The Iola register., 1901-12-06
THE DEFICIT DECREASES
Annual Report of Postmas-
ter General out
DISCUSSES NEEDED REFORM
The Most Abuses Occur in
the Second Class
Some Publishers are Getting Rich
at the Expense of the Govern
ment Postal Service

Washington, Nov. 2S.--The annual
report OF Postmaster GeneralE Smith,
Aad5 public today, shows tnat, while
inc expenditures in the ordinary de
velopment and thr, ugh various ex-
tensions of the service areS7, ,8l4, ,652 8S
greater than for the preceding year,
the deficit is 81, 46l, ,961. % less. Under
present prosperous conditions the
annual increase OF receipts is FORUM
ately larger than the inevitable in
crease of outlay. and for several years
the deficit has been steadily growing
smaller.
Much of the report is devoted TO
second class mail abuses and to the
radical measures that have been ad-
opted TO correct them. Mr.. Smith
sho that the second class matter
constitutes nearly 60 per cent of the
weight of the entire mail of the coun-
try, and yet. while the postallrevenue
for the last fiscal year was Sll1 ,63l,
19l, the second class matter paid only
"a, 294, ,445 of that amount. That is,
while making three-ffths OF the mail
weight, it furnishes only one twenty
eight part of the revenue.
AS an example of the class oflpub-
LEGATIONS which have been making
their publishers rich at the expense OF
the government, Mr.. Smith cites the
case of one periodical, of which the
copies sent through the mails for the
quarter ending March 80, 1901, aver
aged 223 6SS pound for.each issue, or
about ll2 tons, or nearly eight car
loads, reckoning the weight of a car
load OF paper at 10000. For trans
porting each issue OF that periodical
the government actually paid sl1, 1884,
40, against which it collected So, 236. .8S
in postage. 1t also paid $4,473 for
handling, making a direct net loss to
the government on every issue of Sl3,-
4z1.
'As compared with this cash gift by
the government, the publishers, be-
sides the postage, paid about $4,473
for the white paper, and, as shown by
an expert reckoning, 1927 l6 for com
position, all these items together
amounting to S6,S37. There is not
vell-informed publisher in the coun-
try who would not say that $500 was
an extremely liberal allowance for all
ether expenses, making total cost to
the publishers of S7,337, as against
= net cost To the government Jf Sl3,-
42l; so that the government contribut-
ed about Sc, 04 more on every issue
to the expense of running that publ
cation than the publishers themselve
contributed.
ut is obvious that this publication
is published primarily for advertis-
ing purposes, and so is directly re-
pugnant to the provisions of the law;
and it is only specimen of a hundred
Of others.
"a group OF periodicals of the same
character published by one firm SENDS
4,4S2, ,S24 pounds year through the
nails, to transport which costs the
government 1924, l4l, and on which its
net loss is $l79,3l2 Still another
periodical mails l59, ,243 pounds of
single issue, the carrying of which in
wolves loss to the government OF
So, 369.72. These illustrations might
be multiplied indefinitely"
The department is seeking to cor
rect these abuses by barring those
not entitled to them from second-class
mail privileges.