The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1912-02-15
SOME INTERESTING INFORNTA.
TION FROM THE POSTMASTER
GENERALS REPORT.

is A RULE, Government reports
and bulletins are not of very
E[Al great great interest TO the ordinary
mortal, but occasionally some
thing is sent out from the Govern
ment printing Office which is of most
tremendous interest to the farmer,
his entire family and the people liv-
ing in small communities, away from
easy access to the larger cities.
The annual report for the fiscal
year ending June 1911, prepared by
the Postmaster General, is a little
book Of thirty-nine pages,9.and there
is more interesting revelations of the
inner workings Of the postal system
Of the United States, than any num-
Der that has been issued
Mr.. Hitchcock, the present Post
master General, has had a thankless
job in trying to make the postal
department pay it's own expenses.
That he has succeeded in doing so
has been only at the expense of maxi
ing some enemies for himself, of the
heavyweight caliber in the business
world, but he has evidently worked
on the theory that Big Business can
bCCC0A H11O4N " pay lis Wcys Ilidu Ccl1A
the individual, to whom a two-cent
stamp is an important detail.
The agitation Of a parcels post has
been going on for years. There have
been reasons advanced for and
against it of so even weight that the
''fors'' have been lost in the struggle,
by the heayyweights who were
against the measure.
There was an interesting item in
last weeks Editorial notes, in The
Weekly Jeffersonian, and this extract
will be of interest in connection with
this article:
cit is shown that the inventories Of
assets filed with the Interstate Com
merce Commission by the express
companies represent to large degree
only accumulations from eXtortion-
ate charges-that the only tangible
assets of the express companies are
some horses and some Wagons-they
are doing merely messenger" SER
vice, the cost Of which is very little
to the companies, but out of all rea-
son to the public-that the express
companies resort to the subterfuge
of sending their goods by roundabout
really performing a freight service.
''The Great Northern was orga-
niZed in 1892, with q capital of only
100000. The total cost of the
property, real estate, fixtures, and
equipment, amounted to $71, 288.91.
Upon this total investment it has
paid in dividends during the last ten
years the enormous sum of $780,
GEO. It's last annual dividend was
$500, 000-five times the original
investment, and, in addition, it has a
surplus of 81, 488,S81.58.
Cali Of this profit came from the
pockets of the public, after the
express company had paid the rail-
roads from 40 to So per cent of it's
gross earnings"
Everyone knows the expense of
sending even the smallest articles by
express, and if Congress will grant
the request of the present Post
master General, rural communities,
and farmers will benefit more mater
tally than the people Of the larger
cities-but incidentally, the money
accruing to the Post Office Depart
ment will permit of other improve
ments, whose benefits will be felt in
every part OF the country, and to
which objection will be made only
by the express companies.
On page seven of the Postmaster
Generals report we read:
FfrThp donarfpqaDt NOT aDlV T'QnpWS