The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-06-01

| cpIi 6bAOA III uOlliiS lAlS Illlc II tdG
to run the gauntlet of unfavorable re-
ports by committees of the house OF
representatives.
1t was condemned by the house
committee on postoffices and post
| roads Of the Fifty-third congress OF
/ which committee John S. Henderson
Of Salisbury, in this state was the
chairman, as a scheme impossible OF
| execution, which would require an
! appropriation of at least twenty mil
lions 20 inaugurate it," How far Mr..
Henderson was wrong you gentlemen
are as well able TO judge as anyone.
In 1894 the first appropriation Of
$4,000 was made for this service and
the amount was found so small that
no effort was attempted to launch 1t,
appropriated and with like results, to
be followed in 1896 by the same &C
| ton.
This made $4,000 available for this
purpo and with this amount to
! which was added a friendly DISPOSE
ton on the part Of the congress then IN
session the present rural delivery ser
vice was inaugurated, by the establish
| ment of, after many expressed misg1v-
ing On the part of the then postmas-
ter general, three routes at Halltown,
CkIllG anu IIldIICSloNI W. q Oi
October 1st, 1896.
North Carolina was not backward
in putting in her claim for recognition
and on October 23rd, 1896, there was
a route put in operation at Chinagrove,
Rowan county.
From all owe the country a stream
Of petitions came pouring into the
department, asking for consideration,
and it being found that this service
was of greater benefit than its most
ardent advocates had claimed for II,
the department cheerfully responded
to the opportunities of the people, and
this infant of but a few years, devel-
oped into a giant of the most magni1-
cent proportions.
To Illustrate: up to the year 1897
there had been appropriated in all,
100000 for this service, and in that
year, which I have stated was the year
of it's establishment, there~Was apprO-
priated $4,000, since. which time its
progress has been such that the pres
ent congress has provided in the ap-
preparation bill now under consider
alton the enormous amount of $780,
000, 900 in round M
In 1897 there had been established
SO routes, while there are now in oper-
alton in the neighborhoOd of $4,000
and those routes supply mail to fully
1880, 900 people by bringing to their
doors the complete postoffice, for the
service does not stop by the mere de-
livery of mail, as the rural patron can
at his door obtain a money order, or
send a registered package, and know
that it is surrounded with the same
security as if it had been brought to
the office and deposited there.
To further illustrate the growth Of
this arm of the postal service I will
state that for the maintainence of the
rural delivery eatur there is as much
money needed and appropriated as
there was for the undue of the en-
tire postal service of the country in
SO recent a year as 1872, the eXpendl-
lures of that year being s26,65S,192.31.
Dur w state has kept abreast with
the rogre of the service for the rec
Ords show it was among the first to
have the beneft of this service, yet in
February of 1902 there were employed
in the state but 81 carriers whose
monthly payroll amounted to $2,116.S3,
while on April Goth, of the present
| year there are 1,13S on the payroll
and the amount disbursed monthly in
the shape of salaries is ~S65,469.2S
which is not such a bad showing for
| North Carolina, and she is not through
yet.
AS to the personnel OF the service [
will be silent for there is no use in
taking up your time, by telling you
nice things about yourselves; the
| work you are engaged in gives ample
scope for admiration, as it was a grand
conception, most grandly executed,
and conducted, for the benefit of a
class that had hitherto not received the
consideration, their intelligence, in
vestments, and worth in the body poll
tic SO justly entitled them. The food
Of the nation comes from its farms.
The population Of the union is in
creasing at the rate of one million peo-
pie annually, the rura area remains
the same. It then becomes a matter
Of the greatest and gravest impor-
lance that the men who remain on the
farm should be of the best calibre.
With the advent of the rural delivery
and the rural telephone, the farmers
son is now contented on the old home
stead and the glitter and the glamor
Of the city holds no allurements for
him. Thus is the future of the ma
ton assured and thus are you gentle
men by your daily travel in the per-
Torrance of your duties, become the
modern soldier of civilization, and the
bulwark of the nation. I again bid
you welcome in name of the people OF
Wilmington.