Pleasantville weekly press., 1910-08-06
ssaitoriaR @piQionS
Express Extortion

From Newark News.
To get an adequate understanding of
what is equitable in express rates it is
necessary, first of all, to know the work
which the express company really does.
This is not difficult matter.
In 1899, the president of the Adams
Express Company approved this state
ment: "The chief service which the ex-
press company performs is the terminal
service-a service entirely away from the
railways and stations; the collection,
care and delivery of packages constitute
the science of the express business
With the actual railway transporta
tion the express company has little TO
do. The railroad furnishes the cars,
heats and lights them, hauls them over
its lines together with the express EN-
ployes who care for the packages en-
route. At stations, railway employees
also act for the express companies and
station facilities are at their disposal.
For this service the railroad receives d
fixed per cent. of the gross earnings of
the express company, with guaranteed
minimum amount.
In 1909, the railroads received little
more than forty-seven per cent. of the
express charges collected upon packages
passing over their lines.
In that year it cost fifty cents to ex
press package of 100 pounds from New
York to Yonkers. Of this, twenty three
cents and fraction went to the express
company and something over twenty six
cents to the railroads.
The same package, expressed to Buff
falo, cost $l.25. More than fiftynine
cents of this accrued to the express com
panies. The railroads received trifie in
excess of siXty-tive cents.
That the railways should receive great
er pay for transporting packages over
longer distance is evident.
But on what ground is mere terminal
service to cost one hundred and fifty per
cent. more in Buffalo than it does in
Yonkers, especially when conditions at
the two points are identical, and no
transfer between railroads is involved? !?
Had the one-hundred- pound package
gone to San Francisco, the express com
pany's share of the charges would have
been $7.5S.
And this for services that cost it the
difference in transfer charges more than
that for which it received only fifty
cents in Yonkers.
As Frederick Berard remarks, 'it is
obvious that a system of charges which
involves a difference of 2,S3S per cent.
for an almost identical service, rests up
on a false basis, is irrational and unjust"
No doubt there are legitimate ex-
penses growing out of transportation
over long distances, especially where re-
handling is necessary. These expenses
are very small, however. 1t is prepos-
ferrous to imagine that they justify a
respectable fraction of the charges upon
the public. .>>
In fact, to return to a specific case,
the difference between $7,5S, which the
express companies receive for terminal
service in San Francisco, and fifty cents,
their demand for such services in Yonk-
ers, approximately measures an extor-
tion practised upon every person who
expresses 100 pounds from New York to
the California metropolis.
Herein, no doubt lies the secret of the
amazing prosperity of the express
companies, which is exemplifed not only
in large surplus for each, but fat and
regular dividends. Herein, too, lies the
necessity for that stringent government
regulation for which the business public
and the people in general are so insist
ent.
And why not settle the whole question
by the parcels post?