The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-07-24
AgriCulte re.
RURAL FREE DELIvE
/ OF MAILS.

We promised in las weeks Pro
Cressive Farmer to pJ lsh in part
this week the article Oh Rural Free
Delivery contibuted d Perry S.
Heath, of the U. S. Po1Sfice De
partment, to the Saturday Evening
Post of July 14th. The selections
follow:
Among the agencies which are
changing the habits and broadening
the horizon of the American people
the extension of the free delivery of
mails to rural communities is most
prominent. The far reaching effects
of this great change in postal ad-
ministration as an aid to the moral,
intellectual and material advance
ment of those brought within it's in
fuences are not yet fully appreciated,
though with every extension of the
system it's benefits become more
clearly demonstrated. 1t is obvious,
at glance, that there must be some
thing behind a movement which has
caused Congress without solicitation
from the Postoffice Department, to
increase the appropriation for its de
velopment, within four years, from
$4,000, in 1897, to $3.50, 900 in 1898,
then to $3.50, 900 in 1899, ang now to
$1,75O, 900 for the fiscal year 1900
1901. Yet outside of the rural neigh
J. loC
put into effect-that is to say, in the
large cities, where the free delivery
of mails, now ranging from three
and four to as many as seven deliv
cries a day, has been accepted for
twenty years or more as a matter of
course, without any one giving
thought to the question whether all
the other people in our part of the
Western hemisphere were similarly
favored-therea are probably few who
clearly understand what Rural Free
Delivery is, and what it means to
the country farmer, who has it now
for the first time, and who, after six
months trial, would be willing al
most to mortgage house and lands to
secure its continuance, should such
an extreme course be necessary.
At the risk, perhaps, of repeating
facts which have become matters of
official record, but which necessarily
have been presented heretofore in
somewhat disjointedA form, I will en-
deavOr to explain what Rural Free
Delivery is.
THE PRINCIPLES OF FREE RURAL DE-
LIVERY.
Rural Free Delivery, established
on the basic principles which led to
its successful test, is a service which
starts from a small postOffice in the
heart of district devoted exclusive
" to agricultural pursuits-where
wheat, corn, cotton and sugar are
grown, where cattle are raised and
creameries flourish, where fruits and
vegetables are cultivated to supply
the needs of the larger towns, and
where the people live miles from
railroad or postofice, and labor
from dawn to dusk, with little OppOr-
tunity for social intercourse or
amusement, with no magazines or
other current literature to break the
monotony of the long winter even
ings, and no chance to keep track of
the stirring events of their own and
other countries by perusal of the
daily newspaper.
The rural carrier is chiefly sent
into communities where no visible
representative of the Government of
the United States has heretofore
been known. To the average farmer
the army and navy of the United
States are almost names only; he has
never seen them or any part OF them.
He has no direct dealings with Off
GERS of customs or internal revenue,
and does not want to have any. The
courts of the United States are held
IN the big cities, and he never volun-
tarily attends them. Hence the daily
visit Of the rural carrier is to him
revelation of a new order of things.
1t brings him into actual touch with
the government, and causes him to
feel that he is getting something
back for the taxes he has so long
and so willingly paid.
WHAT RURAL DELIVERY SAVES THE
PEOPLE.
Before the establishment of Rural
Free Delivery the residents of these