The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1908-10-09
OUR RURAL FREE
MAIL DELIVERY
How the Democratic Party Sought
to Throttle Ii in Its Infancy.
Originated by Republicans, the Dem
ecrats Saw in It a Bugaboo If
Extravaganza and Tried
to Kill It.

with many difficulties. In it's infancy
1t was pouncad upon by the Democratic
party, a part.p that has an unbrokel
history OF never missing an opp0rtu
nifty to try to throttle the life of ever
infant industry that may be so unfor
tunate as to meet it Upon the great
highway Of progress Postmaster Gen
eral Wanamaker, under a Republican
administration in 1852, first recon
amended the establishment Of q rural
free delivery service. During the three
or four years Of Democratic admins,
tration following, small appropriations
were made, but not expended, and the
system was never given al fair trial
uutil President Mckinley" came into
office.
Opposed by Democratic Officials.
The PostOffice Department headed by
a Democratic Postmaster General, dur
ing Cleveland's last term. opposed
rural delivery. and refused and neg
lected to make any experiment. or To-
institute any free delivery routes. As
an excuse for this failure and neglect
to obey the mandates Of the law. the
Assistant Postmaster General under
Cleveland, in his report transmitted to
Congress in December, 1898, expressed
strong views against rural free delivery
and the% postmaster general of this
same Democratic administration, ap-
proved these views. and in his report t.
this sameC Congress, spoke of rural free
delivery in a sighting and somewhat
c~ontemptuouss manner. In conclusion
he stated:
Il therefore adopt the opinion Of the
first Assistant Postmas ter General thar
the department would not be warranted
in b%urdening the people with such ex
pense when it can more properly. ade-
iquately and economically meet the re
luirements OF postal extension by wild
.en1ng its scope along reasonable aud
conservative lines and by establishing
additional post" Offices wherever tn,
communities aresjustifed in asking for
them He t~husa1gnored the ~reasonabt,
people, the very rSa 1s,h 8Ge and sinew of OH
republic, and cast, their interests aside
by a wave Of the: hand.
Too Many Obstacles i'm the Way.
Not only was the Democratic admin.
i%stratiOn thoroughly against rural free
delivery, but the Democratic opposition
Included the other Democratic branches
jiOf our national government. The
House Of Representatives was also
II IN,,, OF THAT. time o,l on Fob
ruary 81, 1894, the committee on post
offices and post roads, in reporting to
he House the, annual postoffice appro-
priation bill, used the following Ian
yuage in reference to rural free de
livery:
1T has been found impossible by rea-
son of the pressure Of more important
questions, for the officers having that
subject in charge, to give the subject
The study and consideration that it de.
mands,. much less to establish such
rural free delivery"
No Constructive Statesmanship.
Thus again, the party which has
gone into partnership with calamity
saw "a lion In the way" at the very
inception, Of constructive statesman
ship, and did moi exhibit the energy
and initiative to take up the work fol
which experimental appropriations hat
already been made. In the report OF
Cleveland's Postmaster General, VIM
l.. Wilson, referring to the appropria
ton which had been made and which
had not been used, we find the follow
ing:
Should Congress see fit to make i
available for the current year, I will
make the experiment ordered, by tn
best, tests | can devise but the diff
vulties in the way Of such experiment.
and the reasons for viewing the Who'll,
plan as impracticable. are fully Sc
forth in the report Of the House Com
mittee on the Postoffice Appropriat iol
bin of the second session of the FIT,
Third Congress"
Democracy Was Against, RuraI, De
livery.
1t will thus be seen that, Cleveland
Postmaster General, after, two years 0
study and reflection upon. the subject
after having absolutely refused to US
the money which Congress placed a
his disposal for this purpose, gave /
as his opinion that the whole plan wa
inlpracticable again, and should b
abandoned. In the message of Pres
dent Cleveland sent to Congress Dec
4, 1893, referring to the matter o
rural free delivery, he himself said:
II am decidedly Of the opinion tina
the provisions Of the present law pei
nit as general an introduction of thi
feature Of mail service as is now NEG
ESSARY OR DESIRABLE, and tina
it ought NOT to be extended to smalle
communities than are now designated.
Again In a single sentence, from the al
nual message of Cleveland the follow
ing year he dismisses the matter !
these words: 1.-The estimated cost G
rural free delivery generally y 90 yer
large that It OUGHT NOT TO b
CONSIDERED, in the present cond
ton Of affairs"
Thus, the only Democratic Presiden
AAor Hovtv vnarn rid himan1