Since the filing of these statistics, the rates paid to railroads for carrying the mails have been reduced almost a fifth. The statements of the Postmaster-General and the statistics confirm the evidence of these returns that the express business is much more valuable to railroad companies than the Government mail business. W.W. BALDWIN, _Vice-President_. JOHN DEWITT, _General Mail Agent_. MAY, 1910. APPENDIX. _Exhibit A._ [Form 2601.] There are on file in the Post Office Department one hundred and two separate statements showing, for the month of November as to each mail route on the Burlington system, the space occupied and used for mail and for express and for passengers. In order to make a comparison it was, of course, necessary to reduce each item of space used in each car to a common basis of feet, and the following table shows what are the actual facilities furnished in passenger trains for the three classes of traffic reduced to linear car-foot space: _Car Foot Mileage._ _Mail._ _Passengers._ _Express._ 62,246,130 428,164,920 39,525,540 (11.75%) (80.8%) (7.45%) _Exhibit B._ [Form 2602.] _Station Facilities Furnished for the Mails and Express and the Value of Other Items of Service Rendered._ _Mail Expense._ Monthly Cost of Handling Mail at Stations, labor, etc. $14,241.67 Monthly rental value of mail rooms in stations 1,008.61 Monthly rental value of tracks occupied by mail cars for advance distribution 157.69 Cost of lighting and heating mail cars for advance distribution 114.25 Value of 309,827 miles of free transportation to post office employees, not including postal clerks in charge of mail 6,196.54 Switching mail cars for advance distribution 2,795.80 ---------- Total for November $24,514.56 The foregoing does not include the rental value of space furnished by the railroad company to the Government for handling mails and mail trucks on station platforms, and for storing the mails on platforms at large terminals. This is a large item, but statistics of such space used were not called for. At Chicago Station platform space to the amount of over 6,500 square feet is devoted exclusively to mails handled by the Burlington and Pennsylvania. In addition to the foregoing, the Burlington Company transported on its trains during November postal clerks in charge of mail for the Government a distance of 3,109,747 miles in the aggregate.