Evening journal., 1917-11-03

Something has happened to the s3,-
100000 a year increase in compensation
to the railways for carrying the mails /
that the Postmaster General has told
tho public and the Interstate Commerce
Commission would result from The new
space basis Of mail compensation
which he put into effect on November
4. 1916, says the Railway Age Gazetteer
i'm its current issue. THE money can
not be found in the latest reports Of
railway earnings, and, incidentally an
explanation Of the reasons why IL does
not may serve TO explain why mail is
sometimes received less promptly than
formerly"
The Railway Age Gazette adds. THE
Interstate Commerce Commission gave
out the other day its usual monthly
statement Of railway earnings and ex-
penses for the month OF July and seven
months Of the calendar year. This
showed very large increases in the
revenues received by the railways for
the transportation OF freight, passon-
gers, express and all other transpOrta-
tiOn-together with corresponding in
creases I'm all items Of eXpense-but the
revenues from mail traffic for the
month showed a decrease from S5,052.-
i6i i'm July, 1916, 60 Si,S3GS20 In July,
1917, or from SD TO s2i per mile. For
the seven months the mail revenue was
S35. ,22O as compared with S35i97,7i2
i'm 1916. This Is an increase Of only from
Si53 10 si5i per mile Freight revenue
per mile increased from S6i12 TO $4,000;
"a Il 4 =
express revenue from S2t5 10 1859 and
revenue from all other transportation
from $3.50 90 S27S. Has all this increased
volume OF business been carried on
without an increase in the amount OF
mail correspondence? Has the boasted
parcel post failed TO keep pace with
the increases In other kinds OF trans
porialiOn? Perish the thought. For the
calendar year 1916 the railways rev
cnucs from mail pay We're S265 Per mile
AS compared with only S2J5 in 1919 Up
60 March of this year they still showed
an increase. Something has happened
since that time with the result that for
seven months of the year the railways
had actually received only S21S,0O0 out
of the promised S3,2OOOO0 increase.
what has happened to the S3,OO0OO0
has been exactly what the roads fore
saw. Formerly the railroads We're paid
for carrying the mail on the basis of
weight, Just as The post office depart
mcni Itself receives It's pay on the
weight basis Under The present space
basis, so long advocated by the depart
ment. 10 pays the roads so much per
car for each mile the car is hauled and
has the privilege of putting as much
mail ina ear as 10 can get in The rail
roads cannot object 90 thisc 70 is OK
actly i'm accordance with their campaign
90 induce shippers 10 load freight cars
| io capacity. The difficulty is in IN,
question OF rates The rates now ap
! piled were based on the former aver
age loading of about 3 tons to a ca
while the maximum capacity OF a ca
ranges up 10 20 tons. In other word.
the post ofilce department proposed
and got Congress TO approve tentative
ly, plan whereby it pays the railroad
per ear mile about what 10 used I
pay for q 3-ton car, and then proceed
20 take the mail ont Of two or thr,
cars o. trains and load it into one.
The new plan had been in effect bl
q short time when a general rcadius
ment of mail service was undertake.
Mail formerly handled in two cars o
two trains was consolidated into on
car on one train. on some trains m
space formerly used by mail clerks {
sort the mail en- route became 10