El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-07-29

FRANK q. CARPENTERS LETTER.

the newspapers to an enormous extent
1t has made the farmer daily sub
scriber and has led to the building up
of small dailies all over the country.
The farmers are the real thinkers of
the United States, and since the rural
have been doing more thinking than
ever. They are more careful readers
than the city people. They go through
the papers column by column, reading
the news articles and not merely the
headlines They study the editorials,
and the result of their thinking Is
seen in the letters which come here
to Washington and to congress. We
have had to discontinue some of our
routes, and in such cases we find that
the most strenuous protests come from
those who are thus prevented from
daily receiving their favorite news
papers,"
Working for Road Improvement.
Another important thing that the
rural mail service Is accomplishing"
said the fourth assistant postmaster
general, is connected with the reads
of the country. We are now working
with the agricultural departmental bu-
reau of road improvement and are
insisting on good roads wherever the
mails are carried. We refuse to granr
a route until the roads have been put
into shape, and If they become impas-
sa ole or in such condition that the
delivery cannot be easily continued
over them, we insist that they be re-
paired or say that the service will be
discontinued In this work we are as
sisted by the road officials of many
OF the states, who sent out to each
rural carrier a blank containing ques-
lions to be answered as to the con-
ditions of the roads over which he
travels
He Is asked to report as to the ma
terials Of which they are composed, as
to the condition of their bridges, and
as to how they are worked.
THE state of Indiana. for instance,
has made law that all the highway
along the rural delivery routes must
year round A neglect to comply with
this law after five days notice Is
punishable by a fine of from 81 to s25
per day, which is levied on the local
ity- Oother states are considering
similar laws, and by these means ma
terial improvements are being made
in the roads Of the country.
AS it is now our carriers are going
daily over nearly million miles of
roadway, and We have now instructed
the postmasters at the rural delivery
OAAlSCS " ocUQ III ueIdlleQ reports con-
corning these roads. So far we find
that only 35, 600 miles of them are of
macadam, the remainder being Of
earth, sand or gravel. The reports
snow that since the rural delivery
service was established, more than
$4,000, 600 has been expended on the
roads traversed by our carriers, and
we are glad to say that the road
officials and people generally are do
ing much to put the roads into bet
ter shape for the service. In the past
year more work has been done on
such public highways than In any
other year since the rural delivery
was started, and our reports indicate
that general interest IN road i'm
provement is being manifested
throughout the country
The Passing of the Small Post Offices.
Does not the rural delivery do
away with many of the smaller post
offices?" 1 asked.
They have been discontinued by
the thousand. There is no necessity
for many such offices with an eff
cient rural carrier service. The car
rier Is not mere collector and dis
tributer of the mail. His wagon is a
miniature post office on wheels often
containing compartments for stamps
of the denominations in general use
and postal cards. He has the author !
ity TO sell these as we'll as 10 register
letters delivered to him which may |
contain money or valuable matter. In |
some places he is authorized to ex-
change currency for money orders |
sent by the people on his route, and
he delivers registered letters and
special delivery mail to the indfvidu-
ais. taking their signatures therefor.
If farmer wishes to mail a letter
and has no stamps he can leave the
amount necessary to prepay the post |
age with the letter in the box and |
the carrier must stamp it. In short, |
the service is as far as possible what |