The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1912-01-10
RURAL CARRIER SERVICE.

lily since last Christmas that it has
ever suffered since it's establishment
in this county. The truth is that
rural delivery was established too
soon Good roads should have been
first. Under favorable conditions de-
livery can be made with promptness
and regularity, but there seems to be
no provision for clearing the roads in
bad weather The rural carriers out
of Denison have worked the hardest
we have ever seen them work to make
their routes, but it has been impos-
sible. With the thermometer at 20
degrees below, with the roads drifted
full, with sixteen inches of snow on
the level, it is simply impossible for
horses and men to make twenty
five mile trip daily. The carrier
routes, it must be remembered, do
not follow the main travelled roads,
In order to reach the different local
tiles many cross roads are used,
which in bad weather seem to be
travelled only by the rural carrier.
The worst of it is that this period OF
cold and snow is sure to be followed
by a period of slush and mud, which
will be nearly, if not quite, as i'm
passable. Most of the patrons recog-
nize the difficulties under which the
carriers labor and some express as
constituent that any attempt is made
at delivery under the present cOndi-
tons. A few complain and think be-
cause they can get to town by tray
cling through the fields to the main
roads and thence into town the car
riers ought to be able to make their
trips. There is hardly a one of
these men who would attempt the
twenty-five mile drive for the daily
wage of the rural carrier. The fact
is that they make the arduOus at
tempt very much more for the honor
of the service than for the amount
paid them for the trip They would
much rather leave their horses in the
barn than expose their property
and their health to the wintry blasts
and the heavy drifts. The only fair
ly successful trips which have been
made the past two weeks have been
those where the carried employed an
%0 I01, wifi hn
when they went down and to right
the wagon when it fell over in the
drifts. One carriers wagon tipped
over four times during single trip.
We are confident that the carriers
are doing their best Many of the
farmers are doing their best also.
They have driven the roads over
which the carrier must travel and
have done what they could to help
out In some instances their work
has proven of no value, however, be-
cause the neighbor has refused to do
his share. Each route ought to have
an association with each member
pledged to keep open a certain por-
ton of the line. This would not in
volve any great hardship on an indi-
vidual, but it would keep the road
open. This should also include drag
ging during the muddy season. Such
an association would not only be o.
benefit to the mail service, but ii
would make farm life much more
agreeable by opening up the avenues
of sociability and neighborliness. AS
it is the farmers are practically shut
off during the bad roads seasons and
there can be but little chance for
that friendly visiting which breaks
the monotcny of farm life in winter.
There should be enough public senti-
ment aroused so that the man who
fails to do his part will feel the
weight of public censure. No one
man ought to be allowed to interrupt
the mail service of an entire route
because he is too ShiftlesS to clear
those who talk the most at a good
roads convention have been the most
shiftless in caring for their own roads.
The pOstoffice department has been
for long time to aban-
don those routes where the roads are
not properly maintained and there
will be changes in the present routes
where experience shows that the
roads are impossible and that no ad |
equate effort is being made to keep
them open. Neither the carriers or
the local postoftice wish these
changes, but they are sure to come |
unless a determined effort is made |
to better conditions.
The shrewd observer has already
noted that Theodore Roosevelt does