"FREE DELIVERY IN RURAL AMERICA.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11502, 7 February 1903, Page 6

"FREE DELIVERY IN RURAL AMERICA.

In its efforts to check the influx of country dwe-len into the cities by making the conditions of farm He mare attractive, the United States at the present time is af- ***** a Tahatfr jftfr* Imwo j_jjg»__»*

countries. 'America to pre-eminenily the land of nnmwae distances, and the isolation &od the loneliness" of rural life "out West," wbere forma u» large and neighboura far, apart, has in the poet been one oi ite most features. In come of these Western State the majority of the inmates of <ihe Jnniktac asylums are -women, a large percentage of whom are fanners' wives, and medical testimony attributes their sad fate in most coses to the lonely iife they had been compelled to lead. But a great change for the better has taken place within the last few years. We deecribed briefly some, time ago, » number of the influences now a*, work to improve the conditions of the American farmer's life— the free delivery of raaibs, the farm telephone, the travelling library, the consolidation of country schools, and other innovations. Of these perhaps the greatest boon to 4ihe farmer has been the free delivery service, and in view of the remarkable development of the system, and its significance as a fadtor in the agricultural expansion of the country, eoroe details gardang its working should be of general interest. Inaugurated in 1896, the service now supports on army of 12,000 camera, eerving daily an area of nearly 300,000 square miles, for the benefit of a population of about 7,000,000. Scene interesting facts and figure* regarding the growth of the system and its organisation are given in the January number of the "American Review of Reviews.' Its development has, it aippeare, been (wonderfully rapid during the last year or two. On June 30th, 1900, the number of routes'in operation woe 1276, and tihe annual cost to the Post Office woe about £70,000 a year. But during the next twelve months there was a great expansion—some 3000 routes "were added to the service, and toe annual appropriation for expenses was raised to £798,748. Thus fairly launched, the eyetem grew rapidly, and by June 30th of last yea* there were 8466 routes in operation, an increase of no fewer than 4165 in one year. The growth of the service rendered necessary the establishment of a special department of the Post Office, and this wae effected: last July. Under the new system lolly one-third of the agricultural area of the United States now enjoys the benefit of a free delivery of mails. In some States, we are told, "entire counties depend on "the carrier service, and the country post " office in a corner of the cross-roade store, "or perhaps the blacksmith's eliop, is " rapidly becoming a memory." Instead of having to travel perhaps ten or fifteen miles to post a letter, or to see if any mail awaits him at the post office, the farmer merely fasten* a letter-box to his gate or by the roadside nearest to his house, and the department does the rest. The carrier's waggon is a miniature post office on wheels. He not only delivers letters, periodtwals and packages, bat eeele stamps and . post-cards, registers letters, and in some districts has authority to iseue money orders. J£ a farmer aa» no stamps, he has merely to leave the money necessary to prepay postage with the letter in his dox, and the-, carrier must stamp the letter and take it to the poet office. The carriers are required to pass an examination in reading, writing, arithmetic, and the topical geography of their neighbourhood, and must be physically fit for the work, >hich, in the sparsely settled and mountainous districts, Iβ by no means light. Their salaries range frong £30 to £120 a year, according,to the length of the ro,ut» they serve, and th« inducement was sufficient to attract no fewer than 60,000 a.pplica»te for tint »er-

vies last year. The free delivery system has already resulted in so marked an increase in the postal revenues that the officials who have carried out the organisation believe that in time the Service will become self-sup-porting. Even at its present oost, ; how-, ever, the benefits derived from the service make it well worth the expense. It brings the farmer into daily communication with the world at large, and robs his home life of much of its isolation. As the "Review of Reviews" points out, th% postman is " not only his messenger and, "hta banker, but his buyer, for the letter " despatched on one day to the city xner"chant, is answered perhaps on the next "by the parcel of merchandise deposited "in his box—an. advantage which the "housewife especially realises. Even the "weather forecast is furnished if*desired, "and iv some jants of tke country the "flag flying from"the mail waggon tells " the man behind the plough what be may "expect from the elements in the, next "twenty-four hours." In a Taristy of ways, in fact, the innovation is proving its .usefulness in widening the fanner's outlook, increasing his facilities/ and generally adding new interests to country life.