The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1914-12-27
Committee Chairman Says the
Measure Aims To Reduce
Railway Mail Pay.
NEW YORK, n. 81. Dec. -.

NEW YORK. n r.. Dec. zb.--
Mr.. Ralph Peters, chairman of the
committee on railway mail pay rep
resenttng 1854 leading railroads, oper-
ating nearly. 80 per cent OF the total
railroad mileage OF the United states
today issued the following statement:
The House OF Representatives has
passed q special runs declaring in or.
der the railway mail pay rider in the
post office appropriation bill. \
"The ostensible purpose Of that rid-
er Is to establish a plan OF payment
for the railway niaA sertice which
shall be more scientific than the sys-i
TEN now in effect.
Garry Parcel Pest
Its true purpose. however, as re-
vealed in debate before the House ..
Representatives by Chairman Noon,
OF the post Office committee, is to re-
duce railway mail pay by many mills
lions per year, and, in particular, to.
iorce the railroads to carry all the
parcel post, in Chairman Moons own
words, without any addition compen-
sation.'
y =. = z ~ "
Chairman Moon openly advanced.
this proposal despite the injustice
manifest on Its tace, and In direct
disregard OF the finding submitted to
Congress last summer, after nearly
two years Of careful investigation and
study by the Joint Congressional COM
mittee on railway mail pay. under
the Craftsmanship OF former Senator
Bourne.
'9The finding of the Bourne commit
tee was that the railroads were as q
matter of right and justice, entitled
to an advance Of at least $4,000
per year for carrying the mails, with
relief from certain incidental services
now rendered without payment and
representing several millions more an
nually.
Real Object Of Bill
Chairman Moons committee, it is
true, recommended to the House an
increase Of more than $2,e00,000 in
next years appropriation for railway
mail pay and embodied this recon-
mendation in the post office appro-
priatfon bill. But that the apparent
promise Of the bill and its real OBJ
'ject are vastly different things. was
made clear when Chairman Moon, on
December 10, said before the House:
1t does not show a saw
ing upon its face, and cannot do it.
but only shows an administrative
proposition Of saving. The saving will
occur, as the department thinks, in
the handling Of the mails.
g In other words, you have changed
from the quadrennial weighing OF the
mails on a weight basis, on, which the
pay is to be computed, to the space
provision, and you will have enough
space under the contract to carry all
your parcel post porbably without any
additional compensation and save
many millions annually That is their
theory
again Chairman Moon said, more
specifically::
Does not the gentleman know
that the main feature of this bill, the
only great feature in ii, is the rail-
road proposition, and does he not
know that when he voted as he dir
he voted against the consideration Of
that railroad proposition that would
save this country eight millions of
dollars every year, II carried?
$50, the chairman of the House of
Representatives committee, which rec
ommends an increase of $4,000, 900 In
the approximation to pay the railroads
for carving The mails, stated on the
floor of the House that the bill would
save the government SS,000,000 an
nually.
Chairman Moon quoted the presi-
dent of the United States US support
ing the rule to consider the mail pay
rider of the post office appropriation
bill:
4 said, and say it now, and /
do not propose to withdraw one single
word of 1t from anybody, that, in my
opinion, when the president of the
United States and the postmaster
general, when the Democratic COM
mittee on rules, when the Democratic
committee on the post Office and post
roads, asks for rule to consider leg
islation that would save to this coun-
try millions OF dollars, the Democrats
who turn his back upon that demand,
violates the best interests Of tile DEM
.ocratic party
The Presidents Position
What President Wilson did say on
the question of governmental econ
omy, in his message to Congress, was
this.
4 assert with the greatest conf
dence that the people OF the United
States are not Jealous Of what their
government costs if they are sure that
they get what they need and desire
for the outlay, that the money is be-
ing spent for objects of which they
approve and that 1t is being applied
with good business sense and man
agement $3.50
q 1T is not expenditure but extrav-
agance that we should fear being
criticized for The nation is
not niggardly; it is very generous
.:And in his letter to Secretary Me-
Adoo, on the occasion OF the opening
OF the Federal Reserve banks, the
president said:
!" No doubt In the light Of the new
day, with its new understandings, the
problems Of the railroads will be met
and dealt with In spirit Of candor
and Justice
"The American people should not
tolerate withholding from they rail-
roads that fair and lust Day for carry