Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-06-12
Postmaster General Meyer Ac-
cused of Playing Politics in
Changing Pay Basis
RAILROADS DON'T LIKE II
Saving to Postal Department Will Elk.
coed $5,ooo,ooo AnnuaIly--A Demo.
crat Who Wants to Vote for Reose.
veIt-Powder Trust Slated for Off,
ciaI lnvestig ation.

Washington. June 12.-When Post
master General Meyer made his decis-
ion the other day regarding the weigh
ing Of mails to ascertain the rate Of
pay the railroads are to receive, he
gave the first public evidence since he
has been in the cabinet that diplo-
macy and shrewdness which made him
so valuable as foreign representative
Of the government. His decision re-
duces the railway mail pay Of all roads
in the United States about Ia per cent.
yet it is done SO equitably that no road
can find fault with it, and while the
railroads make wry face over it they
are compelled to admit that the post
master general acted clearly within
the law The annual net saving to the
postoffice department will be in the
neighborhood of s5,5o0,oo0.
This question of railway mail pay
has been bone of contention in con-
gress and the department for many
years. and 1t has been argued until 1t
became more threadbare than the age
of Ann problem. But one thing about
it always seemed preposterous. espec-
tally at the first glance. This was the
method pursued by the department,
from the beginning, of weighing the
mails certain number OF weeks the
weighing being done on weekdays and
Sundays alike, and then the total
weight for the weighing period was
added up and divided by the number
Of week days in the period for the pur-
pose Of ascertaining the average daily
weight Of mail carried That is the
mail would be weighed for los con-
secutiye days and the total divided by
80 and the result proclaimed as the
average weight per day for which the
railroad should be paid for the en-
suing four years.
The plan has been denounced as a
scheme to give the railroads a fat
piece Of graft, but was defended by the
department as the way congress de-
sired the average to be ascertained In
order that the roads carrying the mails
on Sunday might get pay for doing
so. However, just before Postmaster
General Cortelyou went out of office,
he issued an order that the total
weight of the mails for the Weighing
period must be divided by the actual
number of days the mails We're
weighed Then Mr.. Meyer came into
office and the railroads protested to
him that the Cortelyou order was fla
gravity unfair, and they submitted a
tat fofo Tn
prove 1t. They said: Ne.
Suppose there are two roads OF exact
ly the same length, and carrying exactly
the same weight of mail in year, one
running Sunday mail trains and the
other running only week day mail
trains-one giving the public seven
days service week and the other
only six--this order will give the road
affording the poorer service the great
er amount of pay"
Mr.. Meyer looked into the matter
and said the railroads were right. If
a road running trains seven days a
week receives $l25 per mile per year.
the road running only six days week
would by the working of this order re-
ceive $3.50 per mile per year, which is
not fair. / will amend the order. Here
after the diviso- will not be the num-
Der of days the mails are weighed. but
the total number of days in the weigh
ing period. That will not give the
seven-day road any more pay than is
received by the ssix-day road, it is true,
If both carry the same weight of mail
per week, but it will remove the unfair
advantage Of the six-day road, and it
will to some extent remove the temp
tation of seven-day roads to cut their
service to six Also, 1t will make los
the universal divisor instead Of 80, as
will save the government about IA per
cent Of the money paid the railroads
annually for mail transportation"
What do I think of the postmaster
generals order?" echoed one of the
railroad representatives who hang
about Washington. 81 think he is
playing politics. That's all. He thinks
there are votes in soaking the rail-
roads,"
II was born and raised in Texas
and have voted the democratic ticket
with unvarying regularity and yet if
get the opportunity to cast a ballot
for Theodore Roosevelt in 1908, sure
ly shall record my vote for him." said
Hon. Frank P. Holland, former mayor
of Dallas, Texas, who is spending few
days in Washington.
Mind you," continued Mr.. Holland,
II have not changed my politics. I
am still democrat and always expect
to be one, but am for Roosevelt be-
cause he is the greatest president that
we have had in generation. / voiced
this sentiment in speech at San
Antonio recently, and it called upon
my head some pretty warm criticism
from my close friends. But I adhere
to that opinion = an opinion, by the
way, which is entertained by thous-
ands of the best Texas people"
Under any republican administra-
ton after March 4, 1909, Milton D. Purdy
of Minnesota, is pretty certain to be its
attorney general Should Roosevelt
finally succumb to the sentiment for
another term, Purdy, who is one of his
close confidents, will be promoted to
the head of the department of justice.
IIe has been sent on several confiden-
tial trips at the personal request Of
the president, and has always been able
to do even better than was expected.
Should Taft be the next president,
which would, OF course, be continual
ton of the presidents policy, both as
to men and measures, Purdy for at