The Washington herald., 1912-04-21

sistent IL must recommend many changes.
To be consistent. they argue that the
commission should place the statue OF
Gen. Sherman In an automobile instead
OF on horseback. and that the trousers OF
the statue Of Admiral Farragut should
be neatly pressed instead OF continuing
their present bagginess. The statue OF
George Washington, clad in knee
breeches, which now adorns the front OF
the subtreasury. should be given long
trousers, TO be In keeping with the new
movement: the Statue Of Liberty clothed
in a hobble skirt. and that OF Horace
Greeley given a hair cut. Altogether,
the attitude Of the municipal art COM
mission, II carried TO its logical conclu-
sion. Is likely TO give to this city one
OF the most wonderful and weird eollec-
| tions Of statues and portraits. reclothed
every year in keeping with the changes
in fashions, ever owned by a municipal
ity.
SecOnd-class Mail Once Free.
That a large part OF what Is now
designated as second-class mail matter
was at one time in the history Of the
country carried free is an interesting fact
which has been brought to light here
in the discussion which is going on
among the great publishing interests con-
cerning the proposal to double the rate
on second-class postage. This state OF
affairs existed some two hundred years
ago and was ended by the king because
Of the fact that he found much OF the
matter printed was not IN keeping with
his policies While the conditions OBJ
tanning then are not regarded as par
allel to those OF to-day Il Is nevertheless
pointed out that a sevond-class mail
rate sufficiently low TO encourage the
general distribution OF periodical publi-
cations is OF ancient origin. In connec-
ton with the present situation there
seems to be a general feeling that a
mutually acceptable report or the actual
financial condition OF the post-off1ce Is
necessary for final judgment Of the pro-
posal to Increase second-class rates. AT
present such a statement is apparently
lacking, for while a surplus Is claimed
by the Postmaster General in mis- report,
II Is asserted on good authority here
that the surplus Is merely a matter OF
bookkeeping. which would vanish under
the application of modern business sys-
tens, such as is required by the gov
ernment in the reports or large corpora |
tions. |
The situation is further complicated
by the fact that report OF the Committee
on Post-otfices and Post Roads includes |
two sets OF figures, one of which shows |
a surplus in the operation OF the Post |
of0e Department OF xzly,OOO, while the |
other shows a deficit OF SS7.SS. Rail- |
road men, too, find themselves handi- |
capped since these figures enter into the |
recommendations for the reduction of |
railway mail pay. on which the carriers |
claim they are already heavy losers, as
serting in addition that these recommen-
dations IL applied to all their business |
would mean bankruptcy. Altogether |
a. h.,
solution Of the riddle as to when a de- |
hcit is not a deficit before these ques-
tions affecting large interests through
out the whole country can be satisfac-
torily settled.
The motor has not yet succeeded in
making the horse a curiosity in New
York in spite of the fact that this is
the most nearly horseless city in the
country, according to a report just COM
piled by the Woman's League for AMI
mails, which shows that there are in
this city 1900 horses, and that below
Fourteenth street the traffic is almost |
entirely made up OF horse-drawn vehicles |
BY these figures the horse still outnum-
bers the auto. though not by any large
margin. From financial point OF view.
however, the horse is already far in the
rear. as 1t is estimated that 81, 100000 is
liberal estimate OF the value of the |
equine workers In the city. On the other
hand II Is estimated that there are more
than 5000 automobiles In the metropolis
tan district. II an average value OF
S1,50O each be placed on these vehicles
and this is an extremely conservative
hgure-their total worth foOts up to
Ss5,0 900 or more than six times the
value represented by Dolbin. However,
although the horse Is rapidly becoming
9 back number from a monetary point
of view II is likely to be many years |
before ne is entirely superseded by the
motor driven vehicle in certain lines OF
trade.