Source: THE DISPATCH, 8/22/19


Back in the 1890s, there weren’t mail carriers in the countryside. Farmers had to travel miles to pick up their mail from the nearest post office. A number of congressmen pushed an idea called Rural Free Delivery (R.F.D.). It took years to push it through. Some argued that the cost of hiring all those mailpersons, gallivanting around the countryside, would bankrupt the Treasury. Others claimed that mail-order giants like Sears – yes, the Amazon of its day – would run local Mom-and-Pop stores out of business.

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