There are to-day far-seeing railway officials who have given this problem serious consideration, and who have arrived at the conclusion just stated.
VII. The Farmer. Last, but not least in importance, comes the farmer. To-day, cut off from parcel delivery, he is the victim of bad government, both in his bad roads and lack of postal facilities. The one step of progress that the United States post-office has made of recent years, that is worthy of respect, is the rural postal delivery. As proposed, however, it is ridiculous. The idea was advanced by some politicians for the purpose of creating additional patronage. Merely to deliver letters and newspapers to the farmer would, of course, be to operate a service without hope of placing it on a profitable basis. It would be as if the New York merchants would keep a thousand wagons traveling around the streets of New York to deliver nothing but kid gloves and lace veils—nearly empty, while other wagons would be carrying the burden of the goods sold.
Rural free delivery is absolutely impossible unless accompanied by a postal parcels law. Giving a rate even four times as high as that of Germany, the entire rural delivery could be put on a paying basis to-morrow.
Here again would be an advantage to the country merchant. The farmer to-day, when he wishes to buy, hitches up a pair of horses, drives four or five miles, and makes a few purchases. If the United States had the postal parcels law of Austro-Hungary, the farmer would draw a postal check, mail it free, the merchant would deliver the goods to the post-office, and a few hours later they would be in the hands of the farmer.
The life of the farm, which has so many drawbacks, would thus be made vastly more comfortable. It is impossible to estimate in dollars how great the saving to the country would be in this one particular.
It would be easy to show the endless ramifications of this beneficial service; but space need not here be taken up for that purpose. Sufficient has been indicated to show that there is no man or woman, however poor, however rich, who would not be vastly benefited and convenienced by a government postal parcels system.
Craftsman. 14: 592-4. September, 1908.
More Efficient Postal Service. Gustav Stickley.
Speaking of the success of the rural routes, of which there are more than thirty-eight thousand already established in this country, Mr. Meyer says: “The isolation which existed in many parts of the country has been overcome; the people are in daily communication with their friends in the rest of the world; the daily papers and magazines come to the door of every farm house on the rural routes, and enlightenment and information are being spread broadcast through the land. Medical men have said that already the establishment of the rural service is having its effect upon the mentality of our country patrons, and that because of it insanity is on the decrease. The extension of the rural routes to include a parcel post,” he asserts, “will be a boon both to the rural population and to the store-keeper as the latter can receive his orders by mail or telephone and despatch the desired merchandise by the rural carrier. The farmer will be saved from hitching up his horse and losing the time he needs for planting or harvesting his crops, and it will enable the store-keeper to increase his sales and meet the requirements of modern trade.”