Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-14
TIE BURLINGTON WINS
ELIMINATION OF LONG CONF EST
WITH ROCK ISLAND.

It was announced at the Post Office De-
partment yesterday that the transconti-
mental mail will continue to be forwarded
by way of the Burlington route.
The decision of the Post Office Depart
ment is the elimination of long contest
between the Burlington and the Rock
Island, the one for the retention of the
service and the other to get control of it.
The matter is involved in the whole subject
of mail pay revision which is now agitat-
ing Congress and about which there is not
likely to be any definite decision before
the end of the present session.
The contest for the carrying Of the trans
continental fast mail dates back to 1884
when the government wished to run a fast
service between Chicago and Omaha The
service was at that time given to the Bur-
lington and has since been retained and
has been increased till it has grown to
large proportions. Both the Burlington and
the Rock Island have had representatives
in Washington fighting for the award of
the service and the present decision is the
end of the fight for the time being.
w. w. Baldwin, assistant to the presi-
dent of the Burlington, in speaking Of the
matter to Star reporter said:
No Contract With Government,
1T is not generally understood by the
pubic that there is no contract with the
government for this mail service, or for any
other mail service, for that matter. 1t is
simply awarded to the road that the post
office thinks is best able to give satisfac-
tlon. There Is large amount of English
mail to and from Australia that goes over
TINS transcontinental route, and altogether
1t has grown to be a very important serv-
r%o
only one train a week, and now we run
TOUR trains mail transit only, and we have
gotten the service down to the point where
we are able to make very fast time and
give the promptest sort of service
Now when this question of changing the
service from one road to another came I'D
1t was charged that the Burlington had
oHered TO cut the rate of pay in order to
retain the mall run. This was not so and
can give you the facts. Formerly there
was transfer of mail in Chicago from one
station to another that involved a haul by
the government clear across town by wag-
on This was slow and expensive and in
convenient. AS soon a. the question came
up we decided to make use of an existing
track in which We had part interest-the
st. Charles Air Line, running clear across
the city. Now all that is necessary is to
hitch the cars coming into Chicago to a
switching engine and run them across town
and put them on the outer track. 1t cuts
out all the haul by wagon that the govern
ment has been doing. We have not cut the
rate, but we simply relieve the department
of the expense of work that we never per-
formed before.
Service Does Not Pay for Itself.
"Withal the mail service does not actual
II pay for itself. The average cost of oper-
ating our trains is $1.6S per train mile. The
pay for the mall service works out at SS1k
cents per train mile. The question nat
,,ro ll1, rjs fha ie
case, why should the railroads be anxious
to retain the service and do the work at a
loss. The answer is simple. 1t is because If
we did not do the work it would not re-
duce the operating expenses SS1R cents per
train mile on the road. The taxes would go
on, the expense of maintaining the perma-
nent way, the station service, the telegraph
service and large part Of the other cost
of running the road would continue at just
about the same figure whether we ran these
four mail trains or not. Therefore while
the pay Is not up to the average of run
ming expenses, 1t helps some Also the
fact that the road has the fast mail service
is worth something in the way of an adj
vertisement.
II still do not think that we are getting
paid what the service is worth. If the gov
eminent does not pay its full proportion on
goods that are hauled then the difference
will have to come out of the pockets of the
other patrons of the road. But l would not
want IL unuerStOOu tndt we nave TO
cut the price of the service for the sake Of
retaining it because that is not the case.
We have simply made the change I indi-
Gated in handling the trains through Chi
cago and have relieved the government of
some additional expense
The Rock Islands Position.
This statement of the case by the Bur-
lngton is strongly contradicted by the
Rock Island and some Of the other roads
interested. All the other railroads of the
country are indirectly interested because
the matter touched the general subject of
railroad mail compensation which may or
may not be investigated by Congress. It
is claimed that the Rock Island in addi-
ton to Offering first to make the direct
transfer of the mails at Chicago and save
the government the cost of hauling the
pouches across town at a cost to the gov
eminent of about $500, 600 year, pointed
out that it was a land grant road and
that it could save the government money
by hauling the mails even at the same
rate that had been paid by the post office
for the service.
These two pieces of information were tip
ped off to the Burlington, and the railroad
men claim that the Burlington offered to
meet any proposition advanced by the
Rock Island. This, in view of the fact that
the railroads claimed they were losing
money by carrying the mails at the gov
eminent rate, would have opened the door
to all sorts of suspicion as to how much
they were really making out Of the service
since they We're SO anxious to retain it.
Both roads have had men in Washington