Omaha daily bee., 1903-01-07
RELIGION CAUSES TROUBLE
Advsutists Refuse to Work Saturday and
Cannot Work on Sunday.
IMPROVING THE MAIL FACILITIES
Auburn STRUGGLING Along with the
same Fixtures Installed I'm the
Days Before the Advent
of the Railroad.

Dulh heIoFe the AuNNnN
of the Railroad.
From a Stan Correspondentl
WASHINGTON, Jan. 6.-(Special Tele-
gram. )-Recently there have been a num-
Der OF protests from Seventh Day Ad-
v%entists against working on Saturday fled
by employees OF several branches OF the
government. The departments haze been
considerably worked up over the refusal
OF the Seventh Day Adventists to work on
Saturday and numbers, OF discharges have
resulted. Congressman Burkett OF Me-
braska is now up against such a propo-
sltion, having a constituent who belongs
TO the Adventfsts' church and b persists
in refusing to qualify before the proper
official because there is no law which. per-
mits him to work on Sunday instead Of
Saturday. w. NJ. Lewis, a constituent of
Mr.. Burkett, was originally employed in
the rural free delivery service in this city.
Growing dissatisfied with the work here Mr..
Burkett secured the transfer of Lewis to
San Francisco, where he was given a place
in the postof1ce. Not being satisfied with
his position, Lewis rendered his r~esigna-
ton, which was accepted. Later he wanted
to get back into the government service
anu Dul h0Net IA ~ iOohlhB Oul v us
Constituents, finally secured the reinstate-
ment for Lewis in the rural free delivery
service in this city.
Lewis yesterday presented himself to
the appointment clerk for assignment to
duty, but before taking the oath, which
is prescribed for all employees Of the gov
eminent, he informed the oficer who is
charged with administering the oath that
he was a Seventh Day Adventist and that
he wanted It understood hat he would not
work on Saturdays because Of his religious
scieples. He offered to work on Sun
days. and thus make up for the time OF
on Saturdays. There being no provision
In the statutes for such change in work
the ofaeer administering the oath refused
to execute the same, and the matter was
referred to the postmaster general for set
Element. mt-tt Ht fr.
Law and Religion.
Postmaster General Paine, after the mat
ter was brought to his attention, held that
1t was no business Of the department to
pass upon a mans religion, but that his
legal status must necessarily determine his
relation to the department. AS a statute
is now in force which prohibits govern
ment employees from working on Sundays
except in great emergencies, he could dc
hOhhihb mOIe IMAM 10 see lndI IuhL statute
was enforced. AS the Lewis case does moi
come under the present law, the assistant
attorney general for the Postofhce depart.
ment has been asked to give an opinion
in the matter. In the meantime Lewis Il
out Of a job, and Mr.. Burkett is conse.
quently very greatly worried over the mat,
ter. He saw the postmaster general II
Lewis behalf, and gathered from his tall
with Mr.. Paine that the latter was Cd.
posed to opening his ONCE on Sundays FOL
, one or two clerks, who by reason of theil
, religious scruples were opposed to workin,
on Saturdays. 1t is thought. therefore
that either Mr.. Lewis will have to foreg;
his principles or else separate himself iron
government employment.
After BETTER Mail Facilities. H..
Since his return to the capital Repre
= sentative Burkett has been devotinR hi
: time to securing Increased and more mod
: ern facilities for the handling of mail Il
= leading towns of his district. Some tim
ago he took UP with the Postofice depart
: ment an increased rental for the ~postofac
j at Plattsmouth, conditioned on the lesso
Of the building at present occupied puttinI
: the interior into the best possible condi
tion, redeoorating the walls and general
1, making the present postof1ce a delight I
Y its patrons. AS a result OF his energetl
work Mr.. Burkstt was informed today tina
Q a ten-year lease Of the present building a
81 Plattsmouth had been executed by tn
POstoflce department at an annual renta
Of 81, 200, the lessor Of the building I
give the citizens of Portsmouth an en-
tirely new room. New furniture to COS
$4,000 will be put In, and the citizens {
Plattsmouth will in the near future hav
a postofice of which they may well b
J. proud. Following up his success with tn
p, Plattsmouth ONCE, Mr.. Burkett has no
ID started in to bring abou,. a like conditio
70 Of affairs with the postofice at Auburn
70 II is stated that the boxes in the Aubur
r postofice were hauled. by or team frol
h Brownville and that since the memory
" man in that section they have RENAME
is the same. It is desired by Mr. Burkett
n give Auburn modern postof1ce f~acilitie
ID and today he secured an order to send a
ie inspector to that city for the purpose
looking over the ground with a View
At making a somewhat similar lease as hs
been made In the Plattsmouth ONCE.
is Inspection of Nursery stock.
- G. L. watrous of Des Moines and snt
:, Wilson OF Atlantic, Ia, are in WashingtC
In conjunction with the legislative eommi
tee Of the National N~urserymen's Rssocii
tion, interested in a bill providing for q
20 inspection of nursery stock. Iowa nurser,
- men are greatly interested in this bill,
- we'll as nurserymen from other states.
j. Dietrich Returns 10 Capital.
at Senator Dietrich returned from Nebrasl
of last evening. greatly overjoyed with cond
Id lions as he found them in his state. I
said he had nothing to report POLITICAL
except that 80 per cent OF the earnest, &C
III i've republicans in the state were In fav
OF Harry Lindsay for United States distri
to attorney
Iowa Case tn supreme Court.
C. W. Mullan Of Des Moines, sttorn
general OF Iowa. and II. T., Reed Of CreNC
Ia. are in Washington to appear before {
"a supreme court In the case Of James
Easton against the State OF Iowa. EastC
as president Of the First National ba
Of DEBORAH. was charged with having 7
eeived 9 deposit OF 500, after the hank h
been declared insolvent. Upon trial In {
court below he was convicted and sentenc
Al to FIVE years In the penitentiary. The ca
he now comes before the supreme court
argument upon certain federal questiC
~ which plaintiff in error has raised. 1t
~ expected the case will be reached early NJ
week.