Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1895-01-03

public; thus furnishing the ever-ready
and convenient means whereby any
person, into whose hands the device
falls, may give orders without incur
ring expense of postage, card, or en-
velope, or trouble Of looking up the
address. Under this system, you see,
the business man, while furnishing
his patrons with every convenience,
pays postage on only the cards and
envelopes returned to him with an or
der, or where a satisfactory line of
correspondence is opened up. This
will save the dealer from 81 to 50 a
thousand on postal cards, and from
$I2 to $40 a thousand on stamped
envelopes, so far as the postage on the
reply portion of them is concerned.
"On an average probably 80 per
cent of all postage sent out soliciting
orders or replies is dead loss to the
business man. In other words, under
the present system every reply on a
postal card costs 10 cents; every reply
under seal 20 cents; and, again, it may
be said that the adoption of the pro-
posed system would mean to the
great mercantile aud commercial in
terests of the country,so far as replies
are concerned, reduction in postage
from 10 cents to l cent, and from 20
cents to 2 cents, change more radi-
cal than that of lS45, when the rate
was reduced from an average of Is
cents (he letter rate being from 6 to
25 cents), to S cents. The reduction
of AS, like all other reductions in this
country and in England, clearly dem,
onstrated that reduction in cost re-
suited in increased consumption; but
in each case there was an immediate
falling off in the postal receipts. In
the proposed Legislation we have a re.
duction in rates, or at least what is
equivalent to it, with increased fac.
ilities and increased revenues from
the start.
"Why, in many lines of business
the losses run as high as 95 per cent.
With all the great old line life insur-
ance companies, and accident, coop
erative, and assessment societies, the
per cent. of losses Is even greater. An
insurance agent sends out thousand
circulars to residents Of this city, in.
closing thousand stamped ENVELOPES
for replies, and gets back 2 per cent!
His loss, under the present, or his
savings under the proposed, would be
$l9.60. Under the old, each reply
costs dollar; under the new, 2 cents.
"No indeed the government wouli
not be the looser. The different peo.
pie into whose hands the envelopes
went would use the postage in private
correspondence. Suppose some do
care so little for stamped envelope
that it is thrown into the waste bas-
ket The janitor of the building or
the employees Of the paper mill are al.
most certain to find and use it.
"Yes, the government does gain
considerable from unused postal cards,
but even there the printed address is
often changed. And, really, I can
see no good reason why the enterpris-
ing business men Of the country who
contribute so largely and freely to the
postal revenues of the Government
should be required to pay the postage
where the Department performs no
service. II seems TO me that justice
would require that all misprinted and
unused postal cards should be re-
deemed at their face value, less cost
and expense of handling. Again, the
increased mail resulting from this sys-
tenn would all be frst-class matter,
on which, according to Mr.. Wana-
makers reports of '92, there is an an
nual net revenue of $50, 100000 and
q profit to the government of about
100 per cent; and that, too, notwith-
standing the great losses resulting
from dead matter, remailing, etc.
There is no doubt but that the cards
and envelopes of the Association
would be the most profitable class of
matter handled by the Department
The Government would get full post
age on every piece passing through
the mails.
THE great convenience this system
would give to all residents of free
delivery towns is obvious. Out of a
total of $1,000 post-offices there are
about 700 free. delivery Offices. But
it must be remembered that ten oi
the principal cities pay nearly one
third of the gross receipts of the pos
tai service, while the postage on locaI
matter in the free delivery o tfices pays
cauoro1 ooilliop do1lorc of tho ontir