The Florida agriculturist., 1906-01-03


ments of their public servants at the
centers of public business, and which
aISO advertise to them that most i'm
pOrtant intelligence to the modern
man-namely. intelligence as to where
best to satisfy his wants and dispose
of his wares Strangely enough, how
ever. while his public servants have
provided the rural American Citizen
King with a public vehicle for the
TRANSFORMATION of intelligence, they
have excluded him from its use either
for his own transportation or for that
of his supplies or of his produce. The
unconsciOnable taX-16 cents a pound
on merchandise limited to fOur-pOund
parcels-is practically prohibitive.
On the first establishment of the
service. many of the owners of the
| rural pOst-wagOnS. believing them
selves entitled. under the law, to the
rights of the old pOst-cOach, added to
the transport of the mails the regular
post-cOach traffic. taking at their own
| risk and at their own rates paSsen-
gers. baggage. large parcels of mer-
chandise. anything that was offered,
up to the limits of their vehicles. The
business grew rapidly and with profit
| both to the carrier and to the district
| which he served.
Suddenly. however, in 1904. this
general transport business Of the
/ rural pOSt-cOach was abolished. A
provision i'm the Postal Appropriation
bill of 1904 cut down the rural wagon
service to that of the city fOOt-pOSt
Since then carrier who has dared
to transport a passenger Or a parcel
over four pounds in weight on his
vehicle has done so at his peril.
Mr.. COw1es then showed what ignOr-
ant and arrogant legislation we are
obliged to submit to at the hands of
| our cOngheSSmen and senators. He
says:
| This reduction i'm the business of
| the rural pOst-wagOn outside it's reg
ular mail service necesSitated. of
course. an increase in the carriers
salaries. and today salaries varying
from S432 for an eight-mile route to
S120 for a twenty-four mile route are
paid for services of man with
a horse and wagon, transporting on
the average route quantities of mail
matter weighing in the aggregate
| matter collected and delivered per
day-less than 20 pounds and in di-
mensiOns less than bushel. while
the income received from the less
than two pounds of mail matter orig
mating on the average daily route is
not over Al cents per day-this
against an average cost of over $500
per day.
The fault. however. is not i'm the
salary Of the rural carrier. His sal
airy would be low enough. i'm all con-
| science. if he were obliged to make
his four TO eight-hour daily trip with
Il wagon altogether empty The evil
OF the situation lies i'm the fact that
public servants at Washington DENY
to the rural public reasonable
use of the public vehicle that passes
their doors. The American public are
very much in the condition of farm
er to whom his employee denies the
use OF his horse and wagon Think
OF your employee informing you that
not only should you not ride in your
own wagon, you should not transport
anything in it except few letters.
magazines. newspapers, books. and
four-pOund parcels of merchandise!
And yet this is just what the servants
of the American people-United States
Senators and Representatives do
ing today. Their restriction of the ru-
Il