The Mena weekly star., 1909-12-16

..tor and I shall avail myself m n,u,'.o.',s .,1s srst convenient opportunity to p.,.g tbese subjects to the attention or congress.
 seeond.class Mail Matter.
 rhe deficit every year in the post | oe5ca aenartment Is largely caused py the low rate of postage Of l cent ', a nound charged on second-class man matter which includes not only he"s papers but magazines and miseei,ana ,aa, eous periodicals. The actuai growing out of the transnissivn a,,t D, thts second-class mall matter at | cena a nound amounts to about s6SooV'VVo a year The average cost of the trans nortation of this matter Is more thah cents a pound.
 If appears that the average distance over which newspapers are aeilVersu ,l to their customers is 291 miles whiie the average haul of magazines IS l,V4s, ns and of miscellaneous periodicals l'aIo' miles Thus, the average haul oi tne magazine is three and one-hair times and that of the miscellaneous period ical nearly four times the haul or the | daily newspaper yet all of them pay the same postage rate or cent | pound The statistics Of lsOf snow | that second-class mall matter constr tuted s39l per cent of the weight or | all the mail. and yielded only 6.ls per cent of the revenue
 The figures given are startling ana show the payment by the government of an enormous subsidy to the news papers. magazines and periodicals ana l congress may well consider whether radical steps should not be taken 10 reduce the deficit in the post-office de- partment caused by this discrepancy between the actual cost of transporta- ton and the compensation exacted | therefor.
 great saving might be made amounting to much more than half of the loss, by imposing upon magazines and periodicals a higher rate of post age They are much heavier than newspapers. and contain much higher proportion of advertising to reading matter and the average distance Of their transportation Is three and half times as great
 The total deficit for the last fiscal year in the postofiice department | amounted to S1750O 900. The branches of it's business which 1t did at loss were the second-class mail service, in which the loss as already said. was se3, ,0000O0, and the free rural delivery in which the loss was $2S,ooOooO. These losses were in part offset by the profits of the letter postage and other sources of income. It would seem wise to reduce the loss upon second-class mail matter, at least 10 the extent of preventing a dehcit in the total operations of the post office.
 commend the whole subject to con- gress. not unmindful of the spread of l intelligence which a low charge for 1 carrying newspapers and periodicals assists. I very much doubt. however the wisdom of a policy which consti- tutes SO large a subsidy and requires additional taxation to meet it.
 Postal Savings Banks.
 The second subject worthy of mem ton In the postofice department IS the real necessity and entire practicabillty | of establishing postal savings banks. 1 The successful party at the last eiec- ! ton declared in favor of postal say ngs banks. and although the proposi- ton finds opponents in many parts of l the country, l am convinced that the l people desire such banks. and am sure | that when the banks are furnished they will be productive of the utmost | good. The postal savings banks are | not constituted for the purpose of ere ating competition with other banks | The rate of interest upon deposits to | which they would be limited would be so small as to prevent their drawing deposits away from other banks.
 I believe them to be necessary in | order to offer a proper inducement to I thrift and saving to great many | people of small means who do not now have banking facilities, and to | whom such a system would offer an | opportunity for the accumulation of capital. They will furnish a satisfac- tory substitute. based on sound prIn- | .fv orA al nearly all the countries of the world, for the system of government guar anty of deposits now being adopted in several western states. which with deference to those who advocate it seems to me to have in 1t the seeds of morazation 10 conservative banking Ind certain financial disaster.
 Ship Subsidy.
 Following the course of my distin- guished predecessor I earnestly recom- mend to congress the consideration aEI passage of a ship subsidy bill looking to the establishment or ines between our Atlantic seaboard and the eastern coast of South America, as well as lines from the west coast of the United States to South America China. Japan and the Philippines The profits on foreign malls are perhaps e sufficient measure of the expenditures which might first be tentatively ap- piled to this method of inducing American capital to undertake the es- ts blishment of American lines of steamships In those directions in which we now feel 1t most important that we should have means of transportation controlled in the interest of the expan- sion of our trade. A bill of this char aeter has once passed the house and more than once passed the senate. and l hope that at this session bill framed on the same lines and with the same purposes may become a law.
 The president recommends the ad- mission of New Mexico and Arizona as separate states, and strongly op- poses legislation looking to the elec- ton of territorial legislature for Alaska.
 Conservation of National Resources.
 In several departments there is present. ed the necessity for legislation looking to the further conservation of our national resources, and the subject is one of such ihporEance as to require a more detailed ana extended discussion than can be en- tered upon in thls communication. For that reason l shall take an early opnor- tunity to send special message to con sIess on the subject of the Improvement or our waterways, upon the reclamation and irrigation of arid. semi-arid. and swamp lands; upon the preservation of our forests and the reforesting of suit able areas; upon the reclassification of the public domain with a view of sem aratng from agricultural settlement min eraL coal, and phosphate lands and sites peionglng to the government bordering on streams suitable for the utiiizat,on nt water power 0'
 The White Slave Trade.