Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1902-04-09
WALHALLA, 8. G. 3
WEDNESDAY,, APRIL o, 1902.
RURAL FREE DELIVERY
For The Farmer and His Home-Speech oi
Hon. W. Jasper Talbert, Of this State.


The following speech was de-
livered by Hon. w. Jasper Talbert,
of South Carolina, recently in Con-
gress, while that body had under
consideration a bill to classify the
rural free delivery service and fix the
compensation to employees thereof {:
As the gentleman who has just
taken his seat has so eloquently said,
the establishment of the system of
free rural delivery is intended pri-
marily and to be maintained after
wards in the interests of the great
farming class of tnis co1ntry in COM
mon with all others living in the
country, that class and that industry
which is the foundation stone of all
happiness, of all greatness, and of all
prosperity; and from the time that
/ first entered this House in the
Fifty-third Congress l have been an
ardent supporter of this free rural
delivey system in the interests of
that large class of people who are
only recognized, so to speak, by this
government, by the auditor, and the
tax collector once year and some
times oftener.
1t is singular and strange to me
that whenever a system is evolved
and put into operation here which
tends to elevate and to upbuild that
class, to make country life more
desirable, to diffuse general knowl-
edge and intelligence throughout the
country amongst the great mass of
the people-people who are isolated
naturally-that there should always
appear on this floor so many eloquent
advocates against that system, who
all want to say at once that this will
cost too much, because, forsooth, it
applies to that class. You never
hear anything about economy when
the managers of great corporations,
the great controllers of trusts, and
the great monopolists come here and
want anything. They have advocate
upon top of advocate but, strange
to say, when something is proposed
for the great mass of the people-the
farmers of this countrywide pro-
duce that which feeds and clothes
the world, and who after feeding and
clothing themselves and every other
citizen, and every other class and
profession, send enough abroad to
pay the balance of trade of this
nation its business with other
nations, you find SO many crying out
1t will cost too much. Why begin
to econOmize on the farmers
About the very first speech, or
among the first speeches, that I made
was made in the Fifty-third Congress
in the interest of an appropriation of
$4,000, which was introduced by
Mr.. Moses, then a member of the
Post Office Appropriation Com
mlttee, as an amendment to that bill.
L advocated it in speech, Mr.. Will
liams, of Mississippi, and several
others advocated it, and it passed,
and that was the first practical appro-
priation that the Postmaster General
ever made use of which started this
great system. This sum was then
increased from session to session and
from Congress to Congress till it
reached its present proportions. /
have heard men get up on this floor
here, who had hardly thought of
Congress then, and claim to be the
great organizers and starters of this
system. 1t is not strange that 80
many should now want to daddy the
project. / heard Of it before / ever
came to Congress, and have only
done what could to push it along,
because | saw it was good.
Now, the first argument against
this system is that it will cost too
much. If the people in the country
are entitled to service at all, they
are entitled to an efficient service.
Look over the bill that is to come up
for consideration soon, from the Post
Office Appropriation Committee.
You find there the enormous sum
of $17,OO0,O00 or $18,000,O0O appro-
priated for free delivery in the cities
and large towns all over this country
of ours. | am not here to initiate
against or oppose that appropriation.
l say let them have it, because it is
right. In addition, they have appro-
priations for street car tickets, bicy-
cles, and every other facility in addi-
tfon to tho large salaries that these
city carriers get. But | ask in the
name of common sense is it right to
deny similar privilege to the people
in the country maintain that the
country people are as deserving of
such things as our city people. If