Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1897-01-15
RURAL MAIL DELIVERY.
The Free Delivery Expert
ment in Trial at Farm
ington. =. d.

| The postoffice department is maxi
ing an experiment in free delivery of
mails in country localities in various
Estates In this tate the place se-
Elected for the trial was Farmington,
in Dakota county. and thefollowing
correspondence from that place in
the Minneapolis Journal gives the
result OF the trial: E
FARMINGToN, MINI, Jan, 13.-It is
less than two weeks since Farming
ton became the seat OF the OILY free
rnral delivery system in Minnesota. :.
Almost four months ago Deputy In
spcctor Walter Bird Of Milwaukee
ca me Eere ana asked for bids for
carriers to take the mails daily to
those outside the corporation who
take their mail at the Farmington
Office. Yhe system is now infull play
and is under close watch by all the
smaller villages Of the state. Is 1t
success? The question ii too early.
L The first step was asking for bids
for the work. When opened, these
varied from $l,OnO to Il little less
Ethan $500. All bids were rejected and
Eprivate negotiations were entered
into with the lowest bidders. The
ipsult was that the job was bid off
Sat $500 per year for each of four car
Eriers. Eacl, ,carrierfurnished Il horse
and wagon and keeps them in repair,
boards the horse and cares for him
Esand receives ubOu~ 80 cents per day
%fOr his services.
h, The experiment is fortunate in be-
Ing in the hands of competent men.
They BEGAN their work the first day
oi January. and after two weeks of
Dit seem to besatisfed with their con-
Stract. Each route covers about
miles daily and each ear
(rer averages to take out about 100
lpieces Of mail matter each day.
& The people like it very much. Most
Eof them l,nveput boxes on their y ont
fences or. on the trunk Of q tree. and
ll,ihal,e liOtA thus pro itiefl meet the
Mail carrier at the gate. As soon as
IT was found that it cost nothing, no
to the arrangement was
heard. -" -
AS u result, about sixty Dostoftice
BIKES have been released, and the re-
ceipts Of the pos tmaster, H. II. Jud'
son. are thereby so much decreased.
He speaks well OF the plan, however,
although it, 50 far, has increased his
work and decreased his income. He
says it has made him little more
work. but not enough to amount to
any thing. More daily papers-in
fact, about forty mOre-are taken.
The receipt at the saloons and res
taurants' have fallen off and In gener-
al the sales of luxuries have been
affected. The sales Of necessities, the
merchants say, have been about the
same as usual, but the sales have
been fewer in number and have aver
aged larger In total sold. The ex-
pertinent is watched with some
anxiety by the local dealers, but it
does not seem probable that any
sweeping changes will be noted. The
attitude OF the people is judicial.
Nothing was done to obtain a trial
OF the scheme here; indeed. any work
done was was against It. AS is
usual, those who are benehtted by 1t
are pleased, and those who are not
are it's enemies. The worst feature
Of the whole thing is the wages
which 1t pays to thecarriers-far less
than city carriers receive for duties
far less onerous, though equally re-
sppnsible.