The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1890-07-23
Mail from Writer to Reader


A writer in the New York Tribnse ad-
yocates the free delivery Of mail matter
-ywhere-in the country as well as IN
the city-claiming that al persons should
be treated by the Government equally,
and that the mail service should be from
the hand Of the writer to the hand Of the
reader, and that every sender Of letter
should be assured that it viii net stop in
some local post-oiiice, but viii 90 right
on until il reaches The person 10 whom It
is sent. As to the question Of cost, he
figures out that il would cost the Govern
nnent much less than it costs individuals.
He says
Take, for illustration, q village post
Office serving one hundred families liy-
ing within radius Of three miles. This
would fairly Represent the situation in
the more thinly-peopled parts ofour old
er states. Allow for these one hundred
families an average Of an hour day
spent in sending OF seeking their mail.
As the work is sometimes done by chill
dren, count the cost at Eve cents an hour.
This would amount to $ day for the
entire community, or Sl,S25. a year. If
this still seems to much, take half the
sum, or $500 a year. This, al 5000 year
the lowest wages paid our letter carriers,
would employ one carrier on full time
and one on half time, and these would
deliver the mail twice a day TO all the
houses having mail due them. In more
populous districts the saving would be
more, for the same carriers would serve
two or three times the number Of fami-
lies in the same radius.
But why SGo0e We all know that
good, competent men can be employed
in the country districts for 81 day for
this service, and active and honest lads
Of sixteen or eighteen yeas Of age for less.
il is certain that the free delivery can
never become universal if the present
pay Of carriers is 70 be given for country
service. Bat If Congress viii allow, and
the Postmaster General dare attempt il.
the free delivery could be extended to
the greater part Of the country without
much if any additional expense. Let one
half or two-thirds Of the small country
pospofiices be abolished and mail-carriers
be appointed in place Of the dismissed
postmasters. In a circuit of five miles
including the village in which now live
there are four or five small post offices,
say four. Let the most central Office re-
main, simply as a mail depot. The three
carriers who may take the places Of the
three other postmasters could easily de-
liver the mail twice a day to every fami-
~ within the whole district. II is by
economies such as these that England has
universal free delivery. Let the post
master in every large postal district be
allowed to employ the postmen or car
riers as lac does in England and as our
own postmasters now employ their own
clerks, at such wages as rule in his vicin-
age. Let the present high pay for post
men continue in the cities, if needs be,
in order to secure the service OF compe-
tent men but do not compel the millions
Of us who live in the country to wait for
free delivery till the Government is able
TO pay for the service at least twice as
much as il needs TO cost.
One word more is is not the country
people alone who will be helped by the
introduction of the free delivery system.
The business and social correspondence
between men in the cities and men in
the country now halts half way and for
bids active business intercourse because
Of the uncertainty Of the country side of
the correspondence. Make it sure that
the business letter will 90 straight TO its
mark, and the exchange between town
and country viii be doubled. l know
many a farmer who would take daily
paper to get It's market reports and to
keep mp with the times ii he could have
it brought by the postman to his door.