The Mail Comes to the Farm: White Bluffs Wins Rural Free Delivery

Probably the most welcome news received in this community for a long time came last Friday night in a communication from the Post Office Department directed to the White Bluffs postmaster, authorizing the establishment of a rural free delivery service from this office, service to begin February 2, 1917.

The Department's order is dated December 9, 1916. Service will be tri-weekly at first and the carrier on the route will receive a salary of $576 per annum.

As soon as the Department receives a certificate from the White Bluffs postmaster that the patrons to be served have their boxes properly placed along the route, an examination of the applicants for the position of carrier will be ordered by the Civil Service commission after due notice. The commission will certify the results of the examination to the Department, who, in turn, will advise the postmaster of the name of the successful applicant, who will be the permanent carrier. The order of December 9th, however, provides that if the postmaster is not notified of the appointment of the regular carrier prior to the date set for the establishment of the service, he shall appoint a temporary carrier to serve until the regular carrier has been appointed.

The route established by the Department begins at the post office, west on Federal avenue to the Produce company corner, southeast to the west line of section 32, and so on by section lines past the Messer corner, the C. E. Dunn corner, Chambers' corner, Roberts' place, MacDonell's and the Wm. Angle place, returning southwest on Federal avenue to the post office. The order provides that the carrier shall leave the post office every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10 a.m. and return by 2:30 p.m. A change in the days of service can be had on request of the postmaster, when satisfied that a change is desired by a majority of the patrons and that it will benefit the service.

The office now is receiving daily except-Sunday mail service — one day on the train and the next day by boat. As about four-fifths of the mail comes in on the train on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights, it is probable that the patrons will ask to have the rural delivery service on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. And as the mail on boat days arrives at the office at 1 p.m., it is possible they will ask to have the delivery made in the afternoon instead of the morning. Under this arrangement the R.F.D. carrier would take the mail from both boat and train with him every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoon.

The carrier on the route is authorized to carry stamps and money order applications, to receive and distribute C.O.D. and insured parcels and registered letters; in fact, he is a traveling post office — you can transact any business with him at your gate that you can transact at the post office.

Only the failure of the patrons to have their boxes up in time can prevent the service starting on February 2nd. The Department must have a certificate from the postmaster that the boxes on the route are up, and this certificate must be in their hands not later than January 15th. To make this possible, the certificate must leave White Bluffs not later than January 10th, and, with the usual delay in mail service at this season of the year, it ought to go sooner. If the Department does not receive the certificate by the date set they will order a postponement of the date of service. The Produce company has ordered a supply of mail boxes approved by the Postmaster General. They will sell this supply as long as it lasts at $1.15 — ten cents less than the same box sells for in Kennewick, and cheaper than Sears, Roebuck Co. will lay down the same box in White Bluffs, a price made possible because of the large number who will take them now.

The rural free delivery is the particular friend of the rancher, and whether it jogs along as a three-times-a-week affair or soon blossoms out into a daily service will depend altogether on the business it gets from its patrons. At present there is only one way to boost it from a tri-weekly to a daily, and that is by the number of pieces of mail handled and their weight — the outgoing as well as the incoming mail. Being a patron on the route does not prevent anyone from getting mail at the post office any time it is not in the hands of the carrier on the route.

The establishment of this route will be a material asset to the community. Not only can it be made a great convenience, but it also adds a real value to the land in the territory in which it operates. It is the unmistakable and convincing evidence to the visitor or prospective newcomer that this is a progressive, intelligent community. That the route will be a success is indicated by the large number who have arranged to be on it when service starts.

Miss Dora Helsom has received her commission as postmaster of the newly established office of East Whitebluffs (White Bluffs to be written as one word). She has also received a great many of her supplies and says she will open her new office just as soon as she receives her cabinet. The White Bluffs postmaster has received instructions to dispatch mail to the new office by the carrier, James Shepherd, on the star route between White Bluffs and Hanford, every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. This means that mail that comes to the White Bluffs office directed to East Whitebluffs will be dispatched to the new office only by the regular carrier on his regular tri-weekly trips. The postal laws will not permit a postmaster to give out mail addressed to an office other than his own; which means, when applied to the local situation, that the White Bluffs postmaster will not be permitted to pass out through his office any individual mail directed to East Whitebluffs.