The National tribune., 1906-06-07


under IS, including amounts less than
81. This piece of money is to resembl
somewhat our present bank or Treasury
notes, but one side of it is to be left
blank, and on the other side, bearing
the engraving proper to its character
and denomination, are to be blank lines
and space for the attachment Of a
postage stamp. The post-check is to
circulate just as dollar bill does at
present, SO long as the lines on its face
are left blank When the holder writes
on these lines the name and address of
person to whom he wishes to send it,
attaches to 1t a stamp Cancelled with his
own initials, and signs his own name
on the back, 1T is then payable only to
the payee named. If the check thus
filled out should be stolen in transmits
sion, the thief could not cash it. even
II 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 our
present money-order. and as convenient
to send as dollar bill.
Postal Savings Bank Losses in England.
Aside from loss on current expenses.
the British postal officials were forced TO
admit last year a deficit of $4,000, 900
In saYlngs-bank assets, caused by the
decline in Government securities in
which he~funds were invested.
Pay for Railway Mail Transportation.
So many elements enter into a just
consideration of a reasonable rate for
transporting the mails by railway that
it is not surprising the expert actuaries
and ingenious attorneys of the corpora
lions 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
denunciation. The existing law pre-
scribing .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 mile is tilt, when the average daily
weight OF mall Is zoo pounds, and de-
creaSn& with ~tRemincEeAse of volume,
1t becomes 6.073 cents when the aver
age daily weight is 100000 pounds I'm
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 1898. Beginning In 1880, the first
year in which all the statistics are avail
able for comparison, passenger rates
have decreased 81 per cent, freight rates
~ per cent and mail rates 80 per cent.
This might seem satisfactory were 1t not
for the facts that during the same period
the passenger mileage of passengers in
creased 233 per cent, the ton mileage
OF freight asa 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 exorbitantly for
meager service and the larger ones
Several OF (which receive annually
about 100000 each) cannot earn the
sums apportioned to them under the
mandatory terms OF the law.
RuraI Free Delivery.
Rural delivery was inaugurated as an
experiment, but its rapid growth and
development have carried it beyond the
experimental stage. and it may now be
| regarded az 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 eff
feet of this system Is the 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 fit for travel during the muddy
months OF the year. This point is now
| understood. and nearly every petition Is
accompanied by a pledge on the part
Of the County authorities TO improve
/ the roads.
Free Delivery In Villages.
One solution of the question Of VII
| iage free delivery Is TO make necessary
! fourth class offices, after rural delivery
| has abolished the unnecessary ones)
1 hra oats nu'' of
| large offices I'm 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 q
! Postmaster by having his dealings with
1 the nearest post Office, the Postmaster
1 there conducting the correspondence
with the Department. furnishing sup
/ plies and making most Of the reports
4 While offfcfaffy the post Offices would be
/ designated as sub-stations, TO the public
| they should still be remembered as
/ Smiths Crossroads or 'Joness Cen.
i ter" The Office thus would not lose Its
/ identity. and the Postmaster would be
| known as such. While the office would
be a sub-station of large Office. the
! duties of the Postmaster at such large
y office would be entirely perfunctory. and
he would have nothing to do with the
| appointment of the Postmaster at thu
no objection on that score. The expense
would. At first. be slightly increased. bu
/ the resulting conysniences and arono
mics would soon counterbalance it.
PeriIs Of the Rail.
In wreck on the Southern Railroa,
near Charlottesville, Va, nine iai.way
mail clerks. working in two postal ears
were severely injured--a typical illus
tration of the risks taken by these hero
ic public servants I'm the discharge o
their duty une tn- survivors teiil
his story thus: I'VE had just finished
our work for the night. We had mad,
every connection and had n very heav,
mall ON board The two cars must hav,
contained at least Ave or six tons o
matter, and a great deaf of IL was reg
tstered stun. We were about to chang,
our clothes when the crash came, an.
for a short time We couldn't tell wha
! had happened. There was succession
of dsafsntnw crashes, and while We real
: ixsd that Ne were In wreck we couis
not determine whether we were out %
danger until we had erawled out from
under the ~rseksse and @sw that n VIA
all ossr n vas dsFk. sed the effect q
the sesas ~sS hslshssaea BY the aams