In the first place, the express companies require for their operations
much the same kind of equipment as is required by the Post Office
Department. Express cars and railway postal cars; horse-drawn express
delivery wagons and horse-drawn post office delivery wagons; motor
express trucks and motor post office trucks; express company horses and
Post Office Department horses--all do similar work, along similar
routes, in similar sections of similar cities at similar times of the
day and under similar conditions. The economies possible by
consolidation are lessened only slightly by the fact that on the main
railroad trunk routes express traffic is often carried by trains
composed entirely of express cars, in which there can obviously be
little saving by consolidation of the express system and the
parcel-post. In passing, it should be noted that the railway mail cars
are furnished by the railroads, and in most cases the trucks and wagons
and automobiles used in transporting mail through a city render that
service by contracts of the Post Office Department with their owners; so
that the savings in consolidation would accrue indirectly by lower
contract rates rather than directly.
Especially in smaller communities and in the thinly settled outskirts of
larger communities can one wagon or one motor truck often render the
service now requiring one express wagon or motor truck and one post
office wagon or motor truck. On less crowded routes and on less crowded
trips, one railroad car can often render the service now requiring an
express car and a railway post office car. And on the crowded routes and
in the thickly-populated cities, if one vehicle of transportation cannot
render the service now requiring two, at least in many cases four such
vehicles can render the service now requiring five. (Note 3.)