The Washington times., 1924-12-29
TURES
Of BILL
UPSET
Indications Are Senate Com
mittee Will Revamp Post
office Measure on Rates
By WILLIAM HARD.


The postage rate increases pro-
posed by the Postoffice Depart
ment in the Sterling bill, now
before the Moses Senatorial post
office subcommittee will be re-
vised and changed in important
particulars before the bill is re-
ported to the Senate.
This became known today as
the subcommittee resumed its
hearings on the bill and as repre-
sentatives of newspapers resumed
giving testimony and representa-
tives of the users Of the parcel
post fourth-class mails prepared
to come forward to give testi-
mony.
Parcel Post Affected.
One Of the changes most likely to
be made in the bill affects directly
the parcel-post people and will lay
on them a larger postage charge
than the Postoffice Department mas
recommended.
This larger charge will take the
form of a Service fee" to be paid
by every parcel-post package en-.
tering the malls.
This means a victory in principle
Tor Congressman M. Clyde Kelly.
chairman Of the House sub-commit-
tee on postage rates, who has for q
long time been defending and FRO
posing parcel-post service fee."
He has suggested that this fee
should be cents on each pack
age. The added revenue thus pro-
duced for the Postoffice Department
would be $50, 100000 a year. II
would then be necessary to find only
$18,00O,O00 of further revenue from
other sources in order to meet the
new expense of sos, 100000 a year
carried in the Kelly Edge postal in.
crease bill, which was vetoed by the
President and which is up for pas
sage over his veto in the Senate on
January 6.
Likely to Be Adopted.
Information gained today shows
that Mr.. Kelly's idea OF q Service
fee" on parcel-post packages is
likely to be adopted by the Senate,
but not probably to the full extent
Of cents a package.
1t is thought that 2.cent "serv.
ice fee" is more probable. This
would raise $40, 00O, 900 Of new reve.
nue., If the Postoffice Department 4
present figures on the number Of
parcel-post packages carried in the
mails are correct.
Meanwhile the other new charges
on parcel-post packages, included in
the bill as suggested by the Post.
office Department, amount to $12,-
100000 a year.
Gain of $S2,OOO,0OO.
Thus a total Of $32, 900, 900 a year
would be gained from parcel.post
mails, leaving $S6,000,O00 a year to
be gained from other users OF the
mails, instead Of the $54 ,000, 900 pro-
posed to be raised from them in the
Postofftce Departments original
plan.
This naturally pleases the other
users OK the mails and is highly dis
tasteful to the parcel-post people
and to the Postoffice Department
which has had a steady policy of
It also displeaSss the Postoffice
Department because It means
through the adoption Of the new
parcel-post service fee" a thorough
revision Of all the other proposed
rates on all the other classes of
mails virtually throughout the bill.
1t means that the whole scale of
new rates proposed by the Post.
office Department will be broken
and that the Postoffice Depart.
ment's framework Of costs and
charges as contained in its 81 900 600
'cost ascertainment" report will ba
repudiated by the Senate.
Result Of Attack.
This is the result largely of
the drastic attack made upon that
report before the Senate subcomtnit.
tee by Elisha Hanson, Of Wash.
ington, when he showed that the
rural free mail delivery service is
carrying less than 2 per cent of the
mails while 1t Is costing more than
IA per cent Of the total cost OF
operating the Postoffice.
Mr.. Hanson wanted to know why
users Of the mails should be ex.
pected to carry the burden of such
a service and to pay for it's, cost
when clearly It is service not de-
signed 80 much to serve the users
Of the mails in general as to serve
the social uplift of farmers by
bringing them into rapid touch with
the centers of population.
Mr.. Hanson stressed the point
that the rural free mail delivery
service Is dominantly q social serv.
ice and not . commercial service
and that the commercial users
ought not to be expected to carry
its full burden.
Shaken Confidence Of Committee,
This argument together with
other allied arguments has shaken
the confidence Of the Senate sub,
committee in the Posroffice Depart
ment's cost ascertainment" report
and has made 1t likely that when
the postage rate increase bill is pre-.
scented to the Senate it viii be a
quite different bill from what 1t was
when the Postoffice Department
handed 1t to Senator Sterling, who