Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-12-11
NO CREDIT--THE POSTAL LAW.


We believe the majority, and almost a
unanimous majority, Of our subscribers will
be pleased with the change which places the
FARMER squarely on the cash basis. BY so
doing great amount Of labor in the office
is avoided, to say nothing of the advantage
of entire immunity from losses by bad debts.
These advantages, coupled with the belief
that the producers of Vermont appreciate
our efforts to give them an honest and indie
pendent paper and will cooperate with us in
Speeding the gospel Of laber by raising clubs
and extending our list without subjecting us
to the expense of employing agents to can
vass, have encouraged us to put our clubbing
rates lower, We believe, than any other pa
per in the state giving more than half as
much reading matter will dare to go. More
than this, while many of these other papers
add ten, fifteen, or twenty, cents to the sub
scription price on subscriptions from outside
the county, we prepay postage without extra
charge.
We do not believe the new law is just as
it should be- We believe in the cash-in-ad-
vance principle, and hence think it is cor
rect thing for the government to exact pre-
payment of postage at the office of publica-
ton, but we see no weighty reason why all
papers should not be included in the law,
whether within or without the county, aud
if there is danger Of too much revenue under
such law let the rate on the whole be re-
duccd. Rates of postage have been made
uniform for long or short distances, because
any system Of graduatin the postage accord
ing to the distance has been found cumber
some and impracticable. The exempting Of
newspapers within the county perhaps does
not cause much extra work, but it is mani
testify unjust For instance, here is a man
living at West Concord there may not be
any newspaper printed in Essex County, or
if there is there may be more Concord news
in the st. Johnsbury or Lyndon papers in
one week than there is in the Essex County
papers in six weeks He pays his share Of
the general taxes, aud if there is deficit in
the postal department which is made up
from the general treasury part Of it comes
out of his pocket. But if he takes paper
printed in st Johnsbury he must pay the
same yearly postage on it that he would on
paper of the same size coming from New
Orleans or San Francisco, while subscriber
in Sutton, Hardwick, or Rygate receives the
same paper carried by government two or
three times as far, free of charge. Believing
this to be unjust, the publisher of the FARM
Err has decided to pay the postage on all
copies going outside OF the county, out of his
own pocket, so that a subscriber in Concord
may not be required to pay an extra ten
cents per year for carrying paper eight or
ten miles while another can have it carried
twenty free of charge and this in clubs, 10
old or aaeaO subscribers, at three-fourths the
price of other papers We have full faith that
our friends in all parts of the state will Sec
ond our efforts to make peoples paper and
place it within the reach Of all by swelling
our subscription list until it shall stand the
first in the state.
As the time Jan. y when we shall com.
mense to discontinue all papers when the sub
scription expires is so near at hand, we
would again call attention to this rule.
Many who want and intend to have the
FARMER, and who believe in the cash system,
will put off the renewal of their subscription
from day to day until the first of January is
past and the FARMER has stopped coming
while some other paper which goes on the
principle Of clnging to man until he has
been dead a year, and which is harder to get
rid Of than chronic catarrh comes right
along. The subscriber finds that he has had
several numbers of the latter paper more
than he has paid for, so he concludes to make
it even years and pays up for year Thus
he has allowed the paper to be discontinued
which he wanted to take, aud is taking the
one he does not want, besides giving his sup
port to the credit plan of doing business
We trust all will look sharp to the labels OF
their papers, and send on their renewals q
week or ten days before their subscription
expire, in order to make allowances for al
delays and avoid missing any copies.