{"id":1141,"date":"2020-05-25T16:09:19","date_gmt":"2020-05-25T23:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidgunter.com\/?p=1141"},"modified":"2022-03-13T17:57:22","modified_gmt":"2022-03-14T00:57:22","slug":"sending-children-via-parcel-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidgunter.com\/es-mx\/2020\/05\/25\/sending-children-via-parcel-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Sending Children Via Parcel Post"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In reading this day’s Santa Fe New Mexican from 100 years ago (25 May 1920), I came across this horrible sounding story in which two young boys, ages 8 and 6, were sent from Topeka, KS to Ogden, UT, by express parcel mail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Boys Sent Via Parcel Express Mail\nSanta Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM) 25 May 1920<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After getting over the initial shock of the thought of sending children by mail I decided to see just how common an activity it was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beginning with the new year in 1913 the United States Postal Service lifted the 4 pound cap on the allowed weight of parcels it handles within its system. This lead to an explosion in both the number of parcels and in the wide assortment of items people would send. The most unusual being that of small children and often infants. I was able to find 5 such cases in those early years of people sending, or attempting to send, infants and children through the mail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n