The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-08
TO IMPROVE MAILS
RECOMMENDATIONS MADE BY DE-
 APARTMENT.
Report of First Assistant Postmnster General sugGests Giving sma1- ter Cities the Free Delivery
 Service.

Washington D. C.. Dec. 7.-At the end of the last fiscal year-June 3O. l90S-there were in operation total of 6i,15s post offices in the United States. according to the annual report of the first assistant postmaster gen.
 eral made public today. The number of postmasters appoint ed at presidential offices was 2174 while il. 9t5 were given commissions In the fourth class offices
 The report regards with favor the meetings of postmasters associations in annual convention, and states that these meetings have been encouraged by the Department by the sending of representatives to join with the post masters in discussing postal affairs and making plans for the betterment of the service. The first assistant, however. believes that better results would follow if number of the. as- sociations would consolidate. This. he thinks would effect a larger attend anee and extended the influence of the associations.
 The. policy of the department 1t is stated, in limiting so far as possible the average daily hours of service or post office clerks to eight. and to havc only such work done on Sundays as is necessary to prevent delay in tho transmission of the mails and incon-.
 
 service practically on an eight-hour basis so far as the larger post offices, are concerned. Tn the case of the smaller offices. the report says. it has an eight-hour schedule, without in- creased expense, owing to the late and early arrival and departure of malls. To offset this. the department has issued instructions to postmasters to allow the clerks brief periods of duty at times when malls are not being received or dispatched.
 The fact that millions are appro. priated by Congress for sites and structures to be used for post office purposes with the Department having no voice in the selection of the site oy the designing and equipping of the building. is cause. for considerable continent and criticism. "A convenient location, an interior arrangement planned with special re- ference to post office needs, and q pro. per equipment arc vital to the prompt and economical handling of the mails,
 says the first assistant Moreover he adds. "the requirements Of the larger post offices with respect to To- cation and design differ so materially from those of the other government establishments usually housed In fed- erai buildings that it is rarely feasi- ble to plae them under the same roof WIlftOuL AAo90NnhSd6S " s%sS ! service,."
 Of special interest to the general | nubIic are the recommendations relat~ l ing to the extension and improvement of the city delivery service. Millions of people residing in small towns, 1t Is | stated, are without any form of free delivery. This condition. the report says, can be remedied by amending the law so as to permit of the estab- | Iishn1ent of city delivery service at l post offices where the receipts are as much as s5ooo annually. The previous recommendation that mail shall not De delivered by city carriers except at kresidences or offices where suitable mail receptacIes are placed at the door or entrance, is renewed.
 'aThe expense to the patrons would be trifiing," says the report, while | the amount of time saved the letter carriers who now walt for an answer | to the doorbell would in the aggre-
 gate represent a very large sum of Q: money that might well be spent in | giving more frequent deliveries and collections"