Ibrahim’s modern postal timing system collapsed for lack of literate staff

Evidence

Another example of how difficult it was for the Pasha to insure that his new institutions functioned the way he wanted them to is provided by the operation of the postal system. In order to insure that the Pasha in Egypt was kept informed about his army in Syria, Ibrahim Pasha devised a postal system that was intended to keep his father in constant touch with the army. Ibrahim divided the distance between the army HQ in Syria and Cairo into twelve equal intervals; at the end of each a postal station was to be built. In each of these stations an official was to be appointed and given a silver watch to check if the postmen relaying the letters between the stations arrived on time or not. In implementing this new order, however, it was discovered that although the postmen to be appointed to these new stations should have been able to read and write, not enough literate officials could be found to man them. To save time, it was decided to choose some officials and teach them the numbers from one to twelve only so as to be able to check on whether the postmen arrived on time or not. It is doubtful whether an illiterate official who only knew the numbers from one to twelve could use a watch, silver or otherwise, and write a report about the punctuality of mail. What appears in principle to have been a modern way to deal with time and space, with time measured in minutes and seconds and space divided up into uniform, standardized distances, turns out to have been compromised in its implementation owing to serious pressing factors. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 916

Categorization

• SHARE: The image of officials taught only the numbers one to twelve to run a timekeeping postal relay would delight anyone into logistics history.