Chapter D: Hall

_Answer._—l. The distinguished revolutionary soldier, General William Hull, who was afterward condemned for surrendering to the British at Detroit early in the war of 1812-15, was an uncle of the naval hero who commanded the Constitution for a time. 2. Alexander Hamilton was born on the British West India island, Nevis, one of the lesser Antilles.

OLD POSTAL RATES.

CHICAGO, Ill.

Will you please inform us what the postal rates have been since the
foundation of the system, and particularly the rates to Europe? If
not convenient to give the latter for the whole period, give them
for twenty years ago.

J. M.

_Answer._—A detailed reply to this question cannot fail to interest the readers of Our Curiosity Shop, since it will enable them to appreciate more fully the strides of progress made in interstate communication since this government was formed. It is impossible to fully estimate the service cheap postage on letters, newspapers magazines, and books, and of late on seeds, samples of merchandise, etc., has rendered in the marvelous intellectual, moral, and material development of this country. The postal service is one of the most beneficent, as it is one of the most potent, forces in the control of the Federal Government. As a bond of union between the States its influence is of inestimable value. It is a life-long school of patriotism, minifying and almost annihilating the alienating force of distances, keeping the links of friendship bright and strong between old friends scattered throughout the land, familiarizing voters with the condition of all parts of the country, and fostering the common good in innumerable ways.

From the organization of the Postoffice Department, in 1786, to 1816 the rates on domestic letters (or letters for any place within the United States) were as follows: “For each piece of paper of which a single letter, or letter packet, may be composed,” under 40 miles, 8 cents; under 90 miles, 10 cents; under 150 miles, 12½ cents; under 300 miles, 17 cents; under 500 miles, 20 cents; over 500 miles 25 cents.

In 1816 the following schedule went into force: For a single letter carried not over 30 miles, 6¼ cents; less than 80 miles, 10 cents; less than 150 miles, 12½ cents; less than 400 miles, 18¾ cents; over 400 miles, 25 cents. Provisions for mailing newspapers were made as follows: Newspapers, under 100 miles or within the State where published, 1 cent; over 100 miles and out of the State, 1½ cents.

By the act of March 3, 1845, the rates were modified as follows: For each letter weighing less than half an ounce, if carried less than 300 miles, 5 cents; over 300 miles, 10 cents; each additional half ounce, double rates; drop letters delivered from the office where posted, 2 cents. The newspaper rates were: For papers containing less than 1,900 square inches, 1 cent each, if delivered within the State where printed and mailed, or out of the State but within 100 miles of publication office; for any greater distance, 1½ cents each; if conveyed less than 30 miles, free. Papers measuring over 1,900 square inches were charged magazine postage. Magazines, pamphlets, and other printed works were charged 2½ cents for the first ounce, and 1 cent for each additional ounce or fraction of an ounce, for any distance whatever. Bound books were unmailable. Carriage by private individuals on mail carriages, or by express, thenceforward, was prohibited. Two years later transient newspaper rates were raised to 3 cents, and prepayment was required; postage on unsealed circulars was raised from 2 cents to 3; newspaper postage to Oregon and California was placed at 4½ cents, and letters, via Chagres and Panama, 40 cents; between post towns in California, 12½ cents.

In 1849 the postage on transient newspapers was reduced to ordinary rates, but prepayment was maintained.

In 1851 the single letter was defined by weight instead of by piece, at a half ounce or under, and rates were greatly cheapened, as follows: For a single letter under 3,000 miles, 3 cents, if prepaid; otherwise, 5 cents; over 3,000 miles, 6 cents, or 12 cents. The postage on newspapers, which had been almost prohibitory in the early days, and had been maintained at high rates until this time, was now (1851) greatly reduced, as will be seen by comparing the following quarterly charges with the charges per copy given above:

Weekly newspapers, to actual subscribers in the county, free; under 50 miles and out of county where published, 5 cents a quarter; over 50 and under 300 miles, 10 cents; over 300 and under 1,000 miles, 15 cents; over 1,000 and under 2,000, 20 cents; over 2,000 and under 4,000, 25 cents; over 4,000, 30 cents. Postage on transient newspapers and circulars was also proportionately reduced, and books under 32 ounces were admitted to mail at 1 cent an ounce if prepaid, if not prepaid 2 cents.

Slight changes were made in 1852 and 1855, but it was reserved for the Congress of 1863 to make the next great step forward by making the rate of postage on all domestic letters uniform throughout the Union, at 3 cents for each half ounce or fraction thereof. At the same time the quarterly postage on newspapers and periodicals sent to subscribers, and not exceeding 4 cents, was made uniform for all distances, at the following rates; Weekly, 5 cents; semi-weekly, 10 cents; tri-weekly, 15 cents; six times a week, 30 cents; seven times, 35 cents. But in 1868 the law was so amended as to allow weekly newspapers to go to regular subscribers in the county free. No modification of domestic letter rates occurred after this until the new postal law of this year, which went into effect Oct. 1, reducing the single letter rate to 2 cents. An important change as to newspapers and periodicals was made in 1872, requiring prepayment in advance either at the mailing or the delivery office. In 1874 it was made payable at mailing office exclusively, and a still more important change was made in the reduction of the rate on such matter to only 2 cents per pound or fraction thereof.

Stamps and stamped envelopes were first introduced in 1851, the registry of valuable letters in 1855, the carrier delivery system in 1863, the money-order system Nov. 1, 1864, the postal-cards, at 1 cent each, in 1872.

The foreign postal rates not being subject to the will of this government only, but being a matter of international agreement, will be treated in a separate article.

STEAM PLOWS.

WEBSTER CITY, Iowa.

When and where were steam plows first used? How are they
constructed, and how many acres will they plow per hour?

H. C. B.

_Answer._—An apparatus for steam plowing was first patented in the United States Nov. 19, 1833, by E. C. Bellinger, of South Carolina. It was not received with sufficient favor by farmers or planters to encourage the manufacture of the machines. In England, Francis Moor took out a patent as early as 1769 for an engine to plow, harrow, and do other farm work without the aid of horses. Several other attempts at inventing steam plows were made, but all to no practical purpose, until 1810, when a Major Pratt patented a steam-plowing apparatus, employing two engines stationed on opposite headlands, and drawing plows by means of endless chains or ropes. An improved form of this machine was patented by Mr. Heathcote, M. P., in 1832, which is said to be the first that was ever worked successfully in the field. Alexander McRea made improvements on Mr. Heathcote’s machine in 1846 and 1849; still the practical results were insignificant until in 1854, when John Fowler, also of England, brought forward an improvement on the plans of Bellinger, Pratt, and others, since which time various changes and additions have been made, and steam plowing has gone into successful practice on many of the large estates of Great Britain and in the East and West Indies; about 1,500 steam plows being now in use in England alone.

Many attempts to invent a successful traction engine for steam plowing have been made, particularly by Mr. J. Boydell, of England, in 1846, Mr. Calloway and Mr. Pukis, of England, in 1851, and in this country by Joseph W. Fawkes, by Henry Corning in 1850, David Russell in 1855, B. Crawford in 1857, Judd Stevens in 1858, particularly, by Thomas H. Burbridge, of St. Louis, in 1858, and Mr. W. R. Hinsdale, of New York, about 1870, who invented a gang of three plows to go with Messrs. Aveling and Porter’s traction engine, imported from England by the late Mr. A. T. Stewart, to be used on his estate at Garden City, Long Island.

The plan called cable traction, invented in part by Pratt, in part by Bellinger, and improved by Fowler, has been operated with greater success than any other. It consists of a single locomotive engine, of from twelve to fourteen-horse power, with a windlass under the boiler, around which passes a single steel-wire cable, which, by means of hinged clips, lays hold of the cable with a grip proportioned to the strain. This continuous cable, twice the width of the plat to be plowed, passes around a sheave, or pulley-block, fastened to a self-acting anchor placed on the opposite side of the field from the engine. This “anchor” consists of a low truck on four wheels, with sharp, disk edges, which cut so deep into the soil that it will not drag when the traction is applied. A box loaded with stones, or some other weight, on the outer side of this truck keeps it from tilting when the power is applied to the plows. A sheave on the truck gives motion to a drum which winds up another cable attached to a post or anchor in the direction in which the furrows are to succeed each other, so that the machine warps itself along the headland on which it is stationed just as fast as the plowing progresses, keeping at all times directly opposite to the locomotive engine, which is moving down the opposite headland in the same direction. The plows are attached to a balance frame, the especial invention of Mr. Fowler, and are in duplicate, pointing to each other, so that when the set at one end of the frame is at work the opposite set is carried along the cable in the air. The plow frame is hauled from one side of the field to the other, between the engine and the movable anchor, by reversing the action of the windlass. It is adapted to turning from two to eight furrows at once, according to the power of the engine and toughness of the soil. The amount of ground plowed by such a machine varies from three to eight acres a day for a three-furrow gang, according to depth of furrow from twelve inches to four inches. An eight-furrow gang will do a little more than twice this amount of work per day.

For various reasons steam plowing is not practiced to any noticeable extent in the United States, but it is probable that as the advantages of this mode of turning up the soil to a depth not practicable by animal draft, become better understood, and other changes transpire, it will go into successful operation here as it has done in England.

THE “BAD LANDS.”

ELDORA, Iowa.

Where is the district of country called the “Bad Lands?” Is it true
that it is very remarkable for fossil remains, and that wood or any
animal substance, if left there for a short time, becomes petrified?

A. J. P.

_Answer._—The “Bad Lands,” or “Mauvaises Terres,” of the old French fur-traders’ dialect, are an extensive barren tract in Dakota, Wyoming, and Northwestern Nebraska, between the North Fork of the Platte and the South Fork of the Cheyenne River—west, south, and southeast of the Black Hills. It lies mostly between the 103d and 105th degrees of longitude, with an area as yet not perfectly defined, but estimated to cover about 60,000 square miles. There are similar lands in the Green River region of which Fort Bridger is the center, and in southeastern Oregon. The following description applies directly to the district named in the question, so commonly known in the Northwest as the “Bad Lands.” They belong to the Miocene period, geologically speaking. “The surface materials are for the most part white and yellowish indurated clays, sands, marls, and occasional thin beds of lime and sandstone.” It is fitly described as one of the most wonderful regions of the globe. It is held by geologists that during the geological period above named a vast fresh water lake system covered this portion of our continent, when the comparatively soft materials which compose the present surface were deposited. As these lakes drained off, after the subsidence of the plains further east, resulting in the formation of the Missouri Valley, the original lake beds were worn into canyons that wind in every conceivable direction. Here and there abrupt, almost perpendicular portions of the ancient beds remain in all imaginable forms, some resembling the ruins of abandoned cities. “Towers, spires, cathedrals, obelisks, pyramids and monuments” of various shapes appear on every side, as far as the eye can range. Says Dr. Hayden, the earliest explorer of this region, “Not unfrequently the rising or setting sun will light up these grand old ruins with a wild, strange beauty, reminding one of a city illuminated in the night, as seen from some high point. The harder layers project from the sides of the canyons with such regularity that they appear like seats of some vast weird amphitheater.” Through all this country rainfall is very light, the earth absorbs the most of what rain does fall, and water and grass are very scanty. The surface-rock is so soft that it disintegrates rapidly, covering the lower grounds in many places to a depth of several feet with a soft, powdery soil unsuited to vegetation, into which animals sink as in snow, while when wet it becomes a stiff mud of impassable depth. The fitness of the Dakota name for this region, signifying a land hard to travel over, cannot be called in question. These lands are plainly unsuited for agriculture, and with rare exceptions, here and there, are of little value for grazing purposes. But they are one of the most astonishing treasuries of fossil remains to be found anywhere. The soft clayey deposits are in some places literally filled with the bones of extinct species of the horse, rhinoceros, elephant, hog, camel, a deer that strongly resembled a hog, saber-toothed lions, and other marvelous creatures, which have rendered this section of the earth a study of the highest interest to geologists of all lands. Fossil trees and shrubs and fruits abound here. All these petrifactions are the result, in part, of conditions that do not now exist in the same degree, and required no one can tell how long. The soft clays of this region and the climate are still peculiarly conducive to petrifying animal and vegetable substances, but this process requires many years to convert such substances to stone.

GRAIN PRICES AND ENGLISH CORN LAWS.

LISTOWEL, Can.

What was the price of grain in England for a few years preceding
and following the repeal of the corn laws?

H. MARTINSON.

_Answer._—From 1835 to 1855 the average prices in England of wheat, barley, and oats, per imperial quarter of eight bushels, were as follows. The corn laws were repealed in 1846.

Wheat, Barley, Oats,
Years. s. d. s. d. s. d.

1835 39 4 29 11 22 0
1836 48 6 32 10 23 1
1837 55 10 30 4 23 1
1838 64 7 31 9 22 5
1839 70 8 39 6 25 11
1840 66 4 36 5 25 8
1841 64 4 32 10 22 5
1842 47 3 27 6 19 3
1843 50 1 29 6 18 4
1844 51 3 33 8 20 7
1845 50 10 31 8 22 6
1846 54 8 32 8 23 8
1847 69 9 44 2 28 8
1848 50 6 31 6 20 6
1849 44 3 27 9 17 6
1850 40 3 23 6 16 5
1851 38 6 24 9 18 7
1852 40 9 28 6 19 1
1853 53 3 33 2 21 0
1854 72 5 36 0 27 11
1855 74 8 34 9 27 5

Reckoning the pound sterling at its present value at the United States Custom House, it appears from the above table that an imperial bushel of wheat was worth $1.18⅓ in England in 1839, $1.51 in 1845 (the year before the corn laws were repealed), $2.10 in 1847, owing to the unusual scarcity in Europe and other special causes; about $1.52 in 1848; that the following year it dropped to $1.22; and that in 1855, owing to the Crimean war and other influences, it rose to $2.25. The price continued to decline after 1855 until it reached $1.33 in 1859. Then the opening of our civil war sent prices up temporarily, but even before it closed they dropped to the lowest point touched since the corn laws were repealed, viz., 40s 2d per quarter, or $1.20 per bushel—still a shade higher than the price in 1839, six years before the repeal. The good effects of that repeal must be looked for in other matters than in the reduction of prices of grain: in the general revival of manufacturing industries, the increase of the volume of trade, better wages, and many other items of prosperity.

HOW “SCALPERS” MAKE MONEY.

GLASGOW, Ohio.

1. How can “scalpers” sell tickets at lower rates than railroad
companies? 2. Did Senator Wade vote for the impeachment of
President Johnson?