Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-07-09
ONE OF The NEW STEEL POSTAL CARS

prohibited, but the abuse has gradually
crept in and We are now annually hand
Ing $4,000 tons of such matter at this
great loss. 1t constitutes 81 per cert OF
our home mail. and get it brings in only
: per cent of the revenue. The loss eX-
ceeds the proit on ALI other classes or
mail. II is more than the amount pay
the railroads for mail transportation
Now that YOU a,e running the depart
ment at a profit. the magazines will claim
that Nou can AFFORD 10 carry them at the
old rates. will they not %
They may claim So. laid the Post
master General, but that is no reason
why Uncle Sam should do large losing
business 10 i'll the pockets Of the pub
fishers. ] think that they realize the I'M
fairness of their position and that we
shall have an amcable arrangement,
which will result in the advertising Sec
lions paving their share of the freight"
How ahoat the railways. they no.
greatly overpaid for mail transport a tom
r would not say that. replied the
Postm3 ster General. The department
demands a great deal of the railroads
II must have special facilities, and the
government ought 10 pay for them We
are now spending over S5c000,Goo "a
Year for that sort OF transportation. and
] do MOI know that IL is too much. I
believe. however. that can cut down
some % our requirements and that by
coming together with he railroads We
can make such new arrangements as VIII
greatly reduce the cost of carrying the
mails both to the railroads and the DEPART
ment. In this way the saving will be
divided between the two. and the railwa VS.
need not lose on what they are now max
ink for mail transportation In order to
know just what the rate should be
have called upon the various railway COM
panies to report fully as to the rates they
receive for the transportation of other
classes Of goods and also data s TO their
operation and expenditures. ! find an
IL t1ta
master General has the right TO do this;
and a number Of the leading railroad
managers have already come 10 see me
concerning it. There is no doubt in my
mind but that we shall come to an
amicable settlement"
7 here asked as to the parcels post
which in Europe has almost displaced
General replied:
THE conditions in Europe are different
from those OF the United States There
YOU have a vas. population crowded in
side narrow boundaries. Here We have
widely separated cities. and many regions
where there are almost no people what
ever. The only way We could have a
parcels pos. would be by dividing the
country up into zones. and increasing
the postage rate according to the dis
lance the article is 70 be carried 1t is
a matter of study and experiment. We
are going to try the parcels post with
certain rural delivery routes, and YOU
viii be able to send packages weighing
up to eleven pounds to and from the
various post offices TO which these routes
belong. This is an experiment, and if
successful ii may lead TO a general use
of the parcels-post system. You see we
can test this without adding anything to
the expense of the carriage each
rural delivery man has his own vehicle
and there viii be but little additional
cost in handling the parcels.
'.Will you introduce automobiles for the
rural delivery"
Yes; We are already doing so. and we
expect to increase that feature of the
service. There are many states. such as
New jersey, Delaware and parts of New
England. where the roads are excellent.
There and in other places where the coun-
try is fat automobiles can be used
10 great advantage. With them we can
consolidate the routes, and one man can
cover twice as much ground as he does
now He can deliver the mail more ex-
peditiously, and in the end more eco
nomicaily.
Tell me something of your crusade