Milford chronicle., 1937-11-19
80 . .

| hC tiaAA iva Oh At~
post by the side of the road symbo
Lies the romance of letter writing
Ever since frontier days letters have
been the wings of American civiliza-
tion and the voice of its progress
Letters have helped build good citi-
zenship. They have stimulated ma
tional good will. They have exper-
fenced every method of travel from
pony express and stage coach TO
streamlined train and plane. Ever
since the first white settlements were
established on the shores OF the New
World, letters have been dependent
OIL roads to carry them to their desti-
nations.
The roadside mail box is likewise
a symbol of the unselfsh service of
$4,000 rural letter carriers who daily
travel, rain or shine, over 100000
miles of the highways and byways of
rural America, serving 6,950,000 fami-
lies and carrying the mail to more
than 25,000,000 expectant individuals.
had the happy privilege OF ad-
dressing the recent 34th annual con.
vention of the National Rural Letter
carriers Association in New Orleans.
The emblem of this splendid organi-
zation incorporates the horse and
buggy and indicates the necessity OF
roads to the job of carrying the mail.
The emblem does not, however, in
dicate the willingness of the letter
carriers of today to put up with the
horse-and-bug roads of yesterday.
buggy roads are things OF
the past in America and the ID
mile-an-hour highway of few years
ago has been outmoded. The deli
very of rural mail today is mechan-
lied and speedier service. A familiar
trail was sufficient TO the needs OF the
pony express rider of pioneer days,
but the rural letter carrier today
drives a motor vehicle and all-weath-
er roads. therefore, become necessary
to the proper delivery of mail in any
kind of weather. There can be no
excuse for conditions that existed
during the past few winters. Rural
carriers were compelled in many
places to go back to the horse and
buggy, to the use of sledges and some
had to go on foot to get the mail
delivered.
The members of the National Rural
Letter Carriers Association are in
tensely interested in the improve
ment of the roads on which they |
spend the best part of their lives.
They adopted a resolution at their |
New Orleans meeting favoring the
of at least 25 per cent
Of all federal highway money for
the construction and maintenance of
rural route roads that are not part
Of existing main or secondary high
ways. These letter carriers and the
rural population they daily serve are
looking forward to and should be
granted the improvement of farm-to-
market roads. While these people
know that some scattered improve
nents have been made in rural road
conditions. they realize that rural
have received fewer
,ood-road benefits than any other
of our population.
News from the political. industrial
md educational centers of our civili-
.ation is essential to the progress of
'ural America. The farmer, the cross
'oads merchant, the village teacher.
he small town preacher, lawyer and
loctor, all are vitality concerned with
.ity, state and. national legislation;
With current questions of national
md international importance. The
ural community inhabitant has a
teen desire to keep in touch with the
outside" world. He has come to de-
dalfuaru ond I /
.ood roads to bring him the informa-
ion contained within letters and {
he pages of his community newspa-
Ier to keep him posted on the pro-
ress of our great country. Prices, :
90, are as vital to him as to the ,
roker in Wall Street. The market Z
bility and sales value of his pro-
uce determine his future prosperity. !
iood roads are an absolute necessity
0 the expansion of daily mail serv-
,e to the rural communities. Good ,
Dads bring encouraging news and a ,
ightful share of the nations pro- s.
ress to even the most isolated back
ountry spots. Our highways have -,
ften been called the arteries of
.merica. like to think of the rural
etter carriers as the life blood fiow-
lg through those arteries, bringing
ew vitality of rural America.
From stage-coach days down to
lie present time the delivery of mail !
} the rural sections of the United !
tates has constantly improved and b
lways in proportion to the improved
Of the road over which the \
ail travels. d