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Show RURAL FREE DELIVERY IN DANGER. It In greatly to bo fenied that the Rural Tree Delivery system, so warmly appreciated by those who have received re-ceived Its benefits, so earnestly desired by all ttirnl communities to which It has not hitherto been c xlrnded. Is in danger. Woist of ull, the blow aimed nt this great postal lotonn comes rrom Its nllcged fi lends. Hver since Hum I Tree Delivery of mall was g.iluml-cd Into active life under tho administration nf Piesldent McKlnley. in 1M7, Its great strength has lain In the fact tint It has been u seivbe lot the people nnd by the pen-pie. pen-pie. The turtil cnuieia selected havo been those whom tho people have chosen, nnd who have had the entire conlldcneo of those whom they served. How neceesniy this Is In n delivery of thli kind tan be reudlly seen from tho fntt that ull tho duties or city curriers and more have been gradually ton-feired ton-feired upon the rural postmen. They register nnd deliver registered letters, give receipts for money orders, make special dellveiies in the sanio wny and for the same fees as tho city men, and undertake tho peisonal dcllvciy of pension pen-sion checks. THe close community of Intcresta be-tween be-tween the people and the rural carriers has been shown In numerous Instances by the fanners clubbing together to buy tho carrier nn nppiovcd postal wugon and a uniform, nnd by voluntary volun-tary contributions for the increase of his Insufficient pay. This last point, which has been so large a subject of complaint, has been relieved hy the action of Congress Itself, which has added to tho deficiency npproptlitlon for the Rural Free Delivery Service for tho current je.ir a sufficient nmount to enable the department to increase the pay of carriers from 1500 to J000 or ;25 a enr. When everything vvns In tills satis, factory condition nnd the whole service was progressing most prosperously, with the prospect of nn appropriation of eight or ten millions of dollars for Its continuation nnd extension during tho next fiscal year, a bugaboo was started. Homo curriers In tho little town of Mead vllle, Crawford county, Pennsjlvnnln, undertook to ndvanco their Interests hy starting a Rural Car-rleis' Car-rleis' Association, with tho avowed purpose of nsklng of Congress to In-ircaso In-ircaso their pay and regulate the length of their mutes. Heroro this circular cir-cular had been brought to the attention of tho department, these enterprising rural postmen had nddressed letters to a number of Representatives In Congress Con-gress and had elicited fiom them more or less direct promises of suppott, Just ns soon ns the department got to know of the oignnlzatlnn nnd the pui-poses pui-poses for which It was designed, It Issued Is-sued peremptory orders to tho cairlers to cease their lobbvlng efforts, nnd they Immediately compiled, Preuent Roosevelt, Immediately upon the matter mat-ter being brought to his attention, Issued Is-sued mi executive order p'ohlhtttng nny ni conizations of Government employees em-ployees for tho purposes Indicated In this rural cuirlera' organization, but, In tho meantime, tho chairman of the Committee on the Pnstnlllcet nnd Post Roads, Hon. Hugeno Loud of California, Califor-nia, taking alum at this pinject. so pinmptly nipped In the bud, and fearing fear-ing that the Increasing iur.ll servlro might lu Ihe down upon membera of Congress pleasure which they would be iinuble to resist, has succeeded lit persuading the committee nf which he Is chairman to lncludo In the provision for tho milntennncc of Rural I'reo De. livery for tho coming jeur a proviso that nil iiirul mall service shall hereafter here-after be let out by contract to tho lowest low-est bldderl In the opinion of thoso most familiar with tho administration nf the Rural l'rco Delivery Service, the adoption of this provision will be destructive to the whole sjstom. It will simply plico tho mnll Bervlto uf tho countiy back under tho Inefllrlent methods or tho star loulo service, which was originally original-ly staited by tho Continental Congress nnd has been chunged very little In elll-clency elll-clency since. It Is public hlstoiy that the contract service has been productive produc-tive of the greatest scandals which have ever dlstuibod the instill administration admin-istration of the United Stntes. It Is equally a matter of notoilety that tho recent effort of the Washington authorities au-thorities to refoim that contract service, serv-ice, by Insisting that tho contractois must reside In the communities over which the seivlco they hid for extends, hns really left the condition of the con-tract con-tract service unchanged. Hlds uio presented pre-sented by a nominal resident of tho district, who, under tho previsions" or tho law, promptly sublets Ids contract nrter It has been awarded to him to some other person; nnd the records or the department show tint In the. great majority or eaBcs ull letters and communications com-munications lu regard to tho servlco continue tn be addressed to Ktnr Ilnuto contract agents living In Washington. To throw tho Rurnl Treo Dcllvciy Seivlco back Into tho chaos which has chuuieteilzel tho contract servlco ever slnco Us Installation, me.irui that the personnel of the service will he de- prlvcd ot tho ctpill do corps which now animates It, that the people themselves them-selves will lose Interest 111 the extension exten-sion of Rural Free Delivery, and that a great moral revolution, for which the Republican party is responsible nnd from which It wni reaping such great results, will bo retarded, If not absolutely abso-lutely thrown back. The contract provision In tho post-ofllce post-ofllce appropriation bill should not he passed by Congress. No member who will take tho trouble tn look Into tho history of the contract service on the one hand nnd the Rural Free Delivery Service on the other will venture to vote for It. If he should do so, he can expect speedy retribution at the hands of his constituents. |