For those who may be interested in postal history, I came upon this item that is freely accessed on Google Books entitled
"1904 INVESTIGATION OF THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT":
http://books.google.com/books?id=nJ...ge&q&f=falseQuite an interesting read for those interested in such historical matters, particularly from pages 170-185 that refer to the scandals in purchasing and leasing the various cancellation equipment from that era.
In fact, it suggests that the USPOD 1904 budget for canceling machines of $60,000 to $250,000 (that's about $1.4 million to $6.0 million dollars in today's money!) was not only plagued with problems in equipment function and operation, but were being put into service at grossly overpriced lease payments that were lining the pockets of the shrewd companies involved.
I imagine this was quite scandalous information back in 1904 and would probably be viewed the same today, except for the fact that much of the information today would be kept from the eyes of the general public.
If this book is to be believed, it seems that the US Post Office Department has been plagued with financial problems for well over a century!
Posted 05/24/2012 10:34 pm
