Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 206, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 August 1912 — POSTOFFICE SUNDAY CLOSING ORDER TO BE MODIFIED. [ARTICLE]

POSTOFFICE SUNDAY CLOSING ORDER TO BE MODIFIED.

Postmaster General Hitchcock Perfects Plans Whereby Law Will Have No Serious Effect. Washington, August 27. —Plans were perfected by Postmaster General Hitchcock, today: whereby the administration of the new law prohibiting ■the delivery of mail on Sundays will have no serious effect upon the handling of mail matters. ' Holders of lock boxes at first and second class postofftces will have access to them as usual, although no mail deliveries will be made by carriers on the street or at postoffice windows. Mail for hotel guests and newspapers will be delivered to them through their lock boxes by a simple 'arrangement of that mail sorted on the railway mail cars befoTe it reaches its destination. Such mail will be recorded as transient matter” and will be distributed immediately upon its arrival at the offices of destination, thus, pfacticaly insuring a speedier delivery to the addresses than heretofore has been the case. After all day conferences with the experts of his department Postmaster General Hitchcock tonight issued a statement explanatory of his administration of the new law. The postmaster general’s statement reads: “There seems to be some misapprehension as regards the provision in the postal bill relating to the delivery of mail on Sundays. This provision does not require the closing of postoffices on Sundays, which would be quite impossible, owing to the fact that the transient mail has to be sorted and also the mail collected in cities for dispatch to other destinations. To stop the movement of this mail would mean a serious clogging of the whole system of mail transportation and consequent inconvenience to the public. At present most of the mail received on Sunday for delivery by carrier Monday morning is worked after midnight on Sunday and therefore the law will not affect this mail. Mail received up to midnight on Saturday for lock boxes will be distributed to the boxes and will be available to box holders on Sunday as usual. There is at present no street delivery of mail on Sunday and therefore the law makes no change in this regard. As the purpose of the law which was clearly enacted interest of employes, is to reduce as far as practicable the amount of Sunday labor, the work of distributing Sunday mail to lock boxes will be eliminated to certain classes of mail that cannot be held until Monday morning without serious inconvenience to the addressees. This mail will include that for newspapers and hotel guests. The latter is peculiarly transient in character and sh.ould not be delayed. This mail, like the special delivery, will be sorted out at the offices of dispatch and on the railway mail trains in order to simplify the work of distributing it in the postoffices on Sunday.

"By the proposed changes in the method of putting up mail in , the offices of origin and in its handling on the railway mail trains, it is believed that a satisfactory distribution can be made in postoffices on, Sunday with far less work than is now required. Thus the law can be made to confer great benefits on postal employes without inconvenience to the public.” Minority Leader Mann of the house, author of the provision prohibiting the delivery to the general public of mail on Sunday discussed the subject today with postal authorities. He said there was no intent upon the part of congress so to restrict the activities of the postoffice department as to inconvenience seriously the business public. “It i$ absurd,” lie declared, “for anybody to assume that congress meant to clos*e postoffices as tight as a wedge on Sunday.” ■ -fL* -— —f l : ■ Postmaster Murray has not yet received the new order and unless he does by Sunday the office will be closed tight that day.