The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1903-09-02
RURAL FREE DELIVERY.
Is the Greatest Blessing Ever Devised for
Country Population.
COVERS THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND
MILES.
Costs $2,0OO,0OO Per Year, But the Price
Is Not Considered Too High.

Not since the construction Of the
first railroad, says the Atlanta
Journal, have the county districts
of our nation been blessed with a
greater improvement than the es-
tablishment of the rural free de-
livery system. The government
has not undertaken a service at
any time which seems to have
been more satisfactory or produc-
tive of greater good to so large a
number of people.
1t has long been urged as an
objection to country life that dis
lance from postofice facilities fire.
quently renders the farmer isolat-
ed from the rest of the world. In
cases where the postoffice is Is or
Is miles from the farm, whole
day must be devoted to a trip for
the purpose of getting the mails.
The result has been that farmers
have found it impossible to keep
up with the trend of the times or
to indulge in any considerable
correspondence. The daily news
papers have been to them out of
the question. Even the weekly
periodical and the magazine we're
hedged about with difficulty. As
a consequence, it is admitted that
farmers have been, as a rule, less
in touch with national affairs, less
informed on scientific and general
topics than dwellers in cities of
lower social grade and of inferior
natural ability. The rural free
delivery system puts the farmer
on an equal footing, for all prac-
teal purposes with the resident of
the towns and cities. 1t seems to
us the greatest educational instru-
ment that has been devised for
the enlightment of the people dur
ing many decade. The trans
continental roads opened up wild
wildernesses. So the rural free
delivery routes, like numberless-
arteries, afford access to remote
and barren districts which may
thus be nourished from the throb-
bling centers of t h e worlds
achievement.
Another most important effect
of the rural free delivery system
is the idea which it gives to those
affected by it of the benefcence
of our government. In this con-
nection, the Southern Farm mag
azine, we think, says truly:
1t is always an uplifting thing
for the government to come in
close touch with the people. Too
often the citizens look upon the
national government as something
afar off with which he has no i'm
mediate concern. He rarely
comes in contact with its officials.
He pays direct taxes to his state;
his public duties are mainly due
to the state; the public school to
which his children go are sustain
ed by the state; the public roads
are worked by his county or by
the state; the administration of
justice is usually performed by
state officers, and so he comes to
think that the general govern
ment is of but little interest or
value to him.
"The rural free delivery system
brings more forcibly to his mind
than any other civil service the
benefcence of che general govern
ment. Every day the carrier who
represents t h e postal service
comes to deliver his mail. Rain
or shine, hot or cold, bad roads or
good roads, the carrier comes with
the regularity of the sun to illum-
mate Che household with the fresh
beams of knowledge and intelli-
gence from the world at large.
Whoever suggested the rural free
delivery system builded better
than he knew. At first it was ex-
detrimental, and but few routes
were established, and these in
Maryland, where the population
in the country is dense and the
distance from the postohice de-
partment is short, SO that the ex-
pertinent could be watched by
higher officials. This was in 1896.
Very much to the surprise of
many, it was found that the guam
tity of mail matter on such routes
increased very rapidly. Every
year since the system has been ex-
tended, until now the farmers
covering an area of 800, 900 square
miles are served once a day with
mails, requiring the passing over
of 800, 900 miles of road by the
carriers. =
The moral effect of this system
cannot be disregarded. The coun-
try store, with its congregated
loafers, its rum and water, its
cracker boxes and barrel heads, is
a breeding place of idle gossip, of
profanity and vulgar anecdotes.
The postofice in connection with
this store is the excuse for such a
gathering. The establishment of
the free rural delivery system goes
far towards abolishing these uni