The Cairo bulletin., 1906-05-21
CARRYING THE y. 3. MAIL.
Compensation Received by this HR31-
ways for This Branch Of N
Service.

Whether or not the railroads as Q
whole are sufficiently well paid BY the
government Is a question about which
for years there has been much con
troyersy The compensation OF tbs
railroads was fixed by law In 1873
BY subsequent amendments in 1875
and 1878 the rate OF pay was reduced
ten per cent, and then five per cent
There has been no change siuce. The
scheme Of compensation, however,
says the New York Times, was baseo
on a sliding scale, which reduced the
rate of pay as the weight OF the mai
carried increased In addition TO this
pay by weight, an allowance Is made
to railroads employing cars devoted
exclusively to the carriage OF mail
The total amount paid to the rail.
roads under both these heads In the
fiscal year ended June 80. 1905, was
44326, 99l OF this total about $685..
0000 900 was for transportation proper,
and about S. 900 900 was the allow.
anee for special mail cars
The rate OF pay graduates from
$l.71 a ton a mile In the case OF a
| daily average OF 200 pounds OF mail
carried, to 05S ton mile for each
2 900 pounds In excess of 5000 pounds.
This shows clearly how the rate OF
pay drops with the increase in the
amount of mail carried. This also ac-
counts for the further fact that, while
the rate Of pay as fixed by law 10 now
what it was in 1878 when the aver
age passenger and freight rates were
much higher, the automatic working
of the sliding scale has in effect re-
duced the rate for carrying the mails
as much or more than the freight and
passenger rates have been reduced
The railroads are allowed no extra
pay for increasing the speed Of mail
trains All that has been accom-.
plished in this direction has been ac-
complished by the appeals Of the post
office department in the interest Of the
public and by competition between the
railroads themselves.
An illustration OF the inadequate
pay sometimes received by the rail-
roads for mail carriage is found in
the statement Of former president
OF the Long Island railroad to the Ell
feet that the bootbIacking privilege
on the companys ferry boats yielded
the company one-ffth of the amount
received from the government for
transporting the malls over all the
iipae of fhn nonfnany
The average weight upon which is
based the payment for mail transpor.
tation Is determined by actual weigh
ings made for period of 80 days
once in four years The weighing Pc
riod was formerly fixed by law at not
creased to 80 days. Just now the date
| is approaching for the weighing Of
| mails on the western lines. For the
moment this has added greater zest
| to the competition between the sever.
al lines. The more mail the roads can
carry during the three months OF
weighing the larger will be their pay
FOR the next four years. This quad
rennial determination of the weight
Is something of hardship for the
railroads The mails nominally in
crease very greatly during the course
of four years. 1t has been estimated
that on an average the roads in this
way carry 20 per cent. more weight
than they are paid for.
In 1866, when the Union Pacific rail.
road was opened to the Pacific coast,
| the running time from New York to
the coast was about 10 days. That
was considered remarkably fast time
in those days Now 1t is 3la days. A
more striking illustration Of the evo.
luton Of our railways and Of our mail
service as well could hardly be found.