The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-01-13
RURAL FREE DELIVERY.
Report Of Conditions Existing in the
Service at Present Is Gratifying.

rural free delivery service contain )
some valuable information and reads
in part as follows:
Petitions for rural-delivery service
are accepted for investigation only
where there is prima facie showing
that the conditions necessary to the
establishment and maintenance OF
tn service exist. Before the service
is established investigation by an in
spector must disclose that all the
requirements for its installation act.
ually exist, and upon approval of a
favorable report of an inspector the
installation does not take place UNI
til the postmaster certifies that three
fourths of the families accessible
will pledge themselves to use the
service.
The number of petitions fled in
the past fiscal year was 1876. OF
this number 361 had not been accept
ed and were pending June 80, 1909.
OF the 3,015 petitions disposed of 901.
or 81 per cent, were rejected by rea-
son of lack of population, the exist
ence of bad roads, unbridged streams,
or other conditions not justifying an
investigation, and 2,10S petitions
were accepted for investigation. On
June 80, 1909, reports had been made
in lao of these cases, of which 647,
or A per cent, were adverse to the
installation Of the service.
During the past fiscal year, in line
with the policy adopted in 1906. at
tention has been given to the I'M.
provement in the more systematic ar
rangement of rural service where
conditions were not satisfactory, re-
sulting in the extension Of rural de-
livery to large number of people
with a minimum increase in cost, all
improved service in all instances, and
in many instances an actual saving
has been effected without any i'm
this work IS routes were discon
tinued, effecting an annual saving of
$4,000 In one county, after a thor
ough investigation and general read
justment of the service, a saving was
effected of $4,000; in another county,
$1,72S.
The installation of rural delivery,
as rule, has been followed by an
increase in the amount of mail de-
livered and collected within the ter
ritories respectively covered by that
service. During the earlier years
this increase was gradual, as whole
In order to ascertain the percentage
of mail carried on rural-delivery
routes, a count was kept during the
months of March, April, and May, and
taken as basis of conservative cal
culation, which showed that rural
carriers throughout the United States
handled during the fiscal year ended
June 80, 1909, the enormous bulk OF
1928, 1862 900 pieces. During the four
years succeeding June 80, 1905, the
number of routes advanced 26 per
cent, but the increase in the amount
of mail delivered was 81 per cent. and
mail collected ISL per cent, or an in.
crease of SO per cent in the whole
amount handled. There was an in
crease of l49 per cent in the number
of money orders issued, and 81 per
cent increase in the number of let
ters registered. In 1905 the average
number Of pieces OF mail handled per
route per month was $500 Based
upon the count kept during March,
April and May, mentioned, the aver
age number of pieces now handled
per route per month is 5,600-the
largest in the history of the service.
Another significant fact is that on
only 2,117 or so per cent, of the
rural routes was the quantity OF
mail handled less than 5000 pieces
per quarter, which is considered a
fair average for a standard route.
Additional evidence of the increase
in the amount of mail passing
through rural delivery is furnished
in the fact that 992 routes handled
$4,000 or more pieces of mail during
the three months ended June 30, 1907
and 1892 routes $4,000 or more dur
ing the three months ended May 81,
1909.
In 1907 twenty-seven routes hand
led more than $4,000 pieces of mail
during the quarter ended June 30; in
1900 ninety-five routes more than 80 =
900 during the quarter ended May
81. On thirty-fve of these routes the
value of the stamps on mail collected
for the period indicated exceeded
5000. On twenty-four routes this item
exceeded the carriers salary.
Growth of the Service
The number of petitions FOR rural
delivery service filed during the past
fiscal year aggregated 1876, a de-
crease of 6SS from the previous year.
OF the petitions filed 2,10S have been
accepted for investigation and S61 are
still under consideration.
On June 80. 1909, the service was
in operation on 40,62S routes, and
40.499 carriers were employed On
667 routes the service was triweekly
an increase of eight as compared with
the previous year.
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