The Detroit times., 1914-12-14
POSTAL SURPLUS
FOR FIRST TIME
IContInued from Page onsl

publications other than newspaper.
issued once>a a week from one to two
cents pound.
Granting the department legal jur.
isdiction over selection OF sites and
designs for postal buildings.
OF the parcel post during the last
year, the report says:
Rapid growth OF the parcel pos,
vastly increased postal business dur
ing the year. The departments field
OF service has expanded at phenom
enal rate; 1t is still expanding. Not
withstanding the decreases OF parcel
post rates authorized Jan. l, 1914
economies of administration have
kept expenses within the revenue"
OF the departments financial con
dition, the report says:
The postal revenues for 1914
amounted TO $2S7,934.5 .565.67, an In
crease over the preceding year oil
slightly less than per cent, as com
pared with a corresponding increase
OF slightly more than eight per cent
for 1913. The audited expenditures
for the year amounted TO $2S3,543,'
1915, and the adjusted losses due TO
fire, burglary, etc, TO sl4,333.46. The
excess OF audited revenues over aud.
tied expenses and losses is, therefore.
S4,376,4 ,463.05.
This audited surplus does not,
however. represent the actual finan-
cial results for the year. II involves
comparison of amounts that are not
properly comparable. II does not in
clude obligations which were in
CURED but not paid within the year
while il does include some payments
on account of obligations incurred IN
prior years.
1T is an interesting fact that.
whereas policies OF government have
been advocated and some adopted. the
constitutionality Of which have been
seriously questioned. the principle OF
government ownership and control OF
the telegraph and telephone finds its
greatest strength in the constitution.
1T Is also recommended that the
telegraph and telephone facilities OF
Alaska, Porto Rico and the Hawaiian
islands be at once taken over and
operated by the postoffice department,
This recommendation is based on an
exhaustive investigation which dis
closed that the conditions in these
territories are generally such as to
favor the change"
Defining the general policy he has
pursued, Mr.. Burleson says:
The service has been administered
for the convenience OF the public, not
for profit: to promote efficiency by
standardiziHg and simplifying proceed
ure: to recognize merit and eliminate
no rtioanshin. to extend service wher-
ever present or prospective returns
Justify; to reduce rates Insofar as
proves consistent with general fiscal
necessity; and TO provide all COM
munities and all sections OF the coun-
try, as far as practicable, with uni
form service.
"The fact that the government ex-
ercises a monopoly over the receipt,
transmission and delivery OF mail.
carries an obligation TO perform this
function for all its citizens; hence
the postal service may not be operat'
ed wholly on the lines OF private en-
terprise.
"The maximum Of service at the
minimum of expense is the proper
rule to govern public business"
The report declares newspapers and
periodicals handled in 1914 under the
Icent-a-pound-second-class-rates, totaled
over 100000 pounds, an increase oil
2.94 per cent over the preceding year.
with a resultant drain on postal
revenues" that emphasizes the neces-
sity of taking some step in the direc'
ton OF readjusting the rates on sec
ond class mail"