Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-07-09
MAIL LINE.
Service on the D., r. !. & N. W..
is Extended to Rock
Island.
IT Is TO BEGIN JULY 16
New Order as to the 8-hour
Law Affecting the Car.
riers.

service on the Davenport, Rock lslanu
& Northwestern road will be extended
to Rock Island. An order to this eff
feet has been issued by the second as
sistant postmaster general, and is the
result of efforts put forth by Post
master L. II. Thomas, who felt as
long as there were mail advantages
in connection with the new railway
they should be enjoyed by the Rock
Island public.
Since the D R. 1. & N w. was
authorized to carry the United States
mail the mail route extended only be-
tween Clinton and Davenport. Rock
Island was entirely cut out.
The new extension of the service
to Rock Island will be benefit that
will be appreciated, especially by the
business people, as, for instance, ii
will bring the mail from the east, nsw
| brought in by the c., r. L. q P, ar
irving here at $40, an hour earlier.
And there will be still further adj
vantage. The Northwestern, with
which the d r. 1. & n. w. connects
at Clinton, leaves Chicago an hour
later than the Rock Island train.
which, of course, will continue to
carry mail. so that what one road
misses the other will pick up.
Carriers Work Day.
An order has been issued by the
postoffice department which affects
the employees of the local office and
which also has to do with the S.hour
rule. Under the rules that have been
in effect in the past if a letter carrier
was given more work to do than
could be accomplished in eight hours
he returned to the office with the IN
delivered mail and it was taken out
by some one else. In other words an
S-hour limit was placed on the
amount of work which a carrier
should be required to do. The pro
vision made in the act of congress
making the appropriation for the SER
vice of the postoffice department for
the fiscal year ending June 80, 1901,
saws regarding the S-hour day:
Provided, That letter carriers may
be required to work as nearly as prac-
ticable only eight hours on each work
ing day, but not in any event exceed
ing As hours during the. six working
days of each week; and such num-
Der of hours on Sunday, not exceed
ing eight as may be required by the
needs of the service; and if legal
holiday shall occur on any working
day, the services performed on that
day, if less than eight hours, shall be
counted as eight hours without re-
gard to the time actually employed"
Postmasters have been informed
In 10
on an S-hour schedule, but that no
carrier shall be scheduled for more
work than he can perform efficiently
on an average of eight hours a day
for six days. Under this ruling il
will not be necessary hereafter for
carrier to return mail to the office to
avoid working more than eight hours
on a day when the mail is unusually
heavy, for the extra time thus en-
ployed will be offset by the underline
Of some other day in the week when
the mail will be light enough so that
the days work can be completed in
less than eight hours. In brief, car
riers are now expected to work on an
average eight hours a day, but are
not permitted to work over As hours
during the six working days of any
week.
The change meets favor with the
postoffice department and it adds
somewhat TO the efficiency of the
mail service, for there will be no de-
lay in the delivery of mail because a
carrier happens to have heavier
pack than usual on some special day.
1t is understood that the Rock Island
carriers are not at all opposed to the
change. 1t works no hardship on
them, for if they work few minutes
overtime today it is deducted from
their work at some other period dur
ing the week. The only difference
between the old regulations and the
present one is that a carrier then
never worked more than eight hours,
while on some light days he might
work less. Now he comes nearer to
being required to work full eight
hours every day. Formerly his work
ing time was computed on an s.
hour schedule. Now it is computed
on schedule averaging eight hours
dav for six days.