National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1884-01-02
RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE.
Report OF the COMMITTEES Appointed TO In.
vcstigrte the Matter OF Compensation to
Jsnilwhy Companies for Carrying the

hhtiWhy companies Tor carrying inc
Mails.
The postmaster general has sent TO congress
the report Of tho committee appointed under
the provisions Of an act passed last March to
prepare an improved plan Of carrying tho
mails on railroad routes.
The committee was composed of Richard
A. Elmer, second assistant postmaster gene
cral, w. Is. Thompson, general suporntend-
ent railway mail service, and Isaac O. Slater,
suporihtond ent OF railway adjustment. Tho
report described the operations of the COM
mitteo in detail, and sets forth the sources
of information and the reasons for each Of its
| recommendations.
The members Of tho committee first sent
| out letters to every railroad company in the
/ United Statos, asking for their opinion as to
| the proper basis Of compensation for mail
| service and for exhibits OF comparative oarn.
ings from other items of transportation. Some
companies declined to make any suggestions,
and few expressed satisfaction with tie
existing methods of gauging pay, but u
majority Of the companies urgently advocated
q change. The committee thus became fully
/ acquainted with the views and wants Of the
railroad corporations in injection with the
postal service. The committee gives brief
history of the railway mail service, showing
its rate Of increase, md comparing its pres
I
decade has witnessed doubling of the SER.
vice, and IL the present rates of increase and
of pay are maintained tho year 1900 will
see a service by mail of Mt least 100000 miles,
with an annual cost of about S2j,00O,0O0.
The ratio between che aggregate cost and the
! total number of miles has remained almost
unchanged, but the expense Of carrying 100
pounds Of mail at the rate of fifteen miles
| per hour was much greater than at present
| with all the added facilities afforded the
government and mt tho present greatly in
creased rate Of speed.
Among the earliest matters of record found
| by the committee confocted with the history
of railway post legislation, was an act of tho
year 1858, empowering tho postmaster general
| to cause the mails to be transported by rail-
way, provided he can have IL done on rcasoD-
able terms, and not pay therefor, in any
instance, moro than rs per cent over and
above what similar transportation would
cost in post coaches" This was the first
recognition Of the element of speed in the
value OF railway postal transportation. II
was seriously proposed in consideration Of
increased speed and other advantages over
the old system to pay one-fourth more than
the stage coaches received.
Nothing, says,the committee, could better
| illustrate how vaguely the effect of tho new
forces in our civilization was apprehendcd
! To show how widely the result differs from
anything anticipated by the early legislators
| the fact is cited that the average rate received
| for the freight carried in one year in the state
of Ohio, amounting in the aggregate to over
$1,000, 900 tons, was little over . mllls-tcss
than cont per ton per mile. Thirty years
ago the cost of moving n ton of freight by
wagon under the most favorable conditions
must, the committee says, have been at least
20 cents per mile.
When the system of weighing the mails
was first establshed-in lS67-the most as
81, 10.
the matter of compensation. At that time
tho mails were generally carried in baggage
cars.
| 1t was found that on fifteen lines receiving
| pay at the rate of 5000 mile the daily service
ranged from an average more than 10000
pounds OH one line to less than 400 pounds on
another; that is one received the same rate
for carrying the lesser amount that the other
did for the greater. On roads receiving $50
per mile the service ranged from 1000 pounds
| to less than 300, while on roads where the $50
rate was paid the greatest average daily SER
vice was GAS pounds and the least II pounds.
Tho act of 1873 brought degree of
order out of this confusion, in that
| it prescribed an even rate Of pay for
| transporting like daily average weight
of mails, but on the vital points of
frequency. speed, and room in which to dis
tribute the mail, it was but little in advance
of the previous law.
! The practical objections to the present law,
| tho committee says, are: l. That no diScrm-
ination is made between service performed in
! apartment cars, accompanied by clerks. and
closed mails carried in bulk in baggage cars.
2. The matter of frequency is covered by the
indefinite expression due frequency"
No discrimination is made whore the same
weight Of mail is carried, between lines rum
ming six, seven, twelve, or fourteen round
trips per week, the less frequent securing the
same rate AS the most freuuent.
3. The matter of speed is disposed of with
the expression due frequency and speed
and does not enter into the rate of compensa-
ton.
4. Tho size of cars or apartments to be
used is not provided in manner sufficiently
definite to be continued as an expression OF
the requirements Of the postotice department
with regard to 900 miles of postal service.
5. Specific allowance for railway postofiices
is an unreasonable method of compensating
for the service required.
o. The regulation requiring railroad com
panies to deliver mails into terminal offices
and also to all other offices not over eighty rods
from the line Of road, has become serious
hindrance TO efficient postal service.
z. The present method 10 defective because
of the great inequality existing in many cases
between the weights carried and the apart
ments provided
In 1864 the railway postoilices were estab
lished. The majority of letters previous u
that time were subject to delays, while til,
expense attending tho work of distribution
in twenty-five postotices amounted during
the fourth quarter of 1861 to nearly $2OO,O0t
or about GO per cent. of the whole expense
for clerk hire in all Offices.
The amount expended for clerk hire IN
1883 was $l,900,000; under the old regime il
would have been 2,S00000, $S,000,0O0 o
which would represent the cost of maintain
ing distributing oiiices in other words, Their,
has been a saving of $300O,0O0 by adoptnl
the speedler method 10 show that this /,
not an overestlmate the committee point t.
the fact that forty years ago tho weight o
malls sent out OF New York city in II sngl,
week was $4,000 pounds. Now rs mucl
leaves New York every two hours, or NOR,
than 100 tons daily by various roads.
Recognizing that the postal service Is onC
of the most important factors in tho stimula
ton of trade, the committee from the outsc
was DESTROYS of avoiding the recommendation
Of any scheme which in its practical work
ings would throw upon the railroads thu
burden of rendering such service at unre
munGratiVe rates, On the other hand, the,
desired to recommend schedule of rate
which would not result in an imposition o
eXorbitant charges upon the government.
In determining plan OF investiga ions tn
committee laid down the fundamental prinGi
plG that q rate OF pay which will in genera
yield the companies u return per car per mil
run not differing materially in amount iron
: the return POW realized from the running O
their passenger trains could not be other thai
lust and reasonable.