Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-12-05

what shall constitute second-class
| mail matter and which shall bring
within reasonable bounds some of the
privileges that are now grossly
stretched, sample copies for example.
is eminently desirable and important.
IN the absence of such additional leg
islation the department is limited to
the application of the law as it is,
and as much of the evil that has
grown up has come because even the
safeguards now provided have been
neglected, a more strict enforcement
of the existing law will accomplish
much good. The rulings and meas
ures adopted to this end have been
directed to three distinct kinds of in
fraction of the law: First, a prohi-
bition Of the transmission of unsold
copies at the pound rate; second, the
exclusion Of books from the second
class; third, the restriction of publ
cations primarily for advertising pur-
poses. Under the old unlawful prac-
tice the postage on the return would
be cent a pound. Under the new
ruling it will be 4 cents pound. To
the publisher, then, the possible addi-
tional cost Of a whole ton of excess
and waste is $50; but to the govern
ment the actual net loss in sending it
back was $50. So that where the pub
Usher under the reform runs a posi-
BILE risk of an added cost of $50, the
government without the reform loses
$3.50 on his operation, and even with
the reform still loses 500. Is not the
advantage of the transaction yet with
the publisher?
The second feature in the reform
of the abuses of second-class mail is
cation to their proper class. The
law distinctly places books in the
third class with postage rate of 1
cent for 2 ounces. But through a pal
pable evasion of the law an enormous
abuse has grown up in the transmits
titles of paper covered books, printed
and issued under the pretense of
being serial publications. They are
in no sense periodicals. They have
none of the real characteristics de-
fined by law as marking second-class
matter. They are not continuous or
consecutive. There is nothing in form
or substance or treatment to differen-
tate them from books which are con-
fessedly in the third class and make
no other claim. Through the mere
device of being numbered and of
being called a series, without any true
serial character, they masquerade as
periodicals, to the great loss of the
government, to the serious prejudice,
in many cases, of the public morals,
and to the grave wrong of the pub
fishers of a better literature who re-
sort to no such subterfuge. 1t is mon
strous that, through the perversion of
a fair and we'll meant law, the gov
eminent should be made the leading
partner and the chief cash contrib
utor, as it has been, in the manufac-
ture of a morally tainted literature,
and it is gratifying circumstance
that the plain duty of enforcing the
law will have the added merit of re-
lieving the government in large de-
gree of this lamentable completely.
For Advertising.
The third step in this vital reform
is the rightful classification of period
icals which are obnoxious to the re-
quirements for the second class in
+ af of 1ict
of subscribers or that they are pub
lished primarily for advertising pur-
poses or for free circulation or for
circulation at nominal rates. There
is a single periodical of which the
copies sent through the mails for
the quarter ending March 80, 1901,
averaged 223,6S8 pounds for each is
sue, or about 112 tons or nearly s
carloads, reckoning the weight of
carload of paper at 10000 pounds
For transporting each issue of that
periodical the government actually
paid $11, 1S4.4O, against which it col
lected $2,236SS in postage; it also
paid $4,473 for handling, making di-
rect net loss to the government on
every issue of $13,421. AS compared
with this cash gift by the government,
the publishers, besides the postage,
! paid about s4,473 for the white paper,
and, as shown by an expert reckoning,
! $12716 for composition. all these
| items together amounting to $6,S37.
| There is not a we'll informed publisher
| in, hn hot
| $500 was an extremely liberal allow
ance for all other expenses, making
total cost to the publishers of 1887,
as against a net cost to the govern
ment of $l3,421; SO that the govern
ment contributed about $6,0S4 more
ming that publication than the pub
fishers themselves contributed.
; The publication in question does
, not conform to the statutory charac-
teristics of second-class matter. 1t
was not originated and is not pub
lished for ''the dissemination of infor-
nation of a public character" 1t is
not devoted to literature, the sci
ences, arts, or any special industry"
| Nearly one-half of it's circulation, not
merely of one issue alone, but of all,
! is avowedly free, being made up of
sample copies. Of the other half it
| is believed that the bulk is substan-
TALLY free, being sent to procured
names without charge, or to ostensi-
BILE subscribers obtained through mer-
chandise premiums substantially
| oo,oJ in x-aTua tn the s11hgerintion