The representative., 1900-04-05
The Loud Bill Defeated.

cae efore the lower house of con-
gre1A4and after three days discussion
received the most complete reputation
at the hands of the representatives of
the people that has ever been dealt that
nefarious bill. Mr.. Loud's conduct has
but one commendable feature i'm con-
nection with this bill and that is per-
sistency. He brought it to the atten-
ton Of the Fifty-fourth congress and
because of the fact that few understood
the subject 1t happened to get through
the lower house of congress, but failed,
fortunately for the people, to receive
that recognition in the senate.
Not discouraged, Mr.. Loud undertook
again in the Fifty-fifth congress to pass
this unreasonable and unwarranted
measure, and, thanks to the loyal and
faithful students of the best interests
of the people, the bill received quite a
signal defeat, to-wit, it was lost by a
majority of AZ. That ended the meas
ure in the Fifty-fifth congress.
But in connection with that discus
sion the people should not forget that
it was then and there charged on the
floor of the house that the so-called de-
ficit in the revenues of the postoffice
department were due to the exorbitant,
not to say dishonest rates paid the rail-
ways of the country for carrying the
mail. For instance, it was charged that
the government was paying more rem
tai for the use of. each postal car each
year than it would cost the government
to buy outright new car each year.
In other words, it was charged that
while a postal car, being nothing but
trucks and frame house set upon them,
costs about $4,boe aen and the life OF
such car is ABOUT eiEht years, yet the
government, It WIS alea ed, is paying
about $1,000 ysaf fente5 for each car.
As result Of Fnsea ges a reselu-
tion was passed tes4 appointment
of commission ltu MEMBERS, four
senator's and fs slre etltatives, who
should investig.ta ra..way charges for
carrying the mail, and 1t was the COM
mon understanding of the members at
the time that the commission was ap-
pointed that they should make this in
vestigation and prepare report and
bring it before congress before any
further legislation should be admitted
along the lines of the Loud bill or 9TH
er lines to account for deficits. Strange
to say that notwithstanding the fact
that two years have passed since that
commission was created, no report has
yet been brought in by them with ref
erence to the railway charges for the
transportation of mail, and possibly If
this were Investigated it might have
some significance in connection with
the effort of Mr. Loud and others to
railroad the Loud bill through this con-
gress before that report comes in. 1t
seems to be safe to assume that if this
commission would make it's report and
disclose what it discovered, neither con-
gress nor the people would have to look
any farther to find the real cause of
the difference between the receipts and
the expenditures in the Postofice de-
partment.
Another significant fact in connec-
tion with this investigation of railway
charges for carrying mail is that a
number of members on the floor of
the house the last few hours prior to
voting on the bill received kilograms
from railway officials urging them to
vote for the passage of this bill. This
ought to make it plain enough to a man
without climbing tree, that certain in
fluences we're exceedingly active in a
most insidious way to divert attention
from the real cause Of deficit in the
postoffice department.
The bill was under discussion Tues
day, Wednesday and Thursday of last
week. Those who favored the bill were
led by Mr.. Loud, of California; Mr..
of Massachusetts,; Mr.. Bromwell.
of Ohio, and to the surprise of the old
of the bill. Mr.. Bingham, of
Philadelphia, who has been against it,
in the past, was among those who sup
ported it this time. It has been sug-
gested that possibly he did so because
of the close personal and political re-
lations between himself and Postmaster
General Smith, who owns and controls
the Philadelphia Press.
Among those who were most active
and influential in supporting the cause
of the people and dealing death blow
again to this inquitous measure were
Judge Moon, of Tennessee, Mr.. Little, of
Amos Cummings, of New
York; Mr. Bell, of Colorado; Mr.. Brown,
of Ohio; Mr.. Brosius, Of Pennsylvania,
and John ]. Lentz, of Ohio, whose speech
was applauded repeatedly throughout,
and was remarkable in this particular,
that it took the report of Postmaster
General Smith and the figures it con-
tained, and demonstrated that the de-
ductions made by the postmaster gen.
eral with reference to the deficit being
due to the second-class mail was abso-