The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1900-10-05
RURAL MAIL SERVICE
STARTED BY M'KINLEY.
History Of the Daily Delivery
in the Country.
Democrats Said that the Plan Was Inn
practicable, but the Republicans
Have Thoroughly Demonstrated
Its Value TO Farmers.

of the FoSt0f1ce department. It's de-
Selopment from an insignificant begin
ming Of forty-four routes and an appro-
proation for the fiscal year which closed
An 1897 to its present magnificent pro-
portions with the rural routes numbered
by the thousands and an appropriation
pf 81, 10000 voted for Its further extern
sion during the present fiscal year, has
ell been brought about BY the Mckinley
administration
A movement to broaden the free deliv-
kry Of the mails was started by POST
master General Wanamaker under the
Republican administration OF Gen. Har-
xison. 1t took the form Of village free
delivery, and was more an extension OF
city delivery to smaller communities than
q free delivery to farmers, but limited as
Nas its scope and successful though it
was ia increasing postal receipts and
postal facilities, it encountered Demo
cratic opposition. When Mr.. Cleveland
game in, his Postmaster General fearing
Its effect In popularizing Republican prin-
kiples and disseminating Republican lit
serature, ordered 1t dropped.
1t was Republican administration
that conceived and executed the idea of
Frightening the home of the farmer, edu-
lof his land, compelling the Improvement
of the roads, and bringing the news Of
the markets and the weather so as to se-
cure him better price for his crops by
delivering daily his mail to him on his
Farm. Every Democratic House Of Rep
Tesentatives since the idea was first
preached Of carrying the mails into the
rural districts, has declared against it.
The Forty-third Congress, with Demo-
crat from North Carolina as chairman of
the committee on postofices and post
roads, proclaimed the plan impossible,
land turned 1t down. Postmaster Gem
kral Bissell, Postmaster General Wilson
and First Assistant Postmaster General
Jones in the Cleveland administration,
All took up the cry of extravaganza and
nmpossibility of execution. Consequently
Hittle or nothing was done to give the
Farmers access to the mails until Cleve-
land went out of Office.
/ When First Assistant Postmaster
General Perry s. Heath took up the
rural service under the direction Of the
president and the Postmaster General in
March, 1897, it was languishing to the
point of extingushment, and in a few
months more would have been starved to
death, like Mr.. Wanamaker's village de-
livery. The official reports of the Post
office Department record that it was with
surprise that President Mckinley and
Those to whom he entrusted the admins
fration Of postal affairs, learned that
there was such a thing as an expert
mental rural free delivery mail service
In progress.
4 They at once grasped its possibilities
Mnd advocated its immediate development
Eand a Republican Congress generously
seconded their efforts. Under this vivi-
flying touch, it has grown until there is
mot now a State in the Union that has
mot felt the civilizing and educational in
duence Of rural free mail delivery, and
mot one that does not desire a further
Expansion OF the service. On the LIST of
June, 1900, there We're 1900 rural SER
vices in actual operation and 1000 APP
OBLIGATIONS for an extension of the system
An process Of establishment by special
agents appointed for the purpose.
Il The appropriations for the rural free
Delivery service have been increased from
$4,000 in the fiscal year 1S97-9S to $780,
900 in 1S9S-99. and then to $3.50, 900 in
hS99-1900, and lastly to S1.750,O00 for
The present fiscal year 1900-01.
Three years experience has shown that
IN well-selected rural districts the mails
kan be distributed to the domiciles Of the
hddressees or in boxes placed within rea-
Eonable distance Of the farmers homes
at some cross roads or other convenient
spot at cost per piece not exceeding
khat Of the free delivery in many Of the
cities of the United States. In the vast
majority Of communities where it has
been tested, the rural free delivery SER
vice has obtained so strong a hold that
public sentiment would not permit its dis
continuance. 1t has been a revolution,
and revolutions do not move backward.
y 1t costs very little more than the old
colonial style Of postal service which 1t
supersedes, and it invariably brings a
large and compensating increase in the
amount Of postal receipts turned into the
treasury. But even If it does cost more
than the obsolete old plan, are not the
Farmers entitled to some Of the benefits
of the government which they help so lib
orally to support by their taxes? The
country can well afford to continue and
extend system which makes better citi-
gems and happier homes and contributes
largely to the mental, moral and material
advancement Of all the people.
Rural free delivery of mail has come
to stay, and the Republican administra-
kion which brought it into being will stay
with it.
Trade Expansion in South America.
According to the Manufacturer the
present disturbances In China have EN-
phasized the necessity Of American man
hfacturers developing an outlet for their
goods In Central and South America
above what they now control. Produc-