The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-30

Copyright 1911, by Frank c. Carpenter)
 Washington, D. C. INtFTEEN years ago when Uncle Sam " was still but little more than a \ machine for collecting taxes and paying employees, the man outside the city got his letters as he could once a day, once a week, or, perhaps, once a month. To do so he had to ride or walk miles, and his only source of sending mail was through the country postoffice, to which he must go. Then began the era of Uncle Sam, patriarch, and the agents of the postoffice department com menced to call daily at the homes of the farmers. This was the beginning of the rural free delivery, which has now spread to every part of the country, and which daily serves more than 20000,00O of people. There are already over 40,000 rural mail carriers, who are always en route, and the miles they daily travel are more than four times as great as from here to the moon. In year of 300 work ing days they cover a distance of about 900 O00,000 miles, or over three times as far as from the earth to the sun, and the total annual cost of the service ap- proximates the enormous sum of $3S,O0o coo.
 Starting the Rural Free Delivery
 Before 1 tell you of the new plans which Uncle sam has for this branch of his business-plans which involve the parcels post and other important additions-I want to say 8 word as to how the rural free delivery was start ed. II had been in use in other coun- tries for years when Uncle Sam took it up The British were sending their letters to almost every home in the United Kingdom, and so were the Bel giars, French. Swiss and Germans long before we began to consider trt matter. Then about the year 1890 oui Postmaster General began to look int it, and in 1893 one of them reporte1 to Congress against it, saying that il was mpracticable and that it woulc cost at least $2O,000,00 per annum an5 would bring little back. A year later Congress was willing to test the mat ter and made an appropriation of s10. 900 for the purpose, but Postmast ei Generel Bissel refused to spend the money so foolishly. and when, a year or two later, the appropriation was In- creased to s20,000. Postmaster General Wilson said thai the plan was imprac- ticable, and it was not until 1896, whsa Congress gave him s50.OO0, that he made the first test. The business was
 
 badly managed and it did not succeed
 The following year it was trie again, ut this time al the request oi the then first assistant postmaster gen. cral. MT. Perry s. Heath, who got Congress to appropriate s150.0O0 foi the purpose MT. Heath urged the mat ter. hut some of the senators objecteti and one of them said:
 MT Heath. you arc acting very un- wisely The first thing you know wf will have all our farmers demanding { daily delivery, and they will cause us no end of trouble.
 Perry Heath replied that the farm CTS had the rlght to a daily mail a. well as the city people, that they werc taxed just as Heavily and that the, had just as great a part in the gov ernment At any rate, the appropri allon was granted and S3 routes wer, established that year. The next year the number was doubled, and 10 year. thereafter the carriers were more thar a7,0e0 in number At that time the siile age was over S00,00o and the costNJlai risen to be more than s26.000,000 Ipei onnum. It is now Si0,00e,G00 more an