Omaha daily bee., 1910-07-03
Some Things You Want to Know
The Rural Mail Service

To the 1900 rural letter carriers Of the
United states a legal holiday IL not merely
a holiday--lt is also a duy for meeting to-
getner In county. district and state associa-
tons Tomorrow will be Independence day
and in five states the rural letter carriers
associations will hold conventions. while
scores Of county and district conventions
VIII be held. The state conventions Wi,
meet tomorrow in Colorado al Denver. I'm
Tennessee at Nashville In Georgia
Rome, In North Carolina At Raleigh and
In south Carolina at Newberry. r. V.
DeGraw, fourth assistant postmaster gem
eral, will attend the North Carolina CON
vention Memorial day, Thanksgiving day,
and such other holidays as the postmaste.
general may decree as days Of rest for
the rural letter carrier, are utilized for
the purposes of meeting in associations
Tor the advancement Of mutual interests
AZ the five state conventions tomorrow
question OF tremendous importance will
be discussed. The very existence OF tue
rural free deliver. service, as now consti-
uted, is at stake. \ powerful party at
Washington, said TO have the backing Of
Influential men IN the Postoffice depart
mont, and certainly having strong support
in congress, proposes to place the rural free
delivery OF mail on tie contract basis,
That Is to say, that the government will
make contract for inc delivery OF mail
on each rural route, and the contractor
will be responsible to tho government. The
rural letter carrier then will be no longer
an officer Of the government, but man
hired by a local contractor. lie no longer
will serve as the sworn officer Of the
government and receive a stipulated salary
from the Postoffce department, but he
Will be the agent OF the contractor and
will be hired al whatever price he may be
able TO get. In short II is proposed that
the government retire from the direct con-
troll Of the rural mail service. and place
the service on the contract basis, Just as
the star mail routes now are, and always
have been. The advantage sought to he
obtained Is the great saving in the cost
of the service that would result.
Naturally, the rural letter carriers are
opposed to the proposed charge, for II
means that they will go out OF business
Their demand for increased pay was re-
fused by a narrow majority In the house
OF representatives and designations have
been increasing rapidly ON account Of tn,
unprofltab leness OF the work. But OH the
whole, the carriers are anxious TO main
tain their present position, sting 10 tn,
future for better pay. The maximum sal
AIRY of rural carrier is $500 a year, which
is paid for route twenty-four miles long
or longer. For routes less than twenty
four miles In length the pay Is decrease,
on a scale of two-mie gradatons, dowI
to the minimum of six to eight miles d
$3.50 a year.
rhe rural letter carriers are well organ
lied and have excellent machinery for max
ing their opinions known to the member
OF congress. They will oppose the pro
posed contract system on several grounds
They declare that such a wholesale cX
pansion of the star route system, whic
has been greatly diminished by the rise o
the rural free delivery service, would lea
to graft OF enormous proportions. In SUP
port of this they cite the famous sta
route frauds of thirty years ago and tn
vast number of small instances OF sta
Route grating or of star route failure t
give good service.
They assert that a merchant in the tow