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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.