The Washington times., 1925-01-03
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XIII Needed Business
By CONGRESSMAN M. CLYDE
KELLY,
Last Of -Four Interviews Given To VIII
liam Hard On Postage Rates.
The present crisis in Postoffice
Department legislation-a crisis
which has involved a Presidential
veto of a postal pay increase bill!
and the spending Of 100000 OF
public money in order to get q
ncost ascertainment" report from
the Postoffice Departments due
to just one thing.
It is due to the principle,
adopted now and promulgated by
the President, that the costs Of
the Postoffice Department should
be balanced in total by its reve-
nues.
Vice In the Plan!
Hence the Sterling bill, now in
subcommittee, which proposes by
certain postage rate raises TO get
approximately sixty-six million dol.
tually all varieties in order to meet
the increase Of pay which would
be given to postal employees by
the Kelly-Edge bill.
The vice in this plan is that 1T
might gravely check the growth
Of Postoffice business and prevent
that increase in volume OF bust
ness which has enabled the Post
office Department to get along
without any increases in postage
rates Except in the second-class
mails) for more than a generation.
We are warned against promts.
cuous and precipitate increases in
postage rates by noticing what the
increases in the rates on second.
class mails did to the volume OF
those malls.
In the year 1912 the Postoffice
Department carried almost five
billion pieces Of second class mail.
In 1923 the Postoffice Depart.
ment, in spite of the growth Of
the country, carried less than four
and one-half billion pieces OF that
sort Of mail.
Must Increase Business
We ought not to incur any
further risk Of diminishing the vol
une Of any class Of mail. We
ought not to raise the rate eon
any class of mail until We are
sure that the raising OF 1t will not
diminish the volume OF the class
concerned.
With regard to one certain class
Of mail-namely, the parcel post
Il appears, however, that the pres
emit rates are such that they could
be effectively raised without driv-
ing any Of that class OF business
iato other channels Of transporta.
ton.
The present parcel post rates ex-
hibit gross favoritism to a certain
apparently privileged set Of people.
Let US consider, for instance, a
twenty.five-pound package sent out
by a mail order house to any
destination within $50 miles.
Differences In Rates
It is parcel post, or fourth-cIass,
and the rate on it is 20 cents.
Meanwhile the rate charged on
such a package within that same
radius by the express companies
70 seventy-one cents.
Note the spread-from twenty
nine to seventy-one cents-between
the arbitrary Postoffice rate and
the commercial express company
ratei
Now note, in comparison with
the low 'parcel-post fourth-class
rate, the relatively high second.
class rate charged by the Post
office for the same weight OF
package and over the same dis
lance.
II a magazine publisher puts a
twenty-five pound package of maya.
ZINES into the mails, 1t goes second
class; and the rate upon the adver.
Using matter it contains. within
the first $50 miles, Is fifty cents.
Sterling Bill Rates.
The original Sterling bill, now
In subcommittee, would have
raised this fifty-cent rate to a
dollar.
Then the rate on second-class
mail advertising matter in the
Postoffice would actually have been
higher than the rate charged by
express companies for carrying the
same sort Of commodity the same
number Of miles.
magazines and newspapers out OF
the mails into the railroad cars OF
the express companies.
Note, however, the favoritism now
again shown by the Postoffice DE
partment to the parcel post people
The original Sterling bill, drawn
by the Postoffice Department, will,
IL would have raised the second
class rate from so cents to 81, woult
have raised the fourth-class rat,
only from 90 cents to 80 cents.
In other words. the rate on tn,
advertising pages of newspaper
and magazines would have beer
boosted above the express rates
while the rate on parcel post woult
have been kept at less than half III,
height of the express rates!
Fourth Class Favored.
This is entirely consistent witt
the policy which the Postoffice De-
partment for years has followed o
unjustly favoring the fourth-clas
mails.
The remedy is one which can b
applied without any injury to any
body.
Let the parcel post rate be in
creased by a service fee" of
cents on every package.
III a