The evening times., 1899-04-04
TRIAL "Trip OF THE
new POSTAL WAGON
Nay ReVolutiOnize the Rural
Mail Service.
Vehicle the Device of a Maryland
Inventor.
Meets With Opposition From COun-
try Postmasters-The Advantage
to the Provincial Public.

Westminster, Nd, April 4.-The postal
wagon was introduced for the first time
yesterday in the system of rural mail free
delivery for Carroll county, which has been
inaugurated by the Postoffice Department.
The experiment was eminently successful.
The mail taken out by the wagon for de-
livery was large, there were 23S ordinary
letters, postal cards, 261 newspapers and
circulars, and packages. The wagon col
lected sc letters, postal cards, and 2
registry receipts, received application for
money order. 2 registered letters, and col
lected and delivered 3 letters along its
route
Yesterdays work does not indicate the
volume of business that will be done, as
many persons did not know the full extent
of the experiment. Then, too, there is
opposition TO the new sytem by some of the
country postmasters, who LOOK with disfavo'
upon the scheme. This arises from the fact
that if the experiment is a success and the
Government adopts il throughout the Unit
ed States, thousands of country postofices
viii be abolished. The friends OF each post
master will naturally patronize him. The
new system will also cause the star route
system TO be gradually abolished. Several
sections of star routes were covered by the
postal wagon in Carroll county arriving
ahead of the regular carrier.
Postmaster Schaeffer. of Westminster.
was warm in his praise of the experiment,
and said that, IN his opinion il was an un-
qualified success. He believes the Gov
ernIent viii adopt the system and intro
duce il elsewhere.
The plan will give to rural residents
ha nj Tal hn
conveniences as to collections and deliv-
cries of mail as city residents enjoy. The
idea OF such service originated with
Edwin w. Shriver, of Westminster. who
submitted plans and estimates 10 the Gov
ernment with a design of the wagon TO be
used. known as the travelling postoffice"
or ''post0lIice on Wheels
The selection of Carroll county was
made, first, because ii was the home of the
originator of the scheme. and, secondly,
for the more practical reason that the
physical formation of Carroll county is
such that if the experiment proved sue
cessful here. taking into consideration its
hilly and rolling country, its population.
etc, ii would prove successful in any
county or State of the Union.
The postoffice wagon was III charge of
Edwin W. Shriver and Horace g. Reese,
his assistant. The vehicle began its initial
trip al 6:40 O'Clock a. m. and had a large
crowd of people TO give il a send off from
Westminster postofiice. 1t was drawn by
two horses. driven by Harry H. Harbaugh.
who has contracted TO take charge of the
work for one year. Postmaster Milton
Schaeffer, who was instrumental in for
mulating the mode Of experiment Joseph
/ II. Krichton. photographer; Elias y. Da-
/ Wis and Others accompanied the postal
wagon in a carriage.
The route was as follows: Westminster
| 10 Warfeldsburg, miles; TO Bale. > IL
miles; TO Dennngs, , IL miles: TO Long,
- miles; TO Crawford's store miles
10 Taylorsyille. l mile; 10 Winfield. >
miles: 10 Gist. . miles: to Klee's Mil, 1
mile: 10 Bird Hill. miles; 10 Smallwood.
miles: To Fenby, , miles: TO Westmin-
ster, IL miles: making Il total round
trip of 80 miles
This route takes in about 200 families.
covering q territory of twenty square
miles. seven miles broad at its widest
point. The wagon received an ovation at
number OF places, notably al Crawford s
store and at Winfield, where large crowds
were congregated. The people everywhere
showed great interest in the experiment
IN some places along the route private mail
boxes had already been erected with the
owners names stamped on them i'll large
. letters. The wagon travelled over an earth
road the entire distance. More than half
the "trip was covered by II O'Clock, when
/ the wagon reached Gist postoffice. Here
! the party rested for an hour, the guests OF
Francis J. Albaugh, where they took din
ner. Westminster was reached at $3.50 d.
m. nearly two hours ahead of schedule
! time
! the postal wagon is a we'll covered
. conveyance. with side doors fitted up in
/ side with facilities for handling ard dis
/ tributing mails and doing all the work OF
q well-equipped little rostoffiee. The postal
! clerk inside the vehicle may do his work
while riding along quite as comfortably as