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Show THE ALLEGED POSTAL DEFICIT. The investigation into the so-called Postollice dolleit is being made, not only in Congress, but in newspapers all over tho United States. Wo have copied cop-ied heretofore, a report of a Congressional, Congres-sional, investigating committee, which concluded that second class matter is in fact paying its own way, oven under un-der the presont rates; that the estimate esti-mate of 0 cents a pound as the cost of carrying this class of mail, made by President Taft, was- altogether wild. The fact of tho matter is that no absolutely ab-solutely correct figures can be given with respect to this cost, as no segregation segre-gation is made with rcspoct lo it. in tho poslofllco accounts. So that it is largely large-ly a matter of estimate; but the Congressional Con-gressional committee referred to had before it all of the exports of tho post-ollien post-ollien department, and that is tho conclusion con-clusion arrived at that this class of mail p.i3-s its own way under tho present pres-ent rales. Besides that, however, the second- i i. i j .. ii.. ui.iso ji:;iimr ;nnit materially iu uiu mail carried under other classitlcatiyns. ft has a very large business of its own, but every newspapor, every magazine, has besides its payments on second-class second-class matter, large postal accounts for other service. It scuds out a very largo number of letters, circulars and other classes of mail, paying full rates thereon. there-on. A case is given of a publication which paid $-1000 in direct postage on second-class matter, and at the same time this magazine showed that its business brought $10,000 of revenue to other clnsses of postal service in letters, let-ters, circulars, money orders, registered mail, and the like. So that second-class second-class matter, besides paying its way and adding very largely in direct compensation compen-sation to postal revenues, increases those rovenucs in other lines in the case cited, ten fold, and there is no reason to believe that that case was exceptional. Ever' publisher knows the fact that the postage account on letters, let-ters, circulars, money orders, registered mail, etc., received at and sent from his ouico js many times greater man uic amount of postage paid direct; that in the' largo curtailment of the use of mails as proposed by President Taft in second-class matter, there would be a corresponding shrinkage of other classes of tho mail service. We call attention to this as an -important contribution to the discussion discus-sion of this whole question. Whatever postal deficit there may be, that deficit de-ficit would be tremendously enlarged, if it. were not for tho revenue made by tho indirect carriage of the second-class matter at the one-cent rate. In this connection it is well worth while to note that speeches of tho President Pres-ident aud of Speaker Cannon are being mailed free all over tiro country at a cost of a good many thousand dollars to the service; that under tho Btato-mont Btato-mont made a few days ago in the Washington Wash-ington dispatches, a member of Congress Con-gress was sending home six sacks of seeds for distribution among his constituents. con-stituents. The postage on these six sacks would doubtloss have amounted at tho regular rate to forty or fifty dollars, and as nearly four hundred members in both houses of Congress are sending out a huge quantity of frankod matter, from typewriting machines ma-chines lo sets of the Congressional Record, Rec-ord, weighing perhaps from fifty to sixty pounds, it is no wonder the post-ofiico post-ofiico shows an apparent deficit. It. is shown also that tho rural do-livery do-livery is costing something liko $28,-000,000 $28,-000,000 a year, and yet no ono has proposed pro-posed to add this sum io the bill of tho farmers who receive their mail by this service. Tho reported deficit is somo seventeen seven-teen million dollars. That could bo wiped out at one stroke by the limita-tation limita-tation to reasonable restrictions of tho franking privilcgo exercised by members mem-bers of Congress and hy the multitude of ofiicials in the various departments .in Washington. |