The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1903-07-09
Some Points on Free Rural Delivery.


greatly interested in the rural free dc
livery system, and as the people of ou
valley are giving much thought to th,
subject lust at present, | trust some
thing supplementary to Mr.. Wyman
article of last week will not he taker
amiss. AS member of the soliciting
committee for raising funds to increase
the carriers pay on route No. /, | haC
some opportunities to note the feeling
of the people concerning donations 0
this kind.
Refusal, or willingness to subscribe
to the fund, was no criterion of mans
financial status. None wanted to see
the service abandoned, but here and
there was found one, easily able to pay
who objected on the principle that oul
Uncle Sam is rich enough to pay his
own bills, while many whom | knew
could lily spare dollar handed it out
without argument or complaint. These
latter viewed the situation from my
own point of view, while the Others
did not. My own way of thinking has
been biased by some facts and figures
which will subjoin.
To begin: There are now 1902 rural
free delivery routes in existence in the
United States, and 1857 more have
been accepted and are waiting TO be
put in operation when appropriations
become available. There are also TO-
730 petitions for new routes awaiting
the decision of the department. These
figures were given out recently by
Postmaster General Payne himself
He also stated that tour people are de-
lighted with this rural delivery service
and want it whether il pays the gov
ernment or not. This shows the
present condition of available funds,
and it can be seen that raise of 5000
on the salaries of each one of the 1902
carriers now at work would amount
alone to the neat little sum of $3018,-
400, to say nothing of the amount that
would be needed to install the service
in other communities that are Justly
to it. General Payne predicts
that the service will be self-sustaining
five years hence, but his prediction was
undoubtedly based on the supposition
that the present salary of carriers re-
main unchanged during that time. As
the service is not self-sustaining at
present, it should be clear to all that
no authority except congress can raise
the salaries of carriers a farthing. 1t is
also true that the entire postal service
is not self-supporting, there being a
constant deficit which has to be pro.
vided for by appropriations from the
treasury to the amount of about eleven
million dollars per annum.
When the present crisis arose con-
cerning carriers salary on our route, |
wrote to Hon. M. A. Moody asking ad-
vice as to how we should best attempt
to get an increase. Mr.. Moody's ser
vice in congress and his well-known in
terest in rural free delivery gives weight
to his expressions. Excerpts from his
letter in reply are as follows:
"It is my impression that should
there be general demand for further
advance, the department will be in
clined to favor letting the carrying out
by contract according to the old star
route system, as there were some efforts
made in that direction when the last
raise was secured. The argument made
by the people who favored the star
route plan were the arguments set out
in your letter, viz; that the conditions
of roads or cost of maintaining horses
were so different on the various routes
that just, uniform price could not be
"The friends of the star route plan in
sisted that the service could be done
for less money under the contract sys-
tenn than under the present system
with carriers at a stated salary. | am
inclined to think they were correct in
this argument, because there always
have been people willing to carry the
mails for less than it is worth and fire.
4uently for less than it cost. The nat
lral result Is that bad service is had. y
There can be no change in the price
allowed to carriers until another post
office appropriation bill is considered
by congress, and should the members
then press for higher pay for carriers, |
should be fearful that it might result in
them by the old star route
to the detriment of the SER
vice.u
Mr.. Moody's only suggestions for
relief were: better roads and the
giving of carriers permission to handle
express matter-a privilege which has
already been granted to our route, but
which this far has not greatly in
creased the earnings of the carriers.
That the present salary of $500 per
year is insufficient pay is clear from
he fact that throughout the United
States carriers are resigning at the rate
If rs per day. Illinois as an average
'tate sends in two designations of car
'iers daily. Just what the outcome
will be no one knows, and if we press
congress for raise it must be on The
that "the farmer feedeth
Ill, )" and that little favoritism shown
him would be proper thing. Unless
We can get our representatives to look
Ipon the matter in this way, | greatly
ear that some of our steady kickers
will have to suffer persecution from
committees for several years
o come.
As 10 the pay of carriers, very few
are now to be found who will
lrgue that 5000 is enough for the SER
'ice performed on our routes in this
'alley. So far it has been upheld by
rigorous, intelligent young men, and
t is quite certain that none but this
ype of men can long endure the work
md give satisfaction. 1t is not reason
lble to expect such men to lay aside
III other ambitions and settle down to
steady job that affords them only
,are living. Even $500, in the estima-
ion Of many, is not prineely salary.
| imagine that good way to settle |
his point would be for some patron of
,ur route to take the contract for one
'ear; hire a man, pay him, board him, |
md find him a team and outfit COM
,lete during that time. | think the
can be made without fear of
that he would not find
he profits great enough to make him
wish that he had two such contracts. |
instead of only one.
r. E. HARRISON.
His Heart Failed Him.
There are many who have not the !
,eart To meet an emergency. hut whan