"A railroad company is required by law to carry the mails upon any train that may be run, when so ordered by the Postmaster-General, without extra charge therefor, and as a result the mails are carried on the fastest trains and with great frequency. Express matter is not as a rule carried on the fast limited passenger trains, nor with the frequency with which mails are carried.
"In this connection your attention is invited to pages 84 to 94, 516, 517, 860 to 863, part 1, and pages 687 to 696, part 2, of the testimony before the Congressional Commission which investigated the postal service in 1900—Wolcott-Loud Commission.
"Yours very truly,
"F. H. Hitchcock,
"Postmaster-General."
The Government does not own any railroad, but, under the present system, the Post Office Department dictates to the railroad companies upon what passenger trains and in what kind of cars the mails shall be carried. It insists on such space and facilities as it deems necessary for the mails being furnished on the fastest and most expensive trains and demands that these trains keep their fast schedules; this means that all other trains on the road are side-tracked and delayed whenever that is necessary in order to expedite the mails.
There are no such features in the express business.
Demanding a preference traffic, the Government ought to be willing to pay for it more than express rates. In fact, it pays much less than express rates.
The ablest and most competent witness who appeared before the Wolcott Commission on this subject was Henry S. Julier, Vice-President and General Manager of the American Express Company, who said: "Without question, the Government has the cheaper service by far."
Mr. Julier further stated that seven pounds is the average weight of packages sent by express, and the seven pound package is the typical express package, and therefore the earnings from carrying such packages are the true index of the rates actually received. Some railroads receive as their compensation fifty per cent of the express company's earnings; the C. B. & Q. receives fifty-seven and a half per cent.
Mr. Julier was asked by the Commission to file statements showing from the rates in force exactly the revenue received per hundred-weight by the railroad company from the express in comparison with the mail rates. He filed the following:
Table Showing Rates Received by Railways Per Hundred-weight for Mails and Rates Received for Express Between Points Named.