The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-04-05
BURLESON UNJUST TO
ROADS, SAYS Peters
Points to Wrong Statement from OF
fetal as to Carriers Charges for
Mail and Express.

New York. ,ril 4.-Ralph Peters. pres,.
dent of the Long Island Railroad and
chairman of the committee on railway
mail pay. on behalf of the railroads OF
! the country. today issued this statement;
Postmaster General Burleson has pub.
llc!y accused the railroads of being in
sincere IN claiming that they are under
PAID Tor carrying the mails He says
that in reality they are overpaid and ia
sustain this charge saws that they are
receiving from the government amounts
which. for hauls of any considerab BILE
length. exceed by about two to one the
amounts they receive from the express
companies for like and similar services.
The dignity and prestige of the Cabi-
net Office Of which Mr. Burleson is the
present incumbent assures him hearing
before the public and a large degree oil
credence. because OF the natural assump-
ton that judicial attitude will be re-
tanned by sworn public official, and that
the responsibility he assumes in making
any public assertion will be appreciated
a least by himself
Mr.. Burleson bases his assertion re-
Gardins the mail and express earnings
of tine railroads upon a number of COM
PARSONS of which this is typicalA
He says that from New York to Chi
caso. railway mail pay amounts to s. -
portion of the first-class express rate be-
tween those cities is approximately 81. 20
per 100 pounds
Not one citizen in thousand would
ever suspect that this meant ANYTHING
except that the railroads carry eXpress
matter from New York to Chicago for an
average rate of only s1.o0 per 100 pounds.
The fact is. however. that the EXPRESS
rate Mr.. Burleson names is not an aver
age. or in any way representative rate,
but is the railroads share Of the EXPRESS
companys charge for single 100 pound
package, on which the very lowest
wholesale rate per pound is given to the
shipper. The railroads are paid approxi-
mately half the express company's
charge.
THE railroads receipts from the
smaller express packages which make I'D
the great bulk of the actual business
and hence their average receipts per 100
pounds of cxpress-arc far higher than
the figure Mr.. Burleson quotes. fact
of which it Is scarcely conceivable he
could be unaware.
For instance. for carryiiS 100 one
pound express packages from New York
to Chicago. the express company would
receive q cents apiece. or a total Of 500
OF this amount. the railroads share for
its portion Of the service would be about
half, or $l1.50 winch fs nearly AZ times
the rate for carrying 100 pounds of mail
Such a comparison. II offered as repre-
sentative Of average conditions, would
be no more misleading than the one 60
ing to the opposite extreme. which Mr..
Burleson has used. The truth. of course,
lies between the two extremes.
1.-THE railroads earned from express
in the latest year for which figures are
available nsls). S7s.ooo.0oo. The annual
rate of mail pay to the railroads on June
30. 1915. was $5l, 4s6,0G0
THE growth of the revenue may be
compared from the fact that the earnings
from express traffic in 1907 were $1,000
900. while the annual rate of pay for
mail on June 30. 1907. was 81, 00S 900. It.
therefore. appears that the mail pay to
the railroads increased less than I per
cent during the six-year term specified.
while the returns to the railroads from
express tranic increased 81 per cent"