I'm a Libertarian living in Humboldt County, CA. I've lived here in Eureka since 1973 and joined the Libertarian Party in 1992. This blog will mostly focus on local political issues, but I may stray into state and national issues as well, when I can't help myself. Please post your comments by clicking on the "comments" link at the bottom of each post. Although I do moderate comments, you need not be a registered user to post them.
Saturday, December 20, 2014
I Had No Idea: Mailing Children
In
1913 it was legal to mail children. With stamps attached to their
clothing, children rode trains to their destinations, accompanied by
letter carriers. One newspaper reported it cost fifty-three cents for
parents to mail their daughter to her grandparents for a family visit.
As news stories and photos popped up around the country, it didn't take
long to get a law on the books making it illegal to send children
through the mail.
Click on the picture to read comments to the post. They're interesting, too. I like this one: "So thankful that with today's technology we can fax em".
SNOPES says such occurrences were rare, and almost all were publicity stunts. In some cases, the carriers were known to the parents and the child went a short distance (e.g., one mile). In others, it was a way of cheating out on not paying for a train ticket. Also, the photos attached to the chain e-mail where this history is recounted were actually staged photos not tied to real incidents.
1 Comments:
SNOPES says such occurrences were rare, and almost all were publicity stunts. In some cases, the carriers were known to the parents and the child went a short distance (e.g., one mile). In others, it was a way of cheating out on not paying for a train ticket. Also, the photos attached to the chain e-mail where this history is recounted were actually staged photos not tied to real incidents.
http://www.snopes.com/photos/people/mailingchildren.asp
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