The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1909-02-21
GOVERNMENT BELIEVES THE
TIME is RIPE FOR A MORE Eff
FICIENT SERVICE, AND APPEALS
FROM THE SOUTH WILL MEET
WITH A LIBERAL. RESPONSE.


being formulated by officials of the
postoffice department contemplate the
establishment during the present year
OF a greater number Of new rural free
delivery routes in the Southern states
than in any other section of the
country.
It has only been within recent years
that the people IF the South have
come to realize the great benefits to
be derived from The rural free de-
livery service. The failure TO appTe-
ciate what was at that time regarded
as somewhat of al experiment" was
not confined to the South altogether
by any means, as other sections were
not awakened to a realization 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 appre-
ciating to the fullest degree the bene-
ficial results of the rural free delivery
system. Overcoming what the post
Office department regarded as natural
barriers to an extension of the rural
free delivery service in many sec
tions of the south, the way is now
clear 4or establishing hundreds of ne%
routes in various Southern states.
Must Have Good Roads.
It is one of the requirements of the
department in the establishment of
new routes that the roads shall be
kept in good condition. Although the
postoffice department has been as
lenient as possible in the enforce
ment of this regulation in the South,
owing to natural obstacles, nearly half
of the petitions for additional routes
in the past have been rejected. Now.
however, that the good roads infec-
Scs
obstacles to increased postal facili-
ties are rapidly heIng removed with
consequent beneficial results in that
respect. One of the most potent fac
tors in bringing about a better system
Of highways in the South has been
the Inauguration of the rural delivery
service.
The South VIII share to a larger
extent than any other section of
the country in the proposed distribu-
ton of rural free delivery service
during the present year. More than
five hundred new routes are TO be es-
tablished in yariotFs SoHthera-sstates,
which is nearly fifty per cent. of those
for the entire country.
Routes in Operation.
There are now IN operation in the
Southern States nine thousand eight
hundred and seyenty-four rural routes
or about "a per cent of the total num-
Der of routes in operation, which
cover 2S7 .469 miles of roads. These
routes, which cost the government a
total Of $S.549.21S per annum to main
tain, are divided among the states as
follows Alabama SO, Arkansas 344,
Florida 40, Georgia 1888, South
Carolina 709, TennesSee 1871, Texas
Las, and Virginia $50 IN these
states rural delivery has been organ
lied on a full county basis, in eighty
nine counties. and Is contemplated in
other counties as soon as it can be
arranged.
The rural free delivery service is
under the Jurisdiction of Fourth As
sistant Postmaster General DeGraw,
under whose administration that
branch of the service has Witnessed
an enormous growth. In an inter
view with representative of the As
sociated Press today Mr.. DeGraw fur
nished some interesting facts and fig
uTes on the subject of the extension
or rural delivery in the South.
McGraw Talks Of Routes.
The first rural delivery service es-
tablished in the United States was or
October I. 1885, said General De-
Graw. The first rural delivery ser
vice established IN the South was on
!
son county, Arkansas, when three
routes were put into operation. and
during that fiscal year several expert |
mental rural routes were established (
in nearly all OF the other Southern |
states
But, as in all sections of the coun-
try, the people of the South did not /
awaken to a realization of the bene- |
ats of rural delivery until about 1902, |
when the department was literally |
overwhelmed with petitions for the /
service from nearly every quarter Of 4
that section, accompanied by de- /
hands, expressed individually and /
through senators and representatives /
IN congress, that the service be es-
tabnShed at once. These requests |
we're scceded to wherever practicable |
and as rapidly as the necessary in !
vestigatiOns and detailed work would /
permit.
Department Lenient. .
while. in establishing rural deIiv- !
cry in the Southern states the depart |
ment has been as lenient as possible /
in the enforcement of its requirements |
that roads on which rural routes are /
laid out shall be maintained in cOndi- /
ton to be travelled with facility and /
safety at all seasons of the year, il /
has been found necessary to reject !
nearly fifty per cent OF the petitions /
which have been presented, owing, in 4
the majority of cases, to the bad con- /
dition of roads, anbridged streams, /
and the obstruction of roads by ordi- /
nary gates or bars. The department 4
mas fully appreciated the fact that the 4
characteristics of the Sou h
srn states, nearly all of which are /
in the South Atlantic and
sis