The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1905-02-28
PosrAL nEvEL LoRMENT-

~ ~ ~ - Ut W e ~
The ore department of the govern.
ment with which mere people come
IN contact ana from which they ex-
/ ipect more and get more than any other
B S. authorized in tho constitution by
one modest little phrase in the emu
msration Of the powers Of congress
and contains only seven words. Il Isl.
t"To establish post Offices and post
roads The magnificent estabiish-
ment which has grown iron, this SIM
pie seed planted by the constitutions
makers dwarfs the comparison OF tfe
mustard tree to the mustard seel.
The wisest Of the men who authorized
the Insertion OF those seven words
never dreamed Of The vast conse
quences to now from them TO the
lren who wrote this phrase it meant
to put stage coaches on the roads
with relays Of horses. so that all speeI
iGight he made from cToss roads &c
cross roads and from town to town.
1he thought then was to place this
power in the federal government so
that mail could be passed from state
TO state without delay and at Uniform
rates The nodern mail train dash
ils from ocean 20 ocean. over river
valley and mountain at the rate OF a
nile a minute, or a huge iron steam
ship six hundred feet long punging
through the billows of the Atlantic to
England in little over five days.
had not heen even whispered by the
widest dreamer of them all Truly
these builders brilded wiser than they
knew when they inserted those seven
potential words III document so filed
with the words of scers as to leal
many TO regari ii as a work little
short of inspiration.
WHO then could have thought that
Tho United states would ever extend
from ocean to ocean. or to The mid
ucean islands Of Hawaii, or to the trans
Pacific Philippines? 1t would not be
more dreamy in as to th.ak If trans.
hitting wireless messages to even our
distant island possessions at such a
speed as the combination Of pho
tographlc and electrical principles
might evolve Indeed the scientific
fnd material progress that created the
J ost Office department may YET almost
eliminate it as a message bearer or
catirely change its form
The development Of the parcels post
and rural free delivery has opened a
really great field AMI placed the manu-
facturer and the consumer very much
nearer each other than heretofore. The
port office department regards the
rural free delivery in a particularly
favorable way and IS pushing # in
every state. Oklahoma has been much
favored and has as good a rural ser.
vice as any state. Nothing viii do
more to make the farm boy contentedI
with farm life than daily contact at
the farm with the outside world
through tile rural mail carrier
The parcels post system IS rapidly
developing ans only a few days ago
an agreement was reached between
the United States and Great Britain,
which is to take eject after April lst,
by which packages uader four and one
half pounds are TO be transmitted
with tho rate in America Of " cents
per pound. while the rate IN England
viii be tNo shillmgs parcel without
regard 70 weight
No present field for development
is more inviting than the Parcels post.
or promises to be more fruitful Of re-
suits. unless it be the rural free de
livery The departpient is quite sue
ceptihle OF innueace and the people Of
Oklahoma should constantly reep to
The frcnt their desire for an extension
OF rural free delivery.