New-York tribune., 1909-12-28
POSTAL REFORM.
lllerce.

has felt himself doubly impelled TO do
this. for the deficit for the fiscal year
19OS-'O9 was ST., ,419. .170-the heaviest on
record-and the Taft administration. 70
its great credit is making an heroic
effort 10 cut down national expenditure
all along the line. A good example in
governmental economy is not set when
service which should be self-sustaining
is conducted at a loss of S17,50O,0OO a
year. If the Postoffice Department does
business at less than cost. and has TO
meet its deficits by drafts on the funds
in the Treasury raised by general taxa
tion. il is evident that the public as
whole is being made TO pay for facilities
given 10 certain users of the mails at
less than their real value Were these
concessions not admitted to be essential
TO the accomplishment of some important
public purpose. sound policy would OBJ
vi0usly suggest a return 10 the basis or
self-support through closer approxima-
tion of charges TO the worth of the ser
vices concerned
The Postmaster General reports that
the two great sources of loss to the post
free delivery. According TO Mr. Hitch
cocks figures. the average revenue on
second class mail is one cent a pound
and the cost of handling it is 9.23 cents.
On account of the vast amount of second
class business the annual loss on it
reaches about .000.0o0-three and
one-half times the deficit on all the de-
partment'S business. Yet ii is not al
together clear that this excess of cost
is due entirely 10 the low rate of postage.
II is rather due in part TO an excessive
rate paid by the government to the rail-
roads for transportation. AS THE Out
look recently pointed out. the transport
tation charge paid to the railroads on
second class matter from New York to
Chicago is about the same a hundred
pounds as the rate paid 10y a first class
passenger. Mr.. Hitchcock does not him
self think that the loss on second class
matter is due wholly TO undercbarges.
lie says in his report that where the
mails are carried by contract the rail
road charges are fair enough. But he
intimateS that the rates fixed by law are
too high. and those rates are the ones
which govern in the transportation If
most of the governments Improbable
mail matter.
II must be remembered also that Con
greSs has always deliberately practised
a policy of extreme liberality in fixing
postal rates on second class mail 1t saw
good reasons for encouraging the dis
semination of reading matter in a cheap
and popular form. Educational facilities
in the United States have always needed
10 be supplemented by the printing press,
and newspapers and magazines have
been an immensely valuabl means OF
popular instruction. Congress put q pre-
MUM on their circulation by ordering
them carried at much less than cost.
The country has not yet Outgrown the
need of Il wide distribution of edu-
cational literature such as the news
papers furnish. concession on that
sort of mail matter has therefore still
many sound arguments to recomend it,
Congress has been digestng for the
last three or four years reports of
various commissions recommending re-
adjustments of rates on mail matter
in the main TO the traditional policy of
favoring second class matter so far as It
can be reasonably favored. while reduc-
ing the excessive rates charged for IT
by the railroads. and perhaps discrimi-
mating in the second class as President
Taft has suggested. between newspapers.
which cost relatively little to handle. and
magazines. on which the great part of
the present loss Of revenue occurs.
The second great source OF deficits is
in the field Of rural free delivery That
branch Of the service has been developeI
with startling rapidity and lis cost has
been naturally disproportionate 10 the
return from it, The deficit for 1908 90
l. estimated at about ST. 1OO0WO Here
too. there is Il public interest served
which must be considered as balancing
Il failure TO make ends meet. The stimu
lation given to country life by the estah.
liShment of quicker means of communica-
tion has been of general benefit II helms
the urban community as well as tie
rural, since ii increases travel. widens
markets and multiplies exchanges. II
serves educational as we'll as social and
economic ends and has been well worth
all the money invested in the experiment.
Fortunately. the returns Oh the rural ser
vice will increase in time and its excess
cost Will be diminished with The growth
of business. Mr.. Hitchcock wisely does
not recommend Il crippling ratrench-
meh. He feels. however. that with i'm.
proved organization the present service
can be made 10 pay better and at the
same time tu yield more substantial
benefit.
The problem appears 10 be one chiefly
of undermining the postal system. II
seems probab BILE that with Il few readiuSt-
mentS in rates and reductions of an
tiquated railroad charges the deficit could
be wiped out and the government be re,
lieved from the stigma of conducting at
an unnecessary loss business in which
the possibilities of profit are unlimited.
THE BRITISH FRANCHISE.
la.. Of h..