Albuquerque morning journal., 1910-12-07

vented, and consequently a marked
economy effected. by supplying
through the agencies of the postal ser
vice special official envelopes and
stamps for the free mail of the gov
erulnent, all such envelopes and
stamns to be issued on requisition to
the various branches of the federal
service requiring them, and such rec
ords TO be kept of all official STAMP
supplies as will enable the postoffice
depurtni6nt to maintain a proper post
age account covering the entire volume
of free government mail. AS the first
step in the direction of this reform,
special stamps and stamped envel-
opes have been provided for use in
stead of franks in the free transmits
sion of the official mail resulting from
the business of the new postal saw
lngs system. by properly recording
the issuance of such stamps and en-
r. yeiopes accurate records can be kept
of the cost to the government of
handling the postal savings mail
which Is certain to become an i'm
portant item of expense and one that
should be separately determined. In
Keeping with this plan ii is hoped
that congress will authorize the sub
stitution of special official stamps and
stamped envelopes for the various
forms of franks now used to carry
free Of postage the vast volume Of de-
partmental and congressional mail
natter. During the past year meth
DDS of accounting similar to those en-
plCyed in the most progressive of cur
business establishments, have been in
trOduced in the postal service and
nothing has so impeded the depart
rItnt's plans In this regard sa the i'm
possibility of determining with any
exactness how far the various ex-
penses of the postal service are in
creased by the present unrestricted
use of the franking privilege. II is
believed that the adoption of a more
exact method of dealing with this
problem as proposed viii prove to be
Of tremendous advantage in the work
of placing the postal service on a
strictly businesslike basis.
Second Glass Mail Matter.
In my last annual message 1 in
vited the attention of congress to the
jnadequacy of the postal rate imposed
upon second-class mail matter in so
far as that includes magazines, and
showed by figures prepared by ex-
perts of the postoffice department
that the government was rendering a
service to the magazines, costing
many millions in excess of the com
Iensatlon paid. An answer was at |
tempted tc this by the representa- |
tives of the magazines, and a reply |
was flied to this answer by the post
office department. The utter made |
quacy OF the answer, considered in the
light of the reply by the postoffice de- |
partment | think must appeal to any |
fair minded person. Whether the an
swer was all that could be said in be-
half of the magazines is another |
question I agree that the question |
is one of fact; but 1 insist that IL the |
fact is as the experts of the postoffice |
department show, that we are fur
nishing to the owners of magazines a
service worth millions more than they
pay for H. then justice requires that
the rate should be increased. The in
crease in the receipts of the depart
ment resulting from this change may
be devoted to increasing the useful
ness CT the department in esta blish-
ing a parcels post and in reducing the
cost cf first. class postage to one cent.
II has been said by the postmaster
general that fair adjustment might
be made under which the advertising
part of the magazine should be
charged for at a different and higher
rate from that of the reading matter.
This would relieve many useful mag
azines that ara not circulated at a
profit, and would not shut them out
rom the use of the mails by a pro-
libit0ry rate,
Parcels Post. Il
With respect to the parcels post, /
respectfully recommend its adoption
IN al rural delivery routes, and that {
IL pounds-the international limit {
DC made the limit of carriage in such q
post, ana this, with a view to its sew
.ral extensions when the income of c
he pc CstOffice will permit it and the 8
POSTAL savings banks shall have been {
ully established The same argument 7
s made against the parcels post that
vas made against the postal savings u
II is introducing the gov =
,rnment into a business which ought Z
o be conducted by private persons, J
md is paternalism. The postoffice q
department has a great plant and I
great organization, reaching into the
most remote hamlet of the United
states, and with this machinery ii is
ible to do a great many things eco n
lomically that if a new organization I
we're necessary it would be impos- c
dble to do without eXtravagant ex- C
That is the reason why the [
postal savings bank can be carried o
m at a small additional cost and il
1ery inconsiderable expense a par d
els post in the rural delivery system. f,
\ general parcels post will involve C
much greater outlay. n
NAVY DEPARTMENT.. -
In the last annual report of the Il
ecretary of the navy and in my an Il
lual message, attention was called TO b
he new detail of officers in the navy ii
department. by which officers Of flag n
rank were assigned to duty as aides Il
to the secretary in respect to naval ii
operations, personnel, inspection and c.
material. This change was a substan- II
uai compliance with the recommen- RI
datlon Of the commission on naval re- Ii
organization. headed by Mr. Justice m
Moody and submitted to President
roosevelt on February 26, 1909. te
through the advice of this commit Fl
&c Of line officers the secretary is ul
ible to bring about a proper co-ordi- II
lation of all the branches of the naval OF
department. with greater military ef- 70
lciency. The secretary of the navy III
eeommends that this new organiza- &C
lOn be recognized by legislation and sc
nus made permanent. | concur in al
ne recommendation. IN
The secretary, in view of the conclu- br
ons of recent court of inquiry on So
ertain phases of marine corps ad- eN
'iniStration. recommends that the hi