Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-12-31
WHAT THE LETTERS COST.
The System by which the Pay of Railways for
Carrying Mails is Determined.

The System by which the Pay of Railways for
Carrying Mails is Determined
The largest single item in the postal
expense account of the national govern
ment is that for the transportation of the
mails on the various railways throughout
Over So, 900 200 is annually appropriated
for this purpose The system under
which the compensation of the vari-
Gus railways for carrying the mails
is fixed is one involving many details,
and as the rate of payment is fixed for
four years at a time, the proper eXpendi-
ture of over $40 200 900 of the public
money depends on the accuracy with
which the system is carried out. G. W.
Dwenger, the superintendent of weigh
ing of the railway mail service, will
begin next month the work of
computing the compensation to be paid
to the great trunk lines for carrying
the mails for four years from July
l, 1883. Mr.. Dwenger is a clear-headed
assistant in the second division of the rail-
way mail service. He is not dismayed by
the largest aggregation of figures, and he
and his assistants, from Il mass of docu-
llcIIS NSISIlllIS SGNG DOlIHtS
deduce few columns of figures which
form the basis of the settlement of ac-
counts aggregating millions of dollars.
The preparatory work for the next COM
putatiOu is now i'll progress.
All the mail matter carried over the
various railroads for thirty or sixty days
is actually weighed once in four years,
and payments are made to the railroad
companies ON the theory that the aver
age amount of mail matter on all the
days of the four years term will be the
same as the daily average for one month
or two months when the amount is accu-
rately ascertained. The weighing for
the local routes is made under the direc-
ton of the division superintendent
of the railway mail service, and
Mr.. DwengCr has charge of the weighing
for the second division, in which New
York is situated. He will begin, how
ever, on January Is, under direction of
the postoffice department, the superyis-
ion Of weighing the mails carried over the
great trunk lines out of New York. The
great through routes known to the postal
service as trunk lines are that over the
NewYork Central and Lake Shore roads
to Buffalo and Chicago; that over
the Pennsylvania to Philadel-
phia, Pittsburgh, Columbus, In
dianapolis, Chicago and St. Louis,
and the local service on the Erie Rail
way. The amounts annually paid for the
transportation of mails over these routes
are: New York and Buffalo Route New
York CcntraD 1851 900; Buffalo and
Chicago CLake ShOre), $3.50 200; New
York to Philadelphia, SlS2 900; Phila-
delphia to Pittsburg, S4S4 900; Pittsburg
to Chicago, Sl93 900; Pittsburg to
Columbus, S2O3 900; Columbus to In
dianapolis, $40 200; Indianapolis to st.
Louis, $40 600. Tie aggregate is nearly
So 900 900 year.
The time of the year which shall be Sc
lected for weighing the mails is impor-
tant, as the amount of mail matter varies
greatly in the several parts of the year.
December is the month in which the
largest mails are carried, and November
in presidential year and the early part
of January are also periods III which the
railway mail service is especially busy.
The period from January - to March 10
has been selected for the next weighing
oil the trunk lines. Every mail sent out
from the New York office or re-
ceiyed there will be weighed. On every
railway pOstoffice car a weigher will be
stationed, whose duty it will be to weigh
the mail received or. delivered at each
station As most of the mails are carried
on express trains which have no postal
cars attached, all Ae postmasters at the
stations along the railroad lines will be
required TO report directly to the superin-
tendent of weighing the weight OF the
mails received and dispatched. Over
1000 reports from postmasters
will be received each day
for one or two months. These re-
ports are handed to experienced ac-
countantS connected with the weighing
bureau, and the average amount for
day is ascertained, and by multiplication
the average amount for year. Then it
becomes necessary to ascertain how much
of the mail is carried for short distances
and how much for long distances. The
tables first prepared contain many
columns of figures, but these are reduced
in number as averages are obtained until
the final result is contained i'll few
columns. Over go weighers are en-
ployed and score of clerks.
The rate of compensation on the trunk
lines was S21 .3S ''per ton per mile per
anuum ''-tnat is, the accounts ascer-
tanned how many tons were carried in
year over each mile of the road, and on
that basis the payments were made.
Superintendent Dwenger pointed yester-
day to pile of documents which reached
nearly to the ceiling of the lofty room
in the postoffice building which
he occupies, and said: ''There are a
few of the reports which We received at
the last weighing. We shall receive
many more this time than we did four
years ago, and when you consider that
all the information on those sheets must
be condensed int our tables, and that
the expenditure of $40, 900 900 depends
upon our work, you may understand
something of its magnitude. %