The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-01-29
RURAL FREE DELIVERY.

urSB gwen GOlQ Oh Gu0 SUCCESS Oh bu6
system in the thickly-pOpulated
Western States we then supposed
that two or three decades would
elapse ere we could hope for such adj
vantages in North Carolina. But
so remarkable has been the ucCes
of free rural delivery that it is rap
idly spreading to all parts of the
country and thousands in our own
State have already shared its
benefits.
The early advocates of the system
had to ACE strong opposition. 1t
was condemned by the House Com
mittee on the POstOffice and Post
roads Of the Fifty third Congress
(HOn. John S. Henderson, of North
Carolina, Chairman) as a scheme
impossible of execution, which
''would require an appropriation of
at least $40, OOO, 900 to inaugurate it
This opinion was ~cOnCurred in by
Postmaster General Bissell and First
Assistant Jones. Mr.. Bissell's sue
cessOr, Hon. VIM. L. Wilson, also
looked upon the scheme with marked
disfavOr and felt that Congress was
wasting money when it appropriated
$40, 900 for experiments. But the
first tests, SO reluctantly made, COM
pletely vindicated the predictions of
its friends and the system has since
gone from victory to victory. Only
last week the House of Representa-
tives increased the appropriation for
the coming fiscal year from 81, $50,
900, the present figure, to So, 800,
600. For the success of free rural
delivery is now admitted by every
me 1t brings the country popula-
ton into touch with the world it is
not too much to say that a years
operation has putmany communities
Il full century further in the march
of progress. Some of its advantages,
as set forth by Perry S. Heath, OF
the Postotice Department, are as
f lows:
Il. Increased postal receipts.
More letters are written and re
ceived. More newspapers and maya
zines are subscribed for. So marked
Is this advancement that quite Il
number of rural routes already pay
for themselves by the additional
business they bring.
-. Enhancement of the value of
farm lands reached by rural free
delivery. This increase of value has
been estimated at as high as s. per
acre in some States. A moderate
estimate is from 81 to So per acre.
%. A general Improvement Of the
condition Of the roads ~traversed by
the rural carrier. In the Western
States especially the construction of
good roads has been Il prerequisite to
the establishment Of rural tree de-
livery service.
Il Better prices obtained for farm
products, the producers being
brought into daily touch with the
state of the markets, and thus being
enabled to take advantage of infor-
nation heretofore unattuinabIe.
IS, To these material advantages
may be added the educational bene-
its conferred by relieving the mo-
notony Of farm life through ready
,,,o, 70 v,-I,l,rC,,, 1;+,-,u, .-l
the keeping of all rural residents,
the young people as we'll as their
elders, fully informed as to the stir
ring events OF the day. The moral
value of these civilizing influences
cannot be too highly rated. With
well-built agricultural roads travers
ing every part of this great country,
and the free delivery of the mails
brought to nearly every farmers
home, [ confidently believe that d
social revolution will be effected the
benefits of which will be felt for rem
eratiOns to come"
But we r not depending upon
secondhand information to prove
the advantages of the system we are
recommending. Three routes leave
Raleigh, and we have secured from
Postmaster Bailey figures showing
their development. The number of
pieces of mail handled on these three
routes for the months named was as
follows:
August, 1900, ........... 3,878
September, 1900. 1851
October, 1900. $3.50
November, 1900. .1O,897
December, 1900. .1U.94O