The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1910-01-14
THE CAUSE OF
POSTAL DEFICIT
Unreasonable Amount Paid Rail-
roads for Carrying Mails
ENORMOUS CAR RENTAL
Senator La Toilette Calls Attention to Con-
gress--F Oreigners use American Mails
Cheaper than our Citizens

The United States Government is
paying the railroads 81, 800 900 annually
merely for the rental of the cars used
to carry the mails. An additional S46,-
600, 600 is paid for the actual carrying
of the mails. The amount paid for the
rental alone in two years would buy
the cars outright,
These are features of the POstoffice
Department not taken into cOnsidera-
ton by Postmaster General Hitchcock
in his annual report to explain the ST.
500, 600 deficit in his department.
When the postoffice appropriation bill
came up in the Senate, LaFollette, of
Wisconsin, added to his unpopularty
by pointing out the Governments ex-
travagance in the rental of cars.
"'This bill carrying as it does 81, $780,
600 Cor car rental" declared LaFollette,
makes an allowance to the railroad
companies of the country for the mere
use of the cars $4,299 per car, on the
average. While was member of
the House in 1887 Postmaster-General
Villas had this to say, and | read only
briefly from his report:
"'1t is within bounds to affirm that
all these Email cars thin being rented
by the Government) might be today
purchased, or their duplicates manu-
featured, for Sl,6OO,OO6 Yet simply
for the use of these cars for the last
year, including cleaning, ETC., the de:
partment was under the annual rate of
charge by the existing system of ST.
1881, $50. In illustration, $59, 073 is an
nually paid on one line for the use of
four cars that might be built and fully
equipped in the best modern style for
less than $l7,5OO. Instead, then, of
appropriatlng $2,000,000 to rent the
use of these cars for the coming year,
why should not the appropriation be of
smaller sum to buy them. and of
another--say $3.50, 000-for their keep
ing, the two together not aggregating
the proposed rent? The department
will thereafter gain at least 81, 500, 600
per year.
ut seems to me-" said LaFOllette,
IAN unjustifable extravaganza to pay
an annual rental for these railway mail
cars almost sufficient to enable the
Government to build and own the cars.
These cars are railway postoffices. The
Government appropriates large sums
to erect postoffice buildings, and it
would be simply logically carrying out
the plan of the Government owning its
own postoffice buildings. Here il can
be done at an enormous saving to the
tax payers of the country.
IF the commit tees of Congress are
anxious to reduce this growing defic-
iency of the Postoffice Department,
here, submit, is good place to begin.
LaFOllette then submitted resolu-
ton that would have required the POST
master. General to make an investiga-
ton into the subject, and to report to
the next Congress. The Badger Sen
ator was promptly ruled out of order.
That the railway companies are
charging the government an exorbitant
price for the hauling of the mails was
not discussed in Postmaster-General
Hitchcock's report, although the fact
has long been realized in circles fire.
uuented by men familiar with the
postoffice business methods.
The Government is now paying an
average of nine cents pound to the
railways for carrying newspapers and
periodicals. President Taft, in his an
nual message, places the average dis
lance of haul OF newspapers ut 29l
miles; of magazines, at l,Oi9, and of
miscellaneous periodicals, |, l28
The tirst-class passenger fare from
New York to Chicago is SIS. a 200
pound passenger is thus carried 200
miles at rate of 9 cents pound,
while the railroads are charging the
Government 9 cents pound for haul
ing newspapers POI miles, and mailbags
do not have seats, aisles, and other
conveniences of air, light and space.
A postal fact not generally known as
yet is that foreigners can use our mails
at lower rate than Americans. On
March 8, last President Taft confirmed
postal conventions with Italy, Germany
and Austria, under which the people of
those countries are enabled to send
merchandise to the United States at
these rates: From Italy, Ii pounds
for 49, cents. From Germany, IL
pounds for 81 cents. From Austria,
II pounds for Sc cents.
The arrangement thus permits an
Italian to send pound of merchandise
from Rome to San Francisco at far
lower rate than it would cost an Amer
lean to send a pound to a resident of
his nearest neighboring city. The
merchandise rate from Berlin to any
point in the United States is IL cents
a pound, and the rate from New York
to Brooklyn, or between any other two
points in the United States, is Is cents
pound, parcels weighing more than
four pounds not being acceptable unless
| addreasad Ia foreign countries.