Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1912 — ARRANGE SUNDAY MAIL DELIVERIES [ARTICLE]

ARRANGE SUNDAY MAIL DELIVERIES

Chills Have Plan to Handle Matter for Hotels and Newspapers. CLERKS WILL SORT ON TRAINS New Law, Says Postmaster General, Will Have no Serious Effect on Business Houses. WASHINGTON, Aug. 27.—Plans were perfected by Postmaster 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 important mail matter. 'Holders of lock boxes at first and second class postoffiees will have access to them as usual, although no mail deliveries will be made by carriers on the street or at the postoffice windows. Mail for hotel guests and newspapers will be delivered to them through their lock boxes by a simple arrangement of having that mail sorted on the railway mail cars before it reaches its destination. Such mail will be regarded as “transit matter” and will be distributed immediately upon its arrival at the offices of destination, thus, practically, insuring a speedier delivery to the addressees than heretofore ‘has been the case. The distribution will require a minimum of Sunday work and the distribution of other mail received on' Sunday, will be made after midnight of SAnday, eio that it may be delivered by the carriers on their first tour on Monday. Explains New System. 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. His assurance is that there will be no embarrassment to the business public and that, through the arrangement he outlines, urgent mail matter will reach its destination promptly. Orders necessary to carry Mr. Hitchcock’s plans into effect will be issued . immediately. The postmaster general’s statement follows: “There seems to be some misapprehension as rggards the provision in the postal bill relating to the delivery of mail on Sundays. This provision does not require the closing of postoffiees on Sundays, which would be quite impossible, owing to the fact that the transit mail has to be sorted, and also the mail collected in cities for dispatch to other destinations. To stop the movement of this mail w’ould mean a serious clogging of the whole system of mail transportation and consequent inconveniences to the public. Available to Box Holders. “At present, most of the mail received on Sunday for delivery bycarrier Monday morning is worked after midnight on Sunday and, therefore, the law will not affect this mail. It will be delivered as .promptly as heretofore. Mail received up to midnight on Saturday for lock boxes will be distributed to the boxes and will be available to box holders on Synday, as usual. “There is at present no street delivery of mail by letter carriers on Sunday and therefore the law makes no change in this regard. In the only mail that will be affected under a reasonable construction of the law is that received at the postoffices on Sunday and hitherto sorted on that day for distribution to lock boxes.

' “As the purpose of the law, which was clearly enacted in the 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 limited to certain classes of mail that can not 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 Should not be delayed. Sorted on Mail Cars. “This mail, like the special delivery mail, 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 postofflees on Sunday. “As practically all business houses are now closed on Sunday, they do not object to the plan, which has been in force for a year, of holding their mail until Monday morning, realizing the benefit thus conferred on postal employes, who are thereby relieved from Sunday labor. “In order to give the new provision as liberal a construction as pos-

sible, postmasters will be instructed on application to have their employes sort out in emergency cases on Sunday letters of special importance. This will supplement the present privilege of having all mail delivered on Sunday that carries a special delivery Stamp. “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 postoffiees on Sundays with far less work than is now required. Thus the law can be made to confer great benefits on postal employee without inconveniences to the public.” ’ No Intent to Restrict. 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 officials. He said there was no intent upon the part of Congress so to restrict the activities of the Post office Department as to inconvenience seriously the business public. “It is absurd,” he declared,” for anybody to assume that Congress meant to close postoffices as tight as a wedge on Sunday. We simply required that there should be no delivery of mail to the ‘general public’ on Sunday, in order that letter carriers and postoffice clerks might enjoy a reasonable respite from their labors. Such work as is necessary for the distribution and transmission of the mails naturally must be done otherwise business of the country might be seriously inconvenienced.”