MAIL DELIVERY, RURAL FREE. 



341 



the manual service formerly required by the Gov- 

 ernment. The change has been made gradually, 

 and is not yet complete. The poll-tax hus been 

 increased, and to enable the natives to pay it 

 they are given employment in Government work- 

 shops and private establishments at a franc a 

 day. Hindu and Chinese coolies have been im- 

 ported into Madagascar, the latter to work on 

 the roads. Hindu merchants and Germans have 

 acquired two-thirds of the trade on the west side 

 of the island. In the south French traders and 

 colonists are coming in and posts are being rapidly 

 pushed forward. On the central plateau there is 

 little to tempt European enterprise, while in the 

 coast regions and the forests agriculture and com- 

 merce are making progress. 



MAIL DELIVERY, BUBAL FBEE. As 

 undertaken in the United States, this is the free 

 delivery of mail at least once every week day to 

 farmers, miners, and others living outside of cities, 

 towns, and villages. It is not the " village de- 

 livery " recommended by Postmaster - General 

 John Wanamaker in 1890, which was tried by him 

 and discontinued after a trial of a little more 

 than two years on a change in the national ad- 

 ministration. 



In 1885 John M. Stahl, who was then a regu- 

 lar writer for a dozen farm papers, began a per- 

 sistent agitation for the free delivery of mail to 

 farmers. Although the suggestion was generally 

 received with ridicule, he succeeded, in three or 

 four years, in having it rather widely discussed 

 and in securing for it some friends. He introduced 

 a resolution favoring it in the annual meeting of 

 the Farmers' National Congress in 1891, which 

 was adopted, and a similar resolution has been 

 adopted by that organization at every annual 

 meeting since. It is claimed for the Grange, how- 

 ever, that it was the first agricultural organiza- 

 tion to advocate rural free delivery. However, 

 the earliest support given to the suggestion was 

 by city organizations and newspapers. 



The movement for 'free rural delivery received 

 a great impetus from the letter of Postmaster- 

 General Wanamaker, transmitted to the Senate 

 May 3, 1892, in response to a resolution calling 

 on him for " all the information that may be on 

 file in his office . . . relative to the question of 

 extending the free-delivery system to rural com- 

 munities or for substituting said system for that 

 of the present star-route service, as the same may 

 be found practicable." This letter, of 180 printed 

 pages, contained extracts- from editorials that had 

 appeared in 472 periodicals in all parts of the coun- 

 try, advocating the free delivery of mail to farm- 

 ers, and also a report on the results from the 

 free delivery of mail in 48 villages, inaugurated by 

 him under the authority of a resolution of Con- 

 gress approved Oct. 10, 1890. These experiments 

 showed, as stated by Postmaster-General Wana- 

 maker, that "while an allowance for natural 

 growth equal to the average annual increase in 

 earnings has been made, the business of these ex- 

 perimental offices has further increased to an 

 amount slightly over the additional outlay for 

 free delivery." It was said by the advocates of 

 free rural delivery that the experiments in free 

 village delivery proved that the first-named would 

 not add to the net expense of the Post-Office De- 

 partment; for not only would free rural delivery 

 make a large addition to the revenues of the de- 

 partment, but it would effect a large saving 

 through the abolition of fourth-class post-offices 

 and star routes. These views were presented with 

 great energy and persistence, Mr. Stahl, who con- 

 tinued to lead the agitation, speaking before 

 Chautauqua assemblies, the National Grange, 



farmers' institutes, press association ,eir..;in<l hav- 

 ing articles published in more thai Unec-fourtha 

 of the periodicals of the country. \o n \ the local 

 paper using " patent insides " to tli met n,p<,litan 

 dailies and the North American 1; view. ii< : se- 

 cured the approval of the then powerful 1, 

 of American Wheelmen and the support 

 official organ. Champions of free rural delivery 

 became active in Congress, and $10,000 were Ap- 

 propriated for the fiscal year 1894, .$20,000 for the 

 fiscal year 1895, $30,000 for the fiscal year LsiHi, 

 and $40,000 for the fiscal year 1897, for experi- 

 mental work. Postmaster-General Bissell refused 

 to make the experiments. He was succeeded by 

 Postmaster-General Wilson, who established the 

 first free rural-delivery route, from Charlestown, 

 W. Va., Oct. 1, 189G. In October, 1896, 15 routes 

 were established; 15 were established in the fol- 

 lowing month, and by May 1, 1897, the number 

 was increased to 44. These routes were in 26 

 States and Territories, from Maine and Massa- 

 chusetts to Louisiana and Arizona, and from 

 Georgia to Minnesota and Washington. The re- 

 sults were so satisfactory that Congress made the 

 appropriation for this work for the fiscal year 

 1898, $50,000, and in 1898 the number of routes 

 was increased to 128. The appropriation for the 

 fiscal year 1899 was $150,000; for 1900, $450,000; 

 for 1901, $1,750,000; and for 1902, $3,500,000. On 

 July 1, 1899, 391 routes had been established; 

 Nov. 1, 1899, 634 routes, serving 452,735 persons; 

 June 30, 1900, 1,214 routes, serving 879,127 per- 

 sons; Nov. 15, 1900, 2,614 routes, serving 1,801,534 

 persons; July 1, 1901, 4,298 routes, serving more 

 than 2,500,000 persons; and on Dec. 1, 1901, 6,009 

 routes, serving about 4,000,000 persons. In his 

 annual report, dated Nov. 25, 1901, Postmaster- 

 General Smith said that by July 1, 1902, the num- 

 ber of routes will be increased to 8,000, serving 

 5,700,000 persons. 



The first step to be taken by a community to 

 obtain free rural delivery is to prepare and sign a 

 petition addressed to the First Assistant Postmas- 

 ter-General. The Post-Office Department recom- 

 mends that the petition read as follows: 



To the First Assistant Postmaster-General, 



Washington, D. C.: 



The undersigned, heads of families, residing in 

 . . . county, State of . . . , respectfully ask that 

 the Rural Free Delivery Service be extended to 

 them, the delivery to start from . . . post-office, 

 . . . County, . . . State, or such other point as the 

 officers of the department may deem best adapted 

 to the service. A map or rough sketch of the pro- 

 posed route is herewith enclosed. Your petition- 

 ers-are mostly (here state vocations, such as 

 farmers, truck-gardeners, dairymen, cattle-raisers, 

 or ivhatever the chief occupation of the people may 

 fee). The roads over the proposed route are (state 

 whether pike, graveled, or otherwise). There are 

 no unbridged creeks, and the roads are passable 

 at all seasons of the year. 



Opposite each signature should appear the num- 

 ber in family more than sixteen years of age, and 

 the distance in miles from the nearest post-office. 

 When properly signed, the petition must be sent 

 to the Congressman in whose district the peti- 

 tioners are located, or to one of the Senators from 

 the State. If he recommends the petition and for- 

 wards it to the Post-Office Department, a special 

 agent is sent to the locality, to map out a route, 

 and to select a rural carrier and substitute, to be 

 appointed by the department. In this work the 

 advice of the Congressman from that district is 

 sought. 



No route will be established where the roads 



