Between 1913 and 1920, many Americans sent their children around the country by mail. Provided your child weighed less than 50 lbs, you could simply affix stamps to their clothing and send them off with the postmaster. They’d be whisked across the country in the railway system’s mail compartments and delivered to relatives safe and sound.
Unsurprisingly, this practice rather alarmed the authorities, who, beginning in 1913, began to issue directives against the practice, starting with postmaster general Burleson’s edict of 1914, which was roundly ignored.
via Boing Boing
