pW" IK p$mw- r- , - "T- ' The Commoner DECEMBER, 1913 13 Free Delivery for the Towns and Villages Speech of Hon. Warren Worth Hailey in the House of Representatives Mr. Speaker, I wish in a few words to direct attention to what seems to me a most unwarranted and an ex tremely flagrant and inexcusable dis crimination in our postal service a discrimination so rank and so utterly indefensible that it is a marvel it has gone so long practically unchallenged. I refer to the denial of that free delivery and collection of mail to the towns and villages of the country which have long been enjoyed by the cities and which in recent years have been extended to rural districts. The injustice to the towns and villages is obvious. It puts them at a distinct disadvantage. It subjects them to a handicap which would not be toler ated for an instant were it to come in the form of a different and a higher rate for postage. Yet a dif ferent and a higher rate of postage would not be a worse hardship than that imposed by a discrimination in service such as that which actually has been accepted with scarcely a murmur for so many years. City delivery service is now in operation in 1,709 towns and cities, serving approximately a population of 47,000,000, at a cost of $38,000, 000. Experimental delivery is in operation in 114 communities, at a cost of $90,000. Officials uf the post oflice department estimate that there are 6,604. communities, with an aver age population of 2,000 where there is no carrier delivery service. Esti mating that it would require an aver age of two carriers, at 600 each per annum, to serve each of these com munities, should delivery service be established) the cost would be $7,924,800 per annum. Mr. Speaker, can there be any sound reason why the 12,000,000 residents of townu . nd villages should 1 e denied what is freely and most properly given the reside! '3 of city and rural districts? To me the situation seems a- ialous. It is glaringly inequitable. In proportion to number the tdwns an." villages are bearing an equal burden with cities and rural districts in supporting this government. They are therefore equally entitled to all its benefits and advantages. Can there be any gentleman on this floor or elsewhere, Mr. Speaker, who would seriously propose that letters mailed in a town or village should bear a 3-cent stamp while those mailed in the city or on a rural route were required to bear only a 2-cent stamp? Such a proposition would be rejected instantly. Yet little protest has thus far been heard against a discrimination which in ef fect is just as little capable of de fense. If the patron of the postofflce who lives on Bror Iway or out in the country is entitled to have his mail collected and delivered at his door, is not the patron who lives in a town or village equally entitled to similar service? Mr. Speaker, he is not get'lng it. Two or three or more times every day he must drop his work to go to the postoffiqe to receive or to deposit his mail. This means loss of time; it means inconvenience? it aeansjust as much to him relatively as it would mean to the banker or the farmer if he were obliged to quit i'i counting house or his plow for a trip to the postoflice. The notion that time in a town or village is a negligible quan tity is as idle as the notion that we may tax ourselves rich or that to ship more gooda out of the country than we bring in is to create a "favorable" balance. Time is money in the town or village as much as in the cly or the rural district, and the resident of town or village is entitled in all con- postmaster general undor such rogu mtions as he may prescribe. "That all acts or parts of acts In consistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed." 1 would hardly be fair to mysolf did I not admit that I nm nntiintntl science to every consideration and j to such delivery, and for this purpoao advantage which wo accord to tho the sum of $10,000,000, or so much 4 V iuu vu.) vi me larmer oui tnoreor as may bo necessary, is hero vo jcmuie ruiui uiatrici. It was with these thoughts in mind Mr. Speaker, that a few days ago I brought in a bill (H. R. 8947) under the provisions of which free delivery Is to be extended to all towns and villages in the United States which are not entitled undor existing laws to such delivery. I am extremely glad to say that this proposal met with an instant response from com munities which it is designed to re lieve. Newspaper comment upon this measure has been wide and mainly favorable. The tone of the country press is especially enthusiastic. Everywhere the proposal has been hailed as a sound one, supported by every consideration of reason and justice. I shall ask leave, Mr. Speaker, to append to my remarks some of these newspaper comments, believing that the members of this house will be interested in them, as I have been, and that they will lend strength to my appeal for what I deem to be simple justice to many millions of our best and most use ful citizens, for everywhers the qual ity of the citizenship of town and village is recognized. It is largely from the town and village that the best element of the great centers of business are recruited. The town and the village are the nurseries and tho schools where strong, capable, ambitious, and re sourceful men and women are fitted for the great things which need to be done. It seems to me .a saf3 as sertion that five out of six of the membership of this body were village bred. The foundations of the careers they have made for themselves were laid in these small communities, where the touch cf elbow was close, where human syr-pathy was spon taneous, where life had room to ex pand, and where the social ameni ties were unrestrained by dubious convention. It was my good fortune to grow up in a village myself, and I can therefore speak with some knowledge of village life and of village needs. There may be a sneer here and there from the city dweller, who fancies that the villager has nothing to do, and that going to the postoflice two or three times a day is a mere diver sion, a break in the dreadful monotony. But life in the town or village is just as earnest a proposi tion as life in the city or in the country. It has its cares, its Inter ests, its compulsions, its necessities, its exacting duties, not less than life elsewhere. Thank God it Is not so sordid, not so hopeless, not so steeped in monotony as we see It in some of the crowded centers; it Is not so frivolous and idle and meretricious as we see it as it flaunts its fine roach out to tho coin munition now rolntlvoly Isolated. I want It to moan an much to town and village as It to day moans to city and rural district. And so I appoal horo on this floor and to tho people of tho country for what ' I conceive to bo bare Justice Irt the ' interost of good business. I appeal for this In behalf of 12,000,000 American citizens whoso rights are by annronriatnd nut of tmv mnnnv in the Treasury not otherwise approprl-! 0CUal wIth tho r,K,,tH of ,! t" rent. ated, to bo available Immediately oniyct wno nro Kottlng less than an equal tho passage of this act and to bo ox.Hoatment. Thoy soem hitherto to nondGd for tho niirnnnn nnnw.fi iiv ! "nvo been volcolcs. No ono haa . . w " " " t i . stood horo to speak for thorn. But In my humble way lot mo plond their causo. Thoy are tho victims ' of a sheer Injustlco. A dlspro- portlonnto burden routs upon thotri.t Advantages as much their right as thoy are the right of the USED TO srCII VICISSITUDES Colonel Roosevelt, at t luncheon at Oystor Day, told a hunting story. , 'Smith," he said, "ad a narrow, escape from being killed by a lion in , Nairobi. " 'When the Hon closed Its Jaws on vou,' asked a friend, 'did you glvor yourself up for lost?' " 'Oh, no,' Smith nnxworod clamly, 'You ace, I sleep In a folding bed.' "- , New Orleans Statos. EVERY YEAR feathers at the resorts of fashion; but it is sincere, full of zest, alive to its responsibilities, stimulated always by neighborly kindness and by that relative freedom of movement which the overcrowded city makes Impos sible. The bill as introduced by me- is as follows: "A bill (H. R. 8947) to authorize the postmaster general to extend-the free-delivery mail service to towns and villages of 1,000 population or over. "Be it enacted, etc., That the post--master general be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to extend free-delivery mall service to all towns nnd villages in the United States hav- . o TnnninHnn of 1.000 or over that are not by existing law entitled I now neglected element. I want it to by a double motive In doniandlnr aniothor '"""ons who enjoy them are ll-n . .. . . . " . til ll Vinl.l fpjltn tltrttii In li rt n.imn s4 equalization ot mo postal servlco in "" " ui behalf of a class now denied almost economy. But there Is no economy tho best half of that servlco jt In iJHtico. It always Imposes pea seems to me, Mr. Speaker, that If we'a,t,e,8, And tho Penalty of this In open tho way for spending tho1J,,8t,C0 ,8 1)0,l,& ,,a,(l ovori' cIa' b revenues of tho government for use- thc People or the United Statos In o ful purposes wo shall automatically , no8!aI ervlcc that falls short of that closo the way for spending thorn for MBhost efficiency which would Ho purposes far from userul, say for! attained by carrying the malls to all battleships and big guna, for fortifi-a tno ma,,s are now crrled to some. cation and military expansion. The waste of money in this direction has been wanton. Had it 1 een thrown into tho sea less harm would havo been done; thero would have, been tho loss only of tho money Itself or of the labor It represented. But when It is devoted to the building of dread noughts and to the maintenance of a great standing army In a time of pro found peace, we add to the unneces sary burdens thus imposed tho waste of human effort Involved in the draw ing of thousands of young men from gainful pursuits into a service vhlch brings no gain either moral or ma terial and makes them pensioners upon the labor and Industry of the workers. I do not care to dwell particularly upon this phase of the matter, but it is one which deserves consideration. We have been running mad over militarism in its various aspects, and even a democratic congress Is propos ing to spend or will be asked to spend more than $300,000,000 on the army and navy during-the fiscal year to come. Against this I protest. In our platform wo aro pledged "to that simplicity and economy which befit v, democratic government." Our solemn word is plighted to tho Ameri can people that we will lighten the burden of taxation and sharply de part from the program of extrava gance to which the republican party had been committed for years. Shall wo disregard the duty which our stewardship Imposes? Shall wo out do evon the republican party in lavish expenditure? Or shall we lop off the useless and the profligate and turn our attention to matters which will yield a return on the Investment? Mr. Speaker, I am willing to spend money freely where It can be spent with a reasonable assurance of bring ing a return. There is therefore no hesitation on my part in proposing to spend a few millions for a needed Im provement In the postal service. This service has always brought substan tial betterments. It has always yielded abundantly in public benefits on the investment. No function of the government comes closer to the people than that of the postoflice. Its services are of inestimable value. We can scarcely conceive of the condition which would prevail were this servlco cut off. wholly from all as It Is now cut off In part from the towns and villages of the land. Our business and social life is so intimately knit up with this service that to destroy It would be almost to destroy that life Itself. And I want this Intimate rela tion to be more intimate still. I want It extended to include the I feel 'tis growing colder Evory year; And my heart, alas! gets older Every year. I can win no new affection; I havo only recollection, Deeper sorrow and dejection, Every year. Of the loves and sorrows blended . Every year; Of the joys of friendship ended Every year; Of the ties that still might bind mo Until Time to Death resigned me. My infirmities remind me Every year. Ah! how sad to look before us Evory year, When thc cloud glows darker o't uk Evory year; When we see the blossoms faded That to bloom we might have aided, And immortal garlands braided Every year. To the past go more dead faces Every year, As the loved leave vacant places Evory year. Everywhere the sad eyes meet us; In the evening's dusk they greet us, And to come to them entreat us. Every year. Yes, tho shores of life are shifting Every year; And we are seaward drifting Every year; Old pleasures, changing, fret us; The-living more forget us; There are fewer to regret us, i Every year. ' But the truer life draws nlgher Every year; And Its morning star climbs higher, Every year. Earth's hold on us grows slighter, And tho heavy burden lighter, And the Dawn immortal brighter, Every year. WILLIAM COWAN.' Chamber's Journal. t. l v: K . x '1 7i --V1