The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-11-28
The ?. N. GENERAL Al
He Reports Receipts for the Year Of
$121, 848,O47 and Expendi.
lures of $124,7S5,697. II
Rural Free Delivery Here to Stay
= The People Are Demand +
90. .s -
.,~ ing It.

Washington. Nov. os-The manual re-
port, of Postmaster General Payne shows
receipts for 1902 of S121, S4S,O47 and ex-
penditures Of $124.7S5, 697, a deficit Of
$2,s37,649, against a deficit Of s9s6,077 for
1901. ~.
Deficits In the postal service are not to
be viewed with apprehension. 1t is the
policy. whenever the postal receipts ex-
coed or come to near to the expenditures.
to extend postal facilities and cheaper the
cost OF the, service to the public. e.
Rural free delivery service has become
an established fact. 1t is no longer in
the experimental stage and undoubtedly
congress will continue to increase the APP
preparation for this service until all the
people Of the country reached, where
1t is thckly enough settled to warran, -.
The estimates of the department are to
the effect that the available territory for
this service embraces about 1000 900
square miles. or third of the countrys
area, exclusive Of Alaska. The 1850
routes now In operation cover about one
third Of the available territory. From
this it will be seen that it will require
$1,000 employees additional to those now
IN the service to cover this territory. If
congress shall make the necessary appro
priations 1t is believed that within the
next three years the extension of the serv
fee will have been completed. r.
With the carriers salary fixed at $500
completed rural free delivery service will
approximate s24 900, 900. After the serv
tee has been completed this increase ought
not to exceed annually to 10 per cent. or
in about the same proportion as obtains
tn other branches Of the service. The
people are demanding the service with i'm
patient earnestness. and this demand is
being vigorously supported by their rep
7esentatives in congress-.
Millions of our people live more or less
remote from any postoffice, and a very
large proportion of them are not able to
buy money orders or bank drafts without
great inconvenience. 1t IS not unreason-
able to expect from the government that
1t will provide an easy, convenient and
safe method to transmit small sums. say
81 or less in amount without putting the
sender to the Inconvenience and expense
which now obtains In the purchase of q
draft or postoffice money order.
I urge upon congress the Importance Of
passing some law, SO that our people may
have the advantage Of it at as early a
date as possible. Hundreds Of thousands
OF letters carrying small amounts in sill
Yer or postage stamps are transmitted
every year through the malls. These let
tiers are a constant temptation to those
handling them, it is easy to identify
letters inclosing currency.
Abuse of second class privileges is dis
cussed at length in the report Of the third
probably no feature Of the postal admin
istration which is more in the public mind
than this, and attention is invited there
to. 1t is gratifying to be able to state
that after years Of discussion in the an
nuaf reports of the department and con-
sideration of the question by congress. an
effort has been made to curtail these
abuses, and substantial progress has been
made. The regulations of July II, 1901,
are designed to properly interpret the Law
a
In the intent Of the statute-to genuine
newspapers. and periodical publications. 1t
seems to have been but little appreciated
that Il publishers mailing list under the
law is in effect subsidy ,.
On Oct L. 1901, the privilege Of send
ing unsold copies from one news agent to
another was withdrawn. So far as known
there has been no effort to evade the new
ruling. Another substantial accomplish
nent is that periodical publications which
have the characteristics of books have
been rejected from the second-class and
are now classified as third class mail mat
ter. Some progress has been made In re-
jecting alleged newspapers and periodicals
which are not bona fde. but which are
mere advertising sheets or circulars. The
sample copy abuse has also been corrected
by limiting the number which may be
sent with each issue SO that it shall be
not in excess Of the number OF legitimate
subscribers. There remains. however,
n1uCn TO De accomplished. L lie pei
nent effect upon the service will be await
ed with interest.
There can be no doubt that it is sound
public policy to continue the present cheap
rate Of postage on second-class matter
for the benefit Of all bona flde daily and
weekly newspapers devoted to the dis
semnation Of news to the public. They
assuredly come within the purpose of the
law covering the one-cent per pound rate,
and this alone is the matter which should
be mailed at such rate.
In the last ten years the number OF pc
riodicals coming within this classification
has increased enormously in number, and
still more so in weight. They are not
newspapers. either daily or weekly. but
magazines of various kinds, published
monthly or quarterly. In the opinion of
the department.. the time has come when
this class Of publications should not be
carried at less rate than cents per
pound, which, 1t is estimated, is what it
costs the government to deliver them. 1t
IS unrea sonable to ask the government to
bear three fourths of the expense of their
delivery. The subsidy is too, great one.
and the publishers should be satisfied if
the government carries such matter in the
mails at cost to 1t.
The taking away Of the subsidy to mag
azines and other periodicals, to which
reference is made above. and compelling
them to pay the governmental rate which
will save it from actual loss, would so in
crease the revenues as to In very great
degree pay for the introduction of the ru-
raj free delivery service. -.
The business and social relations of the
people of this country with those of GER
tain European nations have grown to such
an extent that it is believed the time has
come to reduce the foreign rate of post
age the present rate being considered ex-
cessiye and a hindrance to the develop
ment Of commerce and trade between the
United States and the great commercial
nations of Europe.
recommend, therefore, that negotia-
tions be undertaken with Great Britain
Germany, and France for the purpose Of
modifying the rates Of postage as sug-
gested, believing that correspondence
would be stimulated to such extent that
within a very short time it would result
in an increase in the Interchange of COM
munications, which would bring greater
returns than obtain from the present rate.
The following recomm endations for