The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-01-29
HOT DISCUSSION
OF POSTAL RATES
Publishers Kick Over Proposed
Advance In Rates
CHARGES OF GRAFT MADE
One of the Publishers Declares That
the Government Is Paying Too
Much to the Railroads For
Carrying the Mails.
CHARGES OF GRAFT MADE

Washington. January 2S.-"rhe Americ-
an public can't stand forever with this
sort OF thing being rung in the peoples
ears These are anarchistie statements
angrily declared Representative Smith of
California today, addressing Herbert My
rick, representative of the Agricultural
lPress league, a witness before the House
lcommittee on postofrices and postroads, at
lists hearing on the subject of increasing
The postal rate on second-class mail mat
Fter. He was referring to an editorial
(which Mr.. Myrick acknowledged came
from one of the publications which he
represented.
Il protest that the farmers of this coun-
try are not anarchists, and I protest that
II am not traitor holly retorted Mr..
Afyrick. who shortly before had been fur
Their alluded to as being responsible for
Straitorous utterances.
Mr.. Myrick was the principal witness
before the committee. lie had been on
the stand but few minutes when the
editorials were brought out, and Mr.. My
rick acknowledged responsibility for
them. Several members of the commit
tee began to vent their feelings on the
subject Members of the committee are
receiving great quantities of letters from
various parts of the country rejecting the
tone of the editorials, they say. Rep
resentative Smith said he had received
bushels of them" Representative Fas-
sett of New York declared he received 500
as a result of the editorial and others
of the same kind which he declared were
.the most pitiful limitations of argu-
ments" that he had ever heard and the
most vile reading he had ever seen. Chair
man Weeks of the committee, after Mr..
Myrick had said that he intended no re-
Election upon the committee, and that his
statements of robbery and graft &C.
curing in the editorials did not refer to
government officials, demanded that Mr..
Myrick's publications should print a state
ment to that effect.
Representative Murdoch of Kansas, an
other member of the committee. called at
tention to the fact that the government
was paying $4,000 a year for carrying the
mails across an old bridge at st. Louis,
when it might be carrying it for a much
smaller sum across a new bridge which
was now receiving only part of the bus
mess.
That, think is what you mean by
) your charges of graft, isn't it?'' he said.
addressing Mr. Myrick.
THAT is it exactly said Mr.. Myrick.
Chairman Weeks then stated that
subcommittee engaged in drafting the
postoffice appropriation bill has discov-
cred this evil and would correct it. 1t
was the only one of the kind they found,
he said. The editorials which caused the
outbreak were entitled, "A Fresh At
tack Upon Liberty Still Another Tax
and Mex Taxes and Fresh Robberies.''
Are these your conclusions? Do you
think there is any robbery asked Rep
resentative Smith of California.
Il saw that the Postmaster General
had reported that 1t cost cents a pound
to carry second class mail matter. while
the government receives but cent a
pound If the government intended to
raise it to cents it would constitute
robbery, in my opinion replied Mr.. My
rick.
Chairman Weeks replied by saying that
there was no intention of raising the rate
to cents.
One of the editorials referred to
.'scheming' and graft going on in
Congress in connection with the proposed
increase and Me5srs. Weeks, Smith and
Fassett members of the committee,
waxed angry over this Characterization.
Representative Smith told the magazine
publishers present that the committee
would be glad to receive any informa-
ton that would Substantial the charges
that the railroads We're charging the
government from to 16 times as much
as they were the express companies.
( p s. Collins, circulation manager for
the Curtiss Publishing company, testi-
fed today that about one-fourth of their
matter was handled by freight or ex-
press because 1t was cheaper He said
that if the postal rate on magazines and
periodicals was raised the government
would lose heavy proportion of their
business and that it would be necessary
for magazine publishers to advance the
rates on subscriptions and advertising