VI. THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL IGNORED DATA WHICH HE HAD OBTAINED SHOWING EXPENDITURES ON ACCOUNT OF THE MAILS LARGELY IN EXCESS OF THE DIRECT EXPENSES FOR THAT SERVICE WHICH HE REPORTED.
As a part of the investigation reported in Document No. 105 the Postmaster-General obtained from the railways statements showing the amounts expended by them for the station and terminal services required by his Department and the amount of free transportation furnished on his requisition for officers and agents of the postal service when not in charge of mail. These data were not used (Document No. 105, p. 6) and, as no adequate allowance was made in any other way for these expenses, the omission unjustly reduced the estimates of the cost to the railways of their postal services. The Postmaster-General's explanation of this omission implies that it was partially offset by the assignment as cost of mail service of its proportion, on the space basis, of all the station and terminal expenses of the passenger train services but these special mail expenses are disproportionately heavy and the amount so assigned was far too low. The expenses for station and terminal services especially incurred for the mails, during November, 1909, and reported to the Postmaster-General, for ninety-two per cent. of the mileage covered by Document No. 105 aggregated $401,136.00, as follows:
| Amount of wages paid to messengers and porters employed exclusively in handling mails | $79,980.84 | |
| Portion properly chargeable to mail service, pro-rated on basis of actual time employed, of wages paid to station employees a part of whose time is employed in handling mails | 198,927.01 | |
| Amount expended for maintenance of horses and wagons and for ferriage, etc., in connection with mail service | 5,640.98 | |
| Rental value, plus average monthly cost of light and heat, of room or rooms set apart for the exclusive use of the mail service | 37,258.93 | |
| Rental value of tracks occupied daily for advance distribution of the mail | 47,029.12 | |
| Average monthly cost of light and heat for postal cars placed daily for advance distribution of mail | 18,400.57 | |
| Interest at the legal rate upon the value of cranes, catchers and trucks required for mail service | 3,895.36 | |
| —————— | ||
| Total | $401,126.00 | [F] |
All the foregoing data were reported to the Postmaster-General in response to his request but he made no use of these items, an omission manifestly to the serious disadvantage of the railways and having the effect of unduly reducing his estimates of the cost of the mail service.
Similarly, the Postmaster-General omitted to use the data he had obtained from the railways showing the volume of free passenger transportation, already referred to, supplied to the officers and agents of the Post Office Department and his estimates contain no recognition of the cost of this service although its extent should be a matter of record in the Department as it is furnished only on its requisition. The space in passenger coaches occupied by these representatives of the Post Office Department, traveling free, was not assigned to the mail service but was treated as passenger space.