Show UNABLE TO SEE THE FUTURE I ShortSighted English Statesman Denounced De-nounced Penny Postage Of all the wild and visionary schemes of which I have ever heard or road It Is the most extraordinary That was the official comment made by Lord Llchfleld postmaster general of England on Rowland Hills proposal to establish a uniform postal rate of a penny throughout the United Kingdom King-dom And that was at a time within the memory of some men still living only 71 years ago Despite Lord Llch fields condemnation of It the scheme was within three years an established fact And men who In their childhood might have seen and read the first letters let-ters ever sent from one part of Eng land to another for a penny may this year see and read letters sent around the globe and practically to every part of tho Englishspeaking world for the same small fee The achievement will be not only a most Impressive rebuke of the shortsighted and timorous admin istrator of two generations ago but also an equally Impressive demonstration demonstra-tion of the constantly accelerating progress of civilization |