The extension of rural delivery has increased from year to year and the cost of the service has grown in corresponding proportion. The great next step would be country-wide extension, which has been frequently mentioned on account of the vast possibilities bound up in such a measure. This would, however, involve a very considerable expense. It is estimated that to extend this service to all rural patrons wherever located would cost something like $100,000,000 more. While such complete service is the logical conclusion of all rural delivery effort and may be expected to engage public attention in the near future, as it is the only means left by which the thousands of people now deprived of such benefits can be reached and accommodated, such a tremendous advance must be seriously considered before any definite steps can be taken, but rural delivery will never reach the point of greatest usefulness until this country-wide extension is an accomplished fact and people everywhere are permitted to equally enjoy the benefit which it confers.
How Rural Delivery Enhances the Value of Farm Land
Many arguments have been advanced by the friends of rural delivery to show the almost immeasurable value of this service to the farming communities of the nation, but there is one case which has come under the notice of the publisher which presents an argument of such striking force that it is worthy of special mention.
Mr. Marion F. Holderman, of Washington, D. C., states that in 1885 he bought 135 acres of farming land three miles east of Rantoul, Ill., in Champaign County, for $44 per acre, and that in 1901 rural delivery was established enabling the delivery of the Chicago daily papers at his gate in the morning, thus giving him all the advantages of the Chicago market and the opportunity of the shipment of grain, stock, and farm products the same day that these published market reports appeared. This fact so greatly enhanced the value of the land through these succeeding years that he was able to sell this property for $225 per acre on March 1, 1917, thus netting him a profit of $24,435. No improvements were made on the farm except necessary repairs and painting of the buildings.
He states that if there had not been rural delivery he would have had to go to the post office for his mail at least twice a week which at the lowest estimate for the time of the person, vehicle, and the horses would have cost him over $225 per annum, and as there are 105 families on the route besides himself, the saving to the patrons of the route by this service is over $23,850 annually, besides the value of the land increase, and the many other advantages which have followed.
Taking his estimate of saving to each family along a route and allowing for six families for each mile, three on each side of the road, and there being 1,037,259 miles of rural delivery roads in the United States, it can be seen what an aggregate wonderful saving this has made, not counting the property, personal and educational value of such a service to the people.
It will be seen that by this showing that the saving to the patrons of 1 mile of rural delivery service ($1,350) will more than pay what it costs the Government for a 24-mile route at a rate of $1,200 per annum.
The Per Capita Cost in Rural Delivery
The per capita cost in the Rural Delivery Service has been a matter of considerable interest to those who are following the progress and extension of this branch of the public service. The great advance which has been made in this service and the still greater extent to which it is proposed to extend it, embracing ultimately all patrons wherever located, naturally raises the question of cost as a whole and the cost per patron.