La Junta tribune., 1916-07-15
ONE CENT LETTER POSTAGE.
Present Letter Postage Yields Sur.
plus Of x7J,OOO,OOO Year
Should he Reduced.

|
conducted throughout the country
Tor REIMBURSEMENT of postal rates
and the inauguration of a One Cent
rate for letters. reform which would
result in saving to letter users
| throughout the United States of over
$4,000, 600 each year.
Nearly sixty bills have been intro
ouced in congress by representatives
| from all over the country urging the
lower rate. The matter is now being
| considered in committee at Washing
ton. and ii is believed at no distant
date final action will be taken to-
ward the Inauguration of one cent
letter postage.
The campaign is being carried on
by the National One Cent Letter Pos
tage Association with head quar-
ter> at Cleveland. Ohio. The presi-
dent Of the organization is Charles
William Burrows, and Its secretary
| treasurer and general manager is
George T. Mcintosh. With mem
hrTship in every state in the union.
the movement is being backed by
many thousands of letter users of the
| country In this effort to secure a
lover postage rate.
The immediate purpose OF the cam
palEn is TO secure one cent letter
| postage in local communities and on
| locally delivered letters. Later II is
the plan to secure general one cent
rate on all letters mailed within the
| United States. The movement has
and has been cordially endorsed by
several hundred national organiza-
| tons and by thousands OF local or
CARNATIONS such as boards of trade.
chambers of commerce and similar
bodies
Experts who have Investigated pos
tai conditions at Washington are a
unit in declaring that the United
States government secures surplus
OF over SIS. 900 year on its let
ter postage. The rate OF two cents
now charged Is said by these experts
TO be far in excess of the actual cost
OF handling. and those who have in
vestigated declare that the Inaugural
tion Of one cent letter rate will
create so much extra business that
any reduction in revenue will be far
more than offset.
Each year the volume OF mail car
riei by the United States postal de-
partment increases by leaps and
bounds. but no effort Is ever made to
give the users of letter postage the
benefit of this increased volume.
Attention is being called by the
association TO the fact that many
large eastern magazines are enjoying
m almost free rate of one cent per
pound for the distribution OF their
periodicals. although those who are
ramiliar with the situation say that Il
costs the government over eight
cents pound TO distribute them
Train load after train load of maya
lines leave eastern cities for points
al over the United States. the gov
eminent transporting, handling and
distributing ultimately copy at a
lime AT one cent "A pound although
the actual expense is many fold in eN-
cess of that amount. That these
magazines which are growing rich
through charging fabulous sums for
advertising should pay cost Of carri-
age is now regarded as an indisput-
able fact by those familiar with con-
di,ions In the postal department, and
II Is said that re-adjustmcnt Of
rates will certainly he made at no dis
tant day.
II the letter users OF the country
are paying on their mail double the
cost OF It's carriage II IN held to he
only fair that magazines should pay
their full share of the general eS-
pense. but at the present time II Is
claimed that while letter postage pays
surplus OF over s75.OOO.OO0. the
magazines eat up this surplus by hay-
INK their product carried nj an al
tuAss fro. ,ut.