A Contractor With A Pull

A contractor with a pull

Gets out of a losing contract with Uncle Sam,

Emery and Worden Mail

will no long be carried from the Ann Arbor Post office delaying mail from here

A change has been made this week in mail delivery in this county by which one star route is split into two and a poor delivery will undoubtedly result to the offices concerned. It is another case going to show that good as our present postal system is, it is not perfect. The offices affected are Emery and Worden. At the time the Ann Arbor road shortened its route through Northfield, Emery and Worden were placed on a star route supplied from Ann Arbor. This worked satisfactorily for some time, but last summer the star routes in this county were re-let. A southern contractor by bidding very low got the contract. It proved a money loser. The first man he found who would carry the mail so that the contractor might come off whole got in the way of a Wabash train near Britton and was killed just before the time came for him to assume his duties. Various shifts were made, but the contractor could not get the mail carried for the contract price. He would have to go down in his pocket for a bonus. It is said that he next set to work to get out of the contract, and as a result the star route from Ann Arbor was abolished Nov. 26. This let out the contractor. Emery is now supplied from the Northfield station on the Ann Arbor road and Worden from South Lyon. The trouble with this is that these post-offices, being in Washtenaw county, receive the bulk of their mail from Ann Arbor, the county seat. Now it is extremely difficult to get mail to Worden from Ann Arbor via South Lyon and get an answer in any kind of season. County seat papers will often not reach Worden till the following Monday and two men are now employed to carry the mail where one was employed before.

This transaction seems to an outsider to be on par with that of compelling the Ann Arbor carriers to carry lanterns in making their afternoon delivery.