The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1906-05-16
CUTTING OUT RURAL ROUTES.
i is pretty certain that Rural FIR

il is pretty certain that Rural Free
Delivery Routes which fall below a
reasonable percentage are going to be
Discontinued in the very near future.
The Courier observes in the Congress
;onai Record tina. on April the 11rh
Congressman Ashury T.. Lever, Of
South Carolina, delivered lengthy
speech in the hcuse in opposition to
cutting out free rural delivery routes,
because they wer., nc. patronized up
TO reasonable standard. We quote
from his speech This lengthy para
graph:
"Mr. Chairman, :his Litter Of the
fourth assistant postmaster general
shows another thing to which I wish
to call the attention Of the house. In
writing General De Grow, asked him
to furnish me the names Of the States
in which there seemed to be the least
appreciation Of rural service as shown
by the amount Of patronage. con-
fess that I was not surprised, for l
suspected that the state Of facts as
shown by the fourth assistants letter
was perhaps the reason for the rule,
when I found him writing that "the
states included among those handling
less than 5000 pieces of mail per
route per month are Indian Territory,
Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee, Louis
ana, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tex
as District Of Columbia, Georgia, Ar
kansas, Virginia, Alabama, North
Carolina, Mississippi" Thus we see
that the solid Democratic South falls
within this arbitrary md suspicious
rule of the department. Not single
state among those mentioned in this
letter is above the historic line of
Mason and Dixon, and feel that am
justified in the suspicion that this new
regulation was adopted for the pur-
pose of perpetuating the policy of dis
elimination against the South, which
has been pursued by the department
since the. beginning Of the service. 1
am not building straw men for the
purpose Of knocking them down, but
the records Of the department will
bear me out in the statement that this
service has been administered in a
sectional and partisan manner. And
let me saw in this connection, Mr..
Chairman. that but for the zeal and
energy of Southern representatives
in congress rural delivery would not
TODAY be in existence It was south
ern man who first proposed it to con-
gress and southern men have been its
most Jealous friends and advocates"
1t will be observed that Texas is in
the list of states that are to suffer as
is shown by Congressman Lever in
the above extract. It is on account Of
this threatened danger to the routes
in Smith county that the Courier is
publishing elsewhere a double column
article explaining to the citizens on
these routes how they can make their
routes permanent. Unless they show
a proper appreciation for the service
rendered them they can not and ought
o% nY0f a.
liver them their mail matter at their
homes, while others who will gladly
show twice the appreciation if only
they had the opportunity. Remem-
Der The Courier is issued twice-a-week.
Subscribe for it and help to make a
showing of pieces of mail handled on
your route for yod. Let Uncle Sam
observe your appreciation by giving
his agent some mail matter to handle
for you. But if you are too Indifferent
to subscribe for yourself and family
for the Semi Weekly Courier, then
don't try to hold your route. Let the
service go where it belongs-to intel
ligent farmers elsewhere. Read the
double column article in The Semi
Weekly Courier for further and val
liable information to you and which
you should possess yourself Of without
further delay-Terrell, Texas Courier.
FRECKLES AND PIMPLES
DEM0VEn In Ton naus