The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1900-05-05
PARCELS PosF.
Ehe Postal Service Should BE Put Upon a
PayinE Basis and Confined TO Its
Legitimate Business.

Representative Hull, of Iowa, is in
favor Of a domestic parcels post on n
condition. Speaking Of the pending
measure intended to introduce this al
legged reform Ga our postal. service, he
says: ~ favor it if it can be made self
sustaining, but lido not care to load
down the mails with parcels if the gov
eminent must defray the expense OF
carrying them.p The Chicago Chroni.
Gle says ''that is right" and that Mr..
huh Is 6fsU right in mis- general propo-
sition that "there is no reason why the
postal service should not be put upon a
paying basis" The Chronicle adds:
"The proper course is to put the on.
tire service-that is, every separate
branch of it-on a paying basis. If
congress Will do that a parcel post serV-
ice can be rendered at satisfactory
rates, the capacity of express companies
can be checked, the free delivery sys-
tenn extended and letter rates can be
reduced. But no gratuitOus class
service must be the foundation of gen.
uine postal reform"
Whatever of ''gratuitous class serv
Ice" there is in our postal system should
be eliminated. There are tons OF
printed matter carried in the mails
every day at loss to the government
which has no claim to favorable con-
slderation. Publications which are
printed only for advertising purposes,
and have no regular subscription list,
are distributed by millions Of copies at
postal rates far below the cost of the
service. We're this abuse reformed and
the ranking privilege confined to rea
sonable limits, there would be no deficit
of postal revenues. But the publishers
of fake weeklies and monthlies appear
to be so strongly backed in congress
that there is liEtle hope of loosening
their grip, and as to the ranking bust.
ness, it bids fair, if not checked, to
cover the free printing and free distri-
button of anything and everything that
can possibly be utilized in a political
campaign.
But how does it happen that the Chi,
cago Chronicle, a paper that processes
to be an exponent of J~effersonian an6
Jacksonian Democracy, comes out in
advocacy Of the extreme paternalism
embodied in the parcels post bill?
There is quite enough of that in the
law as it stands. For many years the
government has been doing an p
business scarcely justified by SOUND
principles, and by no means in harmony
with the Old-time Democratic creed.
But now it is proposed to o the
methods Of the paternal governments
of Europe, and make our postal cars
freight cars and our postal clerks e.
press messengers. The Chronicle init
mates that this radical departure from
the original intent of the postal service,
this enormous injection of paternalism
into a department necessarily, to some
extent, paternal, is necessitated bv the
exactiOns of express companies. Is it
the business of our democratic govern
ment to regulate prices by entering into
a c~ut-thrOat competition with men en-
gagged in all sorts of occupations Nc
man or set of men, no firm, p
ton or association can compete with
the United States if congress under
takes to perform the work in which he
or they are engaged, for congress can
employ the taxing power, and thereby
make up for losses incurred. And
where is the logical end of such compes
tition? Why not meet the complaints
of high freight charges by going into
the general freight business? Why,
when complaint is made of exorbitant
passenger rates, should not the govern
Inent 90 into a general passenger bust
ness?
The mails carry packages from Wash
ington to Sitka at the same rate CHARGED
for carrying them from Washington to
Alexandria. Extension of the limit as
to weight of mailable packages would
bring all freights into mail cars. How
long will it take to reach that degree
of paternalism if we undertake to re.
move complaint by competition? And,
having done that, why should the
sq%uelching power of the government
halt there? Having annihilated the
transportation industry, why not 90
into the producing industries? Is there
any logical line of ~demarkation be-
tween governmental control of distri-
button and the same relation between
government and production?
Whatever the people can do for them.
selves reasonably well, the government
should not do for them. The postal
service, the transportation of letters,
newspapers and magazines, is a bust.
ness that cannot be well performed in
all parts of the country by private en-
terprise. But this is not true of he
transportation business. And unless
we desire to enter into and push on il q
course that will logically lead right on
to communistic pa~ternalism, we should
not adopt the parcels post system OF
continental Europe. However we'll it
may comport with conditions in Ger
many, where the government owns the
railroads and makes a bungle of their
management, it is not in harmony with
our plan of Observation-Disclosures
Post.
A Satisfaction.
DeMuner-Of course, you can't be-