Omaha daily bee., 1897-06-13
FIGHTING FOR FASTER MAIL
Merchants and Manufacturers Association
is in Earnest Just Now.
ANSWER SUPERINTENDENT wHjTeSLsTTER
Prepare IA Document which shows
the Unnecessary Delay In the
Present Transmission from
New York to the West.

The Merchants and Manufacturers asso-
ciation has taken up the matter OF erecting
change In the running Of the fast mails
between Chicago and Council BLUFFS, and the
executive committee and Secretary Judson
are making a special effort to interest as
many western people as possible. number
of letters have been sent to Senator's ALI
son and Gear and the Iowa congressman
and the senators and representatives haV"
in turn communicated with the postothce
authorities. Senator Allison has incloseu N
his letters to Secretary Judson number oi
the communications he has received from
the Postofiice department. One from Cap
tain White general superintendent or the
Railway Mail service, explains the long de-
lay of over eight hours in Chicago as being
necessary to transfer the mails from the
eastern to the western trains. E. Il. rest,
chairman of the executive committee, ana
Secretary Judson have prepared long ret
ter to Senator Allison. in which all OF the
objections urged by Superintendent White
| are met and contradicted. Following Is
a etatement of the train schedules between
New York and Chicago they say:
AS you will observe the time of the fast
mail between New York and Council BUNS
and omaha. leaving New York in the morn
| ing, is forty-eight hours and twenty minutes,
with an unnecessary wait of eight hours and
forty minutes at Chicago during daylight
| hours Captain White win have hard work
| in explaining why the great morning mails
| are held nearly nine hours at Chicago un-
der the pretense that all tnat time is con
sCmed in transferring them from one train
easily as it is performed in Council Bluffs
the ess second nd mail i" between Hv Rev " York and
| Omaha is forty-four hours and nineteen
mn@e Wh wait of %T Eny h99rs oa4 'hy m
utes at the Council Bluffs transfer. BY this
| train, including the time for transferring the
mails at Chicago and Council Bluffs, thel
IS "A loss of three hours and thirty, minutes
| Why this unnecessary delay, when It Is
known that, excepting on the Australian
| the mails from the Burlington 10 the Union
Pacific cars averages from thirteen to htteen teen
twenty minutes? Why should it take two
hours and thirty minutes at Chicago? Com.
New York at 9:%o and the loss of nearly nine
hours at Chicago is useless. It speaks for
mand. 1t shows th2t great business inter: inter:
ess between New York and eastern IN points
long long and md inexcusable i ' daylight delay
at Chicag9. The fast mail train l,,l ieay y
advanced to $50 p. M, reaching CHICAGO not
later than 7;3O the next night. Allow 1t q
margin of two hours and let 1t reach Chicago
it can leave Chicago not later than lo:SOp. m.
and make the trip to Council Bluffs in twelve
hours This would carry it into Omaha moi
| later than II a. M, giving the Union Pacific
! the chance to deliver the mail more than so
miles west of the Missouri river by p. m.
ard enable business men to answer their let
ters by return fast mail This ought to bt
an answer to the fear of Captain White tina
| IAN earlier departure from Chicago woulC
ieopardize the connections from the east ant
| discommode vastly larger number of tht
patrons of the Postoflice department thar
would be benefited by the change" Further
| more, his statement that the transfer O.
| the mails requires considerable time, as i
| must be carted by wagons from the depo
Of the Lake Shore to the Union depot on thu
other side of the river" shows that the
| transfer method at Chicago is so old-fash
ioned and inadequate that the government
should not put up with it. There is no rea
| son why the mails should be carted II
| wagons across the city. At Council Bluff:
the Union Pacific and Burlington trains arr
run up side by side and the transfer of al
equal amount of mail fifteen to twenty tons
is effected in from thirteen to fifteen min
utes, stated. leaving the Union Pacific
train margin of about thirty minutes in de
parting for the west. This can easily b'
effected in Chicago and not only hours o
valuable daylight time but great sums o
money saved by the same arrangement, anC
the mails transferred in few minutes. ant
| he on their way to Council Bluffs and Omahs
and the west. We hope Captain White viii
make a jealous effort to remedy these eVi
delays and give the west the prompt mai
service 1t requires.