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PAGE TWO
Public Opinion Throughout the Union
MORE WRECKS ON THE GEOR
GIA.
Despite The Herald’s warning it
seems as if the wreck epidemic is
about to break out once more on the
Georgia railroad. The performance
of Engine No. 4, one of the new en
gines, too, we believe, in running off
twice at the same place, seems to
give a clue as to just what the trou
ble is.
Is it with the engine or is it with
the track! If it is with the engine,
then why should it run off just at this
one point rather than any other par
ticular point on the road! If it is
with the track why should not other
engines run off at the same point,
as well as engine No. 4Y If again
there is trouble with engine No. 4,
what about other engines of the same
make and type that the road is us
ing!
At any rate, both the engines and
the track ought to be given a thor
ough overhauling. Every precaution
ought to be taken to prevent another
series of wrecks on the Georgia again
this season if it is possible to do so.
We understand that a more vigor
ous campaign this year is going to be
inaugurated against the wreck germ
on the Georgia than was undertaken
last year, and this time by the man
agement itself.
We understand that, for one thing
engine No. 4 has been withdraw from
active service, and that its running
parts are being carefully stored
away, doubtless with a view of hav
ing the builders of this particular
locomotive come down and make a
real expert examination in the effort
to determine whether or not it is the
fault of the engine. Might it not be
just as well to have the rack and
road bed and rails and ballast, etc.,
examined, overhauled and reinforced
wherever it is needed! Let’s make a
good job of it while we are at it this
time, and put the old Georgia back
into the splendid, safe condition that
it was in formerly.
Despite the protests of the officials
the road cannot be safe and in con
dition with all these wrecks constant
ly occurring, but it can be made so,
with the proper expenditure of time
and money and men to do it. And
that’s what ought to be done at the
earliest practicable moment. —Augus-
ta Herald.
PARCELS POST A CERTAINTY.
A parcels post system for the Un
ited States is now a practical certain
ty-
The details of a plan providing for
a limited service have been prepared
and will be urged upon congress at
the next session by Postmaster Gen
eral Meyer. The details of this plan
were explained to the national rural
free delivery carriers’ convention in
Atlanta by P. V. DeGraw, the fourth
assistant postmaster general.
Various plans for the inauguration
of a parcel post have been proposed
by former heads of the post office
department, but failed of indorsement
by congress. The present system on
ly proposes to make a start in the
direetion es a service which is now
rendered the people by all the coun
tries of Europe. The plan provides:
1. That the rate of postage on
packages be reduced from 16 cents to
12 cents a pound.
2. That the limitation put upon
the weight of packages that can be
admitted to the mails be increased
from 4 to 11 pounds.
3. That a parcels post be author
ized from the point at which any R.
F. D. route originates, with rates
fixed at 5 cents for the first pound
and 2 cents for each additional pound,
up to eleven pounds, so as to make
the full rate upon a package weigh
ing eleven pounds 25 cents.
The department limits the 5-cent
rate to packages sent from points
where the route originates. A mer
chant in Atlanta or Athens or Elber
ton could send out goods to his cus
tomer, provided he lived on one of
the routes served from these cities.
But if a merchant in Atlanta wanted
to ship goods to a customer living just
outside of Athens, he would have to
pay 12 cents a pound. This charge
is practically prohibitive.
If a zone system could be devised,
whereby the charges were made pro
portionate to the distance shipped, it
would be more equitable. In other
words, let the government fix the
charges for this service just as the
express companies and the transpor
tation companies fix the charges for
their service.
The explanation of the plan given
in the Atlanta address of Mr. De-
Graw showed a thorough study of the
subject. It was a clear, practical and
convincing argument as to the neces
sity for a parcels post system in this
country to further extend the service
rendered by the postal department to
the people.
Practically every country in Eu
rope has a paicels post. Under in
ternational postal agreement we must
admit to our mails packages from
foreign countries weighing not more
thdn eleven pounds at a uniform rate .
of 12 cents. We also permit pack
ages of the same weight to be sent
by post at the same rates to foreign
countries. But our own people are
charged 16 cents a pound for domes
tic postage and limited to packages
weighing 4 pounds.
A package can be sent by mail
from Atlanta to Berlin or to Vienna
cheaper than it can be mailed from
Atlanta to Marietta.
The R. F. D. carriers have passed
resolutions indorsing the plan. Their
influence will be potent in securing
favorable action by the representa
tives in congress from their respect
ive sections. Another consideration
which will appeal to congress is that
the new service will probably wipe
out the postal deficit which has been
charged to the maintenance of the R.
F. D. service.
The plan already proposed will be
sure to appeal to the rural merchant,
for it will permit him to freely use
Uncle Sam’s letter carriers in deliver
ing his goods. The rural merchant
can by this means also secure In
goods from the city. The carrier
will not object, since the plan in-
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
creases the need for his services and
will, in time, give him ground for an
application for an increase in pay.
With these varied interests support
ing the measure, and the people gen
erally clamoring for the increased
service, there is no question congress
will make a beginning, as indicated,
in the matter of establishing a par
cels post system. —Atlanta Constitu
tion.
IF SOME RAILROADS CAN DO IT,
WHY NOT ALL?
It is a Pleasure to Compliment Those
That Refrain from Killing
Their Passengers.
When a newspaper tells that some
railroad has killed one, two, ten or a
hundred human beings, the occur
rence, so frequent, attracts little at
tention. The relatives of those that
are dead realize what it means; the
rest of the population, hardened,
seems almost indifferent to the long
list of killings.
It is a pleasure to point out the
fact that two railroads in this neigh
borhood, at least, are setting a good
example in the way of care and safe
ty.
The Erie Railway has not killed a
passenger in fifteen months—and that
is saying a good deal for an Ameri
can railroad.
The Long Island Railroad, which
carries millions of human beings—
one of the most crowded and, because
of the sudden development of Long
Island, one of the most inadequately
equipped railroads in the country —
has a record even better than that of
the Erie. The Long Island Railroad
compares in safety and management
with any railroad in the world. It is
probably the best in this country.
We are glad to give these two rail
roads credit for the fact that they
carry passengers home safely, that
they apparently spend the necessary
money to run their roads with rela
tive freedom from accidents.
We should like to ask, on behalf of
the people, why other railroads can
not do the same.
Safety is a matter of money and
intelligence. The railroad men of
America are not lacking in intelli
gence, and there is no lack of money
in this country. The trouble is that
the practical working railroad man
ager is not allowed to spend on the
railroad and for the public a fair
share of the money that the railroad
brings in.
Many a railroad manager is blam
ed, when the blame should really rest
upon the selfish railroad gamblers—
the men who water the stocks, who
make a railroad pay profits on tens
of millions never spent.
The watered stock, the greedy pro
moters, account for overworked men,
/too long hours, lack of safety de
vices.
If any of our public officials cared
to do so they could prove by the com
parative safety of such roads as the
Long Island and the Erie that the
extraordinary numbers of railroad
killings are nothing else than mur
ders. Every one of these deaths os
the railroads, with very few excep
tion/, represents merely money put
into somebody’s pockets that should
have been put into the railroad.
T1 i people’ought to have strength
of c haracter enough to impress this
upoi the big men at the top, instead
of contenting themselves with blam
ing the smaller men—the railroad
managers—that are not responsible.
—Now York Evening JournaL
THE POPULISTS NOT TO BLAME.
Hon. John H. James, Atlanta’s
veteran financier, presents what may
be termed a redhot communication in
another part of this paper.
Taking issue with the greatly in
creased expenses of the railroad com
mission, with the additional salaries
fixed by the last legislature and the
numerical increase of the commission,
he says it is all wrong and that ths
time has come to “about face,” for
“a man needs a guardian if he buys
stock in a railroad or helps to build
one in Georgia now.”
But Mr. James is wrong in his ref
erence to the increased expenses of
the commission being partially at
tributable to the fact that “somebody
who was a good trader bought the en
tire populist party for this small em
ployment.”
No man in the state more literally
opposed the increase in the expenses
of and the addition to the member
ship of the railroad commission than
Hon. Thomas E. Watson. He warned
the legislature time and again that
the whole proposition was loaded at
both ends and in the middle, and that
the state had no business to create
unnecessary offices with fat salaries
to pay political debts. So potent was
Mr. Watson’s argument that this fea
ture of the railroad bill, which had
overwhelmingly passed the house, was
at first voted down by the senate.
The proposed increase of the com
mission from three to five over Mr.
Watson’s protest was finally made a
direct issue in the senate, as between
Mr. Watson and the administration,
and by a change of one vote the sen
ate reversed its position of approval
of Mr. Watson’s position and author
ized the increase.
So let us not do our populist friends
an injustice and blame them for a
thing for which they are in no wise
responsible.—Atlanta Constitution.
FOOTBALL
Tidings from all the college and
university centers tell of the arrival
of husky squads of students who are
losing no time in getting down to
preliminary practice for the great
game. The regular college and uni
varsity year will not open until the
middle of next week, as a rule, but
the aspirants for honors on the grid
iron are no laggards. The other
features of the curriculum will re
ceive dufe attention later on, after
the bell rings. Meanwhile, the large
number of early arrivals gives ample
assurance that there is no abatement
in the enthusiasm for the most pop
ular of all academic sports, and that
there is to be no delay in the opening
of the season.—Boston Herald.