Omaha daily bee., 1908-01-14
Formation Of District Of Central Yves
Would Divide at Missouri River.
BIG Sixth" is NOW TOO LARel
This Condition is Shown by Investiga
ton Of Present Districts.
OMAHAs RAILWAY ADVANTAGE
Present superintendent In ChIcaE,
Handles Business Of $1,000 Miles
of Railroad with $500
RRiiway clerks.

Investigation Of the railway mail servic,
divisions resulting from the Introduction
of a bill at the last session Of congress &C
establish new division In the south with
headquarters at New Orleans has dis
closed the fact that there is no division
headquarters OF the railway mail servic,
between Chicago, ~, Louis and San Fran.
cisco.
This has resulted in the belief that wher
the bill is introduced at the present ses.
sion. number OF new divisions should h,
established, and new division with con,
venient headquarters in the central west
probably at Omaha or Denver.
Some of the points in the west are now
from 500 to 1900 miles from division head.
quarters. The central west Is dependent
on superintendent with headquarters in
Chicago, and il in what is known as the
sixth division. This comprises the states
Of Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and
the Black Hills district of South Dakota,
with lines entering other states extending
from Memphis, Tenn, on the south and
to Billings, Mont, Denver, Ogden and
points in Idaho The route i'm the big
sixth" include 21,OOO miles of railroad and
more than 1900 clerks are employed 1t
is the largest division in. tho point OF
mileage and second in the largest number
Of clerks employed.
New District Advocated.
Now it is suggested that a new district
should be formed with the Missouri river
as the dividing line the new district to
include the states of Nebraska, Wyoming.
Colorado, Utah the Black Hills district
OF South Dakota and southern Idaho.
Should the new division be formed It is
obvious to those interested in readiustIng
tt th,t l. H.
for the location of division headquarters.
This is true as shown by careful investigs-
ton first, because rs per cent of the rail-
way mileage in the territory proposed for
the new district Is under direct management
of railway officials located at Omaha. as
the Union Pacific Burlington and North
western lines west Of the Missouri river.
second-Because Is por cent of the mali
for states mentioned Is received through
the Omaha gateway and distributed on
lines radiating from OMAHA eFt
Third--Becsuse fully 70 per cent Of the
railway postal clerks in the state named 80
comprise the new division are on lines
running out OF or directly contiguous to
Omaha.
Fourth, Omaha has ample facilities in
It's splendid new federal building for the
accommodation of division headquarters.
while Denver has no facilities at present
and cannot have for some years.
Big Gain, hut No ReRdjustment.
The investigation has also disclosed the
fact that though there has been an cnor-
nous increase in the mails handled no
readjustment of the service has been au-
thorized by congress since 1855, when the
district, with headquarters in ST. Paul
and TT Worth, Tex. were formed
The only way the department has had
Of handling the business of the ereat CEN
trai west is by establishing offices Of
chief clerks in Omaha, Sioux City, Lincoln.
Denver Cheyenne and Ogden but all mat
ters of Importance had TO travel to the
office of the division superintendent in
Chicago. distance ranging from 800 to
1850 miles. The department has recog-
nized the fact that the districts are 30
large as to make proper administration
practically impossible, and three new di-
visions are likely, one with headquarters
at Omaha another with headquarters at
Indianapolis and one in the extreme north
west, with headquarters at Spokans or
Portland. The new division with head
quarters at New Orleans is also likely.