Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-06-21
R URAL DELIVER Y
Address by Hon. j. L. Waite, POST
master at Burlington.
OF FREE COUNTRY DELIVERY
Altho scoFed Mt In the Beginning It
Has Proved Popular and Success
ful-Nay Work Out own
Salvation.

| At the recent state convention of Iowa
postmasters the following thoughtful
paper on Rural Free Delivery was read
by Hon. j. L. Waite, postmaster at
Burlington, Iowa, and editor of the
| Hawkeye:
AT our first meeting, one year ago,
had the pleasure of brief talk with
you upon Rural Free Delivery. Upon
that occasion L remarked that it was
no longer an experiment, and predict
ed that it was destined to grow rapidly
and become one of the most popular
branches of the postal service. I hard
| ly need to take your time to assure
you that the new departure has made
giant strides and has still further dem
onstrated its practicability and useful
| ness.
recall to mind, however, the dubi-
business of my esteemed friend, Post
master Heller, of Sioux City, and his
rather deprecatory remarks as to eth
er the feasibility or desirability of ru-
raj free delivery. He had serious APP
prehensions as to the enormous cost of
the service, and rather discounted the
advantages the public would derive
from it. 1t is true, he discussed the
subject tentatively, but it was evident
his views were not optimistic. That he
was consistently sincere, has further
evidence by an editorial reference in
the Dubuque Times, short time after
our convention, to an interview with
Mr.. Heller. Commenting upon this in
terview, my esteemed friend, Postmas-
ter Morgan, who is the editor of the
Times, said:
POSTMASTER Ed. P. Heller, of Sioux
City, tells an interviewer, that Rural
Free Delivery is a failure. He says it
could be justified if confined to dis
tricts in which roads are good and pop
ulation thick, but if one district gets
it, all districts want it, and the in
crease of cost far exceeds the increase
of receipts. In fact, he believes the
government has already been too lib
eral in this matter of free delivery. 1t
has extended this to the sparsely set
tied suburbs, sending man two or
three miles to deliver correspondence
which may not be urgent, perhaps may
consist of advertising circulars, and
thus has so drained the resources of
the postoffice department that carriers
actually needed to handle the business
in the heart of town can not be OBJ
tained.
''The principle of this criticism is
just. A service which costs the gov
eminent more than it yields can be
Justified only by necessity. Postal
rates must be in a manner uniform. 1t
is impracticable to grade them. accord
ing TO the population or business of
the district to be served or the cost of
the service in that district. But it is
practicable to restrict the service with
in limits to be determined generally
by volume of business and cost of SER
vice. Perhaps the city must be con-
sidered as a whole but rural delivery is
a step beyond to which the government
is not yet committed and which it will
not be justified in continuing if expert
ments have shown that it rs not com
pensatory."
do not refer to these pessimistic
opinions for the vain purpose of say
ing, II told you So, but rather to il
lustrate the state of public mind at
that time and the great change that
has since taken place. There were
good reasons why rural free delivery
impressed many people as visionary
scheme. Our country is so vast in
area, and many sections have so sparse
population, as compared with the
eastern states and European countries,
that delivery of mail to the farmer by
the government, free of expense, very
naturally appeared to be altogether
too costly to be undertaken. We for
got, however, that the ingenious and in
ventiye American always finds a way
to overcome difficulties, whether me-
chanical or commercial. The problem
of rural free delivery had to be solved
upon some other basis than past eNpe-
rience would suggest. Bad roads,
sparse population, indifference upon
the part of the farmer to the delivery
of the daily mail, prejudice, stolid con-
tentment, and lack of enterprise, We're
all to be dealt with. Not that these
scattered thru the communities as to
hinder the more progressive and en-
terprising part of our rural population
in securing public improvements. For
instance, upon country road there
may be many residents in favor of bnil-
ding first class highway, but sprinS-
led among them are others who are
opposed to spending a dollar for road
improvement. One farmer may desire
telephone connection with the city
and invite the neighbors to join with
him in the enterprise. His success will
depend upon the character of the pop
ulation on that road.
AT the last annual meeting of the
National Association of Postmasters of
first class offices, as member of the
committee on resolutions l had the
pleasure of drafting the following
which was unanimously adopted by the
committee and afterwards by the CON
vention.
Resolved, That rural free delivery in
the United States has passed the eX-
detrimental stage, and has demonstrate
ed it's right to a place in the permanent
policy of the postal service. We favor
its development along conservative
lines, establishing routes at first only
in localities where they can be made
Approximately self-sustaining by in
creased business and by reduction of