The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1908-03-04

nile seem to believe. and it is be
cause they haven't thought over the
subject seriously, that every branch
OF the postal service either pays IT'S
! own way or not in accordance with
the figures returned from that par
I ticular branch of the service.
To illustrate, a large city like New
! York pays a surplus Of several mil
! lion over the actual cost of handling
! the mail in that city, But these lg-
ures do not take into consideration
the hauling of letters from New
York city to Ell Paso, Tex, and vice
versa. and this cost cannot be ascer-
! tanned with eXactitude as relating TO
any particular city. In fact, if it
we're not for the large number Of
| Ell Paso and other large cities and
towns throughout the country the
! New York postal service would be
nothing; therefore, it is unfair TO
any branch of the service like the
rural delivery to say that it is not
paying it's way simply because the
returns from the rural free delivery
| service does not equal the eXpendi-
lures for same.
No Need for Service to Pay for Itself.
| have never belonged to that
school of people who believe that
the pOstoftce department ought to
pay for it's own way. Nobody as
serts or believes that either the war
states OF navy or any other depart
ment Of the government should be
made to pay its way except the post
office department, and this is the
great department of the people. 1t
puts them into communication one
with each other the world over, and
the man in Dawson, Ca, is thereby
enabled to do business with facility
and security throughout the United
States. | have said, and | repeat,
that the rural carrier standing as
he does with one hand in the town
and the other in the country, writes
the urban and rural population as
nothing else can do, and | assert now
that whatever congress can do to
make life in the country happier
and whatever it can do to make more
easy transactions of business between
the farmer and the town man it
ought to be glad to do, and the ques-
ton of it's expense, so long as it is
within reasonable bounds, ought
never to be considered.
81 am yet to be convinced that
efficiency ought to be sacrificed at
any time to expenses. However, as
| have stated before, | do approve
the idea of securing efficiency in the
mail service at the lowest reasonable
cost. Now, then, how can rural
routes be brought to the highest
state of efficiency at the lowest pos
sible cost We have seen that the
routes produce directly very lit
tie over one-half of the cost of same
by the carriage of letters and news
papers.
the efficiency of the service and at
the same time for the reduction of
the expenses of the service to es-
tablish on every rural route a parcels
post?
Favors Limited Parcels Post.
81 do not believe that the country
is ready for universal parcels post.
| believe the cost of railway trans
portation, as the government gets 1t,
would so far exceed the income
therefrom and would so greatly de-
lay the carrying of first-class matter
that we cannot afford to undertake
that now 1t has also occurred to
me that if we undertake to carry
merchandise all over the United
States at a maximum price of $1.32
for the largest package the gov
eminent would have dumped upon
it the long haul in every instance,
and the express companies would get
the short haul, thus giving to the
express companies the profit and TAX
ing for the government the loss.
That is to say, it is 20 miles from
| Albany, Ga, to Sylvester, Ga, and
| the express rate for package of
! IL pounds for that distance would
| probably not be over so cents, and
| possibly % cents am not familiar
with the exact fgures-and the gov
eminent rate would be $1.32. Under
! the bill as proposed by the postmas
ter-general all packages from AL
! bany, Ga, to Sylvester, Ca, would
go by rail, thus making the expense
of a universal parcels post fall on
| the government with such a force
as to make extremely doubtful the
success of such a parcels post. But
when you come to consider the ques-
ton of a parcels post limited eX-
clusively to rural routes there is alb
solutely no question as to the in
creased expense and a certainty of
practically doubling the actual re-
ceipts from every route. | do not
doubt that within a few years, if
this service is established, that it
will so increase as Will require more
expense upon the part of the carrier,
and thus require an increase in his
salary The friction which we have
all seen at times between the coun-
try and the towns is rapidly disap-
pearing under the benign influence
of the rural delivery.
Il am not an old man, but re-
! member we'll in my younger days
when in writing to my sweetheart,
who lived II miles from my home,
and 10 miles from the nearest rail
road postofice, and four miles from
the nearest star route office, in a sec
ton of Georgia noted for its intelli-
gence and enterprise. l could not