Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-11-06
RURAL FREE DELIVERY.
Mr.. Heath's Description of Its De-
yclarmeut.

The annual report of Mr.. Perry 5. Heath
first assistant postmaster general, has been
made public and is one of the most inter
esting and instructive documents ever is
sued by the department. From time to time
the reports of the subordinates of the first
assistant postmaster general have been
printed in The Star
Perhaps the most important feature of
the report is the reference to the rural free
delivery system. There has been nothing in
the history of the postal service of the
United States, says Mr.. Heath, so remark
able the growth of this service. 1t is no
longer an experiment, but an established
agency of progress, awaiting only the ac-
ton of Congress to determine how rapidly
1t shall develop. Commenting along the i'm
portance of the rural free delivery system,
Mr. Heath enumerateS its benefits as fol-
lows:
l. Increased postal receipts. More letters
are written and received. More newspa-
perS and magazines are subscribed for. So
marked is this advancement that quite
number of rural routes already pay for
themselves by the additional business they
bring.
IL Enhancement of the value of farm
lands reached by rural free delivery. This
increase OF value has been estimated at
high as 81 per acre in some states. A mod
crate estimate is from 81 to So per acre.
III. a general improvement of the con-
dition of the roads traVersed by the rural
carrier. In the western states especially the
construction of good roads has been a pre-
requisite for the establishment of rural
free delivery service. In one county in In
diana a special agent reports that the farm
ers incurred an expense of over s2,GO0 to
grade and grave. a road in order to obtain
rural free delivery.
". Better prices obtained for farm prod
ucts, the producers being brought into
daily touch with the state of the markets,
and thus being enabled to take advantage
OF Information heretofore unattainable.
V. To these material advantages may be
added the educational benefits conferred by
relieving the monotony of farm life through
ready access to wholesome literature and
the keeping of all rural residents, the young
people well as their elders, fully in
formed as to the stirring events of the day.
The moral value of these cvifizing infiu-
ences cannot be too highly rated.
The report deals with the development of
the service, the many obstacles met with
and the wonderful growth experienced after
the people understood its many benefits.
Efforts which have been made in some
states, in the interest of star route con-
tractors, to impede the progress of rural |
free delivery seem to be even less animated |
by desire for the good of the postal |
service than is the opposition interposed by |
some of the postmasters interfered with. |
Those who have petitioned and agitated |
for the continuance of star routes In ter
ritory served by rural delivery are usually |
to whom the work has been |
sublet at prices below the rates awarded |
by the Post Office Department in the orig |
inal contracts, but who still find sufficient |
profit In their subcontracts to cause them |
to labor successfully for a continuance of !
their employment. This has resulted in 1
some instances in a duplication of service
Between the beginning of the new fiscal |
year, July l, 1883, and November l, with an l