The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-10-14
Manufactures and shippers.

Manufactures and Shippers.
The postmaster received the f1rst
letter on September 3, 1909, from the
Manufacturers and Shippers associa
ton, written by E. w. Cox, secretary.
The secretary writes that the as
ISOLATION is complaining of the grea,
Inconvenience the jobbers are being
put to by the late arrival of train H.
Secretary Cox writes;
Both yesterday and today, this
train was one hour lat2 We under
stand you fully realize the naturally
bad effect this has on Keokuk ous,.
ness interests and especially to Man
ufacturing and jobbing concerns which
depend upon receiving their mail
promptly Orders are greatly delayed
and many times are lost by shippers
not being able to give them quick at
tention, such as prompt wire accept
ances and ether necessary informa-
ton. We can not enter into competi.
ton with other surrounding cities on
an equal basis, such as Burlington,
Quincy, Ft. Madison, st. Louis and
others, and handle business practical
ly one day behind time which we are
just trying to accomplish when this
mail is SO seriously delayed.
If this condition continues, the bus
mess of Keokuk jobbers and manufac-
turers is bound to decline and with it
our city. We must keep after this
service until it is what is intended it
should be. We sincerely hope that
you will again endeavor to get US the
service the government thinks we are
getting and not the poor service the
carriers seem disposed to give US"
Copies of the above letter were sent
to Senator j. P. Dolliver and Albert
B. Cummins. These gentlemen refer
red the matter to Postmaster General
Frank H. Hitchcock at Washington,
D. G., with their Endorsement. The
postmaster general referred the COR
respondence to the second assistant
postmaster general who referred the
matter to Alec Grant, general super
intendent of railway mail service Of
the United States.
Shortly thereafter, the S. P. Pond
Co. wrote directly to the postmaster
general complaining of the condition
of affairs and the letter was referred
by him to lesser officials as was the
letter written by Mr.. Cox
General Superinte ndent Grant refer
red the whole matter to E. l.. West
superintendent of railway mail service
at Chicago. Superintendent West
then conducted an investigation, the
results of which are set forth in vol
luminous correspondence
Still later, the Commercial Club of
keokuk addressed a letter of COM
plant to the second assistant post
master general who referred it to
the superintendent at Chicago.
On October Superintendent West
took up the matter with Guy Adams,
supervisor of mails for the Rock Is
land railroad. Mr.. Adams has taken
a record of the time of arrival Of Rock
Island train, % at Burlington from the
14th of September to the 30th of that
month and finds that during that per-
iod, the train was late in arriving at
Burlington only once. That was the
period during which time No. IL ar.
rived in Keokuk on time each morning
with the mails. The Rock Island mail
supervisor therefore felt justified in
giving assurance that there would be
cause for no more complaints but all
Keokuk business men are well awar
of the late arrival of No. IL since the
first of the month and vigorous pro-
tests will be kept up until the matter
!; fully corrected.