The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-04-16
RAILWAY MAIL PAY
by Baldwin, c, q, In
Letter the Editor

have just read in your issue OF
April ) some comments regarding the
bankruptcies of star route contractors
In the Dakotas caused by parcels post
and the urgent necessity for large
increase in their compensation II
these sparsely settled regions of the
country are to have any mail service
at all All this was foreseen and was
foretold as the inevitable outcome OF
the ill-considered parcels post legisla.
ton, inaugurated largely through the
influence of mail-order houses, which
are its chief teneficiaries.
In this connection you took occa.
sion to make the following comment
regarding the profit of the mail pay
upon railroads mail routes where the
traffic is the heaviest
AS to whether the mail pay is
adequate on the long, heavy runs
between large cities, the answer,
without doubt, is an emphatic
yes" But the railroads must
carry the mail. on thin routes as
we'll as on the heavy. Current
4 Topics in Washington.)
Have you accurate and reliable
knowledge as to the compensation re.
ceived by those railroad companies
which are carrying the mails over the
long, heavy routes, between the large
cities? Unless you have this informa.
ton your views may be modif1ed from
knowledge of the facts. It has, for
some years. been my opinion, based
upon investigation. that, in proportion
to the value of the service. the rail.
roads which carry the heaviest mails
are the poorest paid. Several con.
siderations enter into this question
that are not generally known. three
of which are important.
The first is the fact that under the
law of congress the application of the
wholesale principle is so extreme that
the railroads which carry the heaviest
weight of mails are only paid, per ton
per mile, one-twentieth of the rate
that is allowed to roads which carry
the lightest weights. The rate per 100
pounds on a small railway mail route
is twenty times higher than the rate
paid by the government on the heavy
routes. owing to the sliding scale.
In the second place, practically all
of the mail on heavy routes is carried
in postoffice cars. In the freight and
express service. increase of traffic re.
suits in so loading cars that the ratio
of dead weight to paying freight is
constantly decreased: to accomplish
this result is one of the first laws in
railroad economy. This economy is
denied to the railroads in carrying
the mails. Justice Moody, member
of the Wolcott commission, described
the result in these words:
Instead Of permitting the mail
cars, whether apartment or full
postal cars, to be loaded to their
full capacity, the government de- 4
mands that the cars shall be
lightly loaded SO that there may
be ample scope for th., sorting
and distribution of mail en- route.
In other words, instead of
freight car, a travelling postof1ce
The average load in an average full.
size postoffice car is about 5000
pounds, and in apartment postoffice
cars is about 600 pounds. The aver.
age load carried in an ordinary freight
car on the Burlington road is over
$4,000 pounds. Railroads, as rule.
haul one ton Of paying or productive
freight for every ton Of dead Or un.
productive load In the government
mail business they carry nineteen
tons Of dead weight for every ton of
paying freight.
In the third place, on practically
evarv railroad mail route where there
are heavy weights and large aggre-
gate payment for carrying the mails.
the service is performed in special
fast-mail trains, at great and unusual
expense.
The heaviest mail route west of Chi
cago is between that city and Omaha.
and since 1884 this service has been
performed by the c.. B. & @. railroad
in three special fast-mail trains-two
W estbound and one eastbound Two
thirds of all the earnings on this mail
route are received from mails carried
on these three special fast-mail trains.
In 1900 a witness before the VOL
colt commission, Mr.. Dixon II. Ken
net, presented the following state
ment of the actual earnings Of these
fast-mail trains in comparison with
from C., B. e. @. passenger
trains between the same points:
The following are the earnings OF
the fast-mail trains, per train-mile. ,n-
Gliding the ray for railway postoffios
cars:
Train No. 1000. ........... .$0.S2
Train No. 15 :......... 1.33
Train No. $40. ....... 0.61
an average for the three trains of 90
cents per train-miie.
The earnings per train-mile, from
alone, for the year ending
Doc. 81. 1899, of the six through pas
senger trains, which operate both
ways between Chicago and Omaha.
sre as follows:
Train No. I ......... 81 ~
Train No ......... Lib