Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-27

IT7===sz7==71 NCI4E SAM is the champion
IEANl ri letter writer of the world.
l2Y A Ell If he were to pay regular
lE va I'll rates of postage on all lIle
lA EI mail handled by the postal
sgsss14asA service for him his postage
bill would amount to 20,0000O0 year.
He is always prone to refer to the pos
tai service as being operated at
deficit But as a matter of fact, III
snIte of rural free delivery and other
improvements which call for the eX-
penditure of vast sums of money, the
people of the United States pay more
than it costs to handle their mall De-
ducting the amount of free matter
which was sent out under franks ana
penalty envelopes, it was found that
the postal service received $4OO0,OOO
more for carrying the paid mail than II
cost to carry it In other words haa
Uncle Sam paid the ordinary postal
rates for his franked and penalty mat
ter there would have been surplus
of "A. 900 900 in the postal revenues in
stead of a deficit of $16,OOoOoO'
Heretofore there has been but
vague idea of the amount of mail sent
out by the government every year.
But the recent report, whose prepara-
ton was called for by congress- ana
which is based on the weighing ana
counting of all classes of mail for SIX
months reveals some interesting dala
about Uncle Sam as user OF lhe
mails. The weighing and counting TOOK
place during the last six months OF
1907 the dullest half of the dullest
year the country has had IN long
period, as measured by the quantity
of free matter going out. Congress
was not in session and the free seeds
and government documents had been
distributed during the other half OF
the wear. Nor was there a pohtlcal
campaign on in which tons of ranked
speeches would have been distributed
through the mails-yes, carloads OF
them. Yet even in this duh half year
there were more than 24,000.000 pounds
of government mail turned loose on the
nation. which was at the rate of 25,OO0
tons q year. 1t is probable that the
average year would show Uncle sam
sending out 600 tons of mail matter,
with more than that in election years
The figures show that during the SIX
months there were handled 2,2fIOOO
pounds of franked matter-originatlng
with congress; there were Il 5,OOo
pounds of penalty matter-originatlnS
with the departments. Anyone VINO
knows what great volumes OF man
congress sends out in the course OF d
year knows to a certainty that II IS
vastly more than one-tenth as much
as is sent out by the departments.
When he takes cognizance of the vast
amount of free seeds, free horse BOOKS,
free maps and free everything else
which congress distributes through
the mails, including the millions OF
free speeches sent out for home con-
sumption, it will be perfectly ap-
parent that the national legislature
was not in it's stride when this test
l F,.n, nd
was made.
During seven days the postal serv-
ice handled 4,441,00 pieces of penalty
mail. which is at the rate of 14l,OOO
pieces for every working day, or 22l.-
600, 600 pieces a year. Add to this the
quantity congress sends out during an
average year, and it will begin to ap-
pear what a liberal patron of the
mails Uncle Sam really is. He has
every other nation completely sur
passed in this respect Perhaps none
of the other nations sends half as
much governmental matter through
the mails as the United States.
Washington is the great center of
government mail distribution. While
congress is in session thAre is more
franked stuff sent out from the capi-
tai than from all the rest of the coun-
try put together. When congress goes
away. other places handle the greater
bulk of the franked mail. With PEN
atty mail it is different. While n per
cent of all the mail handled by the
Washington postoffice Is either for the
government or from the government,
yet the vast amount of penalty busi-
ness, originating wherever there is
government business to be transacted,
makes that portion of it originating in
Washington seem like a small guam
tity.
although government mail travels
free and private mail has to pay its
way, government mail travels farthest
The data gathered by the postal
service shows that the average pound
of government mail travels about 165
miles farther than the average pound
of paid matter The latter is, carried
62G miles, while the average pound of
franked matter goes $50 miles, and
penalty matter 1872 miles.
About so per cent of the registered
mail business of the city of Washington
is government mail. All the postage
stamps sent out are sent this way, and
the same is true of internal revenue
stamps, to say nothing of the vast
quantity of other matter which is regis
tered. Most of this goes in closed
pouches. Years ago it was the custom
IOr all registered matter 10 ne handled
loose, 1t being passed from hand to
hand to its destination each mail clerk,
through whose hands it passed, receipt
ing for it to the man before him. AS
registered mail matter began to travel
further and further, and to multiply In
quantity, it became necessary for some
method to be devised so that many
pieces could be grouped together This
resulted in the invention of a register
ing lock. In it is a rotary register like