The National tribune., 1903-02-12
RURAL FREE MAIL DELIVERY.
Marvellous Agent in Reducing the Isolation of Country Life.
BY CAPT. HENRY CASTLE Department

| purchase money orders for patrons. In a
word, he is a travelling Postmaster; and
when the payment of money orders by car
riers is allowed he will perform all the
| functions of Postmaster at a money-order
Office.
! BY all these, methods the pOst-office is
practically brought to the door of the far
mer, who can take a daily paper, keep
abreast Of the market reports and the news
of the day. His letters do not lie several
days until he can stop work to go to the
Office. They are brought to his door or
box. His city cousin who writes to him
walks to the corner of his street and drops
the letter in the box The country cousin
answers the letter which has been brought
to him and drops the answer in a similar
box at the corner of his farm.
| AN ECONOMICAL ENTERPRISE.
| Rural free-delivery of mails is scientific.
On logical grounds tie post-ofiice ought
| to deliver the matter entrusted to it at the
door of the addressee. The distance to be
| Travelled from sender to receiver is pre-
cisely the same whether the whole trip
be made by the postal employe or he be
met part way by the person for whom
mail is intended. Furthermore, the cost
of making the trip is always paid out of
the sum total of the Nations capacity to
do work. Whether the labor is paid for
from Government funds collected by the
sale of stamps, or is done by each man
directly without Intervention of the United
States Treasury, the cost ultimately comes
from the people.
A GooD-RoADs MISSIONARY.
A most powerful ally of the current
general movement for good roads is the
Dnct-n nrfr,l nrf
by teaching, and railways by demonstrate
ing, but the Government puts spurs to self
interest 1t employs the rural mail deiiv-
cry as a promoter of this reform. Before
a petition for the establishment of routes
is acted upon an Inspector goes over the
territory to learn the condition of the
roads. If not good, he notifies the local
authorities that mail delivery cannot be
given, because the roads are in such condi-
ton that the carrier cannot make schedule
time at all seasons of the year, but that if
the roads are made good the petition will
be granted. Wherever delivery routes are
established road improvement follows. BIZ
cycle riders and automobile drivers might
have pleaded until doomsday without eff
feet, but the rural mail delivery system,
with its requirement of good roads. is eff
fectively supplementing all other agencies.
EVERYBODY WANTS IT.
That its benefits are appreciated by the
people who have enjoyed them is shown
by letters they have written on the sub
ject. Several said that it had increased
the value of their farms from 81 to $40 per
acre. Many have written that they would
rather pay for the service than have it dis
continued. One wrote that he would be
willing to pay 500 per year rather than
lose it. Many suggested a readiness to
pay $25 to $50 rather than be deprived of
its benefits.
In Carroll County, Md, every fourth
class post-office has been abolished, every
star-route contract terminated, and every
farmhouse in the county is now served
with daily delivery total of 4,75O
families and 1896 patrons. This is
sample of what it will accomplish when
universally introduced.
The largest and broadcast aspect of the
system is, of course, its effect upon the
people who dwell in the rural districts in
an intellectual way. With the increased
dissemination of knowledge, which will
come from the additional distribution of
newspapers and other good literature while
fresh. there must inevitably be reared a
more intelligent people. And with people
of greater average intelligence we will
have a better country in all that goes to
make it truly great. The Nation has
always drawn its best blood from the
farm, and with this addition to the health
giving environments of farm-life there will
come from the country better men and
women than have come in the past, to
develop that sturdy citizenship and those
civic virtues which are so necessary to
maintain our leadership among the ma
tons of the world.
ISOLATION is BANIsHED.
The loneliness of existence, cut off from
a reasonable relationship with the inspir-
ing life of cities. made a residence in the
rural districts almost intolerable to wom-
en-, both old and young. The steady
strain of this loneliness often became a
tragedy so pathetic that the men broke
down through sympathy, and the family
moved to the city, leaving behind an
abandoned farm. The multitude of these
abandonments attracted the attention of
the thoughtful, and reasons were sought
for this ever-growing condition so hurtful
to social and material interests. Many
causes were suggested, but the truth was
that at the root of it all lay a longing
for companionship and the fact that man
cannot live contentedly in solitude and
isolation. 1t is believed that this splendid
postal innovation supplies an effective
remedy.
An earnest advocate of rural free-deliv-
cry in Congress thus voices the demands
of his agricultural constituents: 'Tn my
opinion, it is more important that the
daily mail should reach the lonely farm
house than that it should reach the crowd
ed cities. When the night comes, those
who live in cities may assemble at relig-
ious, social, or such other gatherings as