The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1911-03-30
POSTOFFICE
DEPARTMENT
IN ALL THE POSTOFFICES
Calling at the Postoffices on Sun.
days is More of Habit
Than a Necessity

The question of Sunday closing
of the postoAices is sweeping the
country and upon petitions from
various cities the department has
taken up the idea of reducing the
Sunday work in postoffices to a min
imum. Detroit, Michigan vas the
originator of the idea. the board oil
trade and the churches aiding in the
campaign and petitioning the post
Office department to close the office
on Sundays and now the majority Of
the clerks and carriers in Detroit and
other cities are enjoying a day out Of
seven which no one will deny is due
them. OF course the mails are col
lectcd from the street letter boxes in
the business district and enough men
detailed for Sunday duty to dispatch
the mails and distribute the mails in
to the boxes. The department. to
show their appreciation of the situa-
ton propose to let clerks who are
compelled to do the certain amount
of work which would necessarily
have to be done on Sundays off dur
ing the week the same number of
hours that they were compelled to
work on Sunday.
In cities where the patrons have
agreed to the closing of the general
delivery, stamp and carriers windows
it has been found to cause little or
no inconvenience, as most business
houses and hotels have boxes for
their mail for Sundays use. Nearly
all travelling men have their mail
come in care of some hotel, so in
this instance they would not suffer
by the Sunday closing.
Calling at the postoffice on Sum
days is more of habit than a neces-
sity. A few of our important bust
ness men in Johnson City, who rent
boxes never come to the postoffice
on Sunday for their mail for the rea-
son that they think they get enough |
of business worry the six working
days of the week, and Sundays they
observe as a day of rest.
Some OF the larger postofices who
close on Sundays, by consent of the
patrons of their respective Offices
are: Detroit, Michigan, the first to
inaugurate it. which proved such
success that is has spread over the
Lawrence, Mass. J
Schenectady, N. Y. Lincoln, Neb.,
Toledo, O. and Others Immediately
followed. The reason these larger
towns are named is that if it can be
lone in such business centers as
.hese, it can be done more effective
y at the smaller Offices.
On the Sunday previous to the
losing of the carriers window in
he Toledo, O. office an accurate
account was kept of the calls at the
carriers window, which number
cached $50. The postmaster then
the patrons of the carriers
Who wished to call for their mail on {
sunday to send request for such ,
ervice, the order to be filed in the .
,ostoffice by 3 p. m. On Saturday. +,
On the following Sunday only As
,alls were registered, which showed
What remarkably small number in a
ity OF such a large population really II
AIRED for their mail on Sundays. 1t /,
nay sound strange but about 90 per |
ent. of the Sunday callers for mail ,
re church goers, persons who at
end Sunday schools regularly. The
rocery stores are all closed on Sum a
avs and every one who wishes to
urchase provisions for Sunday, do so v
n the Saturday previous. / dare t
ay that if the stores were allowed to
c open on Sunday that in short
ime they would be doing a good re-
all business on the Sabbath day.
Yearly every one will remember thar
My few years ago the stores in
ohnson City kept open until late
our at night working some of the
Jerks as high as sixteen hours day. I
Mrs. w. M. Netherland and
pms returned yesterday from Eu-
S, Fla, where they spent the :