The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-11-28

June 80 were:
Ordinary postal revenue. .$109, 531, 1857
Receipts from money-order
business l,66S,6o9.ZJ
Receipts from unpaid money
orders more than one year
old 43O, 755.43
Total receipts from all sourcessu1 ,631 1885
Total expenditures for the year. 115,554,92O.6
Excess of expenditures over
receipts $5,9Z5, '1d.4o
The report says: While the expenditures
in the ordinary development and through
various extensions of the service are ST.
S14, 652.SS greater than for the preceding
year, the deficit is 81, 461, Sol. % less. Under
present prosperous conditions the annual
increase of receipts is fortunately larger
than the inevitable increase of outlay, and
for several years the deficit has been stead
lily growing smaller. The estimate of the
revenues and expenditures of this depart
ment for the fiscal year ending June so,
1903, which has been transmitted to the
secretary of the treasury, is given below,
together with such other items as may be
necessary to show more clearly the bases
upon which the calculations are made:
Total postal revenue for 1901. $500. Sill, 81, 1913
Add 9 per cent. for estimated in
crease year ending June 80, 1903. 1O,046,SO7
Estimated revenue for 1902. ..... .$121, 5000
Appropriation for postal service
for 1902 Z5''SZ'ooS
Estimated deficit for 1sO2.......... s2,1O4,6SS
Estimated revenue for O2.........$ 121, $4,000
d S2 per cent................... lO,S42,6SO
Estimated revenue for 1908. g. 1S2, O9O,6 $50
Estimated expenditures for l9O3.... 1874, Sl,5l6
Estimated deficit for 1908. ......... 81, 1O,946
This estimate is based upon the ordinary
course of operations. and without consld-
ering the possible effect of special meas
ures, the results of which are not yet de-
| terminable."
ABUSES OF SECOND-CLASS NATTER.
In my annual report for 1899 1 said: The
most urgent need of the postal service is
the rectifcation of the enormous wrongs
which have grown up in the perversion and
abuse of the privilege accorded by law to
second-class matter Time and experience
only emphasize this statement. 1t is the
most urgent need, because it aims at the
one great overshadowing evil of the serv-
ice, and because it underlies and overtops
all other reform and advance. 1t would
relieve the department from the one OPP
pressive burden which cripples and weights
it down, and which stands as a constant
1 and fOrmlQaDle barrier against improve
ment and progress for the benefit of all
the people in many directions. Deeply
impressed with this conviction, the de-
partment has taken positive steps, in orders
| issued on July IL, 1901. to correct the abuses
and accomplish substantial reform, so far
as it is possible by administrative &C
Before explaining these steps it will
be useful to understand more clearly just
the extent of the evil and the imperative
need of an effective remedy. In dividing
| mail matter into fOur classes the law
provides that newspapers and periodicals
coming within the conditions ii prescribes
shall constitute the secOnd-class with a pos
tage rate of 1 cent per pound. All other
printed matter, including books, circulars.
and advertising sheets, constitutes the third
class, with a postage rate OF L cent for two
ounces. The law defines the characters
tics which shall distinguish and determine
second-class matter, and 1t intends to
limit the privilege and benefit of the pound
rate to legitimate newspapers and periodi-
calls which fulfill these statutory require
ments. But, in fact, thousands of %publica-
tions which are in reality books or purely
advertising sheets or gift enterprises, and
which the law never meant to include with
in the second class, have crept in through
evasions and loose constructions, until this
abuse has grown to colossal proportions
and imposes a burden OF many millions of
dollars a year on the government and the
1.-The s~econd-cIass matter constitutes
nearly 60 per cent. Of the weight Of the
| entire mail of the country, and yet, while
1 the DOSIdl eNGnuC u nc ldSl ASCd = "a
was Sill. 631, 1873, the secOnd-clas matter paid
only S4.294. 445 of that amount. hat is,
while making three-fifths of the mail in
weight, it furnished only one twenty-eighth
mart of the revenue. The transportation of
the mails is paid for chiefly by weight.
The enormous disproportion of return to
cost in secOnd-claSS matter Is thuS appaf-
The secretary then goes into details as
to the cost of handling second-class mail,
growth of secOnd-class matter, the loss to
1 tho Government and what has been done
to remedy the evils complained OF. Much
of this information has heretofore been
made public.
RURAL FREE DELIVERY.
1.-The rural free delivery has advanced
with increased strides the report says.
Its extension during the past year has
been nearly three times as great as the
whole amount OF service previously estab-
lished. The number of routes in operation
at the beginning of the fiscal year was 1,276,
and at the close 4,S0l. During the current
year. with an augmented appropriation and
a more experienced force, the work will
proceed still more rapidly. At the opening
Of December 6,OO9 routes viii be running,
and under present plans the number will
increase by July /, 1902, to $500. The rural
population now receiving daily service is
about 100000, and at the end of the fiscal
year it will reach 100000. The delivery
system will then cover more than a quar-
ter of the eligible portion of the country,
and at the present rate of establishment
the entire area suited TO the service-that
is. as estimated. a million square miles of
territory with p. 600 of rural residents
Will be brought within its scope i'm less than
four years. The mail Will then, If the work
goes on, be delivered at every door in the
United States except in the most remote.
mountainous and sparsely-Settled sections
and in villages of limited receipts where
the DostOfiiCe is within easy reach. The
demand for the service grows with the pub
lie experience of its convenience and utility.
The number of applications for new routes
at this time last year was 2.159. Those nov
pending and awaiting action amount T.
6.129. Thus the 5000 routes which have
been organized are only one-half the num-
Der already asked for.
The policy OF rural delivery is no longer
a subject OF serious dispute. 1t has un-
mistakably vindicated itself by its fruits.
If the financial results are still undeter-
mined and require greater experience and
more complete data before "A conclusive
iudgmen can be pronounced the practical
benefits and the popular appreciation and
demand have been decisively demonstrated.
II has been made plain that this service l.
a potent educational force, that Ii brings
agricultural life into far closer relations
with the active business world; that Il keeps
the farmer in daily touch with markets ano
prices: that II advances general intelligence
through the increased circulation OF legii
mate Journals and periodicals, stimulates
correspondence quickens all interchanges.