Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-07-04

to the farmer all other postal facilities,
as money orders, etc?
ca What viii be the effect on the
postal revenues?
al What the net cost to the govern.
ment as compared with that of the old
system?
It seemed essential hat such an ex-
pertinent should be made In a strictly
farming community, presenting many
of the Typographical and other physi-
cal conditions and obstacles likely to
be encountered in a general introduc-
| tion of the service elsewhere, SO that
its successful operation under such cir
cumstances might be looked upon as q
guarantee of its success in any other
average rurallocality in which it might
be established.
Carroll county, Nd, was selected,
with the third-class post Office of West
minister as the distributing point. The
results of the experiment are thus de.
scribed in official reports of the post
office department:
Or December 20. 1899. when winter wealth
er and snowstorms had put the roads IN
their worst condition, the practicability OF
49,
over a wide area, to the exclusion OF all
other service, was put 20 a test in Carroll
county, Nd. BY order of the postmaster
general IS minor post offices and So services
by star route contractors and mail messen-
gers We're discontinued. all in one day. and
rural free delivery substituted in their
place.
A detailed report of this service from the
superintendent of the free delivery SYSTEM
under whose direct supervision the expert
ment was started, was laid before congress
on the 2Sd of April, 1900. 1t was shown by
this report that during the first three
months the cost of the service was A,543s
the saving by service superseded was $2.-
SOS: the increase of postal receipts directly
resulting from the increased accommodate
ton was 81 .501. IS, thus leaving the net cost
of carrying the postal service practically
10, or near to. the homes of all the people
in Carroll county for o~ne-quarter of a year
only SOS.
On April IL, 1900, an important adj
vance took place. Rural carriers were
authorized to receive and deliver regis
tered mail. AS the law requires such
matter to be delivered personally, the
carriers are obliged to go to the houses
instead of dropping the letters or pack
ages in the farm box. Rural carriers
are also authorized to receipt for appli-
cations for money orders, and while
they cannot yet issue the orders, they
can save the farmer the trip to the Of
fee by acting as his agent.
Another most satisfactory change was
made on July &c, 1900, when an order
was made under which postage on DROP
letters on rural free delivery routes
was fixed at two cents per ounce anS
carriers were required to cancel
stamps on all letters collected by them
This order carried with it authority to
deliver drop letters without passing
them through the hands of a postmas-
ter.
The effort in the incipiency of the i'm
stitution of rural free delivery to put
the matter to the test under as diverse
conditions as possible resulted early in
showing that the new way could be
adapted to any section not altogether
too sparsely settled. 1t was found pos
sible to deliver the mails in the coolest
winter of any part of this country and
in the driest and hottest summer with,
very little interruption, scarcely more,
than occurs in cities by reason of snow
drifts and washouts on railways
When a heavy snow blocks the way of
\ the rural carrier it is customary for
the farmers to turn out and break the
roads, and this is done several days
earlier than would be the ease ordi-
narily. In this way communication
throughout neighborhoods and with
the outside world is opened up prompt
~. In consequence the farmer is able
to take advantage of good markets aud
the townspeople are not cut off from
the supply of fresh country produce,
as often has happened in severe,
storms. Also cases of distress in iso-
lated farm homes are sooner reached
and relieved.
The carriers outfit is modified to suit
the conditions under which his worh.
is done, a light vehicle being used in one
section while a heavier wagon is pre-.
ferred in another. The Washington
officials have been surprised at the ra-
pidity of the growth of the system in
remote and comparatively sparsely
settled regions IN the west and south
KING OF ITALY,S DISCOVERY