Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1901-12-05

a pound. 1t results then that for
every cents the publisher pays to-
ward the cost OF the business the gov
eminent nays 6 cents, and for every
1000 contributed by the publisher
the government contributes not less
than $4,000. In other words, the gov
eminent is the senior partner on the
debit side of the business. 1t fur
nishes the larger part of the capital,
and while it pays about three-fourths
Of the expenses, all of the receipts go
to the private partner.
Growth of Second Class Matter.
Under this stimulus of cheap ma
terial and government partnership
the volume of second-class matter has
grown to immense proportions. With
in ten years it has more than doubled.
In 1890 the aggregate weight of mail
subject to the cent-a-pound rate of
postage was 174,046,764 pounds. Last
year it reached 29,444,573 pounds. OF
this vast mass of second-class matter
it is estimated that one-half does not
come within the meaning and intent
of the law and is not rightfully includ-
ed in that class, and thus is not en-
titled to be mailed at the pound rate.
This wrongful subsidy paid private
publishers in this abuse would pay sub
stantially the net cost of extending
rural free delivery over all the feas-
ible part of the whole country. 1t
would pay, if not all, at least the
greater part, of the loss of revenue
involved in penny postage on drop
letters. 1t would pay the cost of
three battleships.
This great abuse, which has been
repeatedly condemned, is so fragrant
and SO hurtful and obstructive to all
postal progress that the department
has felt impelled to undertake meas
ures for its correction. The needed
reform has been sought by legislation,
and legislation which shall make a
more precise and distinct definition of
what shall constitute second-clas
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 l cent pound. Under the new
ruling it will be cents a 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
the exclusion of books and their rele-
CATION to their proper class. The
law distinctly places books in the
third class with a postage rate of l
cent for 2 ounces. But through a pal
pable evasion of the law an enormous
abuse has grown up in the transmits
sion at the pound rate of large guam
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
o. substance or treatment to differen-
tiate 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 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 better literature who re-
sort to no such subterfuge. 1t is mon
strous that, through the perversion of
a fair and well meant law, the gov
eminent should be made the leading
partner and the chief cash contrib
utor. as it has been, in the manufae-
ture of morally tainted literature,
and it is a 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.