I’m listening to William Manchester’s bio of Churchill on my commute. (The link will take you to Audible.com’s version. Warning: I’m enjoying it greatly but it is only available in relatively low audio quality. Listen to the sample before you buy.) According to Manchester, London in 1875 had ten (10!) mail deliveries a day. Slightly more labor intensive than email. Such a system makes sense when labor is relatively cheap and people really want to stay in touch. Another interesting number—1000 people died a year in England’s coal mines. Makes nuclear power look really safe, even in a week when an accident in Japan kills four people. By the way, the population of England in the last quarter on the nineteenth century was about 30 million.
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