Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1910-03-01
|0N
NEEDED BY POSTAL
SERVICE
MURDOCH OF KANSAS
AFTER THE DEPARTMENT
Thinks General Renovation Is
Necessary in All Branches Of
the System Before Existing
Defects Can Be Corrected.
Morning journal Bureau,
613 Munsey Building,


RAhH
Declaring that the entire postal sys-
tom and postoffice department needed
a reorganization, something. he said
il had not had in nearly seventy
years, Congressman Victor Murdoch
of Kansas shed some light upon the
annual postal deficit when h postal
appropriation bill was presented to
the house.
Mr.. Murdoch submitted figures to
shoN tina the government is losing
money on long hauls of s~econd-class
mail matter, but he afterward q
to the complexity of the situation,
which he admitted was a barring one
by saving:
There is Il general impression that
seoond-class mail matter is out of
balance with the remainder of the
system. and yet if congress attempts
TO raise horizontally the raoe on this
matter, 1t will merely increase the
zone in which the express companies
win compete, especially on the larger
packages.
The time has come that we must
have q complete reorganization OF the
entire p~ostoffice system. The govern
ment should assert its monopoly, and
do away with the practice of accept
the unremunerative long hauls
while the express companies seize the
paying short hauls.'
In reply to questions by Congress-
men Cox Of Indiana and Hays of Call-
fornia, MI. Murdoch said there was
Another matter requiring attention,
he said, was that of but partly loaue9
mail ears, full loads being sacrltlceu
in the interests of celebrity of move
mcnt. Express use LUZ
cars, he said.
"a true definition of the govern
monopoly; new bureaus that
maintain modern systems of account
ing; q thorough into al iour
classes of postage and the relations
one to another; a reclassiiicatlon OIL
standard mail MATERIAL these Things
are needed said Mr.. Murdoch, l n
conclusion. Until this is done, con-
gress is cropping in the dark with rel
erence to the problem of the deficit
Mr.. Murdoch was given undivided
attention by the house, and was en-
~husiastically applauded ut the con-
cl1sion of his mail matter summary
no doubt that the government IS pay
ing two and three times the amount
maid by the express companies for
service. Why this discrimln-
alton exists. he declared himself I'M
able to explain.
No business concern would run lts
1tiHlfS aGtO1ulllE u llit GSStShh - Mn
p~ostoffice department, he asserted. AS
an Illustration. he cited that under q
ruling the department pays for man
transportation at sea on the snort
mile basis, while payers of freight are
required to pay on the longer nautical
basis.
Citing a contract affecting Il Of
South Pacific islands, Mr.. Muir
dock showed that mail, under this
peculiar arrangement, was figured to
have Travelled APIS miles from San
francisco, while freight consigned TO
same point was paid on the basis
Of only 1858 miles.
No other business in existence. said
he Kansas congressman, used such q
Of computation to its own adj
vantage. Reverting to the question
Of ~second-class matter, Mr.. Murdoch
said that investigation showed that
the government would take a certain
monthly periodical and deliver 1t by
carrier in the city of publication for
2 cents a copy additional to the reg
nlar ] cent per pound rate. The same
publication, he said, could be shipped
from New York to San Francisco and
delivered by carrier merely on the
payment of the l cent "A pound rate.
routing a pound of matter from
New York to the Pacific coast, Con-
Murdoch said he had per-
ascertained h a it cost the
government 8 cents per pound to de-
liver il, whereas il received but I
cent.