The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1904-10-21
Rural Free Delivery Service Of IncaIcu'able Ben
eft to Farming Communities.
DEMOCRATS WORKED HARD AGAINST II
Flatiy Refused to Obey the Mandate Of Con-
gress to Establish Routes, but Are
Now Claiming Honor-Rec-
ords Compared,

population should share In the Improvement
OF this service.
koOsevelt's Recommendation.
In his last annual message President
Roosevelt again called attention to the
Importance Of the rural free delivery
service. saying:
The rural free-delivery service has been
steadily extended. The attention of Con
gress is asked to the question Of the com
peEsafion pf the letter carriers and clerks
engaged III the postal service, especially on
the new rural free-delivery routes. More
routes have been installed since the LIST IT
july last than in any like period in the
departments history. While a due regard
to economy nnst be kept in mind in the
establishment of new routes, yet the ex-
tension Of the rural free-delivery system
must be continued for reasons vt sound
pubic policy. No governmental movement
Ct recent years has resulted in greater i'm
mediate benefit to the people OF the coun-
try districts. Rural frcc-delivery. taken in
connection with the telephone, the bicycle.
and the trolley, accomplishes much toward
lessening the isolation Of farm life and
making II brighter. and more attractive.
facilities as these has driven many Of the
more active and restless young men and
women from the farms to the cities, for
they rebelled at loneliness and lack Of
mental colnpanionship. Ii Is unhealthy and
undesirable for the cities to grow at the
expense Of the country, and rural free de-
livery Is not only a good thing In itself.
but liz good because 1t is one Of the causes
toward the urban concentration of our
population at the expense Of the country
districts.
The foregoing quotations are sufficient
to show that Republican executives real
lied the Importance Of the rural delivery
system to the farming communities and
did everything in their power to extend
it. During President McKinley's first
term establishment of routes had been
given such an impetus hat by 1900 the
service had passed far beyond the expert
mental stage and Congress had approp-
Rated $4,000 for maintenance of the
routes then in operation. These routes
numbered 1876 at the close of McKin-
1cy's first term, but many others had
been surveyed and were ready to be
established. The service became so pop
ular that farmers flooded the postoffice
department with petitions for new routes.
Corps of inspectors We're appointed, divi-
siops were created, superintendent plac-
ed in charge and the service was put on
q %methodical business basis.
Routes Now In Operation.
The system has been so rapidly ex-
tended under President Roosevelt that
Congress this year appropriated sol ,OOO,-
600 for the service. which now en-
braces approximately 27,5OO routes,
either in operation or about to be estab-
hshed. These routes are scattered over
all the States and territories. as will
he seer by the following table. which
gives the total number of petitions re-
ferred for examination and investigation,
the routes in operation on September
Is, 1904, and the number Of petitions
pending on the same date: