The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-12-09
TEE POSTAL SERVICE.
General smith Points Out
the Abuses and Needs of lIis
Department.

Washington. Dec. 4.-The annual report
of Postmaster General Charles Emory
Smith is made public. Its chief feature is
a plea for congressional action TO stop the
abuse of secondciass mail privileges,
which, he says, results in an annual waste
of upwards Of s20.eoo,ooa. The financial eN-
hibit for the fiscal year shows total eX-
penditures of sl0l, G32, 1872. anu total receipts
of S95.O2l, SS4, the deficiency being S2.4.2,7A7
less than last year.
Regarding our new possessions the post
master general says: TIE presence Of
United States troops In the lew island pos
sessions and Cuba. in constant commune
cation with home, constrained the estab-
lishment of mail facilities fer their needs
and the practical oblitcraton of the old
local postal system with the eXtnguish-
ment of Spanish authority compelled a re-
construction of the whole service for the
requirements of the native population"
',The free delivery Of mails in the rural
districts has proved to be orc Of the most
important among recent developments Of
the postal service. and presents in its pos
sibilities question of the largest proper
lions. The results already attained have
been OF significant character, and the
practical evidences bearing upoN the FEAST
bility Of the system, upon the degree OF its
self-support and upon the effect and the
sentiment in the communities where it has
been tried, deservethe most careful consid-
Grafton HOW lar the System SNall DC OK
tended is submitted for the determination
of congress, with a full presentation of
facts upon which to base Conclusion This
service has been called Experimental in
each appropriation made by congress for
its continuance. 1t is the opinion of the
officers having 1t in charge that the sxperl-
mental stage has been passed, and in their
view I coincide. The appropriation for
rural free delivery service for the present
fiscal year was increased from SlID0G0 to
$500, 600, and this amount will he practically
absorbed by the continuance to the end
of the fiscal year of the service already es-
tablished. 1t is now in successful! operation
from 800 distributing points, scattered
among 10 states and one territory (tte only
states unrcpresentcd in the list heir Ida.
no, Mississippi, Montana ard Wyoning)
giving service to 179,l31 people. at an aver.
age annual cost of 81 cents pcr capita
1.-The benefits accrning from the extern
sion of postal facilities to tie rural com
munities may be summarized as follows
Increased postal receipts. making man!
of the new deliveries almost immcdiatel.
self-supporting; enhancement Of the value
of farm lands reached by this service ant
better prices obtained for farm product
through more direct communication witt
the markets and prompter Information o
their state; improved means OF travel
some hundreds of miles of country roads
: especially in the western states. havin
been graded specifically In order to obtail
, rural delivery; higher educational inf1u
ences, broader circulation of the means o
public intelligence and closer daily con
7 tact with the great world of activity eS
tended to the homes of heretofore isolate
rural communities"