Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1913-09-19
From Mondays Daily.
WANT Lower Rates

opiuiOu 10 SSiicEdl III lhio SouuSAyb
and has been held by some Of the
most thoughtful men in Congress,
that the rate of pay to the rail-
roads for carrying mail is so high,
so much higher than the rates
which the railroads charge their
subsidiaries, the express companies,
for carrying the same class Of mat
ter, that the government, unless it
changes the basis for rsilroad
postal pay, a never reduce par
eel post rates enough to take the
express business away from the OK
press companies.
In other words. it is contended
we must force the railroads to
charge less for carrying mail mat
ter including parcels. Other wise
the express companies, possessing
much more advantageous contracts
with the railroads than the govern
met possess, sIll be able to cut
their rates below any parcel post.
rates which the government can
fix and still maintain the par eel
post on a profitable basis.
, In his very able analysis of the
postal and express rates and the
compensation for rail- DAD trans
p%ortation of each class of freight,
Representative David J Lewis Of
Maryland. joint author of the pres
ent parcel post law and the gceat-
est expert Oh this subject ever in
Congress, showed by tables of fig
ures that this impression has no
solid basis in fact.
Mr. Lewis advocates u reduction
in railway pay for carrying the
mails. But he shows that Uncle
Sam already possesses cry ad-
vantageous contracts with the rail-
roads without knowing it. And if
the government chooses to go into
the general express business it will
find itself able to tranpsort postal
express packages at no greater cost
than the express companies now
have to pay.
This is due to the sliding scale of
railway mail pay under the present
law. 1t is true that the govern
msnt has TO pay a cent more for
sending q ton of mail one mile
than the express companies have to
pay for the transportation of an
equal weight of express matter for
an equal distance. But that is be-
cause the government does not
have sufficient mail traffic to take
advantage of the full benefit Of
the sliding scale of railway pay.
Mr. Lewis shows that to little
railroads which carry a daily
weight 70 2ll pounds of mail the
government pays an annual COM
%pensation of s42.75 for each mile
Of road, which equals a cost Of
Sl.13 railway pay for transporting
a ton of mail one mile. At the
other end of the table of figures is
the theoretical railroad which car.
ries n daily weight of 800, 900
pounds of mail or $50 tons, which
receives an annual compensation of
81, 988.91 per mile of tracks. This
apparently much larger rompensa-
ton is. in fact proportionstely
much smaller since the cost to the
government works out at S.054
for carrying a ton of mail one mile
There are short stretches Of rail
rUad-between New York and Phil
sdelphia, for instance. and between
Atlanta, Ga. and Charlotte, N c.
where the railroads carry mail in
such quantities and receive this
low compensation.
The average cost OF railroad
transportation to express compan-
les is sever cents e ton of matter
per mile. The government, ave.
aging all railroads, is now paying
eight cents a ton-mile.
Give the express business to the
Postofice by lowering parcel post
rates and increasing the weight
limit. argues Mr.. Lewis and the
mail matter will cram the mail
cars giving full advantage Of the
sliding scale Of railway pay.
believe IL is beyond doubt, he
said in his speech. that a great
increase in the weight Of the mails
from the addition Of express mat
ters would reduce gross railway
pay to an average Of less than sew