The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1912-08-30
IN WON'T Be ON 50 TIGHT
oosrv.srER GENERAL MoDl-
fo ,,,rc CONSTRUCTION OF LAW.
oners and Hotel Guests VIII
Vet Get Their Mail on Sundays. 10
Gov, Ont Important Mail.

hl.'', ~ the new law prohibiting the
tion - If mail on Sundays will
ae-- M serious effect upon the nano-
NOV n1,' of important mail matter,
III of lock boxes at nrst anu
hot nnd class postofices will have &C
s5lO - them as usual, although no
c S1 deliveries will be made by car
m@-' an the streets or at postot-
D'o 'ron for hotel guests and newspa-
will be delivered to them
y is.orob their lock boxes by a simple
~ .ongament of having that mall
q. -@ an the railway mail cars be-
so-o II reaches its destination. Sucn
~. ai, will be regarded as transit
- " and will be distributed I'M
-aaia+eIv upon its arrival at the
a#cos of destination, thus practical
- ;nsrring a speedier delivery to the
aadresses than heretofore mas peen
the case.
This distribution will require
u.inimum of Sunday work and the
5istribution of other mail received
~ Sunday will be made after mid
,iobt of Sunday so that it may De
delivered by the carriers on their
FIRST tour on Monday.
Au-Day Conference.
After all day conferences with the
ovnnrts of his department Postmas-
tor General Hitchcock tonight issued
statement explanatory of his ad-
uinistration of the new law. HIS
assurance is that there will be nc
embarrassment to the business pub
liz and that, through the arrange
ments he outlines, urgent mail mat
Ter will reach its destination prompt
" Orders necessary to carry Mr.
Htcbcock's plans into effect Will De
issued Immediately.
Hitchcock's Statement.
The postmaster generals state
meDt said in part:
There appears to be some mlsap-
Drehension as regards the provision
in the postal bill relating to the de-
livery of mail on Sundays. This pro-
vision does not require the closing
nj nostofices on Sundays, which
would be quite impossible, owing to
The fact that the transit mail has to
be sorted and also the mail COLLECTED
in cities for dispatch to other destl-
nations. To stop the movement Oh
this mail would mean a serious cog
ging of the whole system ana conse-
Ouent inconvenience to the pubic
At present most of the mail received
Sunday for delivery by carrier MOI
day morning is worked after hlu-
night on Sunday, and therefore the
law will not affect this mail. II
will be delivered as promptly as
heretofore. Mail received up to mid
night on Saturday for lock boxes
will be distributed to the boxes and
will be available to box holders on
Sunday as usual.
No Sunday Street Delivery.
There is at present no street de-
livery or mail by letter carriers on
Sundays and therefore the la"
makes no change in this regard' III
short. the only mail that will be al
fected under a reasonable construc-
ton of the new law is that received
at the postoffices on Sunday ahu
hitherto sorted on that day for ais
tribution to lock boxes.
"As the purposes of the law, when
was clearly enacted in the interest
Of employees, is to reduce as Tar DIS
practicable the amount of SUNDAY
labor the work of distributing sun
day mail to lock boxes will be IlInlt-
ed TO certain classes of mail that
cannot be held until Monday morn
ing without serious inconvenience TO
the addresses. This mail Will IN
clude that for newspapers and hotel
guests
In order to give the new proVls-
ion as liberal a construction as pos
sibe postmasters will be instructed
on application to have their employ
ees sort out, in emergency cases, on
Sunday letters of special importance.
This will supplement the present
privilege of having all mail delivered
on Sunday that carries special ae-
livery stamp.
Absurd to Close POstOffices.
BY the proposed changes in the
method of putting up mail in the
Offices of origin and in its handing
on the railway mail trains it IS pc
Iieyed that a satisfactory distr1ou-
lion can be made in postoffices on
Sundays with far less work than
IS now required"
Minority Leader Mann OF tne
house, author of the provision pro-
hibiting the delivery of mail on Sun
day, said there was no intent upon
he part of congress so to restrict
The activities of the postotlce de-
partment as to inconvenience the
business public.
1T is absurd he declared, for
anybody to assume that congress
meant to close the postofices as tlgnt
as wedge on Sunday. We simply
required that there should be no
delivery of mail to the general pub
ne on Sunday in order that letter
S Sn,rs and postofice clerks might
10y 10y reasonable respite from
VhelT lahors."