The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1855-07-13
THE MAIL ARRANdsMENTs.

THE MAIL ARRANGEMENTS.
We dislike just at CHS tmes TO say any
thing in reference 10 The bungIing manner 10
which the General Posi- Office Department is
managing its business, least we should be
lniuddsFssood and our remarks attributed to
motives other than tie right ones. But the
businessl ptsrests, not only Of our own sec.
Con but N whole Of East Tennsssee, re-
quire we should speak out promptly, and
direct attention to the party responsible for
the svil'compIained Of. In making bis ar.
.rangements 10 regard TO the mails. the Post
master General appears entirely to have lost
sight Of the fact that there Is such a section
~ East Tennessee In existence, or that II was
to be supplied with mail facilities or entitled
to my Accommodations 10 that line. When
it 10 remembered that the whole Of East
Tennessee, aportion Of Virginia and West
erf Caroline have to be supplied through
Dalton, the point where ourroad intersects
the Georgia State Road, II does seem that
The Department at Washington, in making
up Us schedules, should have paid some at
tntion to the. interests of this large section,
and instead Of delaying our mails, should
have made an effort to expedite and facilitate
their transmission. BY the present arrange
ment, taking effect on the first day Of July,
the Nashville mails, Memphis and the inter.
mediate points and country beyond, and the
mails from the South and East. are all delay
ed from five to nineteen hours, md the same
is true, as we are informed, in regard to the
nails from this section. For instance, the
mails and passengers from East Tennessee
for Nashville and that direction, are detained
some four or five hours at Dalton, whence
they are taken to Chattanooga, distance Of
thirty-eight miles, where, rs we learn, another
delay Of ten or twelve hours occurs. The
only uninterrupted mail communication Eas,
Tennessee now ssipys with other sections i,
a connection WIN the down train on the
Western and Atlantic Road, which enable.
the mails and passengers to reach Atlant,
without serious delay. Now, such vexa
tious arrangement should not be permitted
to continue, and it is the duty of the Post
office Department at Washington to see thai
the evil is in some way promptly remedied
Dalton is the point of intersection of thu
East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad with
the Western and Atlantic Road-it is the
point where all the mail matter and trave
to and from East Tennessee, Western Vir
ginia and Western Carolina, intersects with
and DIVORCES from, the line connecting u,
with the South and East and the South. wes
and the West, and at that point all the mai
trains should be required to meet at abou
the same hour II would have been Just a.
easy to have effected such an arrangement n.
to have made the present bungling one, ant
it would have been done had the Post. Mas
ter General, MS was his duty, consulted tn,
public interests alone, or in making up hi.
schedules for the new contracts had giver
the subject the attention its importance de-
manded. That fnnctionary appears to have
ample time for wrangling with contractor.
and disturbing pr:.existing arrangements. A
portion Of the time and labor thus iniud
cioasly expended, If devoted to the obtaining
OF information necessary to so arrange the
mail facilities as to accommodate the larges,
number and the greatest extent of territory
might result in much good, and we should
have less confusion in the mails md fewe,
complaints from every direction.
We repeat our regret to have to say an,
thing on this subject at the present time, bu
complaints are reaching us every day, and W,
should be falling in our duty to pass then
unnoticed. The Nashville mails are da,
longer coming through than under the for
mer arrangement and the same extension O
time occurs on, the great Southern route
These things demand redress, and il is hope,
the Post-Master General will give the sub
ject his attention at once. IF he consult
the public interests he will arrange the sche
dulles and require the service to be performe,
so that alt the mail trains shall meet n
Dalton Mt the same hour-the point wher
they ought TO meet and pass BY such nj
arrangement all sections would be fayore,
alike, the convenience of the travelling pub
i JIG consulted, and East Tennessee and con
u tiguous sections have that accommodates
(which their heavy mails, large business in
tcrests' and growing importance enttle ther
to. ~