The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1874-01-23
How these antipodes viii get togeth-
er is vet uncertain.
Postal ECONOMY.


which the receipts do not pay half the expen-
ditures This will make squirming in many
places. The American citizen is always an
advocate of abstract economy in public expen-
ditures, but when 1t comes to cutting of his
mails OF stopping the work on his home post
Office OF harbor or light house. he is apt to
grow restive and say, with more or less en-
phasis, that the curtaiIment had better begin
somewhere else. There is one point, which of
course the Senate Committee will not forget
when marking down the postal routes to be
discontinued, aud that IS the fact that to many
Of the people at the farther end Of these un-
profitable routes the mail service is the one
special privilege which they enjoy in return
for the national taxes that they pay The deni-
zens of cities have costly custom houses and
postofioes and haTbors and breakwaters built
st national expense, and are never done with
pleading with Congress for new or larger ap-
preparations, but the far-off villager or farmer
| Is content to get his weekly mail from q shoe
makers shop or cross road store, and asks
for no needless luxuries. Give the pioneers
aud the baekwoods people a chance to keep
themselves in communication with the rest OF
| the world. In q country where every man |
has a vote, every man should have the means
of keeping himself informed of public affairs
and giving his children at least as fair sdvan-
tages as he had in his own youth. If it costs
little money, what matter? Where can a
million or two be better spent than in keep
ing up postal routes that the people need? On
" let it be made evident that the franking
abuse and other costly Iuxuries which help on
" the wealthy and powerful are kept in check,
and the public will not complain of the few
extra dollars required to keep up needed pos
tai service.
The above, from the Cleveland
Leader, is a sort of realization that
the people outside of the great cen
ters are entitled to some considera-
ton. But it Is at best only a half
way recognition of their rights. AS
matter of equity, have they not as
much right, on the payment of the
same rate Ofpostage, to free delivery,
as the people of the great centers ?
Or, in other words, what justice is
there in consuming the receipts OF
the postal service in a gratuitous ac-
commodation of the people residing
in the great centers, and refusing the
same accommodations to those re-
siding in less favored localities,
while requiring of them the same
rates of postage which is required of
those to whom are extended all
these advantages They pay for
no more than the people of the less
populous districts, and should be
treated to no more accommodations.
more especially as by so doing the
Observation-Disclosures resources which
would otherwise aid in rendering
the department sef-sustaining. Let
economy begin where useless ex-
penses exist. The citizen who re-
sides two or three miles from the
Postofice, in a populous city, is sub
ject to no greater inconvenience in
being obliged to call at the Post
Office for his mail, than the person
in the country, who resides three,
five or ten miles from the Postohice
where he receives his mail matter
No, nor half so much. He has good
roads at all times, and seasons, and
other advantages Of getting to and
fro which the resident in the coun-
try has not. Then why should thous-
ands upon thousands be thrown
away on letter carriers each year,
for the accommodation of the people
Of larger cities, and the rest of the
country be neglected And even
the dwellers upon the frontier threat
ened with stoppage of their insig-
nifcant.mail privileges, because the
wsntoH extravaganza of the funds of
the service, in gratuitous distribu-
ton, keeps the service from being
self-sustaining.
There should be economy, and all
useless expenses Topped of, but in
stead of extending a system which
is proftless while expensive, let it
be curtailed, and the useless waste
of money on these sources be ap-
piled to liquidate' necessary ex-
penses. Look at the workings of
this system. A year ago Columbus
1--WE merely cite as an instance) was
without the free delivery. Now it
has ten carriers at 5000 each, or an
additional expense of $4,000 entailed
for no consideration, not even that
of increased service. Nor is this all.
People, who have their mail deliver
ed have no need of boxes in the
P. o., and the revenue-seVeral
thousand year-from this source
is cut Off Here is a deficiency which
must be made up out Of the general
fund, and one which operates in
helping forward movement like the
one quoted, to cut off less favored |
people from the benefits of postal
service.
The injustice of such a policy |
ought to be so apparent that until
the country is able to make free de-
livery the rule, instead of the ex-
ception, it should be abolished alto
gether, and the saving thus made !
would avoid the necessity of Def
cheney appropriations. The policy
at present prevailing, cuts off even
the poor privilege of the country
subscriber receiving his country
paper free, but extends the free
dsli0ery Of mail matters as fast as
communities attain a certain growth
"a species of injustice at variance
with the principle of equal and exact
justice to all, as it appears to US.
The people everywhere are entitled
to the same rights and privileges,
and the legislation that favors one
community more than another, or at
the expense of another, is unsound,
not to say unconstitutional. Either
mail matter should he delirered free