The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1907-10-15
RURAL LETTER CAERIERS.
Mr.. T. E. Wicker Writes of the At
lanta Convention-Good
Talks.
Editor Herald and News:

SN0utN lnaiik GOG mat we were d. III
under the sunny skies Of Dixie. |
have heard carriers from all over the
union speak Of their hardships
through the winter season which IN
many states last the greater part Of
the wear. SnowStorn2S that last for
days ard ~@oN-v"rpryA reads that re-
H;aM :. :. i :ss!I:!:oM :':,r a!nn;ns II
Z ..:.H>. >,....:. .:".t'i* ;'.H5 ~l>MH:, ;nt
carrier go &nIr him az, his horse
upSej)in" his vehicle. breaking and
tearing IT. his harness and delaying
nim for an ho1'l or more before he
can resume his tedious and miserable
Journey; OF perhaps return TO the Of
fee and report the roads impossible.
Roads ont west where the wheels OF
your vehicle mire in the mud and be-
come solid as block wheels making it
impossible for the vehicle to be drawn
by horses and necessitating the de-
livery of mail on horseback for sever
al months in the year. Tiresome noun
tain routes where the ups and downs
of life is not by any means figure
Of speech but a solemn reality. These
are some Of the troubles that I have
listened to since minelinG with the
other delegates here.
On my way over I met and got ac-
quainted with the president Of the
New Jersey state association and the
president and the secretary Of the
state association Of Maryland. l
found them as most other carriers to
be jolly, good hearted fellows. I ar
rived ahead of my two colleagues,
Messrs. A. W. Hill, of Greenville, and
S. G. Mcdaniel, Of Laurens, by sew
eral hours. Yesterday morning
(Tuesday) the convention assembled
in the senate chamber Of Georgla's
capital where we listened to a num-
Der of welcome addresses which we're
along the usual line Of such addresses.
The speech of the day was delivered
by Congressman Livingston of the 5tn
district of Georgia.
Today we had with US Superintend-
ent Of Rural Free Delivery w. Il.
Spillman, Of Washington, D.. c. To-
morrow we will have Fourth Asst.
P. NJ. Gen. P. V. DeGraw. After
hearing President Lindsay's report
and attending to some other matters
Of minor detail among which was the
taking Of a picture Of the association
in a body on the steps Of the capital
we returned to the senate chamber
and the president introduced the lion.
". R. Spillman.
Among other things Mr.. Spillman
said that there was an advantage III
the meeting together Of rurai car
riers in state and national conven-
tions and it was always a pleasure
for him to be present, an advantage
because it brought together the rural
boys and permitted them to get ae-
ouanited with each other and with
the officers Of the department when
they were present. At first rural de-
livery was an experiment which the
residents Of rural districts were at
first unwilling to accept saying that
the star route and old postoffice was
good enough for them. Since then
rural delivery had gone beyond the
experimental stage and now every
state in the Union has rural delivery
service.
In inspecting the routes the de-
partment naturally turned to the
aoutes whose reports showed the least
patronage and where the route could
not be revised so as to increase the
mail, the department found it neces-
sary to discontinue the route though
it gave the department no pleasure
to do this.
European countries have precedad
US in rural delivery and perhaps their
service has been superior to ours but
it is because Of our more extensive
territory and less dense population
but we are profiting by their expert
enee and rapidly forging to the front.
Every carrier should gain the con-
fdcnce of his patrons so as to IN
crease the business Of the route. To
maintain the dignity Of the service
and to show the public that we are
representatives Of the government
uhv shou1d not the carriers wear a