Washington, D. C. My dear Sir:-- The Committee on Railway Mail Pay, representing 268 roads operating over 214,275 miles of road, has been investigating the subject of mail compensation for about three years, or since the Post Office Department, in 1909, sent out a series of questions regarding the space furnished for mails in passenger trains, and the cost to railroad companies of the service which they perform for the Government in the carriage of the mails. Therefore the Committee has thought it would be of interest to you to receive from it an answer to the questions propounded by your letter of September 11, 1912, addressed to the officers of railroads throughout the country. A response to House Document No. 105 is now in course of preparation, and will be submitted at an early date. In the meantime, our committee desires to submit the following replies to your inquiries: _Question 1._--Do you deem the present plan of compensation an equitable one as between the Government and the railroads? If not, in what respects and as to what classes of railroads is it inequitable? _Answer._--The existing law has never worked to the disadvantage of the Government, but has failed to do justice to the railways by reason of infrequent weighing; absence of pay for nearly 40 per cent. of the space occupied as travelling post offices; the performance, without pay, of side and terminal messenger service, and the unjustifiable reduction in pay by the Act of Congress dated March 2, 1907, supplemented by Order No. 412 of the Postmaster General, changing the divisor. The present law is based upon correct principles, but should be so amended as to provide-- (a) For the Repeal of the Act of March 2, 1907. Notwithstanding the large increase in every other item connected with the administration of the Post Office Department, the railroads' pay has been singled out as the one element in these operations for concentration of economies. This too, in the face of the fact that the operating expenses of the railroads have been greatly augmented by the requirements of the law with reference to steel equipment, and a general increase in cost characteristic of all business operations. (b) For annual weighings, and a definite and just method for ascertaining daily average weights. Under the quadrennial weighing all increased weight of mail during the next succeeding four years is carried by the railroads without any compensation whatever, which is manifestly unfair. The railroads must provide car space and facilities for the _maximum_ weight offered at _any_ time, yet they are paid only for the _average_ weight carried. The Postmaster General's order covering the divisor has unfairly reduced this _average_.