MR. HITCHCOCK STILL AFTER THE MAGAZINES.
I have previously intimated that Mr. Hitchcock is still devoting
himself to forcing his _ulterior_ motive into operation, either as law
or department ruling. In evidence of this I shall here quote from his
address or addresses before the Hughes Commission. This Commission was
created in the closing hours of the last session of Congress--created as
a sort of cushion or pad in order that his _unconstitutional_ “rider”
might take its cropper without breaking any bones or painfully lacerating
the _official_ feelings of Mr. Hitchcock. This Hughes Commission convened
in New York City, August 1, 1911. Following is Mr. Hitchcock’s opening
address before it, as reported by the New York Times, August 2. The
italics are the writers:--
Postmaster General Hitchcock opened for the department. He said
his study of the postage rate problem had led him to believe
that certain fundamental principles of administration, almost
new to the Postoffice Department at present, should be closely
adhered to. These included _the operation of the service on a
self-supporting basis_, maintained by imposing such charges as
would yield an income equal to the expenses. They included, also,
he said, such an adjustment of the postage charges _as would
make each class of mail matter pay for its own handling, and no
more_. He would further have the levying of postage rates made on
the basis of _the average cost of handling and carriage for the
country as a whole_, and, finally, postal laws should be enacted
so definite in character as to be easy of interpretation and
susceptible of uniform enforcement.
Mr. Hitchcock stated in this connection that when the books for
the fiscal year of 1911 are closed _they will show for the first
time in many years a surplus of postal funds_, and he hoped that
this condition would become permanent. Mr. Hitchcock opposed
any new classification of mail matter at this time, saying the
present classification could be made to include all matter
now admissible, and he doubted the expediency of attempting
a revision. He then sought to set forth the large share
second-class matter has in the burdens of the department, and the
_small percentage it pays of the total cost or even of its own
cost_.
“During 1910,” he said, “there were carried in the mail
8,310,164,623 pieces of first-class mail, consisting of letters,
other sealed matter, and postal cards. This mail averaged in
weight 0.35 of an ounce a piece, making 45.1 pieces to the
pound. The cost of handling and carriage for this mail was
$86,792,511.35, an _average of 47 cents a pound_, while the
postage charge was $154,796,668.08, leaving a clear profit of
$68,004,156.73.
“During the same year there were carried 4,336,259,864 pieces
of second-class matter, newspapers and other periodical
publications, averaging 3.33 ounces a piece, or 4.8 pieces to the
pound. The cost of handling and carriage was $80,791,615.03, or a
_little less than 9 cents a pound_, while the postage return was
only $10,607,271.02, leaving a _total loss of_ $70,184,344.01.
“From a review of the rates provided for the several classes
of mail, it will be observed that in comparison with the
cent-a-pound charge for second-class matter the rate on
third-class matter is 700 per cent. higher; that on fourth-class
matter 1,500 per cent. higher, and that on letter and other
first-class matter 3,100 per cent. higher. While it is true
that _the expense of handling and carrying second-class mail is
less than for any other class_, due to the size and weight of
single pieces, to relief from the cancellation of stamps, and
to the fact that a considerable part of the bagging, sorting,
and labeling in the offices of origin is done by the publishers,
nevertheless a charge of 1 cent a pound covers but a small
fraction of the actual cost.[6]
“The present self-supporting condition of the service is
made possible only by the fact that other classes of mail,
_particularly the first-class, are excessively taxed to make up
the loss caused by the inadequate charge on the second-class_.
This will be better understood when it is noted that although
first-class matter comprised during the fiscal year 1910 only
13.4 per cent. of all the revenue-producing domestic mail, it
yielded a net profit of $68,004,156.73, while second-class
matter, comprising 65.6 per cent. of all the revenue-producing
domestic mail, yielded but $10,607,271.02, leaving the tremendous
loss of $70,184,344.01. Thus the deficit caused by the heavy loss
on the handling and carriage of second-class matter was greater
than the profit obtained from first-class matter.”
Mr. Hitchcock here made a plea for equalization of the rate on
second-class matter on the ground that it would at once make
possible the reduction of letter postage from 2 cents to 1 cent
an ounce. This reduction would come about from the fact, he
said, that the present profit in handling first-class matter was
approximately equal to the loss sustained in the transportation
of second-class mail.
Mr. Hitchcock said, however, that he did not believe that the
rate for second-class mail should be at once advanced to where
_it would cover the cost of handling and carriage, although that
should be the ultimate end in view_.
“For the present,” said he, “_an increase of only one cent a
pound is recommended_, thus making a flat rate of 2 cents a
pound, which should be regarded as merely tentative, however,
leaving for future determination such _additional increase as may
be found necessary to meet the cost_.”
The Postmaster General served notice on the commission that if by
any chance it should see fit to recommend the continuance of the
present rate--a “merely nominal postage rate,” he called it--his
department could not consistently do otherwise than renew _its
recommendation for a higher rate of postage on the advertising
portions of magazines_.
I need make no comment on that address beyond the comment implied in
the phrases and wording I have marked for italics. That Mr. Hitchcock
still purposes to “put over” the injustices covered in his Senate rider
amendment to the postoffice appropriation bill is made baldly clear. That
he still is working that “deficit” as a sort of “come-on” to his purpose
is equally clear. And the ridiculous, if not ludicrous, feature of this
talk before the commission is that it comes _after_ he has demonstrated
and publicly announced that _there is no deficit in the Postoffice
Department for the fiscal year, 1910-11_.
As Mr. M. H. Madden states in a letter to me, printed on a previous page,
Mr. Hitchcock reports a profit of _one to three million dollars_ for the
fiscal year named.
Later, if I remember rightly, he discovered a stealage--pardon me, I mean
he discovered an “excess”--of from $9,000,000 to $14,000,000 in railway
mail pay.
Just in this connection I wish to say that Mr. Hitchcock is deserving of
the praise and commendation of every one of us American citizens for the
aggressive way in which he has cut down expenditures in his department
_without impairing its service_. Also is he deserving of equal praise
and commendation from us for his vigorous and fairly successful methods
of going after that railway mail haulage steal, which has been going
on for a time to which the younger generation of our citizens wots not
of. Although I may adversely criticise a man, as in this volume I have
criticised Mr. Hitchcock, I like the man who puts up a stiff fight for a
cause, even though I believe his cause is wrong. Candidly I can see no
reason why Mr. Hitchcock and his predecessor postmaster generals should
so worry themselves over a “deficit” in the Postoffice Department--_a
department in which a surplus should never be expected and never allowed
to become permanent_.
But our present Postmaster General has, by his aggressive action and
close scrutiny of the loose, wasteful methods under which the vast
business of his department is carried on, disposed of the “deficit” and
found a _surplus_.
_In this he has done what his predecessors failed to do._
For this he merits our highest praise and commendation.
Personally I yield it to him, untrammeled and in full meed. I
object only to his attempt to saddle upon second-class mail--the
one-cent-a-pound-matter--the burden of recouping the government for
the losses on rural route and star route service and the railway mail
pay stealage. I object because I not only believe, but I _know_ as
comprehendingly and as comprehensively as does he, that the second-class
matter carried in the mails today at one cent a pound _should be carried
and handled at a profit at that rate_.
I also know that just as second-class mail (periodicals), is cut down in
distribution _in just about the same proportion will the revenue from
first, third and fourth class mail be cut down_.
It is because of this firm belief, that I oppose Mr. Hitchcock’s, to me,
absurd purpose and attempt to make “each division or class of mail pay
for its carriage and handling.”
I am also opposing his manifest attempt to “play favorites” in
legislation and to secure bureaucratic powers for his department--in
contravention of my constitutional rights--to _your_ constitutional
rights.
I take the following from the New York Call of August 26. The Call
captions it as “Hitchcock’s Sum Up.” It evidences the fact that he still
follows his folly--that he is still after those “few magazine publishers”
and after them, too, on his “rider” lines.
The Call reports as follows:
“The attorneys for the magazines,” said Postmaster Hitchcock in
summing up the government’s case, “have presented this matter
of advertising in magazines in such a way as to leave the
impression that there is a controversy over it. There is none.
_The department knows that the advertising matter in magazines
produces first-class mail_ and that the postoffice is benefited
in that way. The important question is: What effect will a whole
increase of 1 cent a pound have on the advertising? Will it be
the means of stopping it?
“We feel that advertising would not be diminished by such an
increase and if such is the case, all this information which
we have heard today, interesting as it may be, is not to the
point. Repeatedly we have heard the general argument against an
increase in rates as though our recommendation is for a general
increase. We don’t want that at all. What we are driving at is a
readjustment. We are not trying to economize or save money. We
have done that to the best of our ability already and want simply
to increase the second-class rate so that the first will pay for
itself, believing that in this way the greater number of people
will be served.”
If Mr. Hitchcock is correctly reported in the above, it would appear
that something of a change has taken place in his mental landscape since
he put his “rider” on the Senate speedway during the closing hours of
the last session of Congress. “The department knows that the advertising
matter in magazines produces first-class mail,” he now says.
Did the department know that fact when that “rider” was on the speedway?
It most certainly did, if it then knew anything--that is anything
about the sources of postal revenues. Did Mr. Hitchcock or any of his
assistants, at the time referred to, make any vehement declaration of
that knowledge--that advertising matter in magazines produces first-class
revenue? If he or his assistants did so, no one has reported the fact of
having heard such declaration.
In March, Mr. Hitchcock battles valiantly to have the advertising pages
of magazines taxed _four_ cents a pound for carriage and distribution.
At that time he “estimated” that such increase in the mail rate on the
advertising “sheets” of magazines would be equivalent to a rate of “about
two cents a pound” on the entire magazine. As about one-half the full
weight of our leading magazines--the magazines which Mr. Hitchcock, as
previously stated, appears to be “after”--is in their advertising pages,
his method of “estimating” must have been somewhat baggy at the knees
last March. Any seventh or eighth grade grammar school pupil could have
told him that a four-cent rate on one-half the weight and a one-cent rate
on the other half is equivalent to a flat rate of two and one-half cents
on the full weight.
However, we may leave that pass. It is past--has washed into the drift
of time. If the Call correctly reports him, he is now willing, or was
willing on August 25, 1911, to accept a flat rate of two cents a pound on
all second-class matter. That shows some improvement over his “estimate”
of March last. It would seem that Mr. Hitchcock is getting down nearer
the tacks in this second-class mail rate question, and, as he has got
rid of that annoying “deficit,” it can be hoped that he may yet see the
fact--see that a _one-cent-a-pound-rate_ is ample to cover the cost of
carriage and handling of second-class mail matter.
Still, we must not be over-confident about what Mr. Hitchcock may or
may not do. Regardless of what he said or may have said before the
Hughes Commission at its recent session, it would appear that he is
still gunning for those independent magazines which have been guilty of
_telling the truth_ about both official and private corruptionists and
corruption and also guilty of turning the sandblast of publicity on the
veneer and varnish under which has been hiding much nastiness--political,
financial and other--in this country. I say it appears that Mr. Hitchcock
is still after those magazines. If such is not the fact, then why does
he and the orators and exhorters of his department go junketing about
the country lecturing and hectoring postmasters, instead of staying
at home and attending to department affairs? If he is not on the same
trail he “caught up” last March, why are he and his assistants trying so
hard to work up sentiment favorable to an increase in second-class mail
rates and a decrease of fifty per cent in first-class rates? Has any
considerable number of our people been complaining about the first-class
or letter postage rate? If there has been such complaints The Man on
the Ladder has not heard of them. On the other hand, it is a known fact
that _millions_ of our people have protested and are still protesting
against any raise in the second-class mail rate. Why, then, in face of
these facts, is Mr. Hitchcock working so hard, so industriously and
so adroitly, if not, indeed, _craftily_, to get the vast personnel of
his department,--carriers, rural routers, star routers, railway mail
clerks and postmasters--postmasters, from Hiram Hairpin at Crackerville,
Ga., all the way up--fourth, third, second class postmasters to the
first-class postmasters in our larger cities--why, I ask, is Mr.
Hitchcock working so strenuously to get the vast _political machine_ of
his department lined up against the protest of millions of our people,
unless he is still after those pestiferous, independent magazines?
Why, again, it may be asked, are he and his assistants coaching the
220,000 clerks of his department and the 60,000 postmasters, assistant
postmasters, etc., on his “staff” to put up a _promotion_ talk for a
one-cent rate on first-class (letter or sealed) matter? It _should be_
a one-cent rate. Nobody at all informed as to mail service rates and
revenues will question that. But it is equally true that, up to a recent
date, there have been, comparatively speaking (the comparison being with
the millions protesting against an increase in the second-class rate) but
few complaints and complainants against the present rate of two cents for
carrying and handling a letter.
Why, then, I ask, is Mr. Hitchcock so actively cranking up his
departmental political machine to make neighborhood runs and do some hill
climbing in advocacy of that one-cent rate for first-class matter? Yes,
why?
Is it a legitimate assumption to say that the present agitation for a
lowered rate on first-class matter found origin in Mr. Hitchcock? If it
is, then what is he after?
To The Man on the Ladder it looks as if he was still after those
magazines which have exposed--yes, even displayed--a weakness for telling
the truth about men and conditions. Otherwise, why should he be arguing
the postal “deficit” in March as cause and reason for his urgent efforts
to make operative law out of that unconstitutional “rider” and now asking
for a flat rate of two cents on second-class, and advocating a cut of
fifty per cent in first-class, or letter, postage rates?
In his January-February-March talk, the “deficit” was the _substructure_
of it all. By attending strictly to what the people understand as a
Postmaster General’s business, Mr. Hitchcock faded the then $6,000,000
deficit into a few hundred thousand surplus, for the fiscal year recently
ended. For this he deserves our highest commendation. He has mine. Why?
Because Mr. Hitchcock in converting that deficit into a surplus has done
just what any one of his predecessors could have done in any year during
the past thirty-five, _if they had tried, and not been interfered with by
dirty politics and dirty politicians_.
Still, from the ladder top, it looks as if Mr. Hitchcock is after some
one or _ones_. If my surmise is correct, who is it he is after, _if not
those publishers of magazines who are educating us as to the wrong and
right of things in this government of ours_?
That is for you to say, reader. That you may not think that the opinion
just expressed is far fetched or an “individual” to bolster an opinion
of the writer, I shall here quote a few paragraphs from an October issue
of the Farm Journal of Philadelphia. The paragraphs are from an article
written by Mr. Wilmer Atkinson, the Farm Journal editor and publisher.
I have on a previous page referred to and quoted Mr. Atkinson, and
here I wish to emphasize, if my earlier reference did not do so, that
Mr. Wilmer Atkinson is one of the best, if not _the_ best, informed
men in this country on cost of second-class mail carriage, handling
and distribution. Mr. Atkinson must also be credited with an acumen
in watching and divining--sizing up--the purpose and intent of our
Postoffice Department that is equaled by few, if any, other men in this
country, Postmaster Generals not excepted. I have been studying this
question for years. Mr. Atkinson has studied it for more years, and he
has studied it, too, from a business man’s--a publisher’s--viewpoint, as
he has been compelled to do, being the directing head of one of the most
widely circulated and read farm journals in this country.
That aside, my purpose here is to reprint a few paragraph excerpts from
a recent (October, 1911) issue of the Farm Journal--an editorial written
by Mr. Atkinson himself and which shows that this astute student of the
present federal postal affairs corroborates the position The Man on the
Ladder has taken--which supports the statement previously made that Mr.
Hitchcock is still gunning for those, to him, objectionable magazines.
The following is from the October issue of the Farm Journal, under the
heading of “Our Monthly Talk:”
In response to invitation a number of gentlemen interested in
postal questions came together for informal conference at North
View, the summer residence of the undersigned, on September 20
and 21.
Those who met are the official representatives of the following
associations:
The National Fraternal Press Association.
The Federation of Trades Press Association.
The Ohio Buckeye Press Association, and the Weekly Country Press
of other states.
The National Catholic Editors’ Association.
The United Typothetæ of America.
These gentlemen constitute a portion of the Publishers’
Commission now in process of formation. The representative of the
American Medical Editors’ Association was unable to be present on
account of a pressing engagement, and the member representing The
Associated Advertising Clubs of America was absent in Europe.
This was the initial effort of the commission to bring the
entire publishing fraternity of the country into such unity of
spirit and purpose that something effective may be accomplished
toward establishing not only just and honorable, but amicable
and pleasant, relations with the Postoffice Department; to bring
publishers of the different classes into harmony, in order
that they may stand and act together for the protection and
furtherance of their common interests, and for the cultivation of
fraternal feelings among themselves.
There were three meetings held, two on the 20th and another
on the morning of the 21st. After much earnest and harmonious
discussion, it was decided that the great need of publishers at
this time is to have the light turned upon postal affairs, so
that they may know where they are at. To best accomplish this
purpose it was thought that there should be a _Publishers’ bureau
established at Washington_, in charge of a first-class man, who
would be the collector and distributor of information regarding
postoffice doings, rulings, hearings and proposed postal
legislation; this bureau also to publish a paper for circulation
among publishers of all classes throughout the United States,
which would keep them thoroughly informed as to postoffice rules,
regulations, proceedings and acts of every description.
Much of the information publishers get now is fragmentary,
uncertain, often considerably warped and belated cold-storage
news, void of substantial life-sustaining qualities. _The annual
reports_ of the department in which publishers are most vitally
interested _are less complete than formerly_. Many important
facts do not appear in them. For instance, no statement is
ever made as to the amount of first-class matter originated by
the second-class, none, or very little, account is made of it.
No attempt has ever been made to gather, much less publish,
statistics on the subject.
Formerly a list was accessible of publications annually thrown
out of the mails at second-class rates, but not in recent years.
The report of the Third Assistant Postmaster-General in 1897
comprises 97 pages of compact statements and postal information
in small type; that for 1901, 133 pages; while those for 1909 and
1910 contain only 60 and 65 pages in larger type, respectively.
I am not censuring Mr. Britt in this matter, but simply stating
facts.
Then as to the rulings, laws and regulations, there is not a
publisher living who knows what they are, or can definitely
ascertain what they are, from month to month. They are liable
to change without the publishers being informed directly of the
change. What purported to be “The Postal Laws and Regulations
Relating to the Second-class of Mail Matter” was issued in 1910,
but in it the law, rulings and regulations are so jumbled up
together that it is difficult for a publisher to know which is
which; instead of being illuminating and helpful, this compendium
is confusing and involved in obscurity. It is a well recognized
legal maxim, that “where the law is uncertain there is no law.”
Publishers have not known that an active propaganda in favor of a
higher rate has been in progress ever since Congress adjourned,
but such is the fact. The Postmaster General went before the
Hughes Commission and advocated it.
The Third Assistant Postmaster General, in the early summer,
made an address before some publishers in Chicago, wherein he
stated that it was the purpose of the Postmaster General “to
adjust postage rates based upon the principle of the payment on
each class of mail matter of a rate of postage equal to the cost
of handling and carriage, and no more, and that one class of
mail matter shall not be taxed to meet deficiencies caused by an
inadequate rate on another class,” meaning by this that the rate
must be raised on second-class matter and lowered on the first
class.
General DeGraw, Fourth Assistant Postmaster General, in an
address before the West Virginia Association of Postmasters,
stated the purpose of the Postmaster General to be exactly what
Mr. Britt declared it to be; and he had the postmasters pass a
resolution indorsing the Postmaster General, and even as late as
September 22, at Milwaukee, he advocated “_the crystalization of
the proposed increase in second-class mail rates into law_.”
Jesse L. Suter, representing the Postoffice Department, brought
greetings from the Postmaster General, to a round-up of
postmasters in Michigan in August last, and said that “the great
subsidy extended the publishers in the form of a ridiculously
small rate of postage is unreasonable. Were the publishers
required to pay more in proportion to what it actually costs
the government to transport their products, the people of the
United States would be benefited. _Every man, woman and child
in the United States is taxed seventy-three cents by way of his
letter postage_ over and above the cost of carrying his own
letters in order to meet the deficiency of underpaid second-class
matter.”[7] And then, of course, the postmasters passed a
resolution thanking Mr. Suter for his “timely hints relative to
second-class matter and commending the Postmaster General.”
On August 22 and 23, there was a postmasters’ convention at
Toledo, Ohio, at which a resolution was proposed complimenting
the Postmaster General “for his efforts to bring about a fair
compensation from those enjoying the benefits of second-class
rates.”
James B. Cook, Superintendent of the Division of Postoffice
Supplies, Washington, D. C., also addressed a postmasters’
convention in the West, in which he said: “There is one thing
I am going to ask you to do--it is a simple thing and one that
should be near to your hearts. Certain publishers have attempted
to create public sentiment against an increase of postage on
advertising matter in magazines.… Many of us believe that the
postage rate is class legislation of the rankest kind in favor
of the few at the expense of the masses. Talk to your business
men about it; the Postmaster General _is going to win this fight
because he is in the right_. Tell the business men that the
Postmaster General feels that he is entitled not only to their
moral but their active support.”
At how many other state conventions the postmasters have
been prompted to pass resolutions and have been addressed by
Washington officials endorsing “the great fight” the Postmaster
General is making for a higher postage rate, deponent sayeth not.
Thus it is that an energetic campaign has been carried on by the
Postmaster General during the summer, postmasters being urged
to pass resolutions and “talk to business men” in favor of an
increase of postage rate on second-class matter in order, no
doubt, to be ready when Congress meets to put the measure through.
In confirmation of the above, word comes from Washington to the
effect that “there has been no cessation in the activities of
the department to make preparations to renew vigorously at the
forthcoming Congress the fight for an increased rate. If the
publishers feel that they have won their fight and are resting
easily, they will have an awakening ere the year is over.”
While it would not be possible or advisable under the
circumstances to circumscribe the activities of our energetic
Postmaster General, certainly it would be a prudent and wise step
for publishers to place themselves in position to know what is
going on injurious to their own interests and that of the people
of the whole country.
Now, Mr. Hitchcock is a brave and persistent fighter and as such
will respect and honor those who will stand up like men and
defend their cause, and can have only contempt for those who will
meekly sit still while being pummeled to death.
_If publishers are ever to establish honorable and just and
amicable and pleasant relations with the Postoffice Department
they must show that they are men with red blood in their veins._
The essential thing will be to get the right man to represent us
at Washington but this ought not to be difficult.
Among his duties will be to make inquiry into postal matters
of every description that in any way relate to the publishing
business and to publish them; publish orders of the department;
rulings and proposed rulings; attend hearings and publish the
proceedings; keep abreast of measures introduced in Congress and
proposed by the Postoffice Department bearing upon the publishing
business; keep subscribers fully posted on everything that occurs
at Washington or elsewhere that concerns them; to advocate such
reforms in the postal service as the people ask for and need, and
finally to rally the whole fraternity to resist any threatened
or actual encroachment upon the freedom and independence of the
press.
Here are some of the qualifications necessary for the person
fit to take charge of the Washington office: Some experience as
editor and publisher; he must be honest and just; patriotic;
discreet; firm; tactful; must have power as a writer; character
as a gentleman; vision, courage, one who cannot be either
frightened or cajoled; and finally, one who recognizes the
fact that _liberty of the press is a principle that lies at
the foundation of republican institutions_, and must not be
encroached upon, or placed in jeopardy.
I have made the above quotation from Mr. Atkinson to evidence the fact
that he and others support my view of Mr. Hitchcock’s attitude _now_,
in relation to this second-class mail rate question. Mr. Atkinson shows
quite conclusively that our Postmaster General is still, and stealthily,
running the trail which the Penrose-Overstreet Commission _scented_ for
him and urges publishers and the printing trades to be on their guard.
Some pages back I adverted to the fact that the deficit of $6,000,000
for the fiscal year 1909-10 was the ground-plan of Mr. Hitchcock for
an increase in second-class postage rates. That deficit he himself has
converted into _a surplus of several thousands of dollars_.
Why, then, is he still trailing those independent periodicals?
Why, too, it is relevant to ask, did he so suddenly hear that the people
of this country were crying for a cut of fifty per cent in first-class,
or sealed, postage rates, much as the advertiser declares the children
cry for Castoria? To the Man on the Ladder it appears that what Mr.
Hitchcock heard must have been a “far cry”--very far. So far, indeed,
that no one who did not have his _ear to an ulterior motive_ could hear
it.
You will observe that he worries a couple of years over a “deficit”--a
little runabout, five H. P. deficit of $6,000,000. Then by doing a few
things which common business sense imperatively dictates should be done,
and which, it is well known among competents, any one of a dozen of Mr.
Hitchcock’s predecessors should have done, or _could_ have done had
not dirty politics blocked them--by doing just a _few_ of the business
things which every student of the question knows could have been done and
should have been done years ago, Mr. Hitchcock lost his “deficit”--his
ground-plan for attack on second-class rates--_and found a surplus
instead_.
The Man on the Ladder does not desire to appear impertinent nor even
finicky in his type conversation on this point, but in simple justice to
the magnitude of the question he is constrained to ask: Is a “deficit”
so essentially necessary to Mr. Hitchcock in a fight to put certain
independent periodicals on the financial skids that he must, losing one
deficit, _immediately set about creating another_?
That is just what his move to cut the mail rate on first-class, or
sealed, matter must lead to--lead to temporarily of course. In the end a
one-cent rate per ounce or fraction thereof will win to a paying basis.
That rate will mean a cut of sixteen cents a pound from thirty-two cents
a pound for carriage and handling letters and other sealed matter of
the first-class. Certainly the postoffice can haul and distribute such
matter at a profit at that rate. However, it is equally certain that the
department will not handle such matter at a profit for two, three or more
years--not so handle it until numerous causes of waste, inhering in the
department for years, are sloughed and the department put under _strict
business management_, and not left under partisan political management
as now and as it has been for thirty-five or forty years.
With the postal and post card facilities now furnished at the one-cent
rate, no considerable number of our people are complaining about the
two-cent rate for letters and other sealed matter. But all will welcome
a flat rate of one cent on such matter at the present weights. If they
get it, either with or without Mr. Hitchcock’s assistance, the people
will be getting only what they are entitled to, deficit or no deficit.
However, if Mr. Hitchcock thinks a “deficit” necessary armament in his
fight to increase second-class mail rates--to increase such rates, as it
would appear, on a certain few periodicals which print and publish _what
the people want to hear and read and not what a few federal officeholders
tell them to print and publish_, then a cut of 50 per cent in the present
first-class postage rates will most certainly create that deficit for him.
In a few years, of course, after business has adjusted itself to the
lower rate and the fathers, mothers and sweethearts of the country have
learned that they can write a letter to John, Mary, Thomas or Lucy and
have it delivered for one cent, whereas it now costs two cents, then Mr.
Hitchcock’s _created_ deficit will fade away--will again fade into a
surplus.
In the meantime, however, Mr. Hitchcock and associate coterie who
apparently are gunning for periodicals _which dare tell the truth_,
will have a “deficit” to use as wadding in their verbal, oratorical and
_franked_ ordnance.
The 1910 report of the Postoffice Department sets up something over
$202,000,000 as receipts from cancellation of stamps, or stamp sales.
Of course, millions of dollars’ worth of those stamps were bought for
and canceled in third and fourth class service, catalogues, books,
etc.--in third-class carriage and handling, and merchandise parcels in
fourth class. One has no data--nor can he obtain such data from the
Postoffice Department records--to show what sum or portion of that
$202,000,000 worth of stamps was canceled in the transmission of letters
and other sealed matter of the first-class. But it may be conservatively
stated that if Mr. Hitchcock succeeds in cutting down or curtailing
the circulation of weekly and monthly periodicals--especially their
advertising pages--he will have no trouble in finding, for two or three
years at least, a shrinkage of from $50,000,000 to $75,000,000 in that
stamp account.
That, with the falling away in _paid_ second-class matter, will provide
him a “deficit” which should make him jubilant--should furnish wadding
for his embrasured guns for two or three years in his attack on those
recalcitrant periodicals which attend to their _own business_ in a clean,
truthful way and expect nothing of a Postmaster General other than that
he attend strictly and efficiently to his business, to the business of
the Postoffice Department--to the business of collecting, transporting
and distributing the federal mails.
I have probably discussed Mr. Hitchcock, his faults and his excellencies
sufficiently. I will therefore, pass to another phase of our general
subject.
THE HUGHES COMMISSION.
First, however, I must introduce a few paragraphs here in summary of
the work done by the Hughes Commission at its August session in New
York City. The commission comprised Associate Justice Hughes, President
Lowell of Harvard University, and H. A. Wheeler, President of the Chicago
Association of Commerce. That this triumvirate of gentlemen will act
disinterestedly and fairly, so far as their knowledge and the evidence
relating to postal affairs extends, there is here no question.
That they have not and will not dig up and uncover facts and data
relating to the haulage and handling of second-class mail matter, beyond
that already known to and on file with government officials, is equally
certain. No finer trinity of men could well have been selected by
President Taft, but the fact is none of the three has had any opportunity
to make a study of the federal mail service, second-class or other. Or
if they have had such opportunity, the press of official and private
business in other lines and directions preventing, in large extent,
their study of postal service costs and affairs. No doubt, these three
gentlemen will do the very best and fairest they can--or know how to
do--with the evidence presented to them. Still, I am of the opinion that
they will discover little which has not already been discovered--which,
as Congressman Moon said on the floor of the House last March (1911),
“has already been discovered and filed for departmental and official
reference.” Each of them is a man of high academic training but neither
of them, so far as The Man on the Ladder has been able to learn, had
made, as previously stated, any qualifying study of federal postal
affairs. So the best we have a right to expect from them is that they
will tell the story, draped in new or different verbiage, told by
predecessor commissions on second-class postal rates, costs of haulage
and handling the same, etc.
Incidentally it may be said with all due courtesy and respect that
the Hughes Commission will probably succeed in spending the $50,000
appropriated for its expenses, subsistence, incidentals, etc. The present
commission would not be loyal to precedent if it permitted any of that
$50,000 to return to the general fund as an “unexpended balance.”
Just here I desire to introduce a few items from the testimony of Mr.
Wilmer Atkinson before the Hughes Commission, which, in August last began
strenuous efforts to spend $50,000 and to discover and report upon facts
anent the cost of hauling and handling second-class mail matter--which
facts have already been collected, collated and filed with labored,
likewise expensive, care somewheres in the government’s archives. I have
quoted from Mr. Atkinson several times in forward pages. I desire to
quote here from his testimony before this Hughes Commission, because the
Hughes Commission is the latest and “best seller” on the second class
mail shelf and because I recognize in Mr. Atkinson one of the first and
most dependable authorities in the country on the cost of carriage,
handling and distribution of mail--whether of the second or any other
class. Especially do I desire to quote part of his testimony before the
Hughes Commission because I am of the opinion that the reader, as well as
the Commission, must necessarily gather forcefully pertinent facts from
it:
To ascertain what second-class matter costs has been found to be
a puzzling proposition. Many have tried to solve the puzzle and
all have failed.
The Joint Congressional Commission consisting of Penrose, Carter
and Clay for the Senate, and Overstreet, Moon and Gardner for the
House, with the aid of numerous expert accountants, at a cost
of a quarter of a million dollars (according to the President’s
statement), attempted it and gave it up. All these gentlemen
are on record as declaring that it is a task impossible of
accomplishment.
Senator Bristow, a former Assistant Postmaster General, who has
given postal questions much careful study, said in a recent
speech that “It does not cost nine cents a pound, nor can the
Department ascertain with even approximate accuracy what is
the cost of handling any special class of mail. It would be
just as easy for the Pennsylvania Railroad to state in dollars
and cents what it costs to haul a ton of coal from Harrisburg
to Pittsburgh, or 100 pounds of silk from Pittsburgh to
Indianapolis, as for the Postoffice Department to state what it
costs the Department to handle newspapers or magazines. Anyone
familiar with transportation knows that such calculations cannot
be made with accuracy, because there are so many unassignable
expenses that must be considered--expenditures that cannot be
subdivided and assigned to the different classes of freight. The
same is true as to the different classes of mail.”
Postal officials have exhausted conjecture as a basis for a
correct solution of this problem. Nearly every year there has
been a new guess. Mr. Madden, Third Assistant Postmaster-General
for seven years up to 1907, guessed that it cost 4 cents a pound.
His successor, Mr. Lawshe, guessed 2½ cents and then the next
year 4 cents. For the last two years the Department’s guess has
been 9 cents.
The Penrose-Overstreet Commission declared, while it is
impossible to ascertain with certainty what the cost is, the
members of the Commission gave it as their opinion that “_One
cent a pound is approximately adequate compensation for handling
and transporting second-class matter._”
I am confident that there is a better way of solving the problem
than has heretofore been tried. This consists in the direct
application of plain, old-fashioned common sense to it. A little
gumption in such a matter as this is far better than fanciful
guessing or astute figuring by experts, who are bent on finding
something that is not there.
In working out this problem I have adopted a method quite
different and have obtained results quite unlike the foregoing.
I show the relation of second-class mail to stamp mail extending
over a period of 25 years, from 1885 to 1910. This covers the
entire period since the institution of the cent a pound rate.
I go back still further to 1876 when the postage rate on
newspapers was 4 times greater than now, when the sale of stamps
was less than one-eleventh what it is now, _and while deficits
were larger_.
The highest point reached in the weight of second-class matter
previous to the institution of the present rate, was 101,057,963
pounds.
It has been repeatedly declared officially that second-class
matter originates large quantities of other classes of mail, and
in the official figures we have the proof.
While population increased from 1885 to 1910 only a little more
than double, the revenue from the sale of stamps, etc., and the
weight of second-class matter, each increased over 5 times. _No
other possible reason can be assigned for the increase in stamp
mail, and the tremendous development of every branch of the
postal business 5 times faster than the growth of population,
than the increased circulation and influence of the newspaper and
periodical press, brought about by the reduced postage rate._
SECOND-CLASS MATTER WOULD HAVE LONG AGO WIPED OUT ALL DEFICITS
AND CREATED AN ENORMOUS ANNUAL SURPLUS HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THE
GREAT BURDENS WHICH WEIGHED THE SERVICE DOWN.
There would have been a surplus, instead of a deficit, every year
since 1901, had allowance been made for the extraordinary cost
of free rural delivery, and in 1910, the surplus would have been
$31,075,170.12.
If also allowance had been made for free government matter, other
than the Postoffice Department’s own free matter, being sent
stamped as first-class matter is, the surplus for 1910 would have
been $51,075,470.12 and these figures like all others here given,
are from official reports.
A VAST INCREASE OF EXPENDITURES.
_Not only did stamp mail, under the stimulus of the steady and
enormous increase of second-class matter, enable the Department
to meet the cost of rural delivery while reducing the deficit,
but it also met and overcame the immense increase of the annual
expenditures for railroad transportation which grew from
$33,523,902.18 in 1901 to $44,654,515.97 in 1910: of salaries to
postmasters, assistants and clerks which grew from $32,790,253.39
in 1901 to $65,582,533.57 in 1910, of the railway mail service
which grew from $9,675,436.52 to $19,385,096.97 in 1910, and of
the city delivery service which grew from $15,752,600 in 1901
to $36,841,407.40 in 1910. In these four items alone there was
an increase in annual expenditures in the last ten years of
$74,721,361.82, for which second-class matter was only in a very
limited way responsible._
Entirely too much stress has been placed upon the cost of
second-class matter, for it makes little difference whether
it costs 2½ cents or 4 cents or 9 cents, or even more, if it
produce results commensurate with its cost, and this it would
do _if the cost were double the highest guess yet made_. The
Government could afford to carry it free rather than not carry
it at all, for without it the bottom would drop out of the
Postal Establishment. As long as the people get the benefit of
the low rate, as they are doing now, for which we have official
testimony, it matters not what the rate is except that it should
be kept at the very bottom notch.
WHY THE POSTAGE RATE WAS MADE LOW.
Even if the cost of second-class matter should be declared to be
more than one cent per pound, it would not be good public policy
for Congress to increase it, because much reading matter would be
placed out of the reach of many who now are receiving the benefit
of it.
Postmaster-General Meyer said in his report for 1908: “The charge
for carrying second-class mail matter was intentionally fixed
below cost for the purpose of encouraging the dissemination of
information of educational value to the people, _and the benefit
of the cheap rate of postage is passed on to the subscriber in a
lower subscription price than would otherwise be possible_.”
The Hon. Charles Emory Smith truly declared: “Our free
institutions rest on popular intelligence, and it has from the
beginning been our fixed and enlightened policy to foster and
promote the general diffusion of public information. Congress
has wisely framed the postal laws with this just and liberal
conception.
“It has uniformly sought to encourage intercommunication and the
exchange of intelligence. As facilities have cheapened, it has
gradually lowered all postage rates. It has never aimed to make
the postal service a source of profit, but simply to make it pay
its own way and to give the people the benefit of all possible
advancement.
“In harmony with this sound and judicious policy, it has
deliberately established a low rate of postage for genuine
newspapers and periodicals, with the express design of
encouraging and aiding the distribution of the recognized means
and agencies of public information.
“It is not a matter of favor, but of approved judgment. _It is
not for the publishers, but for the people._”
The testimony of Senator Bristow is that, “I am glad we have got
a one-cent rate of postage for the legitimate newspapers and
magazines of the country, and I would rather decrease it than
raise it. _The beneficiaries are the poor people themselves_,
who now get daily papers at from $2 to $4 a year, when they used
to pay from $10 to $12. They now get magazines from $1 to $1.50,
when they used to pay $4 to $6 per year for magazines of no
higher grade.” …
And I would remind the Commission that there are millions of
laboring men and women who cannot afford to add to their living
expenses the cost of any but the very cheapest reading matter,
and many not even that. After buying food and clothing and
providing shelter there is scarcely anything left in the home for
cultivating the intellect and informing the mind.
When sickness intervenes, then comes the stress of debt, and if
death follow, the future has to be drawn upon to give the dead a
burial such as love would provide. Are these people, _the bone
and sinew of the land, those in the humble walks of life_, not
to be considered when it is proposed to add to the cost of the
family reading?
It surely should not be made more difficult for the poor to
obtain that which is so essential to their welfare and that of
the Republic of which they form an important part.…
“But here I cannot forbear to recommend,” said George Washington,
in his message to Congress, on November 6, 1792, “a repeal of
the tax on the transportation of public prints. There is no
resource so firm for the government of the United States as the
affections of the people, guided by an enlightened policy; and
to this primary good, nothing can conduce more than a faithful
representation of public proceedings diffused without restraint
throughout the United States.”
NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS.--THE DIFFERENCE.
An effort was made in the closing hours of the 61st Congress to
increase the postage rate on magazines. It is my opinion that the
postage rate should remain uniform as it is now upon all classes
of publications. There should be no partiality shown, there
should be no discrimination. A proposal to increase the rate on
magazines alone, is not one that should have the endorsement of
this Commission nor the approval of Congress, as I shall endeavor
to show.
Under Section 432 of the Postal Laws and Regulations, “A
newspaper is held to be a publication regularly issued at stated
intervals of not longer than one week; a periodical is held
to be a publication regularly issued at stated intervals less
frequently than weekly.”
A magazine is nowhere defined in the Postal Laws and Regulations.
A law that would increase the postage rate on “magazines,”
without an explicit definition of the word, would apply to
just such publications as the Postmaster-General might select
in the administration of the law, and none others. No such
power of discrimination should be vested in any official. The
Postmaster-General is an executive, not a judicial officer, nor a
lawmaker.
It has been wisely and aptly said that this is a government of
laws and not of men; that there is no arbitrary power located in
any individual or body of individuals; but that all in authority
are guided and limited by those provisions which the people have,
through the organic law, declared shall be the measure and scope
of all control exercised over them.
There seems to be no good reason why a newspaper, which is
carried in the mails once a day or once a week, should pay a less
rate than a monthly or quarterly. If the Government really loses
money in handling and transporting second-class matter, the loss
would be greater on the former than on the latter, because a
daily goes through the mails 365 times a year, a weekly 52 times,
while a monthly only goes 12 times, and a quarterly 4 times.
We learn from official records that daily newspapers comprise
40.50 per cent. of all second-class matter, weeklies 15.23
per cent., papers devoted to science 1.30, to education .64,
religious 5.91, trade 4.94, agriculture 5, magazines 20.23, and
miscellaneous 6.25. Note that it is stated that 20.23 of the
whole consists of magazines; but what is a magazine? We are
nowhere told, and the percentage quoted has the appearance of
being founded upon conjecture.…
This Commission may not be aware of the fact that the
Pennsylvania Railroad will take, and does take, packages of
papers for all of the great newspapers that are published
along its lines, and transports them in the baggage cars for
one-quarter of a cent per pound, to any station on the line,
whether it is ten miles from the place of origin, or 1,000 miles
from the place of origin. And yet the Department is paying
the railroads approximately two cents a pound for hauling the
newspapers of the country.
The papers are delivered by the publishers to the train just
the same as the publisher delivers his newspapers to the train
when they are sent by mail. These packages are delivered to the
depots of the railroads, and the parties to whom they are sent
call at the depots for the packages. If they are sent by mail the
publisher delivers them at the train, and the parties to whom
they are addressed call at the postoffice for the packages. The
postoffice Department does not go to the newspaper office and
get the mail. The publisher delivers the newspapers to the mail
trains, the same as he delivers them to baggage cars for the
railroad company.
And possibly the Commission has not been informed that the
express companies have a contract with the American Publishers’
Association whereby they agree to receive newspaper packages of
any size, and deliver them to their destination within a limit of
500 miles, for one-half cent per pound. The express company does
not call at the newspaper office for the papers. The publisher
delivers them to the express car, the same as he delivers his
papers to the mail car. The express company then takes these
newspapers, consisting of packages of any size, from a single
wrapper to a 100-pound bundle, and delivers them at the other end
of the line to the addresses, if the distance is not greater than
500 miles, for half a cent a pound, and by its contract with the
railroad the express company pays the railroad only a quarter of
a cent a pound.
The Department figures show that the average distance which
newspapers are hauled is less than 300 miles. Yet the Department
is paying about two cents a pound to the railroad for that which
the express companies pay but a quarter of a cent a pound.
The express companies only charge the publisher one-half cent
a pound, while the Government charges him one cent a pound.
The express companies pay the railways one-fourth a cent a
pound, while the Government pays about two cents--eight times
as much--for exactly the same service. The express companies
are glad to get the business, and render more service than the
Postoffice Department, because they deliver the packages of any
size at the other end, which the Department does not do.
Senator Bristow is authority for the above statements concerning
the railroad and express contracts.
…
Now I would not have this (class) newspaper and its annexes
deprived of the low postage rate, but as the Postoffice
Department has within the past ten years denied admission to the
mails of 11,563 of other publications, and 32,000 others have
been ruled out or died from the hard conditions imposed, I would
respectfully request this Commission to ascertain and report to
the President for transmission to Congress _why there has never
been a single publication of this class shut out or even molested
in the slightest degree_?
I do not say it is, but _is_ it, because such papers are
politically powerful, that they have the ear of the public,
that they hold a monopoly of the news, and that they can make
or unmake the reputation of public officials at will, and that
therefore they are immune from interference?…
I have here a copy of the _Police Gazette_, which I take to be
a superior paper of its class. It is held to be a newspaper,
entitled to transmission through the mails at a cent a pound. It
has never been proposed to raise the postage rate on this paper.…
_This Commission should endeavor to find out and report to the
President for transmission to Congress, why the postage rate on
one-half of the periodicals devoted to agriculture should be
increased from one cent to three cents, and the postage rate on
the Police Gazette should remain at one cent._
HEARINGS BEFORE THE HUGHES POSTAL COMMISSION.
I intended to follow the hearings before this commission personally.
Ill health prevented my doing so. Under this stress, I asked my friend,
Mr. M. H. Madden, quoted on a previous page in connection with other
phases of our general subject, to summarize for me the hearings of the
commission in August. Mr. Madden kindly consented to do so. Following is
what he writes me relating to the commission’s proceedings and hearings:
The first meeting of the commission took place on August 1, and
it continued its hearings in New York City, with occasional
adjournments during the greater part of the month.
Postmaster General Hitchcock represented his department before
the commission, Second Assistant Stewart and Third Assistant
Britt were also present, each in turn occupying the stand.
Hitchcock outlined his position concerning a demand for an
increase for the first time, although the same idea was
expressed by Third Assistant Britt some months ago, when Britt
made an address before a convention of newspaper circulation
managers in Chicago. Hitchcock and his two assistants held to
the view that each schedule in the postal service should be
made self-sustaining, the credit for this idea being given to
Hitchcock, and in order to justify his position concerning a
raise in second-class rates an arbitrary figure has been placed
on the cost of handling the same, the total “deficit” from this
schedule being placed at about $70,000,000 annually. This amount
was arrived at by what Second Assistant Postmaster General
Stewart states was a complete record of the weighing of all mail
handled by the Postoffice Department of matter originating in
every postoffice and railway postoffice in the country for a
period of six months from July 1 to December 1, 1907, together
with the amount of mail carried in every railway car. The
department in many instances has admitted the unreliability of
the figures used, there having been many estimates employed.
Publishers of the country were represented by several attorneys
who examined into the testimony given by Hitchcock, Stewart
and Britt, and by a series of questions they showed that the
conclusions of the three as to cost of handling second-class
mail were made on a guesswork plan and not on a scientific or
reasonably accurate basis of fact. Third Assistant Postmaster
General Britt made the startling statement that “if all the
magazines and newspapers were excluded from the second-class
rates because of a circulation gained, _not on the merits_ of
the publication, but _because of some voting contest or offer of
premiums as a bait, not 10 per cent. of the total would remain
undisturbed_.”
This declaration was looked upon as an argument by the magazine
publishers as favoring their contention that the advertising
portions of their periodicals are justified by legitimate
business reasons, as an increased volume of advertising enables
publishers to issue periodicals of much higher literary
excellence. The postal authorities held with firmness to the
conviction that advertising matter in publications is primarily
for the advantage of the publisher, and therefore should be
charged a higher rate than reading matter. Postmaster General
Hitchcock went on record before the commission as declaring
that he would recommend to Congress an increase on the
advertising portion of magazines and newspapers of a cent a
pound additional. Assuming that the postoffice officials are
prompted by a legitimate purpose in their desire to increase
rates on second-class matter, their arguments before the
commission have been transparently weak, and an unbiased mind
they would fail in convincing, but the feeling is that the
commission will accept the conclusions of the postal authorities
that the government rate of one cent a pound is inadequate for
transporting second-class matter. To justify the position taken
by the government that each schedule should maintain itself,
the Postmaster General intends to press with vigor a reduction
of first-class postage from two-cents to one cent a letter, he
citing the profit on first-class mail and the alleged loss on
second-class matter as his reason for the change of rate.
Religious and denominational publications were represented
before the commission, the contention being made by these
that the doubling of the rate on second-class matter would
work very serious injury to the religious press, forcing many
publications out of business. This statement was made by E. R.
Graham, representing the Methodist Book Concern publications in
Cincinnati and New York, and seemingly it made an impression on
the members of the commission. The attorneys representing the
publishers were much interested in Mr. Graham’s statement, he
being considered a competent authority on the matter.
One of the strongest arguments of the hearings, because of the
experience which he has had as a postal official, was made by Mr.
W. S. Shallenberger, who had served several years in Congress
as a member of the Committee on Postoffice and Postroads.
Mr. Shallenberger was for a number of years Second Assistant
Postmaster General, and now represents the Interdenominational
Publishers who issue Sunday school literature throughout the
United States. This witness gave it as his opinion that an
increase in the rate on second-class matter would cause magazines
and newspapers to avail themselves of the facilities now offered
by the express companies which are becoming active competitors
of the government in transporting second-class matter, these
corporations obtaining better rates from the railroads than is
given to the government. Mr. Shallenberger expressed the view
that since every civilized nation was cheapening the cost of
postal service the fact that our country was seeking to increase
the rate seemed to be reactionary.
Mr. Shallenberger served under six Postmaster Generals and all of
these held that the government was carrying second-class matter
at a loss. But his opinion was that there was a substantial
profit in the present rate, at the same time condemning the idea
that each particular schedule should be made to pay its own way,
the stimulus toward encouraging other schedule receipts not being
given its proper consideration. Mr. Shallenberger gave a hint
concerning hidden influences seeking to have the second-class
rate increased but did not enter deeply into this phase of the
subject. The controversy between Mr. Shallenberger and Second
Assistant Stewart was animated and prolonged, and touched on
features connected with the compensation paid railroads for
hauling the mail, the express companies getting better terms than
the government, this statement being made by a representative of
the Postal Progress League.
The strongest point the publishing interests made was when the
superintendent of the railway mail service, Chas. H. McBride,
testified that a considerable part of the estimate upon which the
department’s figures are based is guesswork and assumption, he
admitting that if this were so the result would not be greatly
different from what the officials first claimed. On the whole
Superintendent McBride’s testimony was calculated to show that
the Postoffice Department was desirous of making out a case
against the second-class schedule, however necessary it was to
twist figures and conceal facts in order to do so.
Mr. Wilmer Atkinson, publisher of Farm Journal, Philadelphia,
combated the contention of the postoffice officials, as shown in
their statements and tables, and declared with much emphasis that
second-class matter stimulated first-class postage receipts. The
statement of the cost of carrying second-class matter, placing it
at nine cents a pound, is, according to him, “only a stereotyped
guess that goes into the postoffice department report, each
year,” experts having repeatedly stated that there is no possible
way of fixing the cost of carrying second-class mail. In the
opinion of Mr. Atkinson the government could better afford to
carry it free than not to carry it at all. “Gumption and common
sense,” declared Mr. Atkinson, “should rather be applied than
indulging in worthless guessing.”
Representatives of scientific publications, college journals,
fashion papers, fraternal societies and trade periodicals
appeared before the members of the commission during the
sessions, and all entered emphatic protests against the increase.
In numerous instances these interests made the statement that
serious reverses would be encountered if the postage rate should
be doubled, and that many publications would be forced to suspend.
The labor union press, an interest representing about 250 weekly
and monthly publications, with a circulation approximating
1,250,000 copies was officially represented by President Samuel
Gompers of the American Federation of Labor, and President
Matthew Woll, of the Photo-Engravers’ Union. Mr. Gompers
entered vigorous protests against discriminations against
labor publications and registered a severe censure of the
method by which the Postoffice Department had hampered the
official journals of the labor people. Mr. Gompers stated that
the publications of the American Federation of Labor and its
auxiliaries were all highly educational in their character and,
in the event of an increase in the item of postage to the extent
of 100 per cent additional, many of the best would be driven out
of business with corresponding loss to the men individually and
to the nation as a whole. Mr. Gompers’ declaration was listened
to with much interest.
President Woll dwelt on the far-reaching effect which the
hampering of the labor press would have on the manifold business
relationships involved in the printing industry, primarily
directing attention to the more than a third of a million of
workers in the printing trades alone. He then advanced to
the foundation of the paper and machinery features of the
proposition, viz., from the ore in the mine, from which the
machinery was made, to the forest tree from which the pulp is
ground. The tonnage of the transportation service of the country
would at once be doubly interfered with, first in a reduced
demand for material with which to make the paper and, secondly,
the corresponding decrease in the weight of the finished product
of the publications. In many features Mr. Woll made prominent
the ideas which the “Postal Riders and Raiders” is promoting,
including the educational features of the immense volume of
printing which comes from the printing press in all sections of
the country.
The commission adjourned, subject to the call of Justice Hughes.
However, it is understood that it will be called together in time
to prepare its report to President Taft and to Congress when the
session opens in December, 1911.
FOOTNOTES
[6] Mr. Hitchcock, it should be noted, is careful in giving the higher
per cent. of rate which the third and fourth classes show above the
second class rate. Beyond the bare statement that the expense of handling
second class matter “is less” than for other classes, he says nothing
of cost of carriage and handling. His own figures show (see preceding
paragraph), that the cost of carriage and handling first-class matter is
422 per cent. higher than his own absurd cost-figure of 9 cents a pound
(cost) for carriage and handling second-class and _4600 per cent. higher
than the present second class rate_.
[7] Mr. Suter must certainly have been wind-jamming a little. “Every man,
woman and child” pays at a maximum rate of 2 cents an ounce or fraction
thereof. That is at the rate of 32 cents a pound. Mr. Hitchcock’s figures
assert, that it costs “47 cents a pound” to carry and handle the letters
for “every man, woman and child”--that is, presuming they all write
letters. The letter writers, it appears then, pay only 2 cents for a
service which costs nearly 3 cents.