Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-22

very general by the residents of those cities
to which the system has been extended.
despite the prevailing financial depression
of the past year. and il is confidently be-
lieved by those having the matter in charge
that under the new conditions of prosperity
this adoption will be very much FASTENED
during the coming year-a result to be hop
ed for, since the department and the public
are equally benefited by the extension of
this system
Rural Free Delivery.
For the first time since the establish
ment of the service in 1881, a comprehen-
sive report of he operation of rural free
delivery is submitted. Necessarily 1t is
voluminous. 1 specially desire, that it shall
be carefully read by you, with a view to
requesting of Congress such legislation as
you may regard necessary, and for such
extensions of the service as it's practical
operations suggest"
Rural free delivery is regarded as a great
success after a thorough test.
Rural free delivery has been put to the
test of practical experiment in twenty-nine
states and over forty-four differing routes"
the report says. This has been done by
direction of Congress, which placed sum
of $1,000, supplemented by another appro-
priation of $4,000 at the disposal of the
department for this purpose during the fis-
cal year 1S96-97, and has appropriated a
further sum of $4,000 for continuing and
extending the experiment during the pres
ent fiscal year. In a majority of the dis
tricts experimental upon the free-delivery
service has been in operation for year.
"An sorts and conditions Of rural life
have been included in the experiment, as
will be seen. from the detailed reports of
the results of the test in the different
states experimental upon, which are here
with presented. The service has been tried
under most favored conditions in the gar
den district of California, where seventy
five miles of macadamized roads. carefully
sprinkled in summer, lead through a sue
cession of costly mansions, embowered
among gardens and fruit groves. 1t has
been put in operation along the banks of
Bayou Lafourche- in the sugar belt of
Louisiana. where the carriers drive from
one sugar plantation to another for seven
miles on each side of the bayou. 1t has
been inaugurated under equally favorable
| auspices in the productive irrigated fruit
growing districts of Arizona; among the
well-improved and prosperous ranches of
Colorado; in the balmy climate and health
giving air of southern Georgia; among the
Intelligent farming communities which
thickly populate GeneSee county, n. Y,
and Lancaster county. Pa. 1t has been es-
tablished on one of the larger islands of
Lake Champlain in Vermont; and has been
put in operation in the backwoods of
Maine, and among the farmers and sum-
mer boarders of Massachusetts.
''In these and other localities the condi-
tons We're such as to favor the success
pertinent has not been confined to COM
mupities where there were few difficult
ties to be encountered. 1t has been car
ried over the mountains of Arkansas;
through the heavy roads of central ILL
nois: along the rough banks of the Mis-
souri, river, in Kansas; through the I'M
surveyed and roadless farming districts of
southwest Kentucky; over the hills and
through the snow filled crossroads of Michi-
gan: down the stiff clay roads of North
Carolina; along the sparsely settled rocky
ridges of Westmoreland county, Pa, and
among the scattered colored settlements of
Virginia. Congress desired rural free de-
livery to be thoroughly tested. The de-
partment has endeavored to comply with
this request.
The general results obtained have been
so satisfactory to suggest the feasibility
of making rural delivery a permanent feat
ure of postal administration in the United
States: not Immediately, or In all districts
at once, but in some gradual and gradated
form, the character of which might be
regulated by the tenor of the reports here
with presented as to the experimental serv-
ice.''
Maryland and Virginia.
OF rural delivery in Maryland the report
says:
Rural free delivery was established in
Westminster, Carroll county, Nd, in Oc-
tober, 1896. four routes being laid out, with
carriers covering about seventeen miles
of territory daily. The country traversed
is hilly, but with good stone roads. 1t is
largely devoted to dairy farming and this
fact somewhat interferes with the extent
to which the service is taken advantage
of, for the reason that as the mail train
arrives at $50 am and the milk train
leaves at am. the farmers who drive to
the depot with their milk cans find 1t COM
paratively easy to call for and carry back
their mail. Nevertheless the service is
much appreciated. and its continuance is
SO much desired that many Of those who
receive Its benefits express willingness
to defray their proportion of the cost"
In Virginia also 1t Is received with favor.
The report says:
.sThe two routes starting from Palmyra,
F1uvanna county. Va. do not transact as
much business as other free rural deliveries
The country Is thinly settled; many OF
the residents are colored people, not much
given to either reading or writing, and
the roads are scarce and bad. In covering
their routes the carriers have to take their
horses through fields and over farms. But
taee OF the service. are grateful for It and
desire its continuance.
n.ilding for Post Omee suppIses.
Mr.. Heath recommends that the govern
ment construct q building for the division
OF post ONCE supplies In this city. He says:
'aThe building occupied by the division
OF post ONCE supplies In. In my Judgment,
entirely united for the purpose. As
originally constructed, It was q large haIl
and had but one noor. It was lighted from
the roof with the exception of <indawr IN