The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-04-28
TRAVELLING MAN WANTS
POSTAL CHANGES

"All this whoop and hurrah about
extending the rural free delivery sys-
TEN and popularizing the postal bust
ness is very we'll in its way but I'm
Gle Sam is only human after all and
he needs advice" said a visitor to this
city yesterday. Il am going to offer
this, and if he doesn't take it and
thank, me, well I'll get along. But
there's something to it, mark me, when
say that the Postoffice Department is
run without full regard to the wants
and conditions of patrons
This. for instance is holiday, and
the main postoffice and branches are
closed. part of the day, anyway. That
isn't right. OF course, / don't want to
deprive anybody of holidays, but the
United States government can afford
to have clerks enough to keep the
postofiice open at all times There
ought never be one minute, day or
night, at which a man could not buy
stamps or get his mail. The govern
ment looses tens of thousands of dol
lars a year and men loose time, bust
ness, friends, and sometimes lives, be-
cause they cannot get their letters, or
cannot get stamps to mail letters. 1t
is all very well to talk about being able
to get stamps at hotels and cigar
stores. Sometimes you can and some
times you cannot. And even when
you cam buy them you always feel as
though you were asking a great ia
vor and ought to buy something in the
general merchandise line along with
your five red stickers. It's a nuisance.
l say, and the Postoffice Department
ought to understand it. ~.
"AG 10 he 4,
comes In and If he happens not to have
had his mail addressed to a hotel and
arrives at night on Sunday or on a
holiday, he is shut off perhaps from
most important letters.
The United States have paid an
enormous amount to the railroads to
bring the letters flying across the
country-and after they arrive it may
be twenty-four hours before the own
er can get them-he being on the out.
side of the glass and bronze partition
and the important mail inside. 1t may
be all right to shut down the money
order business and registry, although
! am not sure that even this is advls-
able; but when it comes to stamps and
the general delivery, l think it is wick
ed as well as wastefuI to shut the win
dows at all. Recurring to the stamp
question, l forgot to say that while
some of the places do make a pretense
of keeping stamps, for accommoda-
ton, l think 1t is not once in dozen
that you will find them supplied with
the various denominations, including
SPECIAL delivery stamps, newspaper
wrappers and postal cards. g.
IF the government offered an in
ducement for an individual or firm to
buy a quantity of stamps possibly
people would run the risk of carrying
more of the stickers about with them,
but uISer the present conditions few
people buy more than they need at the
moment, and travellers especially are
regularly caught without them on
Sundays, holidays and nights The
accoInonrdatOo places, some of
them. are a delusion. If they have the
amount of stamps desired they cannot
change the money offered and you
either have to buy more than you
want or take less than you need-or
run around the street and ask for
change. There is no mistake about il
the stamp window and the general de-
livery window should have double
force and stay open all the time"