St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1910-08-17

Brother and Sister Carrier, rather
| than try to encourage our patrons to
| influence members of Congress to
| work in our behalf, we had better give
them the best service possible. Try
to bring our routes UP to the highest
point of excellence. Study so as to
/ be able to answer any question they
NAV ask you relative to the postal
| work or running of the trains. Learn
| all you can. Be pleasant at all times
| to old and young, high or low, black
| or white. If rs or more ask you why
the dailies have not come, answer
! the last as pleasantly as you did the
| first. Make them feel they are hav
| ing the best service of any people on
earth and your congressman will find
| it out and the heads of the department
at Washington will know it also.
| Then will they all know that the
| people are getting better service than
| any star route ever gave or ever can
President Spooner was followed
by w. ]. Bigelow who spoke briefly
of the Importance of keeping the dirt
roads we now have in the best con-
dition practicable rather than try
ing to build an expensive system of
roads that we cannot afford. He also
spoke of the high standard of service
required of the postal employees and
said it was the true standard to be
A short recess was then taken and
Leon F. Mixer of Brattleboro, dele
gate to the national convention, made
a report.
Friday morning Congressman D. j.
Foster gave an able address. He began
by impressing them with the fact
that they belonged to the greatest
organization of the world, the greatest
because it was peace union, when
some time all the nations in the
hot hn
department at Washington had grown
rapidly; that the receipts and assess
ments doubled every 10 years but the
organization had not kept up to this
because there was not DEFINITE mead.
He argued that matters would be
much better if there was a postmaster
general who might continue to hold
office for years. A change every year
or two made the department suffer.
He then gave very interesting ac-
count of discrepancies IN the postal
rates, saying that the post office de-
partment is making thorough in
VeStigatiOn to see that matters are
Strengthened out so that the post office
may be self supporting.
He said the rural letter carriers
suffered because they were pioneers,
but that in a few years they would
not suffer because of this. Autos will
be used, which will bring an entire
readjustment of the system, when
their salaries can doubtless be raised
to $1,000.
Congressman Foster urged the
rural letter carriers not to place too
much confidence in their paper, the
Official Organ A short time ago the
editor of this paper said that the gov
eminent was thinking of abolishing
rural free delivery by placing it
under the contract system. Mr.. Foster
said there was no danger of this.
In closing he told the carriers that
the government was about to decide
some way by which they would be
given a pension, as much as the army
and navy department. whether 1T
would be given them yearly after they
had reached the age of seventy, or
whether a small part should be taken
from their annual salary to be given
them when they resigned he said
would be left for them to decide.
The officers were elected Friday
afternoon. They were:-
President, j. M. Carpenter, ST.
Johnsbury.
Bethel.
Secretary, T. ]. Stewart, Morris
Vile.
Treasurer, A. R. Garvin, North
Craftsbury.
The executive board, J. M. Carpen-
T. j. Stewart, Morrisville; c. R. Bat
chelder, Lyndonville; J. A. Carpenter,
Irasburg.
Delegates to the national conven-
ton, J. c. Carpenter. Irasburg, and
B. L. Osgood, Gaysville.
1t was decided to hold the meeting
next year at Rutland.
The treasurer's report showed a
balance of $45.83 in the treasury.
An able and practical address was
given Friday afternoon by w. w.
Sawyer, post Office inspector.
Resolutions were passed thanking
the hotels, their officers, local people
and the speakers for their courtesies
The following resolution was also
adopted
Resolved, that the Rural Letter Car
riers' association of Vermont favors
the improvements of our country
roads in preference to the building
of trunk lines.