Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1909-12-15
Ths presidents assssSe'

n
IN the last election, " follow
iii. policics of my distinguished
locessor." and other pointed
e.rences To Roosevelt and the
a., elcc,ion which he might well
have omitted.
i-,j.r the head of PoStoincc
n..,r,m,nt. hc tasc~ tho foliowia"
,rbsck at the deficiency which
.,,r,lly faces the Department:
I'll, deficit every year so the
pos, Office Department Is largely
..u.ed bv the lew rate Of poslage
e cent a round charged on
s.c,nd. class mail matter. which
;,clndes not only newspapers. but
,soazincS and miscellaneous peri
,J;rsl- The aclual loss growing
,,, of the transmission az Tar
s.r,r8class mail matter at cent -
,ouod amounts to S63.0O0.000 a
yeer. The average cost "s the
,-,,.uortatinn of this matter J.
more than . cents n pound.
Il appears that the average dis
,ance over which newspapers are
delivered to their customers is 29l
miles. while the average haul of
MAGAZINES is l.049, and of miscel-
aneous periodicals LIPS miles.
Thus. the average haul of the maga-
zine is three and one-hslf times
and that of the miscellaneous peri
odical nearly four times the haul of
the daily newspaper, yet all of
them pay the same postage rate of
cent pound. The statistics of
1901 show that second-class mail
matter constituted 63.91 per cent
of the weight of all the mail, and
yielded only 5.19 per cent of the
revenue.
Tie figures given are startling.
and show the payment by the
Government OF an enormous sub
sdy to the newspapers. magazines.
and periodicals. and Congress MAY
well consider whether radical steps
should not be taken 10 reduce
the deficit in the Post-Ofiice
Department caused by this dis
crepancy between the actual cost
Of transportation and the compen-
saton eXacted therefor.
\ great saving might be made,
amounting To much more than half
Of the loss, 10y imposing upon maga-
zines and periodicals higher
rate Of postage. They are much
heavier than newspapers, and con-
tain much higher proportion of
Advertising To reading matter, and
the average distance of their trans
portation is three and a half times
as great.
The total deficit for the last fiscal
year in the Post-Oflice Department
amounted TO S17. 100000. The
branches Of its business which il
did at loss were the second-clasS
mail service in which the loss, as
already said, was S63, 200. 900, and
the free rural delivery, in which
the loss was S2S, 900. These
losses were in part offset by the
profits of letter postage and other
sources of income. 1t would seem
wise to reduce the loss upon second
class mail matter, at least to the
extent of preventing a deficit in
the total operations of the Post.
Office.
l commend the whole subject to-
congress, not unmindful of the
spread of intelligence which low
charge for carrying newspapers
ana periodicals assists. / very
much doubt, however, the wisdom
OF policy which constitutes So
@rge subsidy and requires addi-
uonal taxation to meet it.
We think it would be better il
the President took up cudgcl,
against the "franking" peivilege
winch annually takes millions ava,
from the postal receipts, instead
VI aiming at the newspapers.
u The Govern ent would estal,
UNh sensible Pnrcels Post Sy stem.
as every other civilized country or
tn' globe has done. the posta
ue"ciency wonId disappear, ano
'o' great express compines, which
""" get everything over fou,
pounds in weight and declare 100
per cent dividends, would com,
o"wn To fair figure.
The Presidents entire messag,
'aN'N up 1900 words, and will b,
read by few people.
u Is very safe and sane