East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1907-02-02
POSTAL COMMISSION WOULD
THROTTLE THE PRESS

The report of the joint postal COM
mission authorized by the last session
of congress to investigate and report
10 that body its conclusions on the
operation and effect Of the existing
laws relative to second-class mail
matter and what changes, IL any.
should be made, has been given TO
the public Among the most import-
ant additions to existing law as re-
CARDS second-class matter embodied
in measure proposed are the fol-
lowing:
A newspaper or other periodical
may he in part composed Of advertise
ments which are permanently insert
cd in, or attached to, but such nd.
INertsements shall not constitute more
than 80 per centum of the superficial
area of any issue Of the publication.
! nor shall any advertisements be print
ed on card, cloth or any substance
other than paper; nor upon paper, if
any greater weight than the text of
such publication.
Takes Extreme View.
With a regular issue of a newsna-
per or other periodical the supple
mert may be enclosed or folded. The
supplements shall not be printed on
other substances than paper, except
in the case of maps and plans illus
trative of the text; nor shall be of
different form from the main body
or the publication. No supplement
snail be composed of or contain ad-
Vertisements, but the same shall be
confined to matter germain to the
regular issue and supplied in order to
complete matter left incomplete in
the main body OF the publication.
The appointment of a postal ap-
peals commission in the postoffice
department is provided for, to con-
slst of three members.
The object of this commission is
to allow the proprietor or publisher
Of any newspaper or periodical publ-
cation, the application for the ad-
mission of which to the second class
OF mail matter has been denied by
the postmaster general, to appeal to
ii, and which commission shall hear.
consider and determine such appeal
with respect as well to matters of
AtNN tiS " llldlleTS OF law.
Binds All Employees.
The findings, determination, decis-
ion or judgment of the commission
on any appeal from refusal to ad-
NIT second-class publications or for
the removal from the second-class.
or the suspension, annulment or re-
vocation of its second-class privileges.
shall be final and conclusive.
The construction or application of
any law or statute relating to classi-
fication of mail matter made by the
commission shall be controlling in the
postoffice and all its employees, un-
less overruled by some competent
court of the United States.
The requirement is made that
where an article is offered for sale
in combination with the subscription
for a newspaper or periodical admit
ted to the eecond-class. the price of
such article shall be clearly stated in
such publication, and in all cases the
regular advertised price Of the pub
lication.
The proposed bill provides for the
appointment of joint commission
Of congress to investigate the entire
posatl system.
Congressional Investigation.
Continuing, the report says:
This commission is in accord with
the views Of the postmaster general.
that the whole business system of the
postal service shall be examined and
overhauled by set of expert ac-
countants and statisticians, to be Sc
cured from the ranks of those profess
sions outside the department.
1T is believed this examination can
best be made through the agency of
Congress. Tho object of this inquiry
IS not a temporary or provisional
ore. 1t is an attempt to get that gi-
gantic enterprise, known as the pos
tai service, organized, once and for
all, on a sound economic and admin
strative basis. 1t involves even more
than that. It involves the way in
which the burden of that tremendous
service is to be adjusted between the
various classes and elements of the
immense public which makes use of
it."
Tho commission recommends the
SCIlclut VI progressive Teuuct1On of
compensation for mail carried in ex-
cess of 5000 pounds day, which is
embodied in the accompanying bill.
1t is estimated by the officials of
the railway mail service that the total
decrease in compensation will be for
the fiscal year 1905 approximately
$3,000,O00.
Mark TwaiD's Idea.
The commission holds, with regard
to fiction matter, that the classifica-
tion which puts a complete novel in
one class and novel published seri-
ally in another class is a false class-
fication. With regard to newspapers,
the commission maintains that the
prime defect in the statute defining
what constitutes a newspaper Is that
the purpose described is so broad as
to include everything and exclude
nothing. with the exception of a
few instances" it says, "where the
publication has been excluded because
the information was deemed not to
be public, no periodical has ever been
ella cSifipd Inv tho nnnlica tiop of foot,