MAIL DELIVERY, RURAL FREE. 



,11-0 bad. or, under ordinary circumstances, that is 

 irss than 20 to 25 miles long, or that serves fewer 

 iiuin 100 families. The route is so arranged that 

 l lie carrier will not be required to travel over the 

 .same ground twice on the same day. Those 

 served must put up, at their own expense, boxes 

 conforming to the requirements of the depart- 

 ment. The carrier deposits mail in the boxes and 

 takes mail from them, except registered mail, 

 which must be delivered to the addressee. The 

 carriers are required to take with them on their 

 trips, for the accommodation of their patrons, a 

 sufficient supply of stamps, stamped envelopes, 

 and postal cards. If the carrier rinds an un- 

 stamped letter in a mail-box, and with it money 

 sullicient to pay the postage, he is instructed to 

 allix the necessary stamps. Carriers are empow- 

 ered to register letters and packages and to de- 

 liver the same, giving and taking receipts on 

 forms provided. They are also authorized to ac- 

 cept money for money-orders, giving their receipt 

 therefor; and, if the patrons of the delivery desire 

 to make the carrier their agent for the purpose, 

 the carrier may enclose the orders, when issued, in 

 addressed envelopes confided to his charge, and 

 mail them without Teturning the orders to the 

 senders. 



" The establishment of free rural delivery at 

 any post-office does not change in any particular 

 the rate of postage on any class of mail-matter 

 received at or delivered from that office, except 

 that the one-cent rate on drop letters does not 

 apply when such letters are collected or delivered 

 by rural carriers. Drop letters so collected or de- 

 livered must be prepaid at the rate of two cents 

 for each ounce or fraction thereof." 



Rural carriers were paid at first only $150 a 

 year, then $300; in 1898 this was raised to $400, 

 and they now receive $500 for an ordinary route, 

 and for special short routes $100 a year for each 

 5 miles traveled. They are bonded for $500, and 

 each carrier has a substitute bonded for the same 

 amount, that the mails may never lack a responsi- 

 ble carrier. Good character and temperate habits 

 are required. The civil service regulations never 

 have been applied to this service. Women are 

 eligible, and some have been appointed and have 

 served acceptably. 



The extension of rural free mail delivery is 

 largely owing to the enthusiastic support of Post- 

 master-General Smith. It was he that developed 

 the idea of extending the service over an entire 

 county, suspending all other service, that the best 

 evidence might be obtained on these points: 1. To 

 what extent can free rural delivery supersede 

 fourth-class post-offices and star routes? 2. What 

 will be the effect on the postal revenues? 3. What 

 the net cost to the Government, compared with 

 the old system. Carroll County, Maryland, was 

 selected as presenting average rural conditions, 

 with the third-class post-office of Westminster as 

 the distributing point. On Dec. 20, 1899, 163 

 minor post-offices and 35 services by star-route 

 contractors and mail messengers were discon- 

 tinued, and rural free delivery was substituted in 

 their place. The Westminster service began with 

 4 2-horse postal wagons, each equipped with all 

 the appliances of a traveling post-office, and each 

 accompanied by a postal clerk empowered to issue 

 money-orders, register letters, and deliver letters, 

 and cancel stamps on letters collected. These 

 wagons supplied mail at designated points to 20 

 rural carriers, for whom cross-routes were laid 

 out, to bring all the territory embodied in the 

 order within easy reach of the mails. During the 

 first three months the cost of the service was 

 $4,543; the saving from service superseded was 



$2,805; the increase of postal receipts directly 

 resulting from the increased accommodation was 

 $1,501.75, making the net cost of carrying the 

 postal service practically to, or near to, the homes 

 of all the people in this county for one-quarter of 

 a year only $203. Dec. 1, 1901, 10 complete 

 county services had been established. 



At suitable places on each rural free delivery 

 route, chiefly at cross-roads, schoolhouses, and 

 places of general resort, the placing of United 

 States collection mail-boxes of the regulation pat- 

 tern used in cities has been authorized. 



While at first there was some opposition to free 

 rural delivery, it has now practically vanished. 

 Dec. 1, 1900, there were on file in the Post-Office 

 Department 2,159 applications for routes not 

 established. Dec. 1, 1901, the number of these ap- 

 plications was 6,129, or more than the number of 

 routes established. Postmaster-General Smith 

 says : " It has been made plain that this service 

 is a potent educational force ; that it brings agri- 

 cultural life into far closer relations with the 

 active business world; that it keeps the farmer 

 in daily touch with markets and prices; that it 

 advances general intelligence through the in- 

 creased circulation of legitimate journals and pe- 

 riodicals, stimulates correspondence, quickens all 

 interchanges, promotes good roads, enhances farm 

 values, makes farm life less isolated and more at- 

 tractive, and unites with other wholesome influ- 

 ences in checking and changing the hitherto pre- 

 vailing current from country to city." Free rural 

 delivery was commended by President McKinley 

 in his last annual message. 



In his last annual report the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture discloses a new function for free rural 

 delivery. He says that particular attention has 

 been, given to the distribution of weather fore- 

 casts by the free rural delivery. There are now in 

 operation 365 centers, supplying an aggregate of 

 nearly 42,000 families in the farming districts 

 with the latest weather predictions. He said that, 

 with some additional appropriation, it is the in- 

 tention to reach several hundred thousand farm- 

 houses with the daily forecasts and warnings of 

 the Weather Bureau during 1902. He points out 

 that the value of frost and cold-wave warnings to 

 rural communities is beyond estimate, and that 

 the free rural delivery of the Post-Office Depart- 

 ment places the means at command to reach those 

 who will be the most benefited by these warn- 

 ings. 



In Great Britain there is substantially a house- 

 to-house rural delivery, only the most inacces- 

 sible domiciles being left unvisited. The rural car- 

 riers generally travel on foot and walk from 15 

 to 18 miles a day. Their average pay is $4.50 a 

 week. The Government allows each $5 a year for 

 shoes, furnishes him with medical attendance 

 when sick, and allows him to retire on a small 

 pension after ten years of faithful service. Prac- 

 tically all France is covered by rural delivery, 

 the service extending into every commune. Rural 

 carriers travel on foot, are paid not quite 2 cents 

 a mile, and are required to cover their routes 

 every day in the year. The length of a route is 

 10 to 15 miles. They have an allowance for cloth- 

 ing, and may retire ori a pension after fifteen 

 years of service. Germany has rural delivery, but 

 the service is not exactly free. Extra postage is 

 charged, part of which goes to the carrier and 

 part to the Government. In addition, the carrier 

 is paid about $240 a year. In Austria-Hungary 

 the rural carrier is hired by the local postmaster. 

 He collects a fee of half a cent on all letters, and 

 of an eighth of a cent on all newspapers delivered 

 by him. He travels about 10 miles a day, always 



