-----------------------------------+--------+---------+--------- |Present |Present |Present |pay per |rate per |rate per Average daily weight of mails |mile per|ton per |hundred over whole route. |annum. |mile.[11]|pounds | | |per | | |mile.[12] -----------------------------------+--------+---------+--------- | | | _Cents_ 200 pounds | $42.75 | $1.170 | 5.85 500 pounds | 64.12 | .700 | 3.50 1,000 pounds | 85.50 | .468 | 2.34 2,000 pounds | 128.25 | .351 | 1.75 4,000 pounds | 156.46 | .214 | 1.07 5,000 pounds | 171.00 | .187 | .96 Each 2,000 pounds in excess | | | of 5,000 pounds | 21.37 | .058 | .29 -----------------------------------+--------+---------+--------- The most striking feature of this table is the rapid decline in the rates paid with an increase of weight. In addition to the above payments based upon weight there is an additional allowance when full-sized postoffice cars are provided, the Postoffice Department deciding when these are necessary. The rates of pay for these cars are as follows: RATES ALLOWABLE FOR FULL-SIZED POSTOFFICE CARS.[13] ---------------+-----------+---------- | Rate per | Rate per | mile of | mile run Length of car. | track per | by cars. | annum. | ---------------+-----------+---------- | | _Cents._ 40 feet | $25.00 | 3.424 45 feet | 27.50 | 3.786 50 feet | 32.50 | 4.471 55 to 60 feet | 40.00 | 5.498 ---------------+-----------+---------- The first column, which shows the rate paid per mile of track per annum, is likely to be misunderstood. The compensation seems very liberal, and it would be so in fact if it were as large as it appears to be. To gain $25 per mile per annum a 40-foot car must make a round trip over each mile of road per day. If it only makes one trip over the road each day, it will earn but $12.50 per mile per annum, as it would be but half of what is known as a line. The statute reads: “That … pay may be allowed for every line comprising a daily trip each way of railway postoffice cars, at a rate not exceeding twenty-five dollars per mile per annum for cars forty feet in length.…”