The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1904-08-04
FREE DELIVERY OF MAILS.
Benefits Of the System Could Be Ex-
tended More Generally If
Roads Were Better.

At the recent international good
roads convention at ST. Louis, Hon.
Frank E. Nevins, of the United States
post Office department, delivered an ad-
dress in which he said:
"The establishment of the rural free
delivery of mail throughout the coun-
try has produced a marked improve
ment in the condition of the highways.
When there is prospect Of rural free
delivery in a community, work imme-
diately begins on the roads. There are
now in operation $4,000 rural routes
over which carriers travel $4,000
miles delivering mail to about 9,000,-
900 people. More than $4,000 bridges
have been constructed over streams
that would not have been built If it had
not been for the establishment of the
free delivery system. Nearly every
portion of the country, where road
conditions will warrant it, is now sup
piled with this service. But in many
sections the bad condition of the
roads or the lack of bridges prevents
the extension of the service.
"Under the road laws of most Of the
western states at the present time
work is done upon the roads in the fall
by the various road districts, when
there is no work to be done on the
farms. In the spring this work dis
appears. Nothing permanent remains,
and the roads are in as bad condition,
or worse, than they were before. The
cost of $4,000 to $4,000 a mile for the
construction of hard roads in this
western country is too great, in most
instances, for road districts, townships
and counties to bear; neither is it
right that they should bear the entire
cost. The public at large, which shares
directly or indirectly in the benefits,
should contribute to the expense.
There never will be good roads in this
country until the national government
takes the initiative in this movement,
and the respective states Of the union
join in with liberal contributions, and
this again is supplemented by local en-
terprise. Continental Europe, Eng
land and Ireland are covered with hard
broad pixies built at the expense of
the government of those countries. No
country in the world ever yet had or
ever will have permanent and passable
highways constructed and maintained
by local authority.
"Sixty per cent. of the population OF
this country lives in the cities and vii
lagos; 40 per cent. lives in the country.
1t is not fair or just to place the en-
tire burden of good roads upon the
shoulders, of the farmer. The gen.
eral public shares directly or indirect
ly in the benefits, and should bear
the expense of an equitable tax for
this purpose on all assessable values.
The weight of it upon the individual
would then be as light as a summer
shadow. While this specter of TAXI
ton may brighten some of our skit-
fish country friends, and cause them
to rear and plunge little, they will
find on closer inspection that the
goblin is a harmless creation of the
imagination. They will get back in
benefits ten times more than they will
pay out in taxes.
"Why some of our friends spurn gov
eminent aid when it is offered them, I
cannot understand. They claim to be
opposed to it on principle, and can
see no good in it,. There are some peo-
pie so constructed that when looking
into pool of water they can never see
the sky and the clouds above it reflect
ed on it's surface, but only the mud at
the bottom.
''This government never fails to do
the right thing in the end. 1t will
not fail to do the right thing in this
instance. The impetus given to this
movement by a few progressive states
men who introduced measures in con-
gress last winter authorizing national
aid in the construction of highways
will ultimately produce the results
aimed at. 1t cannot fail to do so, be-
cause the public interest demands it;
the progress of the age demands it;
the welfare and development of the
country at large demand it, and it is
bound to come in spite of those who
raise their voices in opposition to it."