Owney was a mongrel dog who became the mascot of the Railway Mail Service. He traveled on mail trains all through the United States in the 1890s and even made a trip around the world on mail steamers in 1895.
“When you control the mail, you control information.”–Mail carrier Newman, Seinfeld
Today in 1972, George Washington signed the Post Office Act, creating the United States Postal Service.
Railway Mail clerks considered Owney a good luck charm. Whenever he rode on a train, no one in the mail car was ever hurt in an accident during the trip.
In 2011, the USPS delivered 168 billion pieces of mail, down from 202 billion in 2008.
The Story of Information 