcel post generally allowed the department to classify and transport all articles not exceeding eleven pounds, though early proposals allowed for a weight-limit of 60. See S.1020, "A bill for the consolidation of third and fourth class mail matter," 56th Cong., 1st Sess., read Dec. 11, 1899; House Post Office Committee Files, NA, RG 233, HR56A-H21.9. See also S. 5115, reprinted in Sen. Doc. No. 366, "Proposed Extension of Parcel Post," 60th Cong., 1st Sess. On agrarian support, see The Parcel Post: Memorial Presenting the Farmers' Position on the Parcel Post in Connection with the Post Office Appropriation Bill, Sen. Doc. No. 895, 62nd Congress, 2nd Sess., Aug. 3, 1912 (Washington, 1912). Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business: Parcel Post in the Nation's Political Economy," Studies in American Political Development 8 (1994): 150-72. Kielbowicz contends that parcel post was "arguably the deepest federal thrust into public enterprise in the early 1900s" (ibid., 150, n.2).
169. Bills introduced for parcel post generally allowed the department to classify and transport all articles not exceeding eleven pounds, though early proposals allowed for a weight-limit of 60. See S.1020, "A bill for the consolidation of third and fourth class mail matter," 56th Cong., 1st Sess., read Dec. 11, 1899; House Post Office Committee Files, NA, RG 233, HR56A-H21.9. See also S. 5115, reprinted in Sen. Doc. No. 366, "Proposed Extension of Parcel Post," 60th Cong., 1st Sess. On agrarian support, see The Parcel Post: Memorial Presenting the Farmers' Position on the Parcel Post in Connection with the Post Office Appropriation Bill, Sen. Doc. No. 895, 62nd Congress, 2nd Sess., Aug. 3, 1912 (Washington, 1912). Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business: Parcel Post in the Nation's Political Economy," Studies in American Political Development 8 (1994): 150-72. Kielbowicz contends that parcel post was "arguably the deepest federal thrust into public enterprise in the early 1900s" (ibid., 150, n.2).
170. Chicago Dry-Goods Reporter, Feb. 26, 1900, editorial; also Mar. 3, 1900, 11. See also the petitions of Hills, Minnesota, and Pana, Illinois, in House Committee Files, "Parcel Post," HR56A-H21.9. Albert N. Merritt, "Shall the Scope of Governmental Functions be Enlarged So as to Include the Express Business?" Journal of Political Economy 16 (1908): 417-35; quoted in Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business," 166. Burrows, "Thoughts Upon Some Proposed Parcels Post Legislation," an address delivered at the Union Club, Cleveland, Oct. 30, 1906; 1, 12; Firestone Library, Princeton University. Undoubtedly Burrows's alliance with wholesalers underlay this argument, which was more ideologically oriented than authentic, but the fact that Burrows relied upon the standard rhetoric of postal inefficiency and incapacity points to the power of this idiom. Lewis remarks appear in Congressional Record (House), June 8, 1911; 1771. Resolutions of National Hardware Association and National Board of Trade in Proceedings of the Thirty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the National Board of Trade, January 1906 (Philadelphia: John McFetridge & Sons, 1906), 115.
171. Chicago Dry-Goods Reporter, Feb. 26, 1900, editorial; also Mar. 3, 1900, 11. See also the petitions of Hills, Minnesota, and Pana, Illinois, in House Committee Files, "Parcel Post," HR56A-H21.9. Albert N. Merritt, "Shall the Scope of Governmental Functions be Enlarged So as to Include the Express Business?" Journal of Political Economy 16 (1908): 417-35; quoted in Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business," 166. Burrows, "Thoughts Upon Some Proposed Parcels Post Legislation," an address delivered at the Union Club, Cleveland, Oct. 30, 1906; 1, 12; Firestone Library, Princeton University. Undoubtedly Burrows's alliance with wholesalers underlay this argument, which was more ideologically oriented than authentic, but the fact that Burrows relied upon the standard rhetoric of postal inefficiency and incapacity points to the power of this idiom. Lewis remarks appear in Congressional Record (House), June 8, 1911; 1771. Resolutions of National Hardware Association and National Board of Trade in Proceedings of the Thirty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the National Board of Trade, January 1906 (Philadelphia: John McFetridge & Sons, 1906), 115.
172. Chicago Dry-Goods Reporter, Feb. 26, 1900, editorial; also Mar. 3, 1900, 11. See also the petitions of Hills, Minnesota, and Pana, Illinois, in House Committee Files, "Parcel Post," HR56A-H21.9. Albert N. Merritt, "Shall the Scope of Governmental Functions be Enlarged So as to Include the Express Business?" Journal of Political Economy 16 (1908): 417-35; quoted in Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business," 166. Burrows, "Thoughts Upon Some Proposed Parcels Post Legislation," an address delivered at the Union Club, Cleveland, Oct. 30, 1906; 1, 12; Firestone Library, Princeton University. Undoubtedly Burrows's alliance with wholesalers underlay this argument, which was more ideologically oriented than authentic, but the fact that Burrows relied upon the standard rhetoric of postal inefficiency and incapacity points to the power of this idiom. Lewis remarks appear in Congressional Record (House), June 8, 1911; 1771. Resolutions of National Hardware Association and National Board of Trade in Proceedings of the Thirty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the National Board of Trade, January 1906 (Philadelphia: John McFetridge & Sons, 1906), 115.
173. Chicago Dry-Goods Reporter, Feb. 26, 1900, editorial; also Mar. 3, 1900, 11. See also the petitions of Hills, Minnesota, and Pana, Illinois, in House Committee Files, "Parcel Post," HR56A-H21.9. Albert N. Merritt, "Shall the Scope of Governmental Functions be Enlarged So as to Include the Express Business?" Journal of Political Economy 16 (1908): 417-35; quoted in Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business," 166. Burrows, "Thoughts Upon Some Proposed Parcels Post Legislation," an address delivered at the Union Club, Cleveland, Oct. 30, 1906; 1, 12; Firestone Library, Princeton University. Undoubtedly Burrows's alliance with wholesalers underlay this argument, which was more ideologically oriented than authentic, but the fact that Burrows relied upon the standard rhetoric of postal inefficiency and incapacity points to the power of this idiom. Lewis remarks appear in Congressional Record (House), June 8, 1911; 1771. Resolutions of National Hardware Association and National Board of Trade in Proceedings of the Thirty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the National Board of Trade, January 1906 (Philadelphia: John McFetridge & Sons, 1906), 115.
174. Chicago Dry-Goods Reporter, Feb. 26, 1900, editorial; also Mar. 3, 1900, 11. See also the petitions of Hills, Minnesota, and Pana, Illinois, in House Committee Files, "Parcel Post," HR56A-H21.9. Albert N. Merritt, "Shall the Scope of Governmental Functions be Enlarged So as to Include the Express Business?" Journal of Political Economy 16 (1908): 417-35; quoted in Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business," 166. Burrows, "Thoughts Upon Some Proposed Parcels Post Legislation," an address delivered at the Union Club, Cleveland, Oct. 30, 1906; 1, 12; Firestone Library, Princeton University. Undoubtedly Burrows's alliance with wholesalers underlay this argument, which was more ideologically oriented than authentic, but the fact that Burrows relied upon the standard rhetoric of postal inefficiency and incapacity points to the power of this idiom. Lewis remarks appear in Congressional Record (House), June 8, 1911; 1771. Resolutions of National Hardware Association and National Board of Trade in Proceedings of the Thirty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the National Board of Trade, January 1906 (Philadelphia: John McFetridge & Sons, 1906), 115.
175. Chicago Dry-Goods Reporter, Feb. 26, 1900, editorial; also Mar. 3, 1900, 11. See also the petitions of Hills, Minnesota, and Pana, Illinois, in House Committee Files, "Parcel Post," HR56A-H21.9. Albert N. Merritt, "Shall the Scope of Governmental Functions be Enlarged So as to Include the Express Business?" Journal of Political Economy 16 (1908): 417-35; quoted in Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business," 166. Burrows, "Thoughts Upon Some Proposed Parcels Post Legislation," an address delivered at the Union Club, Cleveland, Oct. 30, 1906; 1, 12; Firestone Library, Princeton University. Undoubtedly Burrows's alliance with wholesalers underlay this argument, which was more ideologically oriented than authentic, but the fact that Burrows relied upon the standard rhetoric of postal inefficiency and incapacity points to the power of this idiom. Lewis remarks appear in Congressional Record (House), June 8, 1911; 1771. Resolutions of National Hardware Association and National Board of Trade in Proceedings of the Thirty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the National Board of Trade, January 1906 (Philadelphia: John McFetridge & Sons, 1906), 115.
176. "The Post-Office and the Deficit," The Outlook, Dec. 14, 1907, 794-95; "Conditions of the Postal Service, The American Review of Reviews, Mar. 1910, 266. "A Plain Word About the Postal Service," World's Work, Feb. 1911, 13949; "Cause and Cure of Deficits," The American Review of Reviews, Mar. 1911, 269.
177. "The Post-Office and the Deficit," The Outlook, Dec. 14, 1907, 794-95; "Conditions of the Postal Service, The American Review of Reviews, Mar. 1910, 266. "A Plain Word About the Postal Service," World's Work, Feb. 1911, 13949; "Cause and Cure of Deficits," The American Review of Reviews, Mar. 1911, 269.
178. "The Post-Office and the Deficit," The Outlook, Dec. 14, 1907, 794-95; "Conditions of the Postal Service, The American Review of Reviews, Mar. 1910, 266. "A Plain Word About the Postal Service," World's Work, Feb. 1911, 13949; "Cause and Cure of Deficits," The American Review of Reviews, Mar. 1911, 269.
179. "The Post-Office and the Deficit," The Outlook, Dec. 14, 1907, 794-95; "Conditions of the Postal Service, The American Review of Reviews, Mar. 1910, 266. "A Plain Word About the Postal Service," World's Work, Feb. 1911, 13949; "Cause and Cure of Deficits," The American Review of Reviews, Mar. 1911, 269.
180. As Kielbowicz reports, the rural carriers' "unplanned test," though stopped by Congress, "heartened parcel post advocates and strengthened claims that the postal system's underutilized capacity could efficiently accommodate additional services" ("Government Goes Into Business," 158). See also the remarks of S.R. Miles, Hearings, 1910, 189. A 1910 survey by the National Hardware Retail Association found that the average rural carrier admitted to carrying one package per month.
181. Whatever the Postmasters General felt about parcel post, "a growing cadre of postal bureaucrats saw merits in the proposal" (Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business," 158). Assistant Postmasters General had been pressing for a parcel post program since Wanamaker's first advocacy in 1889. Meyer floated a rural parcel post bill to key members of Congress and the Roosevelt administration in 1908. See Meyer to James R. Garfield, then Secretary of the Interior, Feb. 29, 1908, with enclosed bill; Garfield Papers, Container 128, File 44. On Von Meyer's 1907 speech, see the remarks of S.R. Miles, in Parcels Post, Hearings before the Committee on the Post-Office and Post Roads, April 1910 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1910), 187. See Data Relave to Proposed Extension of Parcel Post, Sen. Doc. No. 366, 60th Cong., 1st Sess., 8 ff. Meyer planned addresses in Philadelphia and Chicago after his visit to Boston.
182. Whatever the Postmasters General felt about parcel post, "a growing cadre of postal bureaucrats saw merits in the proposal" (Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business," 158). Assistant Postmasters General had been pressing for a parcel post program since Wanamaker's first advocacy in 1889. Meyer floated a rural parcel post bill to key members of Congress and the Roosevelt administration in 1908. See Meyer to James R. Garfield, then Secretary of the Interior, Feb. 29, 1908, with enclosed bill; Garfield Papers, Container 128, File 44. On Von Meyer's 1907 speech, see the remarks of S.R. Miles, in Parcels Post, Hearings before the Committee on the Post-Office and Post Roads, April 1910 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1910), 187. See Data Relave to Proposed Extension of Parcel Post, Sen. Doc. No. 366, 60th Cong., 1st Sess., 8 ff. Meyer planned addresses in Philadelphia and Chicago after his visit to Boston.
183. Whatever the Postmasters General felt about parcel post, "a growing cadre of postal bureaucrats saw merits in the proposal" (Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business," 158). Assistant Postmasters General had been pressing for a parcel post program since Wanamaker's first advocacy in 1889. Meyer floated a rural parcel post bill to key members of Congress and the Roosevelt administration in 1908. See Meyer to James R. Garfield, then Secretary of the Interior, Feb. 29, 1908, with enclosed bill; Garfield Papers, Container 128, File 44. On Von Meyer's 1907 speech, see the remarks of S.R. Miles, in Parcels Post, Hearings before the Committee on the Post-Office and Post Roads, April 1910 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1910), 187. See Data Relave to Proposed Extension of Parcel Post, Sen. Doc. No. 366, 60th Cong., 1st Sess., 8 ff. Meyer planned addresses in Philadelphia and Chicago after his visit to Boston.
184. "List of Friends Associated with James L. Cowles in his Postal Progress work," undated ms., and Postal Progress League letterhead, Box 4, James Cowles Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York Public Library. Gompers to Cowles, July 12, 1906; Mitchell to Cowles, July 11, 1906; Folder "Promotional Material of the Postal Progress League and the World Postal League, 1909-1918"; Cowles Papers. Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business," 164; Fuller, RFD, 204-5. On the Progressive municipalization movement, see Rodgers, Atlantic Crossings, chap. 4.
185. "List of Friends Associated with James L. Cowles in his Postal Progress work," undated ms., and Postal Progress League letterhead, Box 4, James Cowles Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York Public Library. Gompers to Cowles, July 12, 1906; Mitchell to Cowles, July 11, 1906; Folder "Promotional Material of the Postal Progress League and the World Postal League, 1909-1918"; Cowles Papers. Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business," 164; Fuller, RFD, 204-5. On the Progressive municipalization movement, see Rodgers, Atlantic Crossings, chap. 4.
186. "List of Friends Associated with James L. Cowles in his Postal Progress work," undated ms., and Postal Progress League letterhead, Box 4, James Cowles Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York Public Library. Gompers to Cowles, July 12, 1906; Mitchell to Cowles, July 11, 1906; Folder "Promotional Material of the Postal Progress League and the World Postal League, 1909-1918"; Cowles Papers. Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business," 164; Fuller, RFD, 204-5. On the Progressive municipalization movement, see Rodgers, Atlantic Crossings, chap. 4.
187. "List of Friends Associated with James L. Cowles in his Postal Progress work," undated ms., and Postal Progress League letterhead, Box 4, James Cowles Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York Public Library. Gompers to Cowles, July 12, 1906; Mitchell to Cowles, July 11, 1906; Folder "Promotional Material of the Postal Progress League and the World Postal League, 1909-1918"; Cowles Papers. Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business," 164; Fuller, RFD, 204-5. On the Progressive municipalization movement, see Rodgers, Atlantic Crossings, chap. 4.
188. Pope spearheaded the League's campaign, calling the POD, "the People's Mutual Transportation Company," and maintaining that "the Post Office is the only mechanism that can guarantee equal rights and privileges to all." See the Postal Progress League, Col. Albert A. Pope's Parcels Post Bill, pamphlet of 1906 [?], in Haugen Papers. Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business," 164. Leach, Land of Desire, 183. Cowles to Meyer, Mar 13 1909 [Folder 15]; Stahl to Meyer, Feb. 26, 1908 (enclosing mass mailing); Stahl to Meyer, Feb. 27, 1908; E.H. Clement, Editorial Rooms, Boston Evening Transcript, to Meyer, Jan. 25, 1908. M.M. Simpson of Advertiser's Magazine, to Meyer, Mar. 10, 1909; Meyer Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.
189. Pope spearheaded the League's campaign, calling the POD, "the People's Mutual Transportation Company," and maintaining that "the Post Office is the only mechanism that can guarantee equal rights and privileges to all." See the Postal Progress League, Col. Albert A. Pope's Parcels Post Bill, pamphlet of 1906 [?], in Haugen Papers. Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business," 164. Leach, Land of Desire, 183. Cowles to Meyer, Mar 13 1909 [Folder 15]; Stahl to Meyer, Feb. 26, 1908 (enclosing mass mailing); Stahl to Meyer, Feb. 27, 1908; E.H. Clement, Editorial Rooms, Boston Evening Transcript, to Meyer, Jan. 25, 1908. M.M. Simpson of Advertiser's Magazine, to Meyer, Mar. 10, 1909; Meyer Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.
190. Pope spearheaded the League's campaign, calling the POD, "the People's Mutual Transportation Company," and maintaining that "the Post Office is the only mechanism that can guarantee equal rights and privileges to all." See the Postal Progress League, Col. Albert A. Pope's Parcels Post Bill, pamphlet of 1906 [?], in Haugen Papers. Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business," 164. Leach, Land of Desire, 183. Cowles to Meyer, Mar 13 1909 [Folder 15]; Stahl to Meyer, Feb. 26, 1908 (enclosing mass mailing); Stahl to Meyer, Feb. 27, 1908; E.H. Clement, Editorial Rooms, Boston Evening Transcript, to Meyer, Jan. 25, 1908. M.M. Simpson of Advertiser's Magazine, to Meyer, Mar. 10, 1909; Meyer Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.
191. Pope spearheaded the League's campaign, calling the POD, "the People's Mutual Transportation Company," and maintaining that "the Post Office is the only mechanism that can guarantee equal rights and privileges to all." See the Postal Progress League, Col. Albert A. Pope's Parcels Post Bill, pamphlet of 1906 [?], in Haugen Papers. Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business," 164. Leach, Land of Desire, 183. Cowles to Meyer, Mar 13 1909 [Folder 15]; Stahl to Meyer, Feb. 26, 1908 (enclosing mass mailing); Stahl to Meyer, Feb. 27, 1908; E.H. Clement, Editorial Rooms, Boston Evening Transcript, to Meyer, Jan. 25, 1908. M.M. Simpson of Advertiser's Magazine, to Meyer, Mar. 10, 1909; Meyer Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.
192. Pope spearheaded the League's campaign, calling the POD, "the People's Mutual Transportation Company," and maintaining that "the Post Office is the only mechanism that can guarantee equal rights and privileges to all." See the Postal Progress League, Col. Albert A. Pope's Parcels Post Bill, pamphlet of 1906 [?], in Haugen Papers. Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business," 164. Leach, Land of Desire, 183. Cowles to Meyer, Mar 13 1909 [Folder 15]; Stahl to Meyer, Feb. 26, 1908 (enclosing mass mailing); Stahl to Meyer, Feb. 27, 1908; E.H. Clement, Editorial Rooms, Boston Evening Transcript, to Meyer, Jan. 25, 1908. M.M. Simpson of Advertiser's Magazine, to Meyer, Mar. 10, 1909; Meyer Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.
193. See remarks of Lewis, Congressional Record (House), June 8, 1911, 1770, 1784. See also Lewis's book-length monograph, The Express Companies: An Economic Study, (Washington, DC: GPO, 1912), esp. 309.
194. See remarks of Lewis, Congressional Record (House), June 8, 1911, 1770, 1784. See also Lewis's book-length monograph, The Express Companies: An Economic Study, (Washington, DC: GPO, 1912), esp. 309.
195. See the remarks of Britt in Parcel Post, Hearings before the Subcommittee on Parcel Post, of Senate Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, Nov.-Dec. 1911, vol. 1 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1912), 27.
196. As the Boston Herald noted in 1907, Postmaster General Meyer "now has an advantage in his [parcel post] campaign which none of his predecessors had in the rural delivery routes. Every one of the many thousands of routes would be a little parcels service in itself" ("Meyer Will Wage Active Campaign for Parcels Post," Oct. 13, 1907).
197. As the Boston Herald noted in 1907, Postmaster General Meyer "now has an advantage in his [parcel post] campaign which none of his predecessors had in the rural delivery routes. Every one of the many thousands of routes would be a little parcels service in itself" ("Meyer Will Wage Active Campaign for Parcels Post," Oct. 13, 1907).
198. See "Parcel Post Law: Extract from the Post Office Appropriation Bill, showing Section 8, which relates to the Parcel Post," 62nd Cong., 2nd Sess., 1912. Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business," 170. The rate decisions were subject to review by the ICC, but in the period under study such review never occurred.
199. See "Parcel Post Law: Extract from the Post Office Appropriation Bill, showing Section 8, which relates to the Parcel Post," 62nd Cong., 2nd Sess., 1912. Kielbowicz, "Government Goes Into Business," 170. The rate decisions were subject to review by the ICC, but in the period under study such review never occurred.
200. Skowronek, Building a New American State, 4.
201. Fowler, The Cabinet Politician, 273-75; Skowronek, Building a New American State, 191.
202. Fowler, The Cabinet Politician, 273-75; Skowronek, Building a New American State, 191.
203. Fowler, The Cabinet Politician, 302.