The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1897-11-26
Facts About Mail Delivery.


1t is possible that free rural mail de-
livery will be given 10 the country by THE
next session of congress. The poatmas-
ter general is working fer it, and his as
sistant, Mr.. Heath, is a strong aldvo-
cate of it. A Washington letter says:
The assistant postmaster general, after
discussing the saving in salaries of post
masters and of star routes which would
result tuom extension of rural free de-
livery, says that such estimate does not
take into account The inevitable growth
of postal receipts, which has followed m
creased postal facilities wherever they
have been provided.
This is not confined" he says, ITO the
rural free delivery service. We put
letter boxes on adj the street cars of Des
Moines, Ia, and the amount of mail
handled by the office nearly doubled.
We started am experimental postal mar
inc service ON the Detroit river for the
benefit of passengers and sailors on THE
lake steamboats,, with the result that
nearly 200,0 600 pieces of mail matter were
handled in this way during last season
at a cost of less than $500 a month.
POSTMASTER General Wanamaker gave
free delivery a test in some forty or fifty
villages, and demonstrated that the in
creased business not only paid the extra
cost, but yielded a small profit just
fstration came in and abruptly shut off
the supplies and stopped the experiment"
Mr.. Heath calls atte ntion to the fact
that this government transports letters
Tor greater distance for a smaller sum
than amy other government in the world.
The first letters sent from Juneau, Alas
ka, to Central City, cost 81 a letter, and
the postoffice department got an average
of cents each for postage on them.
HAS tit every occurred to YOU" he con-
6c113 I. l;e.
tances tine p'ctsSoffice department covers
for the nominal price elf 2 cents an ounce
of letter POSTAGE? You are in Key
West, FlaI, let us say, and you have
hard that a relative or friend Of yours
has caught the Klondfke fever and is
in Circle City, Alaska You want to
take a stake in his ventures, and you
write to him. This is what the govern
ment does for your 2 cents. 1t trans
mits your letter
miles.
Prom Tampa to Jacksonville Fla. 246
milss.
"TNom Jacksonville to Atlanta, Ca, S59
miles.
From Atlanta ao Chicago, 1877 niles.
"From Chicago to San Francisco, 1858
From San Francisco to Seattle, 95S
miles.
T'From Seattle to juneau, Alaska, 91S
miles.
From Juneau to Circle City 96S miles.
'Total $3.50 miles fer cents.
"You can find in this complete answer
to 'the objection that in some of the rural
free delivery districts 1t costs more to de-
liver letter than the postage amounts
to. You must strike an average. The
crudities and inequalities of the rural
free delivery system are not nearly
as great as those which were
encountered when free delivery was
STARTED in the big cities in
in 1868. The cost of the postal service.
over and above its receipts, is betrayed
by taxation borne by the whole people.
The benefits should be equalized as far as
possible"
The vclters of every congressional dis
trlct should lose no time in getting up
petitions in favor of this great public
convenience and their representatives in
congress should be made to understand
that their constituents demand 1t and
will not cease agitatlng the matter until
they get it.
The government spends millions on
postal improveme nts for cities and towns
and leaves the farmers TO make the best
of the old system which was in vogue
century ago.
In the matter of free rural mail de-
livery we are behind every country in
Europe Mr.. Heath's figures will help
the cause. and congress will probably
take favorable action.
When the farmers can have their let
ters and newspapers delivered free every
day at their homes they Will write more
letters and take more newspapers. There
will be gerat gain in intelligence and
education, and i'm The end the govern
ment will profit instead of losing by the
change.
The death in Atlanta, last Wednesday,
of Scott Thornton, removed from his
sphere of action a gentle and harmless
character, who for years past has figured