80 RURAL CONVENIENCES 



the world ; and, in turn, carry his butter and new-laid 

 eggs to profitable city customers, all at very cheap 

 rates. 



In 1911, when rural delivery was new, 41,359 carriers 

 served 19,000,000 country people at a cost to the govern- 

 ment of about two dollars apiece. This cost, it was found, 

 was repaid by the increased postal business. In the first 

 two years after "free" service was extended to the country, 

 the general mail matter in one Maryland county increased 

 90 per cent. 



Then, January 1, 1913, the parcel post was started, and 

 the volume of postal business grew enormously. A year 

 later a new parcel post law made the low rates still lower, 

 and raised the weight limit on packages. 1 The next year 

 (1915) the rural mail service was reorganized and greatly 

 extended, so as to reach nearly all the farms except those 

 in exceedingly isolated and inaccessible districts. 



49. The trolley and automobile have taken high places 

 among the farmer's conveniences. The trolley may pass 

 his house and stop at his front gate. With little expense, 

 then, he can take his family to the village or city store, or 

 send his freight to the consumer. The number of auto- 

 mobiles that have been bought by farmers in recent years 

 proves that this convenience is being appreciated. Many 

 farmers now consider the automobile a necessity. A few 

 miles on a good road mean very little to the man at the 

 wheel. The farmer can travel for many miles with speed, 

 pleasure, and comfort, to compare his own work with that 

 of his neighbors, or to do his marketing and to carry light 

 produce to town. The automobile truck, also, for general 



1 In I'.'ll it became possible to send by mail almost any package under 50 

 pounds in weight to any point less than 150 miles distant, and to send 20-pound 

 packages to any point in the United States. There is a size limit, however, 

 as well as a weight limit on postal parcels. 



