
    THE MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILWAY CO. v. THE UNITED STATES.
    [No. 30497.
    Decided May 6, 1912.]
    
      On the Proofs.
    
    During the existence of a railroad mail transportation contract the Post Office Department changes the system of handling the mails in Kansas City by transferring service performed in the post office to the Railway Mail Service, thereby placing the handling of the registered mails in transit from the city post office to the railroad depot. This involves a transfer of jurisdiction from the First and Third Assistant Postmasters General to the Second Assistant Postmaster General and requires space for the same in the depot. The department calls on the railroads bringing mail matter into Kansas City to furnish the necessary space free of any rental charge. This the railroads refuse to do. The department then rents the necessary space from the Union Depot Co. and withholds the rent therefor from the contract earnings of the roads.
    I. The Postal Laws and Regulations (§ 1902) provide that railroad companies at certain stations “ will provide suitable and sufficient rooms for handling and storing the mails and without specific charge therefor.'" This regulation was a part of the contract, and thereby obligated the contractor to furnish all necessary conveniences for the rapid, safe, and most businesslike carriage of all mails placed in their care.
    II. Where a railroad refuses or neglects to furnish the necessary space in a depot for the proper handling of the mails the department may rent it and withhold the cost thereof from the contract earnings of the road.
    
      The Reporters’ statement of the case.
    The following are the facts as found by the court:
    I. Claimant is a body corporate, duly incorporated under the laws of the States of Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska, and from a time long prior to July 1, 1906, it has owned and operated, among other railway properties, a line of railway between Kansas City and St. Louis, in the State of Missouri; a line between Kansas City and Atchison, in the State of Kansas; and a line between Kansas City and Ottawa, in the State of Kansas, upon all of which lines its mail and passenger trains, jointly with those oí 12 .other railway companies, use the terminal facilities of the Union Depot- Co. at Kansas City, by virtue of a contract between it and said Union Depot Co.
    At a time long prior to July 1, 1906, the Postmaster General established postal routes upon each of said lines of railway and has maintained them ever since, that between Kansas City and St. Louis being No. 145001, that between Kansas City and Atchison being No. 155084, and that between Kansas City and Ottawa being No. 155091.
    II. In the year 1906 claimant entered into a contract with the Post Office Department for transporting the mails over said postal routes No. 155084 and No. 155091 for the period of four years beginning July 1, 1906, and ending June 30, 1910, and in the year 1907 for transporting the mails over said postal route 145001 for the period beginning July 1, 1907, and ending June 30, 1911, at an agreed compensation, and upon the conditions prescribed by law and the regulations of the department applicable to Railway Mail Service; the said contracts in each case being evidenced by and embodied in correspondence between the parties.
    III. Section 1186 of the Postal Laws and Regulations of 1902 provides, among other things, as follows:
    “2. Railroad companies at stations where transfer clerks are employed will provide suitable and sufficient rooms for handling and storing the mails, and without specific charge therefor. These rooms will be lighted, heated, furnished, supplied with ice water, and kept in order by the railroad company.”
    This regulation was in force during the time of all of the contracts hereinbefore named and from a time long prior to them, and throughout their duration the several railway companies using the said Union Depot have caused the said Union Depot Co. to furnish without specific charge therefor a room in said depot for the use of the transfer clerks in the Railway Mail Service in handling and storing the ordinary mails, but not the registered mails, and the same has been lighted, heated, furnished, supplied with ice water, and kept in order.
    
      IV. In the year 1882 the Post Office Department established a branch of the Kansas City post office in the Union Depot at Kansas City for the distribution of registered mails, both local and transit, and for the space occupied by this said branch of the Kansas City post office it paid a rental until about January 13, 1908, to the said Union Depot Co.
    On January 13, 1908, the said depot was partially destroyed by fire, and for a short time following the work of said branch post office was carried on in a mail car placed on a siding in said depot, and thereafter, until December 15, 1908, all the mail formerly handled by said branch post office was sent to the main office with the exception of heavy, bulky pieces and registered pouches in transit from train to train, which were handled by the transfer clerks at the Union Station.
    The sending of the transit registered mail to the main post office and returning it therefrom to the Union Depot for transmission to final destination was an inferior service to that which had been provided when such mail was handled in the registry transfer station during the time it was maintained at the said depot and caused delay in the delivery of such mails.
    V. On January 14, 1908, the postmaster at Kansas City recommended that the service performed by said branch post office be transferred to the Kailway Mail Service. This involved a transfer of jurisdiction from the First and Third Assistants to the Second Assistant Postmaster General, and each of these officers detailed a subordinate to investigate and report on the matter; and, on February 5, 1908, said subordinates of the First and Third Assistants reported to their respective superiors recommending “that such transfer be made; that the allowance for rental be discontinued; and that 18 clerks be transferred from the Kansas City post office to the Kailway Mail Service, said clerks, however, to be borne on the post-office rolls until the 1st of July.”
    The Post Office Department thereupon determined to divide the work that had theretofore been done in the registry transfer station, placing with that division of the postal administration known as the Kailway Mail Service the handling of the registered mail in transit and continuing with the post office at Kansas City the handling of the local registered mail.
    On February 14, 1908, the Post Office Department notified the claimant and the other tenant railway companies of the said Union Depot Co. that the service performed at the said branch post office would be transferred to the supervision of the Railway Mail Service, and, under authority of section 1186 of the postal regulations set out in Paragraph III, hereof, made demand on them to furnish space for the same in the said depot, then in course of reconstruction, free of any rental charge, and this the claimant and the said other tenant companies refused and failed to do.
    YI. About the 1st of December, 1908, the Second Assistant Postmaster General rented from the said Union Depot Co., at an annual rate of $3,000, the requisite space in said depot for said service (Rec., pp. 32-40), and on December 15, 1908, the service of the said branch post office, together with its force of clerks, was transferred from the supervision of the postmaster at Kansas City to that of the Railway Mail Service, and thereafter the cost of the maintenance of said service, including the rental of said space from said depot company, was paid out of the appropriation for “Mail transportation.”
    VII. The Post Office Department charged jointly the claimant and the said other tenant railway companies with the money so paid as rental to said depot company, which was done by taking the total weight of the mails handled at said depot during the last weighing period and the per cent of total weight handled by each company on each of its postal rotítes and deducting the pro rata amount thus determined to be chargeable to each postal route from the pay of the railway company for transportation service on that route, and in carrying out this plan the department on May 1, 1909, deducted from the compensation of claimant for service, for the period from December 15, 1908, to March 31, 1909, on route No. 145001, $230.56, and on route No.. 155084, $18.99, and on route No. 155091, $17.59, which said sums, amounting to $267.14, are still withheld and have never been paid to claimant.
    
      
      Mr. Samuel A. Putnam for the claimant.
    
      Mr. S. S. Ashbaugh (with whom was Mr. Assistant Attorney General Thompson) for the defendants.
   BaeNey, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The only question in this case for decision is the interpretation to be given to the words “handling and storing,” contained in section 1186 of the Postal Laws and Begula-tions, such regulations being a part of the contract between the parties to this suit.

It is the contention of the plaintiff that the words quoted mean only the storing of the mail pouches as they arrive at the depot waiting for transfer upon a different route and the necessary handling of such pouches in bulk and unbroken, and do not include space for the sorting and distributing of mails as they arrive at the depot over different routes, which would, of course, make necessary conveniences for the opening of the mail pouches, cases, racks, and other appurtenances.

On the other hand, it is contended by the defendants that the conveniences at depots for the sorting and distribution of mails in transit, as they arrive over different routes, is but a necessary part of the transportation of the mails which the plaintiff under its contract was under obligations to do.

It should be added that it is also contended by the plaintiff that, as is shown by the findings, the Government was paying rent for this space at the time its contracts were entered into, it then being a branch of the Kansas City post office, the requirement for this additional space free of charge, after the work was put in charge of the Bailway Mail Service, was the imposition of additional service not contemplated by the contract.

As to the latter contention, it is only necessary to say that during the time a branch of the Kansas City post office was maintained at the Union Depot the findings show that both local and transit registered mails were received and distributed there. For such local service certainly the railways were not compelled under their contract to supply accommodations, and hence were properly paid for the same. The question, however, here is whether the railway companies under their contract for the transportation of the mails were compelled to furnish room in the depot at Kansas City for the distributions of’registered mails in transit. In a large central station like the depot at Kansas City where many railway lines enter, each bringing mails for the same place beyond, it is unnecessary to say that unless accommodations are there furnished for the sorting and resacking of these mails, as many mail sacks as there are railway lines would be required for each important place beyond; or, as was formerly done in this case, these mails would be required to be taken to the city post office, there to be distributed. In either case probable delay and added expense would be the result.

The railway companies are under contract to “ transport ” the mails; and as an incident to this service, at stations where transfer clerks are employed, to provide accommodations for the “ handling and storing ” of these mails. It seems to us that- under these terms the railway companies are under obligation to furnish all necessary conveniences to provide for the rapid, safe, and most businesslike carriage ■of all mails placed in their care. A letter is “ in transit ” from the time it is deposited in the mail box until it reaches its destination, and the railway company after it receives it is its carrier. The Government furnishes the agents in its immediate charge, but the railway company is under contract to furnish such necessary accommodations as will enable them to secure its safe and rapid delivery. It is hardly necessary to say that one of these accommodations is a suitable room for sorting and resacking at large exchange stations like Kansas City. We think all of these accommodations and conveniences are necessarily included in the terms “ handling and storing ” as applicable to mails in transit.

For the reasons given the petition must be dismissed, and it is so ordered.

Howry, J., was not present when this case was heard and took no part in its decision.  