POST OFFICE FAST MAIL POSTMASTER GENERAL RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE LETTER SIGNED 1885

Description

WILLIAM B. THOMPSON
“The Father of
Fast Mail
”
(ca.1845 – 19_)
GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT OF THE RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE FOR THE U.S. POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT IN WASHINGTON, D.C. 1878-1884,
2
nd
ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL in 1885
&
CIVIL WAR 194
th
OHIO INFANTRY VETERAN.
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HERE’S A LETTER SIGNED BY THOMPSON WHILE SERVING AS GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT OF THE RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE ON ATTRACTIVE “POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT OFFICE…RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE” PURPLE LETTERHEAD, 1p., DATED AT WASHINGTON, D. C., FEB. 27, 1885
TO
EUGENE HALE
(1836 - 1918)
POWERFUL 5-TERM US CIVIL WAR RECONSTRUCTION REPUBLICAN SENATOR FROM MAINE –
OPPOSED TO AMERICAN INTERVENTION IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR!
IN THIS LETTER, THOMPSON INFORMS SEN. HALE CONCERNING A CHANGE IN MAIL SERVICE AT WINTERPORT, MAINE.
SENATOR HALE THEN FORWARDED THE LETTER IN A U.S. SENATE ENVELOPE TO THE POSTMASTER AT WINTERPORT, MAINE.
The document measures 8” x 10” and is in VG condition, with a mounting strip along the left edge on the verso.
A FINE PIECE OF POSTAL SERVICE HISTORY TO ADD TO YOUR AUTOGRAPH, MANUSCRIPT & EPHEMERA COLLECTION!
POSTAL SERVICE BIOGRAPHY OF
WILLIAM B. THOMPSON
WILLIAM B THOMPSON, Superintendent of the Ninth Division succeeded Mr Vail December 1, 1878.
Thompson entered the railway service on December 8, 1868 as a route agent on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern railway between Toledo, Ohio and Chicago, Illinois, at 0 per annum; promoted to second clerk ,200 per annum in the Toledo & Chicago railway post office on September 17, 1869; to head clerk ,400 per annum same office February 21 1870; assigned as chief head clerk without change of pay at Toledo, Ohio September 1871; commissioned special agent Post Office Department at ,600 per annum May 1 1875; and later assigned as assistant superintendent railway mail service in charge of the New York & Chicago fast mail which was inaugurated September 16 of the same year; promoted to superintendent of division with headquarters at Cleveland, Ohio July 18 1878; and to General Superintendent December 1st of the same year and appointed Second Assistant Postmaster General January 1 1885 - A record of advancement in class brilliant enough to satisfy the most ambitious.
The fact that he served as a soldier during the Civil War attests to his patriotism, as does his membership in the Loyal Legion.
In assuming the office of General Superintendent he took up its duties and responsibilities agreeable and burdensome where they were laid down by his predecessor. Chief among these was the rehabilitation of the service and its advancement in extent, efficiency and usefulness to the level it should have reached had it not slipped a cog in 1876, and though he set about this task earnestly and persistently, the most that was accomplished in the expedition of the service prior to March 1884 was secured through the use of special facility funds and the greater portion of this fund during all the years it was appropriated was expended in expediting the service south of New York City, Philadelphia Baltimore, Alexandria, and Washington DC to Richmond, Lynchburg and Danville, Virginia, Wilmington and Charlotte, NC, Charleston, Columbia and Florence, SC, Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia, New Orleans, La, Jacksonville, Sanford and Tampa, Florida, and intermediate points though during the earlier years part of each appropriation was expended in expediting the service on the Pennsylvania Railroad between New York City and Columbus, Ohio on the New York Central system between New York City and Cleveland and Toledo Ohio and the 4:35 am train between New York City, Poughkeepsie and Albany, NY, also on the 5 00 am train of the New York New Haven & Hartford railroad between New York City and Springfield, Mass.
For the fiscal year 1882, the appropriation was 5,000 and the facilities provided covered a greater mileage. Of this sum 2,985 was expended on the special service between New York and Springfield, Mass, between New York and Albany, NY via the 4 35 am train and between New York and Cleveland Ohio with extension to Toledo Ohio and Chicago Ill also from New York to Columbus.
During Thompson's administration, and chiefly through his untiring efforts which secured for it the support of the Postmaster General and his Second Assistant, the Act approved July 31, 1882 to designate, classify and fix the salaries of persons in the railway mail service became a law, and was promulgated in the Postmaster General's Order No 354 issued August 1st of the same year. This act discontinued the designations route agents, local agents and mail route messengers, and thereafter all employees of the service except the commissioned officers were known as railway postal clerks.
Source:
“Life Span and Reminiscences of the Railway Mail Service” by James E. White, 1910
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