The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-30
RURAL FREE DELIVERY
REPORTS OF INSPECTORS ON RE-
SUITS OF THE EXPERIMENTS.
Remarkable Increase in the Volume
of Mail Matter-The Present Cost
and the Possibilities.


enable the Postoffice Department to make
experiments in rural free delivery" There
had been other attempts at extending the
free-deivery system beyond the limits al
lowed by existing law, notably Mr.. Wanna
makers experiments in the villages and
smaller towns. which came to all end on
July l, 1885, through failure of Congress to
appropriate for their further continuance
1t was thought best by the department
however, to undertake d system of free de-
livery in the strictly rural districts outside
of the limits of the Incorporated villages,
and certain typical townships in different
parts of the country were selected. The
inspectors sent out to observe the results
of these trials have now returned to Wash
ington, and the department is making up a
formal report for submission to Congress
in December.
The plan of the rural free delivery is this
The government pays the carriers on an
average about $500 year, and each man
must furnish his own horse and cart or
bicycle if he prefers. The department does
not object to his combining other work
with that of the postal business so long as
it does not interfere with the reasonably
prompt delivery of the mail. The carrier
may, for instance, receive and deliver tele-
grams and express packages, and he may
sell writing paper and supplies of that kind,
and also have an agency for the sale of
stamps. He must make one trip a day. and
the distance covered ranges from sixteen to
twenty-four miles, and the area taken care
of averages in the experimental cases
about twenty-three square miles per man.
In the South, where the town is built up
on one main road and the people live in
back from the highway on either side in
somewhat irregular locations, the Depart
ment has aimed to establish routes along
the turnpike, and then the hOuseholders in
the districts back from the road" are al
lowed TO put up mail boxes on the highway
at the most convenient point for each fam
lily, and into these the carrier on his daily
trip deposits the mail and takes up what
ever letters are left there. No attempt is
made to cover every house in a township.
me department simply maps out a route
which will give the carrier a reasonable
days work, and of course in so doing tries
TO provide Tor the largest possible number
OF people. But those who are not taken
care OF must either go to the distant post
office as before or arrange for boxes some
Where along the line. Besides taking up
the mail at each house the department es-
tabIshes collection boxes at convenient
road crossings. Sometimes in this waV if
is possible for the recipient of a letter to
deposit his answer in a neghboring mail
box for collection on the same day.
BUSINESS INCREASES.
In the towns where this experiment has
been made, and the inspectors reports are
now in for North Deering, Sebago Lake,
Naples and Gorham, in Maine. and Grand
Isle, in Vermont, the result OF the system
has been a great increase in the amount of
mail business. The farmers take a good
many more daily newspapers when they
can have them delivered at the door. The
volume of letters collected has increased
wonderfully. 1t is said that in the remote
districts, with the postoffice a number of
miles away the people get so out of the
habit of writing letter that it looks like
an enormous task, and when they receive
even d business communication of minor
Importance they make no attempt to an
sWer it. But with a daily visit of a post
office representative, supplied with stamps
and pens and the whereWithal of CORE
spondence, they develop considerable fond
ness for doing business by mail The in
crease in newspaper business while it will
please the press of the country, will not
particularly delight the heart of the peo-
pie who are trying to make both ends meet
in the Postofdce Department. Newspapers
pay the government one cent a pound
while in these rural experiments the aver
age cost of delivery of each piece of mail
has been 1852 cents. But if the carrier were
to make his trip anyway, it would obvi-
Ously be of advantage to have the largest
possible number of pieces.
popularity about this rural delivery is
the low price for which the carriers are
willing to work. In the experimental at
tempt the government inspectors have been
authorized to engage the man who would
90 IL the cheapest, PROVIDED Oh course, LndL
he gave evidence of responsibility, such as
being able to provide $500 bond. In North
Carolina one successful bidder took his job
at $l75 a year. and furnished his own con-
veyance. There are several $3.50 men, but
$500 seems to be the regulation price, and it
is said by the department to be amply SUI
fcent to hire all the men wanted to do this
work in the rural districts The principal
applicants are farmers boys, who have a
barn filled with horses, and to whom $500
in clean money looks large.
COST OF DELIVERY
In case the government should establish
a rural delivery on an extensive scale, how
ever, it is not likely that this price would
long stand. The carriers in offices in cities
having a population of $1,000 now receive
$780, $500 and $1,000 according to the
length of their service. In cities of under
$4,000 inhabitants they receive $500 and
$3.50. While it would doubtless be possible
for the government to continue to have this
work done in the rural districts at the
price now paid, government operations
never come out that way Once make the
system universal throughout the country
and these rural carriers would organize
into associations, which in the sparsely
settled districts would develop considerable
political power. Then some warm hearted
friend of the poor, toiling rural carriers
would rise in his place in the House, and
ask to have twice as much money from the
government treasury applied Tor THIS puT-
pose. Every congressman who had q large
rural carrier element in his district would
be afraid to vote against such Il project,
and it would be carried, and whereas the
government from its experimental tests
now estimates that free delivery might be
made general for $50 900 a year more, 1t
would soon find itself in practice paying
twice as much for that service. 1t should
be borne in mind that rural delivery might
thus cost double what is now reckoned,
and on the basis of that probability the
system should be judged
But the enormous advantage to the pup
lie of rural delivery cannot be overesti-
mated When the amount of time that II
requires for each farmer to get to the post
office is taken into account, 1t would DOUBT
less be a very great saving to society as
take the task, even if he was paid 5000 a
wear instead of $500 for doing so. 1t is eS-
timated by the department that this free
delivery would cut off at least % per cent.
of the expenses of fourth-class postofnces
Many of them would be discontinued, and
the expenses would be reduced all around.
SPERRY'S MEASURE.
A bill which was introduced in the last
Congress by Representative Sperry, of Con-
necticut for facilitating rural delivery
should not be confused with the expert
ments Just described. Mr. Sperrys bill
passed Congress, but reached President
Cleveland when so many measures were
pressing upon him for consideration that he
did not get around to sign it, as he doubt
less would have done 1t will come up in
the December session. 1t provides for a ru-
raj delivery as a private enterprise, TO be
paid for by the person whom it serves at
the rate of a cent for each piece of mail
matter. In many parts of the country there
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