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presented itself, the Washington authorities were not slow in making the experiment leading to its adopt- ion. This method of handling United States Mail is the only one of its kind in existence, and the idea of a floating postoffice that successfully delivers and receives mail to and from ships at full speed in only another illustration of the wonders and far-reaching benefits of our wide- awake postal system. (Present postal authority piease take note of these remarks. Ed) Although Detroit is a very busy port, very few through steamers stop there, by far the larger number sailing direct to upper and lower lake ports For this reason the marine postal service was made a branch of the Detroit postoffice, because it was decided it could, from there, find easiest access to the passing vessels. Long before ships could exchange postal matter and telegrams "on the fly" it became necessary to work revolutions in loading and unloading cargoes, and to light channels so they could be run at night, and not a minute should be lost, going or coming, night or day. The books of the United States Treasury Department in Washington now contain the names of nearly four thousand ships that constitute this Great Lakes marine. The sailors to whom this fleet is entrusted would make the population of a large city. They are, therefore, fairly entitled to some means of communication with their homes and families in the states bordering the lakes, and the little white steamer performs this service as perfectly as can be desired. Before the establishment of this delivery it was difficult to send letters to anyone aboard ship, al- though Niagara's wall confined the movement of vessels to the Great Lakes, and their voyages back and forth were past the shores of eight states with a population of twenty- six millions. This may seem strange, 'through this office, TELESCOPE age t25 but it is easily explained by the fact that the greater number of lake steamers "run wild"...that is, they depend on their owners and agents making profitable charters for them from trip to trip. The crew of a "wild" steamer sel- dom knew where to have a letter sent before the Detroit service began, for it often happened that a ship would come down with ore from Duluth billed for Cleveland, and as she passed Detroit a telegraphic order would change her destination to some dock at Ashtabula or Lorain. So letters sent to Cleveland to meet her would finally reach the dead-letter office, in company with hundreds of others, and it was this accumulation of mail coming from the cities of the lake district that prompted the experiment leading to the adoption of a marine postoffice during the summer of 1895. During the first month only 99 letters were delivered to passing ships; but at the close of naviga- tion in that year the mail delivery amounted to five-hundres pieces of matter a day. In 1899 the amount of mail delivered exceeded one thousand pieces a day, and is now (1921) even greater. The revenue to the government from this marine service is greater than the appropriation necessary to carry it on. Very few branches of the postal service can say as much. The skippers of lake ships are in close touch with the Weather Bureau also, and weather reports, or special storm warnings may be daily placed on board passing vessels. The assistance given the Lake navigator is further shown by the issuance, through the mail, to each captain, on the first day of every month, by the weather Bureau, of a paper showing weather conditions for that month during twenty-four years, from which a fair guess can be made of the weather for that month. As the downbound ships swing around the lower curving corner of Belle Isle, and the miles of Detroit