Feliciana sentinel., 1891-02-14
THE PENNY POST.


A Business Mans View ~ TO What Would
Constitute True Reform In tho Postal
Service.
A writer on the subject of the postal
service of the country in a recent arti-
Gle advances the following ideas, which
are, perhaps, worthy OF consideration:
The annual report of the Postmaster
General has provoked considerable in
quiry as to the necessity for reform in
postal rates. The ideas advanced by
the different articles that have appeared
on the subject as to the most desirable
changes that could be made are gener-
ally prompted by the personal G
business interests Of the writer Of the
theory. We believe that the public gem
orally will take the view that the Postal
Department was estab1ished for the safe
and rapid transmission Of letters Of .
business or personal nature, and for the
prompt dissemination Of news matter,
and that all other undertakings Of the
Postal Department should be secondary
to this. The public demand not only
the rapid and safe transmission of let
tiers and news matter, but that the
rates on this legitimate class of mail
matter shall be placed at the lowest fig
ure consistent with its cost. The an
nua1 report OF the Postmaster-Gene
shows that the present &c per ounce
rate on letters yielded the Government
during the last year $SS S,000,0 900, and
that the actual cost of carrying and de-
ivering such letters for the same period
was but 80, 600, 900, leaving clear profit
of $50, 1000, 900. But the final balance
shown in the report shows that, instead
of there being a profit of $50, 600, 900,
there was an actual deficiency or loss
of s., ,76s, 300. Inquiry into the causes
of this deficiency discloses the fact that
it is due,
First To carrying through the mails
at rates largely under cost tons of adj
vertising matter and schemes of every
character and merchandise packages of
every nature, overburdening the al
ready over-taxed facilities of the mails
to such an extent as to render the
prompt transmission and delivery of
legitimate mail matter almost an i'm
possibility.
Second. To the shipment through the
mails OF Governme Mt freight that could
and should be forwarded through other
channels at much lower cost.
In the face of this report, bill has
been introduced in Congress for. the es-
tablishment of a Parcels Post, which
proposes still lower postal rates than
are now in effect on a class of business
that has been largely instrumental in
reducing profit of 10000, 600 to an
actual loss of S5,76S, 800. We conclude
that it is not of as much Importance to
the average citizen that the cost for the
| transmission of a package of merchan
| disc or other articles Of like characte,
| through the mails shall be less than the
Government pays for TRANSPORTING it. as
that the rates of postage on newspa-
which are the province and property of
all shall be placed within the reach of
all. The revenue of the Postal De-
partment, if properly applied, fully
justifies the reduction of rates
on letter postage, and it is
undoubtedly the duty Of every voter to
urge upon their Representatives in Con-
gress to legislate for penny postage on
| letters and for the continuance of the
present reasonable rates that are af-
forded the newspaper interests of the
country. The surplus revenues of the
Postal Department should be used for
| this purpose, and for the improvement
| of the facilities for local delivery of let
| ters and newspapers, and for the ex-
| tension of mail routes to regions of the
| country not already favored with ac-
| ceptable postal communicate rather
| than that they should be used to build
| up a branch of public service that is
| not required by the public, and which
/ experience. has demonstrated will ex-
haust the revenues and absorb the facil-
| tiles needed for other and more impor-
tant branches of the postal service.