The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-10-12
RURAL FREE DELIVERY
 AND GOOD ROADS

Hon. A. w. Macken, General Superin- endent Free Delivery System, in re- cent speech on the above subject. wnlch is interesting the people of the whole country at the present time, more than any other, said. among other things;
 In the first place, in common with my fellow-citizens, I am deeply interested in any movement tending to the general veal, and as a postoffice official, T. am greatly impressed with the absolute ne- cessity of the building and maintenance of good roads throughout rural commit mites if our great and expanding postal service is to be brought to that degree of perfection which a progressive and enlightened public has right to ex- pect and which all of the people now demand I am, therefore, willing and ready to further the great cause in which this convention is engaged.
 This Is by no means a new question The Orientals built good roads before the dawn of Western civilization. The an- cient Greeks, especially the AthenlanS and Spartans, knew what 1t was to travei over good mountain roads. Later on the Romans showed full appreciation or the military and commercial advantages to be gained by the construction or sood roads, for we read in history that they built good roads. all of which led to Rome These one-time masters Of tne world maintained their power for cen turies, diffusing law, liberty and intel ligence by building permanent military roads .
 The Appian Way built more than 300 years before Christ, is @ lasting evidence of their thrift, and ingenuity. Among the objects of Interest. today pointed out to tourists in France and England are the old Roman roads built by Julius Caesar almost 1000 years ago.
 The roads constructed by Napoleon are monuments of his sagacity and or the system of internal improvements which he established. Of these, the road from Basic to Hamburg will pepetnate ms memory for all time to come. The sys- tenn of road building, inaugurated by thls great genius, forms the foundation o1 the excellent system in vogue in France today.
 Coming closer to home we find that this all important question agitated the pub' lie mind early in the history Of our oWr country. The power of the Federal GOV ernment to construct or aid in construct ing roads, or in fact, any other works of internal improvements, formed one oi the most steadily and earnestly contro- verted topics connected with the legis!a- tion of the country.
 ment during the early days of our Gov ernment evinced special interest in the building and maintenance or natonal bikes. especially those leading out into the then remote sections, passing from town to town. and State to State. On these the department had to- depend to properly perform the great national duty imposed upon 1t, the distribution or Tn, teliigence, civil, commercial. literary and social It is not surprising then to find that Postmasters General of that day ad vocated the use of the surplus of postal funds in the building of roads and bridges But the necessity of those na- tional bikes as means of mai! trans portation disappeared with the advent ol the steam railroad
 Railroads superseded bikes and formed the great arteries for the postal servic a It might be well for me to tell you some thing about rural free delivery, it's origin and development, for, although there are more than 10, 900 routes now in operation the growth of the service has been so nhenomenalIy rapid since the inaugur l. tion of the first route, six years ago. that there are few who understand the scope of rural free delivery or realize It's possibilities
 .ts96, amid the misgivipgs of many of those connected with the service as t1 the result of the experiment. July l, lS9i, Sound 43 routes in operation. The new Administration had just taken charge of in A measure, at least, the great possi hiiities of the new service, and the bel- eff its introduction would probably bring to the farmers of this country Conse' ouently every dollar of the $5O,0o0 appro- 1riated for the year ended June 30 1898 was spent in extending the experiment and broadening Its scope. As result about 100 routes were established during that year. . l. .,, AL. appropriation. making 1t $150OO0. At thc end of the year 391 routes were in oper, ation distributed among practically all th4 states and Territories.
 For the year ending June 30, 1900 Congress not only provided $SO0,OG0 double the amount of the preceding year