The herald., 1896-10-22
U. S. MAIL HOLD.UP

U. S. MAIL HOLD.UP
The Herald has been investigating the
manner and method of the Southern Pa
cific Railroad company to secure pay
for carrying the United States mails on
a basis of service which multiplies the
actual weight of the mail matter trans
ported several times over. The Herald
finds that during the year ending June
30, 1895, the congress Of the United
States appropriated over thirty millions
of dollars for transporting the inland
mails of the United States by railroad.
If those who are interested in what
becomes of a portion Of the six hundred
millions of dollars annually appropri-
ated to carry on this government will
examine other statutes of the United
States they will discover that the mails
Of the United States are carried by the
railroads by private contracts. which
run four years, and will further discover
that the government pays the railroads
for transporting such mails at so much
per ton per mile.
In paying by the ton per mile the gov
ernment pays the same price for trans
porting books, seeds and documents
that it pays for transporting sealed let
ters. The Southern Pacific's contracts
on it's system for transporting mails
were dated and commenced for the last
period of July 1, 1894, and run for four
years.
In order to determine the amount of
mail carried, the postmaster-general,
through his subordinates, weighs the
mail for three or four days at the be-
ginning of the four-year term and then
strikes an average for the four years.
There are other laws of congress which
allow senators and representatives to
send through the mails any quantity of
documents and packages by what is
called "the congressional frank" which
is the name of the congressman written
upon the package.
A few weeks before the time for
weighing the mails arrives, and which
information is conveyed to the rail-
roads by collusion with the employees of
the department, the railroads cause to
be directed and put up in the various de-
partments at Washington and in the
various committee rooms in congress
hundreds of tons Of printed documents,
such as speeches, agricultural reports
and the like, and also seeds from the
agricultural department. These hund-
reds of tons are then sent out, under
frank, so as to reach the railroad in
time to be weighed, and they are
weighed, and upon this enormous stuff
fing there is based the official estimate
for the period of four years, upon which
the government pays the full rate for
transportation.
Those who have wondered why the
United States could not transport letters
at one cent per ounce, instead of two
cents per ounce, will no longer wonder
when they look into the manipulation of
weighing the mails.
During the great strike of 1894, which
commenced in the latter part of June
and extended into July, the mails on the
Southern Pacific route were weighed
to determine the compensation for the
next four years.
90 o% hot
time and shortly after the strike by
many lawyers and business men in Los
Angeles that they had received such
quantity of printed matter from Wash
ington-in some instances as much as
two or three hundred pounds was sent
to single individuals who had never re-
quested it from any of their congress-
men, and others received forty,
fifty and sixty pounds each. Not
only was all of this stuff weighed
to establish the government rate,
ing the period of the strike and all
the mail from California to eastern
points was stopped in transit upon the
Southern Pacific line, and this swelled
the total price to be paid during the
period of four years. Some people are
even so mean as to pretend that the
strike was instigated by the Southern
Pacific company solely for the purpose
of stopping mail cars in transit in order
that the government would be required
to pay several millions more than could
be made up by ordinary stuffing.
congressman have often been
criticised for the abuse Of the frank
privilege in sending out matter through
the mails, but those critics did not
know the enormity of the offense, and
did not know that the mails were stuffed
through the frank privilege once in four
years in order to swell to fabulous pro-
portions the appropriations for mail
transportation.
WORKINGMEN AND M'KINLEY