[Footnote A: The necessity for providing, out of income, for some kinds of improvements is commonly admitted. The public constantly demands greater comfort and convenience which can be supplied only by improvements in property and equipment that bring in no additional income. A present example in the mail service, itself, is the great expense which the railways are now undergoing in substituting steel mail cars for those formerly in use. The old cars, which thus become a total loss were fully up to the most advanced standards of construction when built and they could continue for a long time to serve the purposes of the service except for the public demand for stronger cars.] Plainly, the Postmaster-General's proposal is equivalent to an assertion that the railways would make a fair profit if they were enabled to collect the sum of $115,585,568 in addition to their operating expenses and taxes, but the figures given by the Interstate Commerce Commission show that this would be less than one-third of the sum necessary to meet interest charges which must be paid in order to prevent foreclosures of mortgages and, if bond interest could be ignored, is much less than the rentals that must be paid if the existing systems are not to be broken up. And, of course, it would allow nothing whatever for legitimate demands upon income for dividends, permanent improvements or surplus. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the consequences of such a theory of "compensation" to railroad credit and to the public interest in efficient transportation service, to say nothing of the consequences to owners of railroad stock and bonds. Such a theory is not a theory of compensation--it is a theory of oppression and of destruction. The fact that the Postmaster-General has found it necessary to justify his attack upon the present basis of railway mail pay by a theory so unprecedented and so unwarranted in principle and in law, raises a strong presumption against all his opinions and conclusions upon this subject. IV. THE MAIL SERVICE SUPPLIED BY THE RAILWAYS COSTS THEM MORE IN OPERATING EXPENSES AND TAXES THAN THEY ARE PAID FOR IT, AND LEAVES NOTHING FOR RETURN ON THE PROPERTY. It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the railway mail pay at present is insufficient to pay even its proper share of operating cost and taxes and does not produce any return upon the property. This will be demonstrated by any fair inquiry, as will now be shown. Reports submitted to the Postmaster-General by railways operating 2,411 mail routes, with a total length of 178,710 miles, showed that their gross receipts, per car-foot mile[B], from services rendered on passenger trains during November, 1909, were as follows: From mail 3.23 mills From other services 4.35 mills