Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-02-21
MORE RURAL ROUTES
Extending Free Delivery in
Southern States.
AHEAD OF OTHER SECTIONS
Remarkable Increase in Petitions for
Mail Service.
HELPING WITH GOOD ROADS
P.trons Doing ALI Possible to Help
Department Where Formerly
They Were Indifferent.
AHEAD OF OTHER SECTIONS
HELPING WITH GOOD ROADS

Confident that the time is ripe for a
more efficient postal service in the south.
the appeals OF the people from below
Mason and DiXon's line for increased
facilities of that character will not go
unheeded by Uncle Sam. Plans now be-
ing formulated ny officials of the Post
Office Department contemplate the es-
Establishment during the present year OF
q greater number of new rural free deliv-
cry routes in the southern states than in
any other section of the country.
1t has only been within recent years
that the people of the south have come
10 realize the great benefits to be de-
rived from the rural free delivery service.
The failure to appreciate what was at
that time regarded as somewhat OF an
experiment was not confined to the
south altogether by any means. as other
sections were not awakened TO reali-
cation of the good effects of that service.
A new spirit now however. has come
over the south and the people of that
part of the country are appreciating TO
the fullest degree the beneficent results
OF the rural free delivery system. Over
coming what the Post Office Department
regarded natural barriers to an extern
sion of the rural free delivery service
in many sections of the south, the way
new routes in various southern states.
Roads Must Be Good.
1t is one Of the requirements of the de-
partment in the establishment of new
routes that the roads shall be kept in
good condition. Although the Post Office
Department has been as lenient as posi-
Bile in the enforcement of this regulation
in the south owing to natural obstacles.
nearly half of the petitions for addi-
tional routes in the past have been re-
Jected. Now. however, that the good
roads infection is sweeping nver the
south, the obstacles to increased postal
facilities are rapidly being removed with
consequent beneficial results in that re-
Spect. One of the most potent factors in
bringing about a Better system of high
ways in the south has been the Inaugural
ton of the rural delivery service.
The south will share to a larger ex-
tent than any other section of the
country in the proposed distribution of
rural free delivery service during the
present year. More than five hundred
new routes are TO be established in vari-
Gus southern states, which is nearly
fifty per cent of those for the entire coun-
try.
There are now in operation in the
southern states 9.S74 rural routes, or
about - per cent of the total number of
routes in operation. which cover 237 400
miles of roads. These routes, which cost
the government a total of $S,549. 21S per
annum to maintain. are divided among
the states as follows: Alabama, S79; Ar
kansas, 344; Florida, 40; Georgia, 1888
Louisiana, rs Mississippi. 625; North
Carolina. 1.245; South Carolina, 100; Ten
nessee. 1,571; Texas. Las, and Virginia,
pGO. In these states rural delivery has
been organized on a full county basis in
eighty-nine counties, and is contemplated
In other counties as soon as 1t can be ar
ranged.
The First Routes.
The rural free delivery service is under
the Jurisdiction of Fourth Assistant Post
master General DeGraw. under whose ad-
ministration that branch Of the service
has Witnessed an enormous growth. In
an intervied Mr.. DeGraw furnished some
interesting facts and figures on the SUBJ
ject OF the extension of rural delivery in
the south.
Tine first rural delivery service estab-
lished in the United States was October 1,
1885," said Mr.. DeGraw. The first rural
delivery service established in the south
was October 10, 1896. at GAINESVILLE. John
son county, Ark, when three routes were
put into operation, and during that fiscal
year several experimental rural routes
were established in nearly all Of the other
southern states.
But, as In all sections of the country,
the people of the south did not awaken
TO a realization of the benefits of rural
delivery until about 1902, when the de-
partment was literally overwhelmed with
petitions for the service from nearly
every quarter OF that section, accom-
panied by demands. expressed individ-
ually and through senator's and repre-
CONGRESS ha
be established at once. These requests
were acceded to wherever practicable,
and as rapidly as the necessary investi-
cations and detailed work would permit.
While, In establishing rural delivery
In the southern states. the department
has been as lenient as possible in the
Endorsements Of Its requirements that
roads on which rural routes are laid out
shall be maintained in condition to be
travelled with facility and safety at all
seasons Of the year. it has been found
necessary to reject nearly fifty per cent
OF the petitions which have been pre-
scented owing, In the I.ayority of cases.
to the bad condition of roads. unbridged
streams. and the obstruction of roads by
ordinary gates or bars. The department
has fully appreciated the fact that the
physical characteristics of the southern
states, nearly all of which are COM
prised in the South Atlantic and gulf
water sheds and intersected by numer-
GUS streams which are subject to period
ical overflow. has rendered il impossible
to maintain the roads in the same con-
dition as in those states where such oD-
stacles do not exist, and for this reason
has been as lenient possible consist
ent with the good of the service, in the
road requirements.
Owing TO the fact that the people of
some of the southern states were slow
to realize the benefits of rural delivery
and to petition for It, there are proba-
bly, q larger number of petitions for the
service Enacted upon in these states than
in others. This circumstance accounts
for the fact that out of total of about
], 100 routes, which the department pro-
poses to- esta blish throughout the coun-
try between now and June 30 1909, 52l
be in the southern states above indicated
Roads Better Now.
Another thing that has contributed
TO the increased number OF routes to be
established In the southern states" con.
tinued Mr.. DeGraw, lis the fact that ir
cases where petitions for the service here
tofore submitted have been rejected or
roads. the roads have been put In a gooc
state Of repair and the gates removed
In the south, as elsewhere throughout the
country. the introduction of rural de-
livery has been a most potent factor ir
engendering interest in good roads and
the enactment of legislation for the i'm
provement of highways. This Is notabl,
true in the states of Georgia and Ala
bama and certain parts OF Tennessee
and Mississippi. and there are evidences
that the good roads infection Is spread
ing throughout the south with most bene
flciah results. not only to the postal serv-
ice bIt 10 the farmers themselves in III,