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Show WESTERN RAILWAYS WANT NODE HONEY FOR HAULINC MAIL ST. LOUIS, Aug. li. Otial of j MWilw weatern railroads slgud a j telegram Mat Saturday to Post-maater Post-maater Oeueral Borleaon. urging the government to increase the rompeusa tioa of the roads for handling the raalla. The increase la aaked on the ground that the volume of mail greatly baa laer eased aa a reeult af the eetab liahmaat of the parcel port, and will iueraaat further after August 30. The telegram waa cant aa the reeult of investigations conducted by a committee com-mittee appointed by the railroads The telegram tan "The undersigned are prompted re speetfully to ask you to eoaaider whether the United State government la really dealiag fairly with the railroad! rail-road! of the country aa to the matter of pay ia connection with the introduction and aateaaion of parcel poet aervlee. "The testimony of the postoffiee department de-partment before the senate committee. July 28, ehowad that the first three months business in that department after the installation of the parcel post had a arose increase in postal revenue af 14JM par cent, of which at leaet 9.16 par cent waa attributed to the new pareal post system. Uncle Bam 'a Profit. "Oa tha basis of this statement, the ffovemment must have collected not ees than 911,224,900 in revenue from the parcel post for the first six months, beginning January 1. "As this eras before any arrange msnt had been made to reimburse the railroads for taking care of this new feature of the postal service, not on dollar of this bg return was paid to aay of them for transporting' the eu tire business referred to. "To remunerate the transportation compania for the additional pareel post business transported, congress provided, pro-vided, beginning July 1, a 3 per cent groaa increaaa ia their mail pay baaed upon rates, soaea aad weight limit in the original act, although the additional addition-al business transported amounted to at leaet 0.16 per cent, according to the testimony of the postoffiee department,, depart-ment,, or nearly double that provided ia the allowance. The extension of the pareel post inaugurated August Au-gust 15, when the weight limit wae raised from 11 to 20 pounds and mileage mile-age iacreased. is certain to result in a vast enlargement of business. Ask Mora Compensation "The government will collect post age ou this business, but no provision has been vet made to pay the railroads for transporting it. Not only will they receive no compensation for this in creased business, hut will suffer the actual lose of earning previously derived de-rived from the same traffic whan carried car-ried aa express and freight. "No code of business requiree service ser-vice wftheut pay, and it ia especially unreasonable tor the United State government to require the railroad or any other interest to serve it without remuneration. "Congreas is lo aeaaion and ean immediately im-mediately remedv this condition In accordance ac-cordance with suggestion made by the committee on railway mail pay in letter to you July SO, which we indorse and urge upon vour consideration. The telegram is signed fiv officials of the following railroads: Atchison. Topeka .Santa Fe; Missouri Mis-souri Paeific-Trou Mountain; Chicago, Burlington 4 Quincy; Missouri. Kansas k Texas: Chicago, Milwaukee A St. Paul; St. Louie, Southwestern: Chicago, Bock Island t Pacific; Union Pacific; Wabash; Illinois Central; Chicago t Northwestern; Chicago Great Western West-ern ; St. Louis 6 San Francisco; Denver Den-ver Rio Grande; Texas Pacific; Chicago A Eastern Illinois, and Chicago & Alteny |
