The National tribune., 1906-06-07
Proposed Post-Check Currency.

4 lhe CuITeiiCS, ueHOn1ndI
| ed "post-check," is be piece of pape,
money of any of several denomination.
under So, including amounts less thar
81. This piece of money is to resemble
somewhat our present bank or Treasury
notes, but one side of it is to be lef
| blank, and on the other side. bearing
| the engraving proper to its character
| and denomination, are to be blank line.
| and space for the attachment of
postage stamp. The post-check is tt
| circulate just as dollar bill does a
present, SO long as the lines OF its fact
! are left blank. When the holder write.
On these lines the name and address OF
a person to whom he wishes to send il
attaches to 1t a stamp cancelled with hi.
own initials, and signs his own name
| on the back, it is then payable only tt
the payee named. II the check thu,
filled out should be stolen in transmits.
| sion, the thief could not cash II, ever
If he were in the same town with the
payee, since he must be identified In
order to do this. The danger involved
in sending Treasury notes is thus avoid.
| ed; the post-check is as safe as oul
present money-order. and as convenient
| to send as dollar bill
Postal Savings Bank LOsses I'm England
Aside from loss on current expenses
the British postal officials were forced tc
| Quill idSt year a uttItll SlU, ,ZUU,UUt
| In sayings-bank assets, caused by the
decline in Government securities ir
which the funds were invested.
Pay for Railway Mail transportation.
So many elements enter into a just
consideration of reasonable rate for
Transporting the mails by railway that
it is not surprising the expert actuaries
I and ingenious attorneys of the CORPORA
tions interested quickly confuse the av-
erage Congressman or Department at
tache who undertakes to investigate the
matter As long as the mint julep fol-
lows the Flag, Kentucky will continue
to advocate expansion; as long as the
Government continues to pay one-third
of its postal revenues TO the railroads
every year there will be suspicion and
dennnciation. The existing law pre-
scribtng railway-mail pay automatically
lowers the rate on any given route as
the volume of traffic increases. BY the
normal effect of this law the rate per ton
per rnile Is $1-1f, when the average daily
weight of mall is 200 pounds. and de-
creasing with -thezincrease of volume,
lit becomes 6-073 cents when the aver
age daily weight is 5000 pounds. In
der the operations of this law the aver
age rate per ton per mile has decreased
from 26.42 cents in 1873 to 1857 cents
in 1888. Beginning in 1880, the first
yteAi aS-A "iiSii tliC SLdliStiCS are AVAIL
able for comparison, passenger rates
have decreased 21 per cent, freight rates
"A per cent and mail rates 80 per cent.
This might seem satisfactory were Ii not
for the facts that during the same period
the passenger mileage of passengers in
creased 233 per cent, the ton mileage
OF freight 353 per cent, and the ton
mileage of mail 579 per cent. and that
there had resulted large concentrations
OF mail on certain routes. The objector
may therefore still urge claim that the
smaller roads are paid exorbitantIy for
a meager service and the larger ones
(several, Of (which receive annually
about S1,000.000 each) cannot earn the
sums apportioned to them under the
mandatory terms of the law.
Rural Free Delivery.
Rural delivery was inaugurated as an
experiment, but its rapid growth and
development have carried IL beyond the
experimental stage. and II may now be
regarded as one OF our fixed institutions
Ours has never been a Government of
retrogression, and the time will never
come when a system so beneficial to the
masses of the people as rural free de-
livery will be abandoned. One good ef-
feet of this system is tie Improvement
of highways throughout the country. In
locating routes the condition of the
roads is always an important consider
alton. and many petitions have been de-
MED on the ground that the highways
were not At for travel during the muddy
months OF the year. This point is now
understood and nearly every petition is
accompanied by pledge on the part
of the County authorities TO improve
the roads.
Free Delivery I'm villages.
COL, nf l,a %
lage free delivery is to make necessary
fourth-class offices, after rural delivery
has abolished the unnecessary ones)
branches or stations" of the nearest
large Offices in every County. with A
minimum salary of 500, compensation
above that point to be upon the same
basis as at present. A very considerable
reduction of labor would ensue to a
Postmaster by having his dealings with
the nearest post Office, the Postmaster
there conducting the correspondence
with the Department. furnishing sup
plies and making most Of the reports
While offfcfaffy the post Offices would be
designated as snb-stations, to the public
they should still be remembered as
Smiths Crossroads'' or '.Jones's Gen.
ter" The office thus would not lose it's
identity, and the Postmaster would be
known as such. While the Office would
be sub-station of a large Office. the
duties OF the Postmaster al such large
office would be entirely perfunctory, and
he would have nothing to do with the
appointment of the Postmaster at the
smaller office. There could therefore be
no objection on that score. The expense
would. at first. be slightly increased. but
the resulting conyeniences and e:oro-
mics would soon counterbalance IT.
PeriIs Of the Rail.
In a wreck on the Southern Railroai 4
near Charlottesville. Va. nine iaiway-
mail clerks. working in two postal cars,
were severely injured-a typical Illus
| tration OF the risks taken by these hero
| ic public servants in the discharge of
tneir duty. Une OF the survivors teiis
| his story thus; I'VE had Just finished
| every connection and had very heavy
mail on board. The two cars must have
contained at least five or six tons of
matter. and a great deal of IL was reg
/ istered stuff. We were about to change
our clothes when the crash came, and
| for short time we couldn't tell what
| had happened. There was succession
| of deafening crashes and while We real
| lied that We were in a wreck We could
not determine whether we were cut OF
| danger until we had crawled out from
| under the wreckage and saw that II was
| all over. 1t was dark. and the effect of
the scene was heightened by the flames