The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-11-09
Rurar Mail Delivery.

hufdl Wall UeftvefY.
The next congress win be asked to make
a considerable appropriation in promotion
of free delivery in Tie rural districts. 1t
lis believed congress will appropriate at
least 81 100000 for the extension of the serv-
ice to the farmers. New routes will be laid
out as fast as the money is appropriated.
itricts where the roads are good, the houses
near together and the population reason
ably intelligent. Jefferson county offers
these conditions beyond perhaps any county
in the south. The population of the county
will approximate 15o,oeo in the new census,
and there will be very few counties in any
part of the country that have a greater
or equal number of people.
The opposition to rural free delivery has
come from many sources. Saloonkeepers
do not like it, because it keeps farmers at
home. Country merchants do not like it,
because carriers are permiuted to deliver
bundles on their own account for a nominal
fee. and small articles can be sent by mail
Star route eonractors, and fourth-elass
postmasteIs are of course opposed to it.
All of this opposition is dying out Even
the editors of weekly newspapers, who had
opposed the system, are finding out THAI
more subscriptions are possible when copies
OF the paper are delivered at tae door,
The saving to farmers CT expensive Wear
and tear in trips to town, in time, and in
morals, is quite beyond calculation. One
western farmer estimates that in fifteen
years he has Travelled $4,000 miles going to
and from the postofice. Such man has
probably worn out span of horses,
wagon and set of harness IN seeking post
Office facilities. Hereafter it is proposed to
carry the possofice Facilities to the farmers
door.
Inf tie long run the farmer will be served
from travelling pCstoffiee y wagon of
this description is now used in Maryland,
and another in Illinois, 1ae local carrier
in such cases sells Stamps, delivers regis
tered letters, and receipts for money order
applications. He also conducts on his own
account am express" business. Such a
wagon gould be run very proftably in at
least four directions from Birmingham-one
to TrussviEe aGd Leeds via East Lake, one
to Bessemer via Woodward, one to Easley
via Pratt City and Thomas, one to NORTH
birmingham and the mines beyond it, and
one to Gate City and Irondale via Wood
lawn.
The postal wagon on a new Maryland
route is eight feet long, With a sliding top,
center handsomely painted in blue and gold,
and lettered "U. S. Postal Wagon" Its
interior is fitted up with counter, drawers
and letter boxes-sixteen large letter boxes
in front. forty-two behind, all ztnc-lined.
1t carries driver and a postal clerk, the
latter of wlaom is authorized to receive,
cancel, collect and deliver all mails: to re-
ceipt for applications for money orders and
registered letters, and, in short. to perform
ali the functions of a stationary postmas-
ter This travelling postoffice, drawn by
rair of strong horses, started over a care
fully laid out route of thirty miles, and has
since performed this service daily in all
weather, collecting mail from sixty United
States letter boxes, placed at intervals of
every half mile, and delivering to all tlae
houses on the route. The progress of this
experiment has been watched wbdh great
interest by agricultural communities all
over the United States, and within a few
months of its initiation 1873 applications for
the establishment of similar postal wagon
service were received from twenty-one diff
ferent states To each of these inquiries a
reply was made that the department desired
thoroughly to test the economy and eff
cheney Of the service in the county where
tt originated before yenturing upon further
experiments.