The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-04

 postage rate between the United States and Great Britain went into effect. she carried many thousands of letters to | people on this side of the Atlantic, | three-fourths of which were prepaid | at the old fve-cent rate when they might have gone for two cents. The | advent of cheaper international post age had been widely heralded. and 1t was thought that not man In the | United Kingdom had missed the noti- | hcation that the postal rate to the l United States had been reduced to two cents an ounce. It is certain that Eng | fish writers who have correspondents | in America are people of more than | average intelligence, but this did not | save them from paying liberally to | swell the tremendous toll that ignor- ance takes from the people of all na- tions.
 Who is there than can tell even approximately how much he contri- butes to the vast expenses of running the United States government? A few l people know that 1t now costs bii- lion dollars a year to keep things go- l ing, but only once in a great while will you meet a man who can give any Idea of the size of his contribution to the fund. Every time man buys a suit of clothes made of English cloth he pays a certain percentage to the operating expenses of the government Did everybody get an itemized state ment of cost with everything they ouy' showing just how much duty there was on it, they would feel little more personal interest in the big expendi- lures of the government, and more economical methods might be tntro- duced in Uncle Sans household.
 A scaling down of appropriations amounting to only five per cent, and extravaganza costs the people more than that, would save them fifty mill lion dollars g. year, or enough to dig every deep waterway in the United States in ten years. If every man could look at the annual billion dollar appropriation and know just what part of 1t he would have to contribute, 1t Is safe to say that Congress would be called upon to practice reasonable economy in its administration of the affairs of the big Federal household. Even closer home than the Federal treasury there is ignorance on the part of most people as to how much they are contributing to the support of the government, and the way their con- tributions are spent. It is said that not over five per cent of the people can tell the tax rate in the city or county in which they happen to live. This applies to even the most prvmi-
 
 of the American Civic Association was recently invited to address a mass meeting of tax payers of a certain pro- gressive city in behalf of an extended program of city improvement. When he arrived at the city's gates he was met by a delegation, from whom he asked information about the tax rate. the indebtedness, and the taxable values of the city. The nearest any of tho fi01 ronId come to giving him the desired information was that ''the city Is very wealthy per
 capita, has thirty thousand inhabi- tants, and will have as many more in ten years" The Civic Association of- ficial told them they need not be enn- barrassed over not being able to an swer his question, but that they were no worse of in that respect than other delegations had proved to be. Yet there were the towns progressive cit- izens, who might have been supposed to know.
 Competent authorities estimate that the annual unnecessary waste on the railroads of the United States amounts to more than $30.000.000. Even that amount represents the earning power l of five billion dollars put on interest | at five per cent Most of this waste | Is attributed to the ignorance and care |
  borers who are finding better positions | higher up in the railroad service or | in some other industry. E. H. Har- | riman has begun crusade against | leaks on the big systems he controls, and is spending millions of dollars to save a few cents here and there. He l is working to standardize the entire | equipment in order to eliminate the 1 big expense of interchanging it. and to stop the waste of repair shop bills. |
 It Is authoritatively stated that more | than $100,0O0,000 a year might be | saved to the people of the United | States by the substitution of producer gas power for steam power where 1t | could be done conveniently. Yet the | lack of knowledge of its proven ad | vantages is responsible for the contin | ued installation of steam power in new | plants and its continued use in old | ones. It is estimated that a factory | requiring 500 horse power can be op- | erated for $5,0O0 a year less when | producer gas is used than when steam | power is relied on. It is further stat ed that a 5000 horse power factory | can be operated at at annual saving ! or $72.0OO by the use of producer gas. l Yet even this advantage is as nothing | when compared with that which might | accrue from a general and proper ap- preciation of the relative and ultimate l cheapness of water power as compared with all other kinds.
 The United States has engines with a power equivalent to that of 26, ,000, 900 horses. Yet government investigators declare that water wheels might be made to take the place of S5 or 90 per cent of these. and that the simple
 utilization of the power of the rivers l would effect a saving of untold mil 1 lions to the people. These investiga-
 tors declare that there are no insur- | mountable obstacles in the way of such power. The first cost would be great | less, the saving being sufficient to pay at least 30 per cent on the Invest ment.
 Lack of a proper perception of the advantages of good roads Is another costly ignorance on the part of the public. The postoflce department has
 made an estimate of what it could
 save If 1t had good roads for its mail routes throughout the United States.
 It figures that If every post road in the United States were made a good road. it could reduce its operating ex- penses $6,792.00O year. When 1t is considered that less than one-half of the roads of the United States are post roads, and that the travel of the mail carriers does not amount to over two per cent of the trafic on the majority of our highways, one will | begin to see how much the lack of in- formation on the good roads question | Is costing the people. If the mud tax