The Elbert County tribune. [volume] (Elbert, Elbert County, Colo.) 18??-1920, 1904-10-20
Rural Free Delivery Service Of lncaIcu abe Ben
eft to Farming Communities
DEMOCRATS WORKED HARD AGAINST IT
FIatIy Refused 10 Obey the Mandate of Con-
gress to Establish Routes but Are
Now Claiming Honor-Rec-
ords Compared.
population 81 4. should shsr. In the Improvement

population should share in the Improvement
Of this service.
koosev~it's Recon- m sndation.
In his last annual message President
Roosevelt again called attention to the
Importance of the rural free delivery
service, saying:
The rural free-deiivery service has been
gress II asked to the question OF the com
pcnsnt ion OF the letter carriers and clerks
engaged in the postal service. especially on
the new rural free-devery routes. More
routes have been installed since the LIST OF
July last than In any like period In the
departments history. While due regard
establishment Of new routes, yet the ex-
tension OF the rural free-dciycry system
public policy No governmental movement
OF recent years has resulted In greater I'm
incdinte benefit to the people OF the coun-
try districts Rural frec-deivery. taken In
connection with the telephone the bicycle,
aud the trolley. accomplishes much toward
lessening the isolation of farm life and
mixing II brighter. md more attractive.
In the Immediate past the lack Of just such
facilities ms these has driven many OF the
more active aud restless young men and
women from the farms to the cities. for
they rebeled at loneliness and lack of
mental coInpanionshp 1t 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 Is good because It Is one OF the causes
WHICH cucCk TINS unWHOlesomc tendency
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
Ized the Importance of the rural delivery
system to the farming communities and
did everything In. their power to extend
1t. During President McI<inley's first
term establishment Of routes had been
given such an impetus that by 1900 the
service had passed far beyond the expert
mental stage and Congress had approp-
rated $150.o0O for maintenance of the
routes then in operation. These routes
numbered 1,27G at the close of McKin-
lcy's first term, but many others had
been surveyed and were ready to be
established. The service becnme so pop
ular that farmers flooded the postoffice
department with petitions for new routes.
Corps of inspectors were appointed, divi-
sions were created, superintendent plac-
ed i'll charge and the service was put on
inerlodical business basis.
Roufes Now in Operation.
The system has been so rapidly ex-
tended under President Roosevelt that
Congress this year appropriated $21 ,OO0,-
600 for the service, which now en-
braces approximately 27,500 routes,
either in operation or about to be estab-
hshed. These routes are scattered over
ali the States and territories, us will
he seen 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: