The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-03-01
the cost of preparedness than that of
unpreparedness.
HITCHCOCK DOESN'T ANSWER.

statement TO the country, entitled, " An
argument on secoud-class postal rates
from business standpoint alone This
statement contravened two main points
ip the claim of the PostmasterG General
in his annual report as to the deficit
in the Postoficc Department. First,
as to his estimate Of SOL 900. 900 loss
on second-class matter, and second, as
TO the real cost of carrying that matter
through the mails.
The publishers looked upon his esti-
mate Of $64,O0O,O00 loss on this ac
count as absurd There could not pos
sibly be more than $4,000.000 loss at
the outside Then, that IN place of
the cost Of carrying such matter being
nine cents pound. it did not reach
much. If any, over one cent pound,
which is the rate charged, On this
point is put forth two propositions;
First, why does ii cost the Government
nine cents pound to transport and
handle second-class matter, when eN'
press companies are IN position to
compete with it at the present onc.cent
rate7 That is a practical point that
is extremely difficult to get over. 1t
is well known that the newspaper pub
fishers send out packages of second
class matter, making little or no choice
| between express companies and the
postollice, the cost being practically the
same as to both. The Tribune uses
the express to n considerable extent
in sending out its bundles Of papers,
and suffers little if any loss by rca-
son of the difference in charge be"
tween the express service and the mail
service This proves absolutely that
there is no merit in the claim that it
costs the Government nine cents
pound to transport this class of matter.
because if the express companies can
do il for about one cent pound. the
Government ought to make profit on
1t at that figure.
Second. if the Canadian Govern
ment, doing a retail business over an
enormous and unsettled area, can show
postoffice surplus, with rates on mag
azines and newspapers of but one
fourth cent per pound, should the
United States Government, doing
wholesale business over thickly settled
area with rates of one cent per pound,
show an honest deficit? There is an
other poser. The Dominion OF Canada
has wider areas to serve, along lines
longer and more expensive TO operate
than those of the United States, and
still shows no deficit in its postal
service, while charging but one-fourth
as much as the United States charges
for the carriage Of second class mat
ter Is this not an absolute proof that
there is something radically wrong
with the management of our postal
service, and is 1t not conclusive proof |
also that the trouble is not in the loss
IN the carriage of second~class matter9
1t is idle to claim that Canada, trans
porting such matter at one-fourth OF
the charge that the United States eX-
acts. can come out more than even
in its postal service, il the carriage or
second.class matter is the trouble with |
us,
Yesterday morning the dispatches |
CuTtlGQ Wudb pun ipoAIcu w pN WV ca
swer Of Postmaster General Hitchcock |
10 the statement made by the pub
fishers. He undertakes to give state
ment of the cost of handling second |
class matter, coupling it with the rural
free delivery, which of course Is alto
gether wrong. He admits, by coupling
these two together, that he dare not
face the single proposition of the cost
of the carrying of sccond'class matter
Indeed, committee Of Congress, a |
few years ago, tried to find out what |
the cost of this carriage was. eXamin-
ing all the experts of the Postollice |
Department without definite results, |
but the opinion arrived at by the COM
mittee was that the one cent rate is
sufficient to pay the cost of the trans
portation Of this matter. AS to the |
rural free delivery, that is quite an
other matter. That is established alto
rether independent of the second-class
mail matter and has no more right to
be charged against that than against
the letter class of postage; In fact
far less, because it was for the bene"
ft of the letter service that the rural
free delivery was primarily established.
Mr. Hitchcock s reply TO this point is
by no means an answer. 1t makes no
difference what figure he may deter
mine as to the comparative use of |
the rural free delivery by newspapers
and by letters. The fact is that the
rural free delivery was established pri-
marily for letters, and it costs no more
for the rural carrier to take along with
him the newspapers than if he made
the trip for the letters alone. His fur.
ther statement that, "The Government
is losing over eight cents pound on
second-class matter sent through the