time, it
will inform the public thronging the post office, not merely that the
mail has not arrived, but when it will arrive. It will permit the
employment of the telegraph in tracing a missent letter or package,
rectifying an erroneous address, discovering the whereabouts of an
absentee, etc. It will permit the more rapid extension of the
free-delivery system by affording a larger basis for its sustenance. It
will multiply many fold the rapidity in transmitting letters across the
continent.

The telegraph is naturally a part of the post office,[3] as much a part
of it as the sewing machine is a part of a dressmaking establishment.
Suppose the government were in the clothing business (as it might have
been to advantage during the war), and continued to sew the garments
entirely by hand, leaving the sewing machine to private enterprise; it
would be a charming situation for private enterprise, but not very
delightful for the government. With such advantages private enterprise
would be apt to deprive the government of the best part of its business
in spite of its willingness to work for people at cost. The same thing
has happened to some extent with the telegraph and telephone, and will
happen to a far greater extent if they are allowed to continue in
private control. If trunk lines for automatic transit were established
by a private company, even at 25 cents per hundred words (a rate
sufficient to pay a very large profit on a corporate investment, water
and all), the post office would soon lose a considerable portion of its
most valuable business, the letter mail between the large cities.[4]

[3] Mr. Hubbard says: "The telegraph and the post office are
two great pieces of machinery going on, both for the same
purpose, the transmission of intelligence" (J. T. U. p. 17).
Prof. Ely calls the telegraph the "logical completion of the
post office" (ARENA, Dec. 1895, p. 49). Cyrus W. Field says:
"Why should not the two branches of what is really one service
to the public be brought together in this country, as in other
countries, and placed under one management? It would certainly
be a great convenience to the people if every telegraph office
were a post office, and every post office a telegraph office"
(_N. A. Review_, Mar. 1886).

[4] Postmaster-General Cave Johnson said: "Experience teaches
that if indi