ssary, in view of the development of the
private undertakings, to confer upon it the exclusive right to deal with
local traffic. At first the proposal was to extend the monopoly only to
closed letters, but the Reichstag widened the prohibition, and forbade
private undertakings to conduct arrangements for the transmission of
letters, sealed or unsealed, postcards, printed matter, or samples
addressed to particular persons.[565]

The traffic left open to private enterprise, viz. the delivery of
unaddressed open letters, parcels, newspapers, and magazines, was
regarded by most of the proprietors as insufficient to warrant the
continuance of their undertakings, and on the 1st April 1900 almost all
the private establishments of this kind were discontinued. The
proprietors were, however, compensated by the State for the loss of
their profits.[566] The first undertaking of this kind had been
established in Berlin in the 'seventies, under the title _Brief-
und Druckschriften-Expedition_. Its success led to the establishment in
Berlin and various other places of similar undertakings, some of which
were profitable, but most of which were unsuccessful. The cheaper rates,
however, attracted a considerable volume of traffic, and at the time of
their suppression some seventy-seven such undertakings were in
existence. Most of them were not of long standing, only fourteen of the
seventy-seven having been founded in the 'eighties, forty having been
founded in the years 1895-6-7, in a period of speculation resulting from
the high dividends paid by the Berliner Packetfahrt-Aktiengesellschaft.
The size of the undertakings varied largely. In some cases the whole
business was conducted by the members of a family; in others as many as
a hundred men were employed; and in the case of the Berliner
Packetfahrt-Aktiengesellschaft the letter traffic alone employed a
thousand men. The amount of traffic dealt with was considerable, and
large additions to the postal staff were found necessary.[567] Some of
the employees of the private establishments were taken over by the
Imperial Postal Administration, and a sum of 1-1/2 million marks was
paid as compensation to employees who were not taken over.

Although special provision had been made in the statute with regard to
the amount of compensation to be paid to the proprietors, the
determination of the actual amount was a matter of some difficulty,
owing largely to the unsatisfactory and unreliable mann