New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-11-08
A POSTOFFICE EXPERIMENT
RURAL MAIL DELIVERY IN KANs..

The fast train on the Union Pacific arrives q,
carried across the street from the depot p' q are
at once. All country mail is first separated from
town mail and turned over to the carriers VIM
district The eastern half Of the township Is an.
portioned as one district and is the largest Ths
The %en Se is ais. sHS is wen
rs aveass Of pieces Of %a
| daily by each carrier In his district during tina
and newspapers the newspapers being in rrsssss
numbers Besides delivering the mail. the carriers
also collect letters for transmittance and sell
At ll:so o'clock. tie mail being distributed. tn.
sod Stout pony and bears with h% 0 on
States mail carriers leather pouch, in which is a
one day last Week
| of these rural postmen over his district and OBJ.
a the roads, H S for
The round trip was directly twelve miles east and
Su s as ac 15 ei s The ROAD
porter. with team OF good strong horses and
The first delivery was made at small farm
o Sae wo"nd a and h rSSr
the woods The postman. who had been visible
IN he e to e e ops ss
was riding through the wood. The team was
turned out Of the road and followed him over boys
hardly a hairs breadth between hubs and bark.
centre of which was a neat white cottage. sur.
rounded with papS rsGce co Snd on the The gate
man rode up to the box left newspaper TOOK
out out" letter - and with blast from his horn was
u Then " up hlli and down dale aounderng in mud
The postman's pony was a. BUNCH !s OF muscles.
way of the mud SO on he pranced, to the dis
tress OF the team; which had some difficulty In
ksTDms sp of some %porance big White
structure connected with all sorts Of comfortable
and Approached through an avenue OF great trees
1t was the eOo-acre farm Of Captain r. F. Twist
for whom there was a big bundle OF mall includ-
ing some haf-dozen newspapers.
The postman wound his horn with stirring
To the e9 music of horn and dogs tall old man left
the house and approached the mail-box II was
and one OF the solid men OF the township.
How do you regard this system OF rural mal
T re waf seonss to that class of
who believes in good Living for farmers frs;sbt He is
arrow He silenced the clamoring dogs and took
his pipe from his mouth.
err hs said IS i'D here is ' no particular why
the farmer should be deprived Of the dement's OF .
ks city, 'hft mas sa besve be
success Every farmer should put SSoH mall maj
By this system Of mail delivery am able to read
my daily paper almost az soon as the man In the
II Is u not eI possible f for farmer to go to town
every day for his mall. Work and BAD roads pre-.
because letters that should be answered at once
are not received until they are several days OLD
Newspapers that accumulate for several days lose
The captain had been handed his bundle of pa
pers and letters. and called TO his wife:
Come. mother. bring some wine for me gen'i e.
men. 1t is good. home wine made by myseit. no
n pnqec VINTAGE Ss ais Inn in hoapabIe fashion
Further up the road was large and comfort
s OF n sons USED o city vns sooner
had the postman's horn announced ms coming
than pretty young woman MIA came be rG hnn the 3 II
letters. She bought % cents worth OF stamps ana
Cornell. a city-bred girl. transplanted to country
spond with ones friends promptly and freely ana
son who has never lived In the country; ar are,
living In the city. and been compelled 70 exc,
world, does not know wha. boon daily he sSan
paper is. a lot OF six daily papers Is more IMAM
lighted with the rural mail delivery ana hope ,ha'
nothing Will occur TO cause its disconunuance =,
mailed. and spoke of the change in the routine OF
country life since the postman made his daily as-
Further on mail deliveries were less frequent Pc
cause the postman was approaching the pos'olnse
Offices including Bonner Springs. and at all Of
these certain amount OF mail Is recsiyea ,os
intention of the Postofiice Department to make
the rural pos,man take the place OF these smai!
month for carrying mail in their districts. which
IL economical than maintaining the post
offices, and likely to give more satisfaction 10 INC
farmers.
Along the road nearly every farmer had mail:
box nailed to his gate or 10 tree near by. IL IS
the desire of the Department that every farmer
maintain mall-box and leave word with the Bon,
ner Springs postmaster that he has done so, ana
his mail will be delivered to him and collected
for transmission.
fuences some farmers to look with distrust upon
every new plan advocated by the Government
old for
gate when the postman came up. He had no box
out and there was mail for him. He was asked
what he thought OF the rural mall delivery s'''
Il don't see no particular advantage in t." he
go town often enough to get all the papers rye
got time to read There amt no can iof r Inc
ers. It's gittin too darn plutocratc' anyway
Fust thing know the Guyment will be want ant.
Come Of the farm work. Wen all be ss,tn,, X:
house to do chore until We get our mornin paper
TO read. An do you think I'm goin' to drop my
along an get? How'm I goin to know they'll
get to the postofice. or that some n. won't
stree Harry. the old ways good enough fer me
as long as I'm plain farmer ,.,,..-,.s .,d ~.
postman's work was done. He had gathered up
twelve letters besides his deliveries and ,urnsS
Springs s;rS p""s about b ' $50 O'clock
Sometimes long distance is travelled TO denver ,s
a letter to an isolated and not very appreciatiVs
farmer One day last week a posman trave'iea
six weary miles OF hills and mud and rocks 70
deliver one 2-ccnt stamped letter TO a farmer VINO
didn't care the snap of his finger for II at'er ~
got II. -. 49,.
However sign OF appreciation Is the taet thsr
farmers changing their addresses from o,n sy
township postoffices to Bonner Springs that 'rey
may have the benefit Of the free delivery ea "a
the most part the farmers are mighthy pvua Ses
with the experiment from the fact that II reIer r.
them OF the responsibility Of coming 10 town los
nothing else than the mail when their WINS Tvs
out of reading matter. ,a -
The people OF Bonner Springs are very prouhn se ~
the fact that in all Kansas their town mas uce
picked out from which to conduct the experiments
Or. the editor OF the local paper puts ~ . ,ne
THAT Bonner Springs has been selected az e as
testing station for the State OF kansas sseSS al
citizens lust reason to feel proud The resuss m
rectly affects the entire State and Tor tnat