Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1900-12-10
HAS SURELY COME TO STAY
The POstoflice May be Carried 10
Every Home cuban Postal
Frauds,

penditures
ordinary postal revenue -..$lo0 3i33
Receipts from money or
der business .... ,,,....-.. l,A5jlij
Total receipts from an
sources .,.,...,-.. .,tt-,,.. FlV-'S5i '''
Total expenditures for the
year 5000. ..... ,',',..''.' lVHta'-o'
Excess of expenditures over
receipts 600" D.. n,'.,..-.'''S 0.'a'i0'S
The deficit for the year lSgJ-l)JO Is
shown to be Sh2-0,OsS less imam the
previous year
The estimated postal revenue for the
fiscal year ending June 90 l5O-, is 4ll1,-
t33,ui2. and the estimated expenditure
Sl2L.iJ3ig, leaving probable dee
fCienCy of 4O34,5UD
Rural free delivery, the report says,
has proved to "the most salient,
significant and far-reaChiug feature OF
postal development Besides swelling
the postal receipts. the value Of farms
H. enhanced through the necessity for
good roads and the opportunity az
lorded the farmer To keep abreast of
the times by being put ln closer COM
munication with the outside world The
isolation and mOnotOny which has
been the bane of country life is sem
sibly mitigated through the effect of
rural free delivery In placing the farm
within daily range OF the intellectual
and commercial activity OF the world.
The farmer Is also given cause 10 feel
that he shares the governmental adj
vantages OF the townsman, which slim
uIates his loyalty and patriotism.
with an these results clearly indl-
Gated by the experiment as thus far
tried says the postmaster general
rural free delivery IS plainly here to
stay"
Of the p 900 600 people scattered over
/ COZ. 600 square miles of territory, 10
whose doors II is the task OF the gov
eminent TO arrange TO carry the mails
through rural free delivery Postmas-
ter General Smith says that by the
end OF the current fiscal year one-siXth
OF them shall have been served and
1890 routes in operation. The net am
nual cost OF a complete rural free de-
livery system is estimated at Sl3, 1872, pa
on this point the report says
1T will hardly be disputed that the
great result Of carrying the postofice
to every home, IL 1t can be accom-
plished at such comparatively small
cost Is on object well worth under
taking
This duty is emphasized and en-
forced when We consider some other
phases OF the postal question. In my
last annual report Il was shown that
II class of publications, which now,
under an evasion OF the purposes or
the law, pay the second clas~ rate Of
postage, were really made to pay the
third-Class rate. as they ought 20 do,
Il would bring an additional revenue TO
the government Of $l2.3436l2. The cost
TO the government OF this abuse is al
most exactly equivalent to the esti-
mated cost Of broad national rural free
delivery and If 1t is a question between
favorlng a very limited number Of pub
fishers and favoring 2l,0Q0Q0J people
who live on the farms Of the United
States, there ought 20 be no hesitation
IN serving the many rather than the
few. The abuse should be uprootei as
a public duty; the national delivery
service should be undertaken as a pub
lie policy and when, through the over
throw Of the wrong. the right can be
established without the slightest addi-
tional burden, the appeal becomes ir-
resistible'
The effort to eradicate the abuse OF
the postal provisions for second class
mail matter, the postmaster general
assures Is not made IN order to change
the policy Of the present law or 90
abrdge the privileges IL cOnters upon
the regular and legitimate publications
for the dissemination OF public intelli-
gence"
"But instead. says the report ~ Is
only sought 20 cut of the abuses which
were never contemplated and which
have crept In through ambiguity Of
these provisions or through doubtful
interpretations that have opened a wide
door for wrongful entries. II Is aimed
at the so-called papercovered books but
the private house organs az the spuri-
Gus trade journals and sheets Of an eX-
elusive advertising character a book
distribution which Is falsely called sub.
scription. and at the repeated turn and
oyerturn by news agents Of unsold
periodicals. There Is no objection
to serving those purely private enter
prises through the mails, but there IS
no reason why the government should
carry them az the second class rate Of
q cent a pound making dead loss 10
Il OF millions "a year. when other arti-
cles Of the same Kind rightfully pay the
third class rate Of s cents a pound -
The postmaster general says some adj
vance has been made 10 Wiping out the
abuse above referred TO-
The report says that the postal SER
vice In the new island possessions of
the United states has materially ad-
vanced and strengthened. "Unfortu-
nately," says the report. speaking OF
Cuba, "lts administration was stained
for a time by frauds and populations
OF shameful character.
but this was the crime OF the agents.
and not any fault of the system. The
system was such that the frauds and
REGULATIONS could not have been COM
mittcd by any one. however dishonest
They were made possible only through
the COLLISION Of officers who should
have been a check on each other and
who entered into n conspiracy by which
the safeguards dependent on q careful
plan Of checks were thrown down.
when the facts were brought 10
light immediate action was taken 70
right the wrongs and arr1ign the
wrongdoers The ofiense OF those I'M
plicated was more than infdeity 10
the confidence reposed IN them and
more than ordinary malfeasancc IN Of
fee. It's turpitude was enhanced by the
fact that II was the betrayal 0f n trust
held for a people who were our wards,
which carried peculiarly sacred ohliga-
lions and Il merits the seyerest con-
demnation. The cases have passed 10
the custody Of the courts and early trial
IS expected
The Improvement ~ the last fcw
years IN the money-order system has
been continued and even enhanced,
saws the postmaster general, and free
delivery extended
Wood Workers Strike.
Chicaro Dec. ia settlement Of the
wood.workcrs' strike, that eliminated