The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-01-19
RURAL MAIL CARRIER.
Postal Service Is a Great Boon
to the Farmer.

future. on the rural free delivery
routes, mail matter viii be as safe from
robbers as when deposited in receptacIes
on urban street corners
Another new departure is likely to be
the employment of women more extern
slvely as carriers on rural routes. Al
ready a few mail carriers Of the gentIer
sex are in the service at the customary
$50 a month, and they have been found
very satisfactory. The work they are
obliged to do IS not severe or arduous
except occasionally in stormy weather
and the official uniform of light gray
CLOTH cut to fit the figure neatly. Is
/ nOticeably becoming. Thus attired tbs
J postwOman. with her pack of letters ard
1 newspapers. is a most cheerful and at
/ tractive object. It was not intended al
the outset that women should be en-
ployed as rural mail carriers. but
number were employed without their
sex being known to the government.
and as they performed their duties jusl
as well as the men they have been re
/ tanned.
A DESIRABLE POSITION
The rural delivery boxes are SO ar
ranged-being neatly painted and fass
/ tened to posts at height of five feet
above the grOund-that il is not neces-
sary for the carrier to dismount from
which he more commonly employs in
his business. He is obliged to furnish
] both horse and wagon at his own ex-
pense, but he is permitted to transport
able packages and other odds and ends
so that he earns q good deal of extra
money Incidentally he is news agent
and newspaper distributor, and thus
with multiplied activities. he derives an
income from quite a variety of sources.
The rural carrier is likely to be just
about the most popular person in the
neighbOrhOod. All the world loves the
pOstman, of course, but in the country
districts it is out of the question for
anybody to get the job Of transporting
the mails unless he is liked by the
neighbors. That is the first require
ment- In addition, the applicant for
such a place must be sober, able
bodied, and able to read and write
His age may be anywhere between II
and So.
BENEFIT OF THE FARMER.
Just think, if you please, that up to
within the last four or five years every
farmer in the United States was
Obliged, whenever he wanted to mail
a letter or expected to receive one, TO
go from two to twelve miles to the
nearest postoffice. Usually he had to
perform this task once or twice a
. week, and, if he was a subscriber to
a newspaper or a magazine, he had
no other means of obtaining the 1itera-
ture in question. Thus, so far as cor
respondence went. and in respect to
supplies of reading matter, he was re
stricted to a painful extent-a sort of
! rural Robinson CrusOe, cast away al
most out of reach of his fellow men
that the life he led was described as
isolated and that his womenfolk
were statisfically accounted as es-
pecially liable TO melancholia and
other forms of insanity. He was de-
1 prived of the first human requirement
: the society Of his kind. But now
] thanks to the introduction of the rurai
free delivery system, the situation is
4 wholly changed. The humble agri-
culturist far from the throng Of
towns, is in touch with all the world
, He writes and receives letters every
day; at least one newspaper is deliv-
cred daily at his door, and unlimited
r good reading is supplied to him in the
? same fashion at a trifling price
e EXTENDING THE PRIVILEGE.
? Six million farm people already en-
joy this comprehensive privilege which
! has 50 marvelously enlarged the
, horizon of their lives. The same priv
!. ilege is to be extended to 1900 900 adj
ditiOnal rural residents within the next
= three years, bringing more than 100 00(
square miles within the scope of the
: system There now are II, $50 rural
: routes in actual operation. covering
q 300 600 square miles. The system three
= years hence will cover more than one
Z fourth of the total area of the United
: States. exclusive of Alaska. and vii
I require the services of 10000 employees
1 with an annual appropriation of s24.-
/ 900 600.
j The circulation Of thousands of news
! papers have been greatly increased by
the rural free delivery. which gathers
subscribers from all over the agricui-
tural districts. Many postoffices that
feed such districts get ten times as
many papers as they received three OF
four years ago. for distribution by the
wagons of the carriers. These ueWSpa-
pers bring to the farmers daily weather
forecasts which are an important helT
/ where crops are concerned, and also the
7 market reports from the cities which
{ afford valuable hints in regard to the
> + h0I IF # all 4r
from corn to pigs.
Incidentally. the new contact with
! the outside world brings to the farmer
E more knowledge He acquires fresh
4 ideas. which enable him to raise larger
and better crops. To facilitate the car
rier's trips, he is inspired to improve tbs
! roads: and, when there is a snow block
! ade. he is eager TO turn out, with his
Z neighbors. and omen a track for traf-
5 fic-a work of enterprise that does good
! two ways, inasmEch as it enables the
towns to get their regular supplies oil
! fresh country produce. which would
: otherwise be cut Of.
! HELPS THE FARMERS WIVES
As for the farmers wife, she benefits
not less than Ter husband by the rura
3 free delivery The old time isolation
{ : weighed upon her even more than upor
MIN but now she is q woman of the
. world; she takes in the newest peri
Odical literature, and enjoys acquaint
ance with the latest fashions It is he
own fault if she is more than 60 days
behind Paris in the pattern of hei
frocks. and her opinions on the topic.
of the day las expressed over a cur
of tea at the "neighborhood sociaT') arr
based no longer upon gleanings from
the gossip of the corner grocery bu
upon the latest news dispatches and edi
torials published in the daily press
Ordinarily the mail box stands fas
ened to its post. by the roadside nea
the farmers door. but where there is
Il
blage of boxes, each representing
dwelling in the neighborhood and bear
3 ing the name Of the owner In this wa
the work of the carrier is made easier
and it is no trouble for the children [
n come once day TO deposit letters an
/ to collect whatever the Dostman ma