Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-12-14


annual report shat Congress seriously
consider the question of declaring a
government monopoly over all utiii-
ties for the public transmission of
intelligence and that steps be taken
as soon as practicable to incorporate
into the postal establishments the
telegraph and telephone systems of
| the country.
I'm that report reference was made
to the anomalous condition in this
country, under which the telegraph
and telephone utilities, being vehicles
for the public transmission of intel
hgence, infringe upon a function re-
served by the Constitution to the Ma
tiopal government They inherently, as
well as constitutionally belong to the
| Postal Service. The firm conviction
or the department is here reiterated
that telegraph and telephone service
| Is inevitably monopolistic and, when
operated under private control, does
not render the maximum of public SER
vice at the minimum cost to the whole
| people.
II Is an interesting fact that, where,
| as policies of government have been
advocated and some adopted, the con-
etltutionalfty of which have been
! seriously questioned, the principle of
Government ownership and control Of
the telegraph and telephone finds it's
greatest strength in the Constitution.
This opinion has been shared by prac-
ticaily all Postmasters General OF the
| United States, who have held that the
welfare and happiness of the Nation
depend upon the fullest utilization of
| these agencies by the people, which
can only be accomplished through
| Government ownership.
| 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 Post ONCE Depart
ment. This recommendation Is based
on an exhaustive investigation which
disclosed that the conditions in these
Territories are generally such as to
favor the change. large part of the
property involved is already govern
ment owned and operated in Alaska
| by the War Department and in Porto
Rico by the insular government. The
| services are SO detached geograph-
| ically as to preclude complicated re-
| lationships with neighborng systems
| afford valuable experimental demon-
| stration for the Postal Service looking
to the administration eventually of a
| complete national service. This action
will have the effect of strehgthing the
National Government in it's outlying
| Territories, and Is specially recon-
mended because of the expediency of
taking over the private ownerships be-
/ fore elaborate and costly extensions
and Implications of service have been
| built up
Defining the general policy he has
| pursued, Mr.. Burleson says
9The service has been administered
fer the convenience of the public, not
| for profit; to promote efficiency by
standardizing and simplifying proceed
| ure: to recognize it and eliminate par
tisanship; to extend service wherever
present or prospective returns justify;
to reduce rates in so far as proves
consistent with general fiscal neces-
sity; and to provide all communities
and all sections OF the country as far
as practicable, with uniform service.
THE fact that the Government ex-
ercises a monopoly over the receipt,
transmission and delivery of mail car
ries an obligation to perform this
function for all its citizens; hence the
Postal Service may not be operated
wholly upon the lines of private enter
prise. whether or not service shall be
granted or extensions authorized are
questions which. as they arise in a
particular case, should not be deternl-
ined entirely with respect to revenue
considerations. Yet il is equally the
duty of the department to apply the
mechapical and administrative econ
omies which private business enter
prise develops and which inventive
genius from time to time offers. 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
cent-a-pound-secon -class-rate, totaled
over a million pounds, an increase of
| 294 per cent over the preceding year,
| with a resultant drain on postal rev.
enues' that emphasizes the necessity
| of taking some step in the direction
of readjusting the rates on second
class mall
Tn my last annual report Mr.. Bur-
leSOn says, the nope was Expressed
that Congress would amend the exist
| ing laws and raise the rate on second
class matter in accordance with the
recommendation of the Commission
created in 1911 under joint resolution
Of Congress to investigate the subject,
which found the cost of handling and
| transporting second class matter, ex-
elusive of certain expenditures con-
corning which exact information was
not at hand. to be approximately
6 cents a pound, and recommended
| that the postage rate thereon be in
| creased from / cent pound to cents
| q pound. In order to renew attention
| to the matter the department in jan
| uary last addressed a letter to the
| joint committee of Congress before
| which the question of proper rates Of
| postage on second class matter has
| been pending for more than two years,
| in which it was recommended that
the rate on publications issued less
| frequent than weekly, and on weekly
publications other than newspapers,