The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1914-07-17
many medals as the man. who went
cut TO flghf for his country.

Cut 10 HBhhdof pis SouhtI3. m
| Speaking. OF mistakes. that were
bound TO happen In such service
as that OF carrying the rural mails,
Mr.. Deets said there was never a
man living who did not make mis-
takes, but the mistakes of the honest
mail carrier were honest mistakes
and such mistakes would never cause
serious trouble.
Where Hotaling Made Mistake.
why, here Is Mr.. Hotaling, the
next speaker" said DIR. Deets. Even
he makes mistakes. Not long ago
heard him talking to himself. |
asked why he did so. He said there
we're two reasons. One was that he
liked to talk TO an honest man and
the other was that he liked to hear
an honest man talk. Now, wasn't
that a mistaken"
Mr.. Deets remarked that he bellev-
ed that the government should stop
spending such enormous sums on
the building and armament of battle
ships and use the money to give the
rural mail carriers higher salaries.
He believed the federal government
was very lame in some things.
The speaker remarked that the
mail carriers had out-stripped both
Cupid and Santa Claus In their re-
spectiye fields OF activity. The let
ter carriers shot darts that brought
the hearts together and the letter
carriers performed such distributions
of gifts that must have astonished
old Santa Claus himself.
Mr.. Deets said that he believed
the $1,000 per year that the rural
carriers were getting was too small
II was earned not by, one man but
by. man and woman working to-
gether
1.-THE Ups and Downs"
Fl. G. Hotallng OF Mapleton. re-
spending TO toast on UPS and
Downs, Sharps and Flats. Of the
Rural Mail Carriers Life" said in
part:
Our rural mail department is a
much more important part of the
government service than most people
are aware and of far greater ex.
tent. II comprises great army OF
workers, nearly fifty thousand of
them, and their equipment, consist
ing OF thousands of motorcycles, au-
tomobiles, wagons and carriages, to-
gether with 10000 horses and mules,
represent an investment OF more than
SIS, 100000, for which property or its
upkeep the carriers are not allowed
one cent. To this extent the country
carrier is being penalized as his work
in every way demands as high stan.
dard OF intelligence and efficiency as
does that of the city carrier. This
handicap amounts to several hun
bred dollars a year to each carrier,
to say nothing Of the original in.
vestment. a-
But there is another side to this
question. The rural carrier is recon-
pensed by the fact that his cost of
living is not as high as that OF his
city brother, who fails to find fresh
eggs, dressed chicken and some
other luxury in the mail box, occa-
sionally labeled. for the carrier
Il note by the official newspaper
Of your organization that you are
DESTROYS OF adding another vacation
day to the roll, that OF Christmas
The day can be obtained. but It
should be gained by education rather
than by statute, by consent rather
than by force. AS representative of
the newspaper men of Minnesota, II
feel free to say that the press OF the
state is not only ready but willing
to cooperate with the rural carriers
in educating the public to a point
whereby they will mail their Christ
mas gifts earlier, so that they may
reach their destination before Christ
mas day. In this way the holiday
may be secured withou adverse crit
icism and censure.
The rural mail system Is but In
Its infancy. II Is expanding by leaps
and bounds and the government must
soon realize that t. Is a fixture by
planning for It's permanency and its
continual growth and development.
The only cloud which threatens its
existence Is that of one-cent letter
Of but $14,s4O for the first years
postage. Starting eighteen years ago
with three routes and at an expense
service, the business has grown un.
I'll now $4,000 carriers are employed,
and the annual expense is close 10
$50,000.000 The parcel post, which
now permits the sending of fifty
pound packages. may soon give way
to the allowance OF double that
weight, although we believe such
change uncalled for and an injury
TO prompt service
Demands on Carriers.
Even then Il will not come up 10
the demands made one wet season on
a carrier In my home town. The
roads we're bad and the carrier was
only able TO make the trip by the
use Of two-wheeled cart and good
strong horse, when one OF his pa.
irons asked il he would not please
take wagon the next day and bring
out couple OF sacks OF feed and a
sack or two OF -four. as the roads
were too bad for the patron to gol
to town The carrier of course aver