Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1907-02-28
THE RAILWAY MAIL GRAFT

weight, ana Dy no means all OF
this was carried by the railways,
yet they received $22, 1000 for
less than a tenth of the weight the
railways hauled for the express
companies for several millions less
money. The rate per pound upon
mail was fully ten times the rate
per pound on express. The aver
age haul for express is estimated
at Is to SO per cent less than for
mail. So that the ton-mile rate of
mail appears to have been at least
five times as much as for express,
according to the data of the census
and the postmaster general. Since
1890 the express companies have
carefully refrained from allowing
the census people or any other pub
lie authorities to acquire the facts
compar ison.
The express companies carry
magazines and newspapers 500
miles and more at cent pound,
Gnu Viz al dJO SOt 1903 tlldlI OilC-
half a cent a pound, or two cents
ton-mile. That is not ALL Any
general express agent will tell you
that the company will shade the
Late for a large shipper. For ex-
ample, The Cosmopolitan is carried
from New York to Boston, PIG
miles, for Is cents a hundred, or
less than one-fifth of a cent a
pound. This is at the rate of 10
cents per ton-mile for the express
company and three-fourths of
cent a ton-mile for the railways,
a rate about one-sixteenth of tie
average mail rate and one-n: h
of the lowest mail rate on the lines
where the volume of mail is great
est. The railways charge the gov
crnmeut about three cents a pound
for hauling second-class matter,
according to Professor Adams, and
eight cents according to Postmaster
General Wilson, but the same stuff
for the express companies for less
than a tenth of a cent a pound.
And if the railways had any ser ious
objection to such rates they would
hardly have permitted them to
continue all these years, but would
have provided against them in
their contracts with the express
companies
THE mail rate ought not to be
higher than the railway rates on
express or excess baggage, and
should probably be lower than the
average excess baggage rate. 1t
is traffic, steady, homogeneous,
easily handled, and admits of econ
omy from every point of view. 1t
does not entail any such expenses
for storage, loading and unloading,
etc. as pertain to baggage. Station
expenses are eliminated. There
is practically nothing but the cost
of haulage. Wellington, our high
est authority in railway economies,
says that only 20 per cent of this
railway expense is due to transpor-
tation. On his basis the railway
mail rate would be about one-third
less than that charged for excess
baggage, or about four cents per
ton-mile instead of twelve.
''The following table presents
the case from the standpoint of
probable total cost on the various
bases we have discussed:
100, 600, 900 TON-MILES OF MAIL
At average railway express rates
would cost perhaps SIS, 600
At average excess baggage rates
would cost perhaps $4,000, 900
At average freight rates would cost
about $500, 900
At average freight rates, making
correction for difference of
dead load $4,000, 900
At average passenger rates, making
correction for difference CT
dead load $4,000, 900
At actual mail rates (1ses)
$34, 754, 900
SIN whatever way the subject is
regarded the railway mail pay
seems many millions too large"
But the case of high-handed rob-
berry against the Amer lean tax
: payers in which the American gov
eminent is particeps criminis, does
not stop with excessive charges for
carrying the mails.
SIN addition to the regular mail
: rates the government pays an extra
charge for postal cars averaging
SO, $50 a year per car, although the
cost of construction of cars is but
81, 500 to S. each. For two
30-foot apartments in two combina-
ton cars each carr wing one ton of