But in this same period of eight years there was an increase of $100,600,000, or 93 per cent., in Postoffice Department expenditures, of which only $10,900,000, or 11 per cent., was paid to the railroads, $33,935,000, or 34 per cent., going to Rural Free Delivery, $25,000,000, or 25 per cent., to postmasters and their clerks, and the balance to other items.
The following statement shows for the year 1895 and for the years 1899 to 1908, inclusive, postal revenue and postal expenditures divided between amounts paid the railroads, cost of rural delivery and other expenditures:
| REVENUE. | EXPENDITURES. | |||||
| Year. | Paid Railroads. | Rural Delivery. | Other. | Total. | ||
| 1895 | $ 70,983,000 | $31,189,000(a) | $ — | $57,637,000 | $88,826,000 | (a) |
| 1899 | 95,021,000 | 35,775,000 | 150,000 | 65,607,000 | 101,632,000 | |
| 1900 | 102,355,000 | 37,315,000 | 420,000 | 70,005,000 | 107,740,000 | |
| 1901 | 111,631,000 | 38,161,000 | 1,778,000 | 75,616,000 | 115,555,000 | |
| 1902 | 121,848,000 | 39,519,000 | 3,998,000 | 81,269,000 | 124,786,000 | |
| 1903 | 134,224,000 | 41,377,000 | 8,102,000 | 89,305,000 | 138,784,000 | |
| 1904 | 143,583,000 | 43,971,000 | 12,682,000 | 95,709,000 | 152,362,000 | |
| 1905 | 152,827,000 | 45,482,000 | 20,824,000 | 101,093,000 | 167,399,000 | |
| 1906 | 167,933,000 | 46,953,000 | 24,774,000 | 106,543,000 | 178,270,000 | |
| 1907 | 183,585,000 | 49,831,000 | 26,643,000 | 113,754,000 | 190,238,000 | |
| 1908 | 191,479,000 | 48,155,000 | 34,355,000 | 125,842,000 | 208,352,000 | |
| (a) Includes $1,646,741 accrued in favor of Pacific Railroads in 1895, but not charged to postal expenditures. | ||||||
| The railroads are themselves large contributors to the revenues of thePostoffice Department. It is ascertained that nine roads, covering 27,500miles, pay annually $261,000 for postage stamps, or at the rate of $2,000,000for the entire railroad mileage of the country. | ||||||
The next statement shows clearly that the ratio of expenses to receipts of the Postoffice Department would in 1908 have been but 91 per cent. and no deficit but for the expenditures made for Rural Free Delivery, the amount paid the railroads being now only 25 per cent. of the total revenue as compared with 41 per cent. in 1895.
RATIO OF EXPENSES OF POSTOFFICE DEPARTMENT TO POSTAL REVENUES 1895-1908.
| Percentage | Percentage | Percentage | ||
| of Postal Rev. | Paid to | Paid to | ||
| Year. | Paid to R'ys. | Rural Free Del. | Other Expenses. | Total. |
| 1895 | 41 | 0 | 75 | 116 |
| 1899 | 38 | 0 | 69 | 107 |
| 1900 | 36 | 0 | 69 | 105 |
| 1901 | 34 | 1 | 69 | 104 |
| 1902 | 32 | 3 | 67 | 102 |
| 1903 | 31 | 6 | 66 | 103 |
| 1904 | 31 | 9 | 66 | 106 |
| 1905 | 30 | 14 | 66 | 110 |
| 1906 | 28 | 15 | 63 | 106 |
| 1907 | 27 | 15 | 62 | 104 |
| 1908 | 25 | 18 | 66 | 109 |
In order to avoid a deficit, attention has been concentrated on this 25 per cent. of the postal expenditure, which we contend is at least not an unfair compensation to the railroads for services rendered. Though the proportion of the total revenue going to the railroads has fallen one-third in ten years, the deficit still remains, and is it reasonable to suppose that any reduction in railway mail pay would not be speedily absorbed in other directions? On the contrary, ought not efforts be concentrated to bring within reasonable figures the other expenses of the Department, which now absorb 84 per cent. of its revenue as compared with only 69 per cent. in 1900—despite an actual growth in postal revenue in the same time of $89,000,000, or 87 per cent.?
It will be noted from these figures that a reduction of 10 per cent. in the ratio of railway mail pay to total revenue can be entirely wiped out by an increase of only 3 per cent. in other postal expenses, whilst a retrenchment of 10 per cent. in the latter would have put the Department almost on a paying basis, notwithstanding the heavy cost of Rural Free Delivery. From 1895 to 1908 actual totals show that the railroads' pay has increased 54 per cent. for handling 114 per cent. more mail tonnage, whilst in the same period other expenses of the Postoffice Department have grown 178 per cent., revenues increasing 149 per cent.
Increased mail business means a direct increase in postal revenue, as postage remains the same regardless of tonnage, but carrying this increased business on the part of the railroads means less proportionate revenue to them according to volume of tonnage, so that the proportion of the postal revenue they now receive is very much less than formerly. Labor, material, and the price of everything sold in commerce have advanced materially, as we all know, in the past seven or eight years; railway mail pay being practically the only thing that has decreased in the face of conditions that should have raised it.