Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1904-04-05
FREE DELIVERY
TO COME SOON
Ii West Side Posfoffice Is Discon,
tinued About Sixty
Days.
LETTER FROM CON-
GRESHAM W. E. BROWN
Thorough Explanation of the
Free Delivery Question in
This City.

III OIdHu hdpluS cannot De eStabilSht
Immediately. The only way i
accomplish this in the shortp,
possible time is to discontinuentf
Centralia office until such time whe
it Is shown that the total receipt
from the east and west sides. amour
to $40, 900 or more. This can he don,
It is believed, Ia sixty or ninety day
and the west side station establishe
and free delivery put into operatio
throughout the city.
Mr.. Browns letter is as follows:
WASHINGTON, D. c., March 81, 1901.
"MR. A. L. FoNTAINE, =
Postmaster ~
Grand Rapids, Wfsconsim.
my DEAR sIR:-In regard to tn
matter of establishing free deliver
for Grand Rapids and Centralia by th
dlscontinuance OF the latter office ant
The establishment of a station in lit
place, | will say that | have kept thi
| matter fully in mind. After tht
postOfiice department had decided
that under the law as they construed
1t; the office at Centrala could not be
discontinued and made a,Sstatrofr a. pt
The Grand Rapids office and. rarqfe,
service authorized immediately;u ]
appealed from this decision to. tile
attorney general for an opinion as sto
the correctness of this decision /
quote,from his opinion:
The language of the statute. SO far
ds 1T relates tO..this particular, case. is
In substance that Letter carriers NAV
De employed for the free delivery of
mall matter at every place containing
"a population of not less than ten
tnotlSdnd Within its corporate limits.
or at any poStOffice which produced a
gross revenue for the preceding fiscal
year OF not less than tenx thousand
DOLLARS This language is plain and
unambiguous, and in myopinion allows
or but one interpretations. The post
ONCE at which free delivery is sought
10 De established must show on the
record OF its official returns OF busi-
ness that 1T produced a gross income
Tor the fiscal year preceding sof as
much as $50, 900, OR the city in which
1t is situate must have had at the last
preceding general census a population
OF at least ten thousand. Ii is nv
that Grand,.'' Rapids.
WIS, meets neither Of these aiterna-
live requirements. aud It'll therefore
my opinion that the statute affords no
authority for the installation of the
tree delivery service tbere.''
'It then appeared that underzthe
law, the object sought could not be
attained, and therefore prepared the
following bill amending the law:
THAT when There is moresbhan, one
postoffice within the Limits of an
Incorporated city, prodaeihH in the
gross revenue for the pre-
cedlng fiscal year of not less than ten
thousand dollars, the postmaster
general may consolidate the postotfices
IN such municipality. and extendsthe
free delivery system of the postoffice
department. as provided in chapter Ia.
OF the laws of 1887, approved January
3, 1851"
MOT wishing to- introduce the bill,
with the prospect Of hayingit renlair,
in the committee unacted aupoR I
TOOK the matter up with different
members of the committee, and was
advised to wait until The postoffice
appropriation bill was passed hy. the
House and ip the senate. Had it been
in the pestoffice appro-
priation bill as reported to the House.
it would have been subject to a nnint
OF order and stricken out UNDER the
rule that no new legislation can be
offered In one of the reguiara ppropria-
tion bills without being subject to|
such point of order. =
''The appropriation bin is now-up
for consideration in the senate, and I
have endeavored to get the amend
inenb piaced on the same In the
senate committee as suggested, :but
md that the senate committee is
disposed to object to any general
legislation other than for appropria-
lions 10 the bill.
In view.o the foregoing, / have
come to the conclusion that it will no
impossible to secure free delivery for
drand Rapids and Centraiia in .anv
,ther way than as suggested to Won in
ny previous letters. You are aware
hat neither office is OF the second /
lass, and that under the law one
'tfice cannot be made a station of the |
'ther as there is no appropriation for |
stations Ia ,connection |
With third class postoffices. This
e ives but one way. namely, the con-
of the Grand Rapids and
3entralia offices, which means sin,nlv
ne discontinuance Of the Centralia
nice and allowing the receipts to 90 t
o tle Grand Rapids office until such +
ime as it is demonstrated that the
ombined receipts are sufficient Tn
make an Office Of the second class and
iiglble for free delivery service.
As there appears to be a~general {
eslre Tor free delivery. would there
ore advise that petition be circu-