Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1910-11-26
. COMMENDABLE
SHOWING.

| lent financial showing OF HIS lie
par tment for the year ending JUNE
Both last. We do not have before
us the exact figures but we un-
derstand that the deficit for that
year was at least $4,000, 900 less
than the year before. A large
proportion Of this gain came, it Is
stated, through a reduction IN
pay to the railroads, furnishing
evidence unmistakable of the truth
of the publishers claim that niue
of the trouble was there, and not
from the loss on second-class mat
ter.
A statement appeared recently
in Printers Ink that there was a
increase of the numberof pounds
of second class matter during the
year in. question of %, 234 ,209 pou
nds, rather a small increase com
pared with other years.
If as stated by the President
and General Hitchcock a year
ago there is a loss of nine cents
per pound ON such matter, there
must have been loss of more
than $2,500,0O0 greater than a
year before, which we feel assure
is proposition for which no
proof is Forthcoming. SO, also, it
was, stated last winter that free
rural delivery caused a loss of
$28,000,000 a year; yet the cost
OF this service was considerable
greater last year than in any pre-
I-vious year. Coupling these facts
with the fact that between the
years 1897 and 1909, inclusive, Sc
ond class matter increased 4l2,-
947,687 pounds in weight, more
than double, while the deficit wa
only 100000 greater in 1910
than in 1897; yet the Department
says that there was loss in
1910 of $28,000,000 for free rural
delivery, while there was no loss
at all on that service in 1897.
We are unable to interpret
these figures in any other way
than that the government loses
nothing in carrying second-class
matter at the present rate.
Now if General Hitchcock will
in his forthcoming report stop
advocating higher postal tax
on newspapers and periodicals the
greatest educational influence the
country possesses, and urge Con-
gress to give the people a Par
GELS Post, so that the rural car
riers will have something to carry
beyond few pounds on each
trip, he will be doing something
that will rebound to his credit
by placing the postal service on
a paying basis and satisfying the
urgent demand Of the people.
AS we write it is announced
that four more cities of barbar-
GUS Mexico are to have Par
GELS Post agreement with the Uni
ted States by which packages
weighing up to eleven pounds
may be mailed from any part of
the United States for the sum Of
twelve cents per pound, while
within our own borders only four
pounds may be carried between
cities only a few miles apart, or
across a river, and at a cost of
sixty four cents.
This anomalous condition does
not lie within the province of the
Postmaster General to correct
it rests with Congress; but he
can utilize some of the surplus
energy directed against the Press
in pushing for a Parcels Post
such as all civilized countries
now possess.
Let us urge upon our brethren
of the Press everywhere to enter
the fight for an adequate Parcels
Post system such as our country
ought to have. With such a sys-
TEN established it is reasonable
to expect that there will be an
end of postal deficits, the public
will be properly served, and the
government will have no further
incentive or excuse for interfering