The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1910-01-07

| ing table of that transacted during
1909:
Number of postofiices. 60l44
Number of rural routes. 4062S
Number of transportation
routes ................ 26,G52
Length of transportation
| routes ................. 44S,blS
Annual travel over trans.
portation routes. ... 542. 151,12
Number of employees .... 1925. 900
I Pieces of mail handled IA 100000 900
| Postage stamps sold .... S,712,907O3
Domestic money orders
issued ................ $491 GA i4
| Total expenditures ..... 221 ,00i ,l02
Total receipts. ...,...... 2O3 1862 1888
Mr.. Hitchcock says that when his
administration began last March he
was confronted by the largest deficit
in the history of the department From
1879 to 1919 the postal service, except
during one year, produced an annual
profit. In recent years, almost with
out exception, there has been a deficit.
So long as the deficit amounted to
only a few millions and did not in
| NltuSt III DlbDDlllOl W tIt SlONlu VI
the service, it attracted little atten-
ton but when in the last few years
| it leaped to upward of 100000 and
finally in 1909 exceeded $l7,0O0,OOO or
binary business prudence suggested
that the causes definitely be located.
The Investigations made have estab-
! lished that the second class mail mat
ter and the rural free delivery system
were the great sources of loss.
"In these two items alone" Mr..
Hitchcock observes, "the postal ser
vice now suffers an annual loss of
more than the entire national deficit
of the last fiscal year"
| simultaneously with the growing
deficit in postal service a panic oc-
Cured. The departments drafts on
the treasury were heaviest when pub
lie funds were lowest. At the same
time, Mr.. Hitchcock does not believe
in economy enforced at cost of eff
cheney. He declares there is to be no
| impairment of the service. Therefore,
only such measures of economy will
be adopted as can be made a part of
a consistent program having for its
chief object the improvement of per-
sonnet form or organization, and bust
ness methods of the postal establish
ment.
THE most striking fact disclosed by
the recent investigations" Mr.. Hitch
cock reports, lis the tremendous loss
on second class mail. While this class
of mail provides a revenue of a little
more than l cent a pound, the cost to
the government for it's handling and
transportation averages 1923 cents a
pound The annual loss thus incurred
is about $64,000,000.
"The growth in the quantity of the
second class matter sent through the
mails has been extraordinary. Since
the passage of the act of 1879, prescrib-
ing the conditions under which publ
cations may be mailed at second class
rates, the weight of such matter has
increased more than 1900 per cent.
Last year it amounted to more than
700 100000 pounds By the weighing
of 1907 second class matter was shown
to constitute 63 per cent of all dOmes'
tic mail, and yet it included only about
per cent of the postal revenues. The
loss on second class matter was great
err than the profits on all classes of
mail combined 1t exceeded the total
amount paid the railways for mail
transportation"
Mr.. Hitchcock says magazines and
other periodical publications, exclusive
of daily newspapers, comprise about
nc Of N CnInnn I1DCc rpDi1
Magazines alone form about 90 per
cent.
while the average haul of the mag
azines proper is more than 1000
miles" he continues, land that of 9th
er classes of periodicals, not including
daily newspapers, ranges from $50
miles to more than LOO miles, the
haul of the daily newspapers which
comprise about 40 per cent of the sec
ond class mail, averages less than 300
miles.
The cost of transportation by rail
and by other means forms slightly
more than a third of the total expense
of handling second class mail. Maya
zines proper, because of their long ay-
erage haul, show a cost of more than
) cents pound for transportation,
while in the case of the daily newspa-
pers the transportation cost is less
than cents a pound"
1t is these conditions which give rise
to the question of how far the length
of haul should be regarded in fixing
the rates of postage for second class
matter. No matter what solution shall
be reached. the postmaster general
says, some substantial advance in the
postage rate on this class of mail
should be made in order to reduce the
tremendous losses the government rev.
enues now are suffering from this
aouroo