Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1907-01-18
THE GROWTH OF FREE
RURAL DELIVERY
Remnrka BILE Development OF
One Branch of tho
Postal Service.

operation 10 years. The climax of its
development was reached two years
ago, when the service was installed
on 9447 routes. At that time the
average number Of petitions fled per
month was zoo, which average was
maintained during 1905. Now, how
ever, it has fallen to 800 per month.
The rapid growth Of this service
under Government encouragement is
pointed out in detail in the report Of
the Fourth Assistant Postmaster
General. In 1897 there were just 81
carriers in the country. and the cost
of the service was $40, In 1898
the carriers had increased to l4S and
the appropriation to $50, $50, and In
1899 there we're 89l carriers, and an
appropriation of $3.50, 0O00. Then be
gan the growth which was one Of
the wonders Of she time. From 1875
carriers in 1900 the number went up
to 1901 IN 1901, to S466 in 1902, to
10, ,1l9 in 1908. to "a, in 1904, to
80, 055 in 1905. and to SO, ,666 in 1905.
The appropriations went up cores
pondingly, from $3.50, 900 in 1900 to
s25, s2s, 800 in 1905.
Complete county rural service was
one of the early demands Of the
country districts as soon as the rural
delivery system had become fixed, and
there are now 44S counties in the
United States which have that ser
vice. One hundred and sixty.five of
these counties were provided with
complete service last year.
There are IS states having each
more tran 1000 rural routes. Illinois
heads the list with ?693, and Ohio
comes next with 2440. Iowa is third
with 2266. The other states having
more than 1000 routes each are
Georgia, 1881, Indiana, 2l05; Kansas,
1866; Michigan, 1918; Minnesota,
1882; Tennessee, 1894; Texas, 1926,
Missouri, 1926; New York, 1898
North Carolina, 1852; Pennsylvania,
1885; Wisconsin, 1850.
The states and territories having
the fewest number of routes are Ari-
zona. with two; District of Columbia,
with five; Hawaii, with one; Nevada,
with one; New Mexico, with three,
and Wyoming, with five, In the ex-
treme West, Washington has 1874
routes; Oregon, 1872; California, 254,
and Idaho, 81,
The report of the Fourth Assistant
Postmaster General bears down hard
on the question Of good roads. In
many of the states the rural service
lacks efficiency on account Of bad
roads, and petitions for additional
routes have been rejected. The de-
partment is making con siderable hea.
way with Its movement for co.opers
tiun with state officials looking TO-
ward road improvement, and is now
aiding road officials in Illinois, Wis.
consin, Missouri, Minnesota, Iowa,
New Jersey and Maine. Indiana hss
new law requiring that roads
travelled by rural carriers shall be-
kept in a passsble condition through.
out the year, and legislative action
along similar lines has been had In
Pennsylvania, in both instances witt
marked improvement Of conditions.
The smallness Of the pay OF ruraI
carriers has led to many resigna tions,
which will be used as leverage dur
ing the present session Of Congress tC
bring the pay mp from s720, the pres
ent maximum, TO 1900. During tn,
past year the registrations numbered
444l, the largest number in any year
and 1875 more than in 1904, when 1
per cent Of the total number Of rura
carriers in the country resigned. Th
proposed increase in pay would ten
TO make rural CARRIERS hold thei
positions, thus trengthening the ser
vice all along the line.