Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-08-01
ROADS MAY HIT BACK.
Officials of Western Lines Discuss Re

|
| duction of Railway Mail Service.
! Chicago. July 31-Officials in charge
of the mail service of western rail
roads held conference here yesterday
over the wholesale reduction In pay
! for conveyance of mails which mas
been made by the postoffice depart
ment thru the reduction of size OF
postal cars and the imposition or
heavy fines for the lateness Of trains
| While several more conferences OF
the officials in all probability viii be
held before any definite action is taken
| by the railroads, either singly or In
concert, the plan being discussed Is to
reduce the mail service to correspond
with the reduction in the pay for 1t.
Indignation is expressed by all the
railroads over the latest reform
scheme of the postoffice department,
which orders the roads to provide
car sixty feet long to run one way over
u designated route, and then fix the
limit Of pay for a much smaller car on
the return trip.
THAT is a subterfuge, not to say a
piece of trickery, on the part OF the
postoffice department which Is I'M
worthy OF the government of the Unit
ed States" declared an executive Of
ticer of one of the biggest western
systems. I'VE are ordered to run
slxty-foot car west bound over a GER
tain route and forty foot car east
bound, for example. The postal Off
Gals know that we cannot send that
sixty-foot car back east bound by tele-
graph or telephone-that we must
oring it SO as TO have it for the west
bound trip.
"Of course, by this scheme the post
office department gets the full benefit
of a siXty-foot ear both ways on a
route and pays for 1t only one way.
submit that such a scheme Is not hon
est. If the rate of pay for carrying the
mails is too high it should be reduced
by changing the rate, but not by such
a subterfuge as the postoffice depart
ment has just adopted"
The railroads are just finding out
the effect Of a rule which the postoffice
department made effective a year ago.
chat If any train carrying mail is late
thirty minutes or more ten times in
a period of three months, the company
shall be fined 10 per cent OF its total
pay for carrying the mail on that
train. Because of the customary tar
diness of government reports, railway
officials are only learning now that
their roads have been heavily fined
for being late with the mails during
the past year One road had fines as
sessed against it amounting to $4,000
and has no idea how much more it has
been fined during the past three
months.
1T used to be that fines for late
trains were imposed at the discretion
OF the railway postal officials and any
good excuses We had to offer were
taken into consideration" said the Of
fetal in charge OF the mail of west
.ern road. Frequently we were able
to make explanations which resulted in
the fines being RENTED, but at other
times we were fined without just cause
and appeals were futile. The postoffice
department simply deducted the
amount of the fine from our regular
voucher and that was all there to it.
Now the department. is making it an
ironclad rule that If any train is late
a certain number Of times within each
Quarter a cut of Is per cent in our pay
shall be made, no matter why the de-
lays occurred"
The railway managers declare that
they have reason to feel that more
drastic reductions in rateS of mail pay
are to come than those so far an
nounced by the department. The
deeper cuts are expected shortly after
Second Assistant Postmaster General
McCleary returns from a trip to Eu-
rope. Before that time the railroads
expect to make some changes them
selves as to the mails, principally by
running their trains on much slower
schedules. Such change as this
would be anything but satisfactory to
the department and probably would
force crisis in it's relations with the
carriers. -