Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1911-12-09
POSTAL Men
ARE INTERESTED
-
in: !! GOOD ROADS
Greater Enthusiasm .Expressd
Over the Nation on I'm
poftant Question

benefited by Improved
Highways
Bureau of the Bismarck Tribune,
1926 New York Avenue.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 9.-Recogniz
ing the deep interest which the many
readers of the Bismrck Tribune take
in the interdependent matters of good
roads and the rural rail delivery serv'
ice, both of which are prime factors
in the march of progress in North Da.
kota, Assistant Postmaster General
De Graw took up those subjects with
me this afternoon, and In the course
of his remarks said:
,"That the postofice department
should be interested in the building
and Improvement of the highways
throughout the country is but natural
When consideration is given to the
fact that many millions Of dollars are
spent annually in the maintenance OF
the rural mail service, and that during
the course of a year rural and star
carriers travel the enormous 0ocal
distance of nearly 400,000,0o0 miles
of roads.
"The department expects of the
benefciaries of this service that they
shall maintain the highways In such
condition as to insure the delivery OF
mail at all seasons Of the year with
celerity, certainty and regularity, anu
unless this is done the service Is cur
tailed or withdrawn entirely. AS a
result of the departments 1nsistence
on the maintenance Of good roads and
of its cooperation, through postmas'
ters and rural carriers, with state
highway officials and good roads asso-
cations, it is believed that during the
past five or six years greater inter-
est has been engendered In the good
roads question, more money .appro.
priated, and more work accomplished
than during any other like period IN
the coutnry's history.
In the result achieved the post
masters and rural carriers OF the
country have played a large part. and
much is due their zeal and untirlng
efforts. In large number of states
the highway officials have requested
the department to permit rural car
riers to cooperate with them in secur'
ing information and data pertaining
to highways, their condition, and the
lack of availability of suitable road
building materials. In many IN
stances postmasters and rural car
riers have taken the initiative in form
ing good roads associations whereby
vast sums have been provided for the
Improvement of the entire system OF
highways in certain counties. In nu-
merous other instances they have ar
ranged for and held throughout the
counties in which they resided series
of good roads meetings and secured
the attendance of officials from the
national bureau of good roads or 9TH
ers skilled in road building, to ad-
dress and inform those in attendance
on proper road building methods ana
materials to be used.
It is conceded by those interested
in the good roads question that rural
delivery and the attitude and co-opera-
tion of the postoff1ce department IN
the matter have given greater stimu'
lus to the question and have been pro-
ductive of greater results than all
other causes combined, and 1t Is de-
sired that every postmaster and every
rural carrier shall continue this CO.
operation as far as he can consistent
with his duties.
"While it is perhaps generally under
stood that the department requires
that all roads on which rural delivery
is established shall be maintained IN
condition to be travelled with facility
and safety at all seasons of the year,
I very much fear that the reasons Tor
this requirement are not well under
stood or appreciated. Then again,
people of various communities have
different standards, and what would
be considered a good or fair one In
one section Of the country would be
considered a very poo" or bad one IN
another.
When service is suspended on ru.
raj route complaint is sometimes
made by those who are thus deprived
of the delivery of mail by rural car
rier. But such complsinants lose
sight of the fact that rural carrier
is required daily to travel his route,
verying from Is to 30 miles in length,
without regard to climatic conditions,
while some of the people may by dlnt
of floundering and plodding get
through what would be reasonably !
as an impossible road, or
might get over a stretch of road four
or five miles in length. Rural car.
riers cannot be and are not expected
to travel roads hub deep in mud or In |
such condition as to cause great |
to the carriers animals and
loss of time to the carrier.
The interest Of the department In
the good roads question Is para !
mount, for the reason that the 4l,ss4
rural carriers employed are. daily
travelling more than one million miles
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