The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-11-16
WEIGHING MAIL
Of THE UNION
viii Cost $500, 900 - The
Chance of Padding is
Slight.
(Mau Special to the Adyertiser.)

costs $533,000 to weigh eight states Of
this glorious Union. That is the word
of Postmaster General Meyer, who has
watched the proceeding. The figures,
which have just been brought to him.
are compiled from operations Of 105
days during which postal clerks and
Especial employees in Indiana, Illinois,
Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri. and
Wisconsin have been determining the
average amount Of mail transported
daily over railroad lines.
1t will cost about 600 to weigh
the whole country and the whole
country, according TO law, must be
weighed in quarter sections in the
course of every four years. 1t costs
twice as much to weigh the big and
expansive granger states as it does to
weigh some other quarter sections,
notably the South where the scales
viii be set up in all postal cars some
time next spring.
| Nothing could be more erroneous"
said the Postmaster General today
| than statements one still hears occa-
sionaIly, that the mails are heavily
padded at weighing time. Every pos
sible safeguard is taken to prevent it.
There are special employees on every
train where the weighing is in prog
ress and they have instructions to re-
port Immediately to the department
any development that seems suspicious.
Most of these special employees are
men who have applied for positions as
railway postal clerks and are on the
waiting list. They therefore have an
additional incentive to perform their
full duty.
1.-THE cost of the weighing is con-
siderable item for the government as
| these figures I now. have at hand
show The advantage is in one par
| ticular with the Postoffice Department
as the contracts are awarded for
four year period on the basis of the
weighing. In that time, of course,
| there is generally quite an Increase
in the volume of mail carried, il be-
| ing the result of the normal growth
| OF the postal SeTNiC6
Mr.. Never gave very careful atten-
| ton last spring to the plans for the
weighing, which began in February
and was not concluded till early June.
| Detailed regulations were issued with
a view to eliminate any unfair advan-
/ tage for the railroads, to whom, for
mail transportation all over the coun-
| try. the government makes an annual
| payment of something like $4,000, 000
The large sums thus paid have led
| to wide criticism and it is generally
conceded that in the disbursement of
| this TRANSFORMATION fund there has been
much scandal. The Postmaster Gener-
al is studying the matter of cost, as
| is the second assistant, Mr.. McClearyi
who has the transportation of mails
under immediate supervision. It Is
| Mr. Meyers idea that probably the
mail Transportation contracts could be
awarded more equitably on the space
basis but he is awaiting the reports
from very comprehensive investiga-
tions that have been in progress for
| six months before announcing any
positive conclusions.
1--WE can not compare the cost of
| carrying mails here with the cost in
France said he today, when his at
tention was called to the fact that the
French railroads carry mails for al
| most nothing. Most of the French
railroads are government owned and
anv payments for mail service are a
| transfer of money from one pocket to
another. 1t is simply matter OF
bookkeeping"
The investigations for determining
what the United States ought to pay
the railroads for mail service are prob
ably the most thorough and compre-
hensive ever conducted by the post
Office department of any nation For
sly months every ounce of mail orig
mating in every postoffice has been
weighed in the aggregate and by
IcIasses and the records are now pour
4 ing into the department. That weigh
ing has been entirely distinct from the
J weighing on the railroads in what Is
called the third contract section, which
includes the big states up and down
the Mississippi valley During thirty
DAYS of October there has been spe-
cfal investigation in 81 selected OF
fees TO obtain some statistics on the
average haul of mail. In this inves-
tigation. in other words, note has oeen
made Of the distance to the state OF
its FeSIlndLlD Oh every EA~GC VI mail
These figures will demonstrate also
the average load Of a postal car.
For seven days during the middle OF
/ october reports were required on the
receipts for each class of mail in each
!rcstoff1ce in the United States AMI the
average revenue derived from each
piece of mail
When the data is all in hand. which
will be before long, the compensation
for transportation will be one of the
nostal questions to be taken up for adj
iustment. Apparently there must be
| some reform. because il is believed the
railroads have been receiving too much
money for the service they perform.
I some claim the railroads should fur
| uish the service at small cost, If not
gratis but that idea is not considered
| seriously at the department. There
| probably is no justification for pay
ing a railroad many times as much
for CARRYING mail than is charged ex-
| press companies-which is a favorite