The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1916-01-25
RIAEESLEE DEFENDS
new MOTOR ROUTES
SAYS ADMINISTRATION REAL
nEs THE VALUE OF THE POS
r,L SERVICE TO PEOPLE.
CARRIERS GET $500 AN HOUR
c,,nrlaints Continue to Pour in. Wig
orous Fight on Between Georgia
Conoressmen and the Department.
pIalyesIee Remains Firm.


orous Fight on Between Georgia
Conoressmen and the Department.
Rlakeslee Remains Firm.
WASHINGTON, D. Georgia
.,ngrossmen have made life so mis-
o.oh,a for James l. Blakeslee, fourth
o.sistant postmaster general, VINO
Ios charge of delivery of rural mails,
.hot he has issued a special state
mont TO the correspondents of Geor-
aia newspapers defending the consol-
iso+ion of rural routes in Georgia
and the establishment of motor
rontes He begins by saying that this
odministration has recognized the
value of the postal service to the peo-
nIa TO a greater extent within three
Years than for any similar period IN
.bo 1os+ decade and that the compen-
sation to rural route carriers mas
haan increased approximately S4'-
100000 per annum.
The department is now endeavor-
ING he says, to eliminate all forms
If snecial privilege such as double
dailv service to favored localities, un-
necessary retraces to one family and
mt to all. duplication of travel by
two or more carriers over a single
highway, and to stop the waste OF
nublic funds expended simply to con-
tinue some particular individual in a
life tenure of office on the erroneous
theory that he had vested right in
a classified place whether necessary
work was performed or not"
Work Seven Hours.
All manner of postal employees, Mr..
Blakeslee points out, except rural
carriers work at least seven hours a
day, while rural mails are carried in
Geogia in less than that time. Mr..
Blakeslee furnishes a list of all the
1856 rural routes in Georgia, with the
time consumed in carrying the mail,
the great majority of them requiring
less than six hours and several re-
curing less than four. Under the
consolidation he says that less than
seven hours are required in serving
any two routes and that in such con-
solidations the department is able to
serve from 900 to 1000 patrons.
Complaints Pour in.
Complaints to congressman from
all over Georgia continue to pour in,
however. In many cases, the COM
plants allege, carriers on motor
routes are compelled to leave before
the arrival of late morning trains and
finish their routes so late thai odt-
going mail misses the afternoon
trains thus delaying the Transmission
Of their letters from twelve to TWEEN
ty-four hours. The departments con-
tentiOn that horse delivery is provid-
ed for times when the roads cannot
be travelled by motor is met by the as
sertion that carriers do not always
know when the roads VIII be bad and
that often the mail is delayed by
swollen streams.
The visit of the Georgia congress
men to the postmaster general two
weeks ago resulted in the promise
that no new motor routes would be
inauguted and that the old ones
would be abandoned if they were
proved impractical. This week Rep
TeSentative Hughes received notice
that two new motor routes would be
established in his district. Thus the
battle, which at one time seemed
about to die out, has been renewed
with considerable energy.