The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-12-10
Receipts for the Fiscal Year Ended
June 30 Were S1O2,354,5sD and
Expenditures $1O.,.4o.2G..
RECOMMENDATIONS RENEWED
SOME OF THE BENEFITS OF RURAL
DELIVERY POINTED OUT.
Over 1000 Routes Now I'm Operation
Net Cost of Covering Whole Conn
try Estimated at $13,

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9.-The annual re-
port of the postmaster general, Charles
Emory Smith, is largely devoted to rural
free delivery, a subject that is OF great
interest to every farmer. In reviewing the
financial operations of his department Mr.
Smith makes this statement of revenues
and expenditures for the fiscal year ending
June go 1900:
Ordinary postal revenue. .N0O S99, 1874
Receipts from money-order bus
mess .........-.........-........ l'soo'ifo'oo
Total receipts from all sources s102, ,35i,5 %
Total expenditures for the year. l0I, '4o,2o'-9S
Excess of expenditures over
receipts Observation-Disclosures. $5,3S5,6oSto
Following is his estimate for the fiscal
year ending June 90. 1902
Total postal revenue for 1900. .$l02, ,354,o19
Add ~ per cent. for estimated in
crease year ending June 80, 1901. 7.6I6.595
Estimated revenue for 1901 .SllO,oSl,l's
Add per cent for estimated in
crease year ending June 80. 1907. 6.6o1,s1c
Estimated revenue for 1902. ...... $ll6. 633. OH
Estimated expenditure for 1902. l2l.z'6.3is
Deficiency for 1902, estimated. $,6S4,S0l
Concerning rural free delivery the post
master general says:
1.-The extraordinary extension of rural
free delivery during the past two years
has proved to be the most salient, signih-
cant and far-reaching feature Of postal de-
velopment in recent times. We have had
other striking advances, but they have been
along lines already well settled. The fast
nail service, carried TO the highest attain
able point is only the logical outgrowth OF
the constant struggle for the quickest dis
patch. The admirable railway postoffice
is only the elimination of the incessant
effort to save time, obtain the straighest
line and secure the least handling. The
frequent and rapid distribution in great
cities, now often outstrfpping the tele-
graph in local use. is but the perfection of
concentrated organization. All these and
the many other improvements of method.
which keep pace with general modern
progress, are the natural developments OF
an established system.
A NEW CONCEPTION
"But to undertake the personal and daily
delivery of the mail at the individual
and isolated farmhouse on the remote
country road marks what in this widely
extended land amounts to a new departure
in postal service. 1t is essentially new
conception. We have long been familiar
with the application of the constantly i'm
proving machinery of distribution to the
centers of population. The volume of
business and of mail has rendered it prac-
ticable and profitable. But the vast extent
and the more limited requirements of the
agricultural regions have seemed to forbid
their inclusion under the same principle
There 1t was taken for granted that the
man should go for the mail instead of the
mail going to the man. The plan of en-
bracing the country road and the rural
home, as we'll as the city street and the
solid block within the government agencies
Of communication, grows only out of a
recent realization of what is feasible.
Free delivery in rural communities had
been regarded as too costly and burden
some to be admissible. On these grounds
the movement encountered great oppo-
sition when first proposed, and even when
Congress authorized the experiment there
was reluctance in trying it. 1t took time
and experience to develop and enforce the
more just view, first, that the great body
of people who live outside cities and towns
are entitled to share in advanced mail IA
cilities, even If the cost exceeds the re-
turns, and, second. that the barrier of
unbalanced expense is not as formidable
as was apprehended
Rural free delivery has now been suf-
| iciently tried to measure its effects. The
| immediate and direct results are clearly ap-
parent 1t stimulates social and business
correspondence and so swells the postal re-
ceipts. Its introduction is invariably fol-
| lowed by large increase I'm the circulation
| OF the press and of periodical literature
The farm is thus brought into direct daily
contact with the currents and movements
| Of the business world. A more accurate
knowledge Of ruling markets and varying
prices is diffused, and the producer, with
| his quicker communication and larger in
| formation is placed on a surer footing
The value of farms, as has been shown in
| many cases, is enhanced. Good roads be-
come indispensable, and their improvement
| is the essential condition OF the service
The material and measurable benefits are
| signal and unmistakable.
SOCIAL BENEFITS.
"But the movement exercises a wider
and deeper influence. 1t becomes a factor
| in the social and economic tendencies o.
American life. The disposition 10 leave the
| farm for the town is a familiar effect OF
our past conditions. But this tendency IS
checked. and may be materially changed
| BY an advance which conveys many of tn,
| advantages of the town to the farm Ru-
/ raj free delivery brings the farm within the
| daily range of the intellectual and COM
mercial activities of the world. and the iso-
| alton and monotony which have heen fba
bane of agricultural life are sensibly miti-
gated. 1t proves to be one or the most