Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1903-10-02
OMITTED IL THEIR REPORT.

The Journal ID In receipt OF u copy OF
the report OF the joint commission to m
vestigato the postal service. II contains
so pages and was submitted January II,
1901, when it was ordered printed. We
can hardly imagine why the contents OF
a document issued more than two AMI
a half years ago should be supposed to
he OF general interest at the present
time. We can only account for the
transmission to us at this late date (by
Senator W. NJ. Stewart. upon the sup.
position that the weighing season. is
on, when our Senator is in the habit OF
sending tons OF ancient Congressional
literature under his frank, to be used as
fuel, or for a more ignoble purpose, by
the people OF the State Of Nevada. This
is only an inference and we may be
wrong in our superstition. BE that rs 1t
may, we have III courtesy waded
through the somewhat ancient docu-
ment, which Is redundant with supposi.
tons, differences, perhaps, perhapsee,
possibilities etc the iutricacies Of
which are beyond our powers OF com
prehension, as we believe them to be OF
every sane citizen OF the United States.
including the members OF the commis-
sion who condensed the multiplicity Of
words into the formulation OF n brief
sentence expressive of their opinion
that the railroad companies we're not
overpaid Tor the postal services. Al.
though a number OF pages are devoted
to the weighing process during the
short seasons, upon which the average
for the year is estimated no reference is
made to the fact that during the quad
rennial period OF seven days each, tens
of thousands Of tons of useless printed
trash is sent by mail all over the coun
try under the franks Of Senators and
Congressman IN tile interest Of the rail.
road corpor atoms that elected then. and
which, in their estimation, comprise the
only constituency they are bonnd to
consider or serve. This flooding Of the
mail cars with stuff OF less value than
its weight in second hand bricks is
barefaced robbery Of the government
and is far more Infamous than the
crimes OF the pecuiutors which are be
ing investigated at Washington, as the
AMOUNT stolen is greater than the insig'
~niticant sums p~ilfnred by the petit lar.
ceny understrappcrs, vino are likely to
wear the stripes rs the result u their
paltry populations. Perhaps and prob
ably, the railroad corporations would
not be overpaid il they received only
the amount for mail transportation,
based upon an honest, fair and equitable
estimate OF the amount OF matter car
ried over their roads, but rs it is the,
receive pay for nearly twice the amount
that they handle. Az an illustration,
would any person proposing to purchase
a whiskey business conducted under d
public hall estimate its daily receipts FOR
the year by the contents Of the till nj
convention had been hell overhead?
.AnG ye: the government method OF
averaging railway mail transportation is
equally preposterous and far more alb.
surd. The way, rs it seems to us, to
to put a stop to this swindliDg system is
the enactment OF a law allowing each
Senator and Representative reasonable
ranking privileges for each month dur.
ing the y~ear-enough to- furnish their
constituents with such public docu,
ments ns are Of general interest, and nj.
so euch rs are OF special interest to the
people OF the State OF district represent,
cd by the Senator or Congressman
Reno journal.