The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1900-07-27
COUNTRY MAIL DELIVERY.
The Free System, Introduced But =
Few Years Ago, Has Proven
Success.

free delivery of letters and papers
would be impracticable as involving an
expenditure of $20,000,000 year with
out any commensurate revenue. In his
annual report for 1894 Postmaster Gem
eral Bissell declined to spend the ap-
preparation of $4,000 made by con-
gress to test the feasibility of rural
free delivery. When congress in
creased the appropriation for a test to
$4,000 in 1895, Postmaster General Will
son adopted the opinion of his prede-
cessor and of the house committee on
the post Office and post roads that the
plan of establishing rural free delivery
was wholly impracticable. He added
that he had assumed control of the de-
partment too late in the fiscal year to
take any action under the appropria-
ton, but should congress see fit to
make it available for the current year
he would carry out the experiment or
dered by the best methods he could de-
wise.
Congress made $4,000 available for
the purpose, and in 1896 Postmaster
General Wilson put the idea to it's first
test. The experiment was entirely sue
cesstul, and since then the system of
rural free delivery has been so general
~ extended that it now includes 1888
distributing points in Al of the IS
states, the exceptions being Idaho,
Montana, Mississippi and Wyoming
BY degrees the appropriation has been
increased from $4,000 to $15O,000, and
it is 100000 for this year.
At the head of the states served, by
rural free delivery is Ohio, the most
favored state, with 40 routes, Indiana
having "A and Iowa %. The develop
ment of the system, however, has for
Typographical reasons been very irreg-
ular. Thus, in Texas there are only
two rural free delivery routes, while in
South Carolina there are p. In WASH
ington there is one only, while in Cali
fornia there are IA, and in Louisiana.
Alabama and; Florida there are three
routes only, while in Maine there are
seven.
In the opinion of the post office au-
thorities, however, the present system
is only in it's incipiency and among the
plans in view for it's further extension
is one for rural free delivery of mail by
electric cars. Some farmers and other
residents of the northeastern part of
Massachusetts and the adjoining New
Hampshire territory have taken steps
in this matter, the idea having occurred d,
to them a few weeks ago, when they
first received an electric car service
in place of the stage coach which form
erly ran between Exeter and Ames-
bury.
The free delivery of letters in cities
was inaugurated by the post office de-
partment in 1863, when the whole num-
Der of letter carriers in the United
States, now $4,000, was less than 700.
1t did not increase materially until
1880, when the number of cities and
towns having free delivery of letters
had risen to 104. Ten years later, in
1890, there were $40, and the number
is now 745. There were by the last fed
eral census 713 cities or towns in the
United States having a population in
excess of 5000, and practically all these
places and a few others besides have
now free delivery of letters by carriers
One remarkable and salutary effect
of the extension Of the rural free deliv-
cry system has been the great improve
ment it has brought about in country
roads. The extension of the system be-
| ing optional with the government, the
plan has been adopted!of favoring those
regions in which, the roads are best
and as consequence there has been a
general improvement in the condition
of roads traversed by rural carriers.
This has been especially the case in
in the west, and it accounts for the ap-
parent preference accorded to Ohio
and Indiana, in which states the con-
struction of good roads has been a
prerequisite to the establishment of a
rural free delivery service. In one
county of Indiana the farmers incurred
an expense of So 900 to grade and i'm
prove a road in order to- obtain free de-
i livery.
The traditional policy of the post Of
flee department is constantly to ex'
tend it's operation, taking, irrespective
of the volume of revenue derived, nc
steps backward, and it has been found
generally that as the expenses increase
the revenues increase correspondingly
Thus, where rural free delivery has
been established, the number of let
tiers written and the number of letters
received have increased and in some
cases to an extent sufficiently large to
make up for the additional outlay
caused by the delivery. A Pennsylvania
farmer made recently computation
which other farmers have approved
and the post office department has
thought worthy of publication, to the
effect that, on an average, every farmer
not served by rural free delivery goes
at least once or twice week to the
nearest post office for his mail, and
occupies one-third of working day
on the trip. Putting the value of the
time thus lost in the busy farming sea.
son at so cents head, the total loss
would run up to many million dollars
1t has been found generally that while
congress is reluctant to authorize some
postal expenditures, the popularity OF
| rural free delivery amOnp farmers &c