Evening star., 1926-04-28
PUBLISHERS AWAIT
POSTAL FINDINGS
Scale, Raised Four Times,
Has Driven Millions of Copies
From Mails, They Say.

| Newspaper publishers and that sec
! ton of the public which must depend
! upon the mails to obtain metropolitan
! papers are watching with Keen in
| terest for the report of the joint COM
! mittee created by Congress last year
! to investigate the entire postal rate
! structure and make recommendations
| for legislation. The joint commit
! tee. it is understood, has about com.
pleted it's work and should report to
! this Congress.
The interest of the publishers and
| the subscribers IS due to the fact
that rates for the transmission of
| newspapers through the mails are so
high as to he almost prohibitiVe. AC
Cording to j. l.. Barnum. chairman of
the postal committee of the American
Newspaper Publishers Association,
the present rates were established in
1917 as an emergency measure to help
raise revenue for Americas war chest,
but the burden has never been
lesSened.
In a bulletin on the subject, just
issued, Mr.. Barnum said in part
In 1917. as a part of Il war revenue
measure, Congress provided for -four
successive Increases on second class
mail matter, to take effect on July
years. All of these increases went
into effect, three of them after the
war ended and this particular leGisla-
ton is the only W-r-taX measure
which has not hceT repealed or ma
terially modified since the war ended.
The increases ranged from 80 to
900 per cent. with a result that mil
lions Of copies Of newspapers virtually
were driven from the mails.
First Two Raised Revenue.
The first two of the four annual in
CreaSeS in rates produced Sl3.3SI 900
additional revenue for the Govern
ment without materially affecting
newspaper circulation in the mails.
The next two increases, equal in per
centage to the first two, destroyed cir
culation to such an extent that they
produced only s97 900 additional reve-
nue.. The fourth increase actually pro
duced a smaller revenue during the
first year of its operation, S25, $4,000,
than the third which brought in So
499 900. The second produced total
revenue of S25.100.000.
In the light of these facts daily
newspaper publishers have contended
tdat the SaturatiOn point was reached
with the second increase and that
Congress now should repeal the third
and fourth increases and return TO
the basic rates in effect during the
fiscal year which ended June 30, 1920.
In addition to urging a reduction
Of rates on the general distribution OF
newspapers through the mails. the
newspaper publishers have urged the
joint committee to recommend to Con
gress the enactment of a rate on bum
dies. where no service of distribution
is required by the publishers, and only
that OF transportation is desired.
"At the recent hearings in Wash
ington, it was pointed out that the
Syracuse. n. Y, Post-Sta andard today
ships $3.50 copies of its paper daily to
Ithaca by motor truck at n cost of
$50 per week. These copies if sent by
mail would cost $232.90. The only
service required by the Post-Standard
is that of transportation, as it has it's
own delivery system in Ithaca. There.
fore, by Withdrawing from the mails,
it has effected Il saving of $l62.9O per
week. 1t was brought out at this hear
ing, however, that if a bundle rate
such as has been proposed by the
newspaper publishers could be enacted
into law. and train service were avail.
able. the Government could carry
these newspapers at less cost than the
truck service and make Il huge profit
out of the transaction.