Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1899-11-23
Rural, ~ Mall Delivery.

iA.ss Y Pi8CViSHl CApCiicuco
yindioate g theory which it has held
y Tor Q number Of years. 1t has been
i our contention that free delivery of
mail in the rural districts would re,
peat the success of tho FREQ delivery
/ system in the citios. .
It was objected that the expense
would be SO great as to mako the
scheme i:apracticablc. Recent ex-
B perience has shown that the system
Il scan 'tan be self-supporting; that is, the
B increased i, revenues will fully offset
the increased expense in some cases
at will do this immediately ; in others
IL will do it gradually.
Aside from this aspect of the case,
Stbe experiments in forty States show
that the influence for good exceeds
expectations. The increase in the
mi mail has been something phenomenal
s}ln these districts, showing that the
farming community desires inter
communication and closer connec.
50 tion with the outside world. Wher-
ever improved mail facilities have
been offered the people the change
de'yelopes business Of its own, and in
20 little while carries the receipts
above the expenses, There was no
reason to suppose that this expert
ence would not be repeated in the
rural districts, and it has been re-
peated. We quote herewith from a
recent report made by the First rs,
5ssistant Postmaster General, NJ.
Perry Heath
cit was in the Fifty-third Congress
the Chairman of the House Com
laittee on Post Offices condemned it
as Q scheme impossible of execution,
and one which would require an ap-
preparation of at least &20,000,000
Ito inaugurate it. Even after Con-
gress appropriated $4,000 for cx-
perimental purposes, Postmaster
General 3issell refused to test tie
4 feasibility of the scheme, and in 1895
3i his successor, Mr.. Wilson, with $40
II 600 appropriated by Congress, took
no action. The following year $780,
% 600 was made available, and Mr..
l9Wilson reluctantly put the service to
}}sthe 7 }stthe test. Forty-four routes were
bassta blished in different sections of
the country. From this beginning,
Sin spite of many difficulties, the sys-
sSSgltem has progressed steadily and pros
vigorously. AT first it was costly, de-
livery of the rural mails averaging
ff$aItpm q cents TO G. cents for every
s. pp etter delivered. Another appropria-
SSS'lion of $4,000 was made in 1897,
lmd such good results were obtained
hat, responding to the demands of
5he people, Congress appropriated
400, 900 for the fical year 1S97-'9S,
Il ind gave 100000 for the same pur-
pose for tile current fiscal year.
M s@On the 1st of November, 1898,
itlral free delivery was in successful
gation over 383 services, in forty
and ,cone Territory. There
! SsER7 in Illinois, ID in Indiana, IS
Michigan, Is in Wisconsin, 40 in
Ohio and ID in New York, these be-
Rag among the most favored States.
Idaho, Mississippi, Montana and Wy
oming were the only States unreprc-
sentcd. Two hundred and forty
three routes have been established
since the 1st of July of this year,
extending the free delivery to nearly
4 10000 persons, at an annual cost of
{ 81 cents per capita.
F "The service has been practically
selfsupporting when the saving in
the cost of fourth class offices and
star routes, which were superseded
by tho new service, is considered,
and the postal receipts have ave.
ragged an increase of from 60 to rs
per cent in the districts served. The
? cost of free delivery service in the
smaller cities in comparison with that
of the rural free delivery is very dis
proportionate, averaging about $3.50
per capita, and affording only slight
additional accommodation, while in
the country the accommodation is
enormous, one farmer in Missouri
writing that in the last fifteen years
he calculated he has walked or driven
a $4,000 miles to and from the post
n office, all of which travel is now
" saved him by the rural free delivery.
# ,"Fourth- class postmastors have in
. many instances opposed the cxtcn-
sion OF the service on account of it
/ being the means of closing their
& offices. Where this is done, how
Never, all other considerations being
Sabont equal, preference is given in
b the appointment Of tho carriers to
me former postmasters and star route