Show OUR PUBLIC FORUM ralph peters on railway mail pay 1 I A controversy has been raging in the columns of 0 the press between the railroads and the federal post office de department part ment over the question ot of proper acom compensation ippen gation for handling the united states malls mr ralph peters ter T chairman of 0 the railway mail committee when asked to state the railroad side bide ot of the controversy to the american tanner farmer said in part the railway mail pay question ion will be settled and settled permanently and with justice to all concerned as soon as the american people realize that the whole subject while seemingly complicated and technical bolls boils down to a few simple points of fair business dealing which no one need ie be a rate expert to understand tho first Is that the post office department weighs the malls mails and readjusts the pay of 0 the railroads only once in tour four years this compels the railroads to carry the increase in the mall mail tonnage during the intervening years without pay manifestly an injustice in the case of ota a rapidly growing business busine one consequence has been that laar year the railroads carriel carried tully fully halt half the parcel post tor for nothing A second point is this in addition to carrying the mails the railroads are required to operate many traveling post offices for sorting and distributing the malls mafia while in transit but the post office department pays days tor for such post offices only where they occupy whole cars and pays nothing in the many cases in which it merely requires the use ot of post office apartments in combination cars although such apartments differ from the full railway post office cars only in size more than apartments ot of this character har acter have been fitted up and are maintained tor for the exclusive use ot of the post office department failure to pay for them has been an especial hardship to the smaller roads on which the department does not find it necessary to utilize whole cars one last point in thousands ot of instances though not in all the post office department requires the railroads to carry the malls mails back and forth between railroad stations and post offices but pays them nothing tor for this extra service beyond the rates covering the rail transportation the rail loads have no choice but to perform this additional service gratis or refuse to carry the malls at all now tor for the remedies the railroads ask they do not ask to have the malls weighed daily or to have each shipment weighed and paid for separately ara tely as is done in the case ot of private shippers they merely ask to have the mails weighed and the pay of the railroads adjusted at least once a year instead ot of once in tour four years they also ask that apartment post office cars be paid for at reasonable rates according to size lastly they ask that tho the post office department cease to require ot of them free tree messenger service between stations and post of offices rices and either relieve them of this service or pay fairly for it these are the reforms the railroads ask ot of congress they gladly lay these reforms before the public confident that they will appeal to the common bense and fairness ot of american voters |