The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-02-01
FOR RURAL
DELIVERY
A Petition Should Be
Prepared at Once.
GREAT AID TO PEOPLE
Routes Could be Twenty-Five Miles
in Length, If 100 Families
are Served.

The establishment of a rural free de-
nVery system in connection with the
lpostoffice is well within the grasp of the
people of Honolulu and would prove an
i1nestimable boon to those who live in
the outlying districts. The purpose OF
such a delivery system is not to give a
suburban delivery to cities included in
the free delivery service, but rather to
give postal facilities to those who have
none
| BY this system mail would be deliv-
cred regularly to people living twenty
five miles away from the city and no
longer would they be compelled to come
into town on a wet day, perhaps only
TO meet with disappointment when they
went to the postoffice.
Each carrier would provide the resi-
dents OF the country with postage
stamps, stamped envelopes and postal
cards at the same rate charged at the
once, and in event one placed a letter
IN the box without a stamp all that
would be necessary for the sender to do
would be to leave the necessary amount
OF money with the letter and the mail
carrier would affix the stamp.
The value of such service can hardly
be appreciated until it is in force. and
IN order to set the matter properly be-
lore the people the First Assistant
postmaster General at Washington has
prepared the following circular:
WASHINGTON, D. C., jan I'm re-
spouse TO numerous inquiries the follow
ing circular letter of instructions and in
formation is issued
HOW TO OBTAIN RURAL FREE DE-
LIVERY
Present a petition, addressed to the
First Assistant Postmaster General. sign
eo by those who desire the service. This
petition should be signed only by heads
OF FAMILIES, and should mention the num-
Der IN each family over 16 years of age
IT should set forth the nature of the
country where the delivery is desired
whether densely or sparsely populated,
the principal avocations of the peopIe
the character of the roads. and the dis
tances which, under existing conditions.
each person has to travel to receive his
MAIL and should be accompanied by a
map or plat indicating the route or routes
proposed.
The petition should read something
like this:
CForm of Petition)
10 the First Assistant Postmaster Cen
eral, Washington, D. c.
The undersigned heads of families. re-
siding in ......... County, State of $500.
respectfully ask that the Rural Free De-
livery service be extended to them. the
delivery to start from ....... postoffice,
.-:...... County. .....-... State, or such
other point as the officers of the Depart
ment nay deem best adapted for the
service. map or rough sketch of the
route is herewith enclosed.
Your petitioners are mostly (here state
such as farmers truck gar
deners, dairymen, cattle raisers or what
ever the chief occupation of the people
may be-. The roads over the proposed
route are state whether pike, gravelled
or otherwise).
There are no unbridged creeks and the
roads are passable at all seasons of the
year.
Name of head of family -
Number in family over 16 years of age
Distance in miles from nearest post
office .........
This petition, when properly signed,
should be sent to your Representative in
Congress. or to one of your Senators.
with request that ne endorse thereon
his recommendation of the service asked
and forward the petition to the Depart
ment.
CONDITIONS OF THE SERVICE.
1t must be borne in mind that the in
tention of Congress in authorizing the
free delivery of mails in rural districts
was not to grant a suburban delivery to
cities included in the Free Delivery Ser
vice, nor to establish village free de-
livery. The purpose of the Rural Free
Delivery System is to give postal facili-
ties to those who have none; to carry the
mails daily to remote communities the
residents of which would otherwise have !
to travel from two to twelve miles to re-
ceiye their letters and newspapers.
The roads must be good. This is an I
prerequisite to any investiga-
ton.
No route can be established under ordi-i
nary circumstances that is less than from
twenty to twenty-five miles in length
Dr. which serves less than 100 families. I
The route should be so arranged that
the carrier will not be required to travel !
over the same ground twice on the same |
day.
Those desiring the delivery must be I
to put up, at their own expense.
at some convenient location which can I
be reached by the carrier without dis
mounting from his buggy, appropriate
and secure boxes for the reception OF
The United States mails.
BOXES
Congress has not authorized the De-
partment to require the adoption of any
particular description of box for use on
Rural Free Delivery routes, and no per-
son is authorized by the Department to /
state that any particular make of box
must be used. i
For the proper protection Of the mails. Il
he Department insists that the boxes nut Il
up shall be secure and appropriate and |
of g. character to give protection from
the weather and to be reasonably proof
against mischieyous or malicious inter-
ference. Metallic boxes are deemed best
Tor this purpose, but are not Imperative
y required. There are many kinds of
suitable boxes on the market at reason
able prices, any one of which will be
Such boxes, when put ups with the ap-
prevail of the Postmaster General |
through his authorized agents. are re-
sarded as falling under the protection
81 the United States Revised Statutes
"hich provide penalties for the molesta-
ion or mails placed therein.
Rural carriers are not required to de-
iVer man to houses standing back
rom the main road, except in the case
oi registered mail, special delivery and |
pension letters. The patrons are expect
n l