The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1917-11-02

people IL Is QlHerenI.
The man who wires Philadelphia
at 3 p. m. and gets immediate ser.
vice and the message arrives at the
Philadelphia office at a few minutes
after three, Blackfoot time, but at a
few minutes after five, Philadelphia
time, and the firm addressed closes
at five. 1t is delivered next morn
ing. Natural delay, and longitude
was overlooked.
A woman at Logan wires some
body at Blackfoot, Mother is dying;
come home. Answer" There is a
new operator at Blackfoot, and he
works a while, before he locates the
adress, and then that person de-
cides that 1t is too late to catch the
$50 train south and he will go on
the night train. He has to find
somebody to look after his stock,
and he takes the afternoon to make
arrangements, sends an answer at
evening time, and it gets delivered
early in the morning, after the
woman has cried her eyes out
wondering why her brother didn't
answer. He gets there as soon as
his telegram does, and then they
are both hurt over it and forgot that
the messenger boy goes off duty
about the time the message was sent.
The man at State Center lives half
way between State Center and Gear
ing, and has recently had his mail
changed to Gearing, R. F. D. 1, and
the telegraph operator doesn't know
it. He decides that since it is about
night anyway, and there is no de-
posit to cover jitney charge, he
will just mail the telegram and it
will go out in the morning. The
post office people lay it aside in the
morning rush because he has given
them new address, and after din
ner the clerk who looks up new ad-
dresses, works the pile of mail Of
that class, and routes the telegram
for Gearing, which is on a stub road
via Marshalltown. The letter goes
around there in the next thirty-six
hours, misses the morning rural car
rier and is delivered the day after.
When the man who sent it, finds out
that it was not delivered till after
the funeral was over, he wonders
why the telegraph company would
take mans money and give him
that kind of injury. 1t was some
Scotchman who said, "The best laid
plans o. mice and men gang aft
agley." And it might afford some
comfort to say that to ourselves once
in a while. In this instance the op-
hn
trainmen all worked out their re-
spective parts in good faith and with
honest purpose, but things went
'agley."
Mr.. s. A. Calvin, the operator now
at Blackfoot, says some messages
are delayed by not being addressed
by street number or in some way
identified from the other person of
similar name. A man may address
| telegram to John Jones at Black
foot, and know that he is known
here by everybody, but he may not
know that another John Jones is in
just around the corner from
he telegraph office and that he may
have the telegram on his desk a
while before he gets it figured out
hat it is not for him and that maybe
t is for John w. Jones, of 140 North |
Main. The telegraph company likes
% have every known or reasonable
IDENTITY used as part of the ad-
1ress, SO as to make correct delivery
more certain. The new operator
working in the town doesn't know
he well-known persons like the
pioneers Of the town.
The Western Union has no mes
'enger boy now at Blackfoot. Mon
zoe Brown was on the job, but he
sn't now. Monroe was full of busi-
less. He held his job as messenger,
le did the janitor work for The Re- /
publican office, he delivered special !
delivery" letters for the post office,
oted the pouches for the mailing
crew at The Republican office on
press day, and when the carnival
company came to town he "incor-
,orated' the managers errands into
lis itinerary" He and his wheel
we're everywhere at once, but he |
Tipped. The Western Union got a
lew boy and that boy had to quit
md go to school. We don't sup
'ose the Western can get another
10Y like Brownie, and. probably
messages will have to get delivered
IS best they can till school is out,
nd then perhaps Brownie will make
m ga gements for the season and omit