Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - X. Internal Communications - 4. Post Service. By R. Lundgren
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640
x. internal communications.
rage to 9, 16, 22, 29, 43, 62, and 68 annually. In 1913 the figure
had increased to 82. For the period 1876—80, the average number
of letters, etc., transmitted by post in the whole of Sweden amounted
to only 9 per head of the population. Thirty years later this figure
had risen to 68, and now, as we said above, to 82. These figures
can be considered as specially calculated to illustrate the immense
development of the postal service in Sweden during the last few decades.
Compared with the rest of Europe, postal communication in Sweden, in
proportion to the population — especially if respect be paid to the original and
chief object of the postal service, viz., letters — are above the average, and
are really surpassed only by those of the largest industrial and commercial
nations, for it is an object of general observation that it is a greatly
developed commercial life that is the principal factor in the great increase of
postal communications. — In the city of Stockholm, the number of letters,
etc., delivered by the post amounted in 1913 to about 353 per head of the
population, against an average of 50 for the period 1876—80. With
regard to these figures, it must be remembered that, among the number of
postal communications, there are reckoned also the newspapers subscribed
for through the post, which, in the towns, occupy the first place among the
various classes of communications. In Stockholm, for example, the figures
for 1913 were calculated to be, per inhabitant, 207 newspapers to 140
letters, 4 parcels, and 2 postal money orders.
An extraordinary increase is shown, especially for C. O. D. communications
(to be collected on delivery). While, during the period 1876—80, these
communications amounted to only 0’04 millions per annum, they amounted in 1913
to 4’4 millions. During the intervening period, consequently, the number had
become more than 100 times greater. Post-cards and money orders have
increased more than 50-fold since 1876. The number of post-cards had risen
from 0*7 million per year during the period 1876—80, to over 41 millions
during 1913, and the number of the money orders had, during the same time,
increased from 0’2 millions to nearly 11 millions. The increase in the number
of parcels conveyed by post is also notable.
As regards the postal service with foreign countries — of the total number
of communications dealt with by the Post Office, these for or from abroad
amount to about one-tenth — the postal money-order business, especially, shows
figures which are somewhat interesting in one or two respects. Most of the
money orders go to Denmark; these, in 1913 amounted to 226 476, to a
total value of 4 954 459 kronor. This corresponds, as regards number, to
47’8 % and, as regards value, to 30’6 % of all the postal money orders from
Sweden to abroad. It is estimated that, of all the money orders sent to
Denmark, about one-half are sent to lottery-agents. Of the postal remittances
to Sweden, the greater part come from the U. S. A. In 1913, for example, there
came from that country 202 686 postal money orders, to a total value of
14 002 677 kronor, this being, with regard to numbers and value, 48’3 and 54’? %
respectively of the whole number of the postal money remittances to Sweden.
During the whole of the period that such remittances have been exchanged
between Sweden and the U. S. A., i. e., 1885—1913, the amount sent to
Sweden amounts to a net total of 120’79 million kronor, which, of course, is a
very considerable sum. But it must not be forgotten that it probably does not
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