Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 82, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 January 1918 — MORE PERMANENT HIGHWAYS [ARTICLE]

MORE PERMANENT HIGHWAYS

Will Soon Be Required For Motor Mail Routes. WILL OPEN THREE LINES FEB 1 One of Which Will Run From Indian&imlis to Chicago via Remington, Goodland and Brook. Three motor mail routes, Intended to bring the producer in direct touch with the consumer and provide the farmer with a ready means of conveyance of products to market, and necessities he must get from the cities, are tg be established through the northern part of Indiana beginning February I. Indianapolis will be the central terminus of all the routes. One line will extend between Indianapolis and Ft. Wayne; another between Indianapolis and Goshen, and the third between Indianapolis and Chicago. Trips will be mad.o daily, except Sunday. The orders for the establishment of the routes were received Monday by postmasters at Indianapolis and Lafayette. Bids for the service are to be submitted to the fourth assistant postmaster-general at Washington by January 15. The Indianapolis-Chicago line will be divided into relays, the division point being at Lafayette. A truck will leave Indianapolis daily at 1 p. m., arriving at Lafc.yette at 7:30 p. m. The Lafayette truck will leave that city for Indianapolis daily except Sunday at 5:30 a. m. and arrive there at noon. The Lafayette truck Ifor Chicago leaves at 5:30 a. m., arriving there at 5 p. m. Another truck will leave Chicago at 5 a. m., reaching Lafayette at 5 p. m. This route will pass through the following Indiana towns and cities’ New Augusta, Rosston, Kirklin, Cyclone, Frankfort, Mulberry, Lafayette, Montmorenci, Wolcott, Remington, Goodland, Foresman, Brook, Morocco, Thayer, Crown Point, St. John and Hammond. The Indianapolis-Ft. Wayne route will be covered by trucks leaving either city at 5 a. m. and arriving at their destination at 5 p. m. This route will pass through the following cities and towns: Oaklandoa, McCordsville, Pendleton, Anderson, Daleville, Muncie, Eaton, Hartford City, Montpelier, Metamora, Keystone and Bluffton The Indianapolis-Goshen line also will be covered by cars leaving either city at 5 a. m., and reaching their destination at 7 p. in. The cities and towns on the line are Noblesville, Elwood, Swayzee, Misr, Wabash, Urbana, North Manchester, Collamer, North Webster and Syracuse. The establishment of a fourth motor mail route, between Indianapolis and Louisville, has been authorized, and bids are at Washington awaiting the award of the contract. This line is expected to be started February 15. Two other motor mail routes to touch Indiana have been announced at Washington, but no word regarding them has been received. One is between Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio, being a part of a route between this city and Baltimore, Maryland, and the other is from Columbus, Ohio, to Louisvihe, Kentucky, which follows the Indiana side of tho Ohio river. “The routes, it is believed, will eventually result in better prices for the farmer and a reduction in cost to the consumer,’’ says the department letter, authorizing the announcement of the northern Indiana routes. , “The essential feature o>f this service will be the collection and delivery of parcel post, but if the handling of any matter can be materially expedited by dispatching it on the truck, it may be so dispatched. While it is proposed to pick up mail along the routes wherever offered, in order that the service may be successfully operated, it is essential that a rapid schedule be adhered to, and this would be impossible if many prolonged stops were made. “Farmers and others living along

the line of travel will be 'urged to take their shipments to the nearest postoffice, so that they will be ready for placing on the truck on its arrival. If persons wish to have matter picked up en route, they should meet the truck and hand their mail to the driver. Arrangements will also b$ made to have the mails so prepared that there will be practically no delay in exchange at intermediate offices.” The establishing of these motor truck routes will bring a demand for more permanent highways, such as brick or concrete, and while Rensselaer is left off the route selected because of the condition of some of the roads north of this place, it is the most direct route to follow and would have been selected had we equally as good roads as Newton county. This service will no doubt be of great value to people living along the line thereof and we can only regret that we were not fortunate in having the roads that would have'brought it here. With the north and south brick road through our county which The Democrat has been advocating for the past two years or more, there would have been no question about where this route would have gone, and many other advantages would also result from such a highway.