Waterbury Democrat., 1902-09-12
POSTAL PROGRESS LEAGUE

were two and three times the rates on single letters, and for 'ouncev letters four times the single rate
 The complications in postal rates were almost as bewildering and un-
 certain as our modern express rates.
 The high charges forbade the use
 of the mails to the poor, hindered the
 development of trade and of commerce
 and, in the end, greatly injured the
 postal revenues.
 The postal laws of England were in perfect accord with that system of
 class legislation which, says Thorold
 Rogers, had been concocted for the
 purpose or cheating the workman of
 ms wages, of tying him to the soil and oI degrading him to irremediable pov- erty. On the other hand, the nrivi-
 leged classes sent their letters free.
 fTanKs were sometimes sold and were
 ollen gwen to servants in lieu of
 wages.
 This was the condition of things
 when Rowland Hill startled the people
 oT England with his project of "A Penny Post, proposing to abolish at one sweep the whole system of wrong ana or privilege and carry a letter rom Lands End to John-O'- Groat,s S at the same rate as from London to the nearest village.
 MT HllIs penny post plan first ap- peared 1n the spring of 1887. Tn TaT- uary, lS4O, his scheme was English law and was in course of operation. Thus came into being the public ser vice postoffice. The free and chean circulation of intelligence provided bv the postoffice has been a most import ant factor in the growth of modern democracy. 1s 1
 TO some of us the postofice seems 70 pc the very citadel of American lib- erty, the hope of American industry. :, MT Loud of California, chairman of the house postal committee of con gress, tells us that our regard for the postoffice is a '.maudlin sentiment :, The postoffice, he says, is not a public necessity. In his opinion the entire postal business should be turned over to private corporations-to the eypress companies-in order that they might make thirty to forty millions a wear out of 1t. The very existence of the postoffice, says MT Loud, is a sswrong ., and this because it is operated Sc well and so cheaply that it's continuance implies it's extension over the whole field of transportation and transmits sion.
 Now, then, the Postal Progress league, which has been so kindly no- ticed in the Waterbury press. takes di- rect issue with MT Loud.
 We say as Congressman Palfrey of Massachusetts said in 1S49:
 The postoffice is the simplest me- chanism ever devised for human ad- A more beneficial agency can scarcely be devised and before ong this nation and Christendom will say so.''
 Rowland Hill proposed the estab- 1shment of 8 general merchandise post but the opposition of the rail- 1 'oads delayed this beneficent move nent in England until 1883. 1SS0 1 however, several of the continental nations Joined in the establishment of l m international parcel post, and to-day he transport of eleven-pound parcels 1 Oy the postof1ce is common through | put the civilized world, Germany. Aus ria and Switzerland, even going so | ar as to transport 110-pound parcels oy mail. Above Il pounds. however. l he rates are usually determined by | zones Our postofice handles ordin- l Try parcels up to 4 pounds at 16 cents 1 l pound.
 The German domestic rates, covering | both Germany and Austro-H Hungary l Ire: G cents on an 11-pound parcel | or distances up to 46 miles, and for | greater distances within the limits of l he two empires, 12 cents.
 As long ago as 1893 the German | ,ostofffce handled nearly SO,0OO,O0O do- nestle parcels valued at over S1,OOO,- 1 100000. In 1897 France reduced her 1 parcels post rates to 12 cents on par els up to pounds; 16 cents on larger | parcels up to II pounds; 25 cents on ] ret larger parcels up to p pounds. In | S9S the insured articles handled by | he French post were valued at oyer ! | thousand million dollars.
 The Swiss post carries parcels from | oostofice to address as follows: One bound parcels for 3 cents; larger par- els up to 5.5 pounds, cents; over 5.5 pounds up to II pounds, 8 cents. etc. n 1901 the Swiss post handled oyer -8,000,000 domestic parcels worth over '38S,000,000, exporting at the same i iA2A| AISeAAAy 1..lOOsOOO pStIGGlS, NdluGu It over $20,000.O00, largely made up If products like those of Waterbury.
 In 1899 Austria exported through he international parcels post mails 'ver 9,O0O,000 parcels of merchandise. worth over 64,O00,000, Germany, Swift ierland, France and Hungary also do- ng large export business through he same channel.
 The English parcels post went into operation in 1883, and quickly became ! great public service institution. The English parcel rates are: 6 cents for pound; 5 cents for ? pounds up to 24 ,ents for II pounds.
 But while our general merchandise init is pounds and the rate 16 cents ] pound, since 1885 serial publishers rave enjoyed rate of 1 cent a pound ,n their merchandise, and this with 10 legal limit, though the usual limit practice seems to be that of a load- d mail sack-200 to 22O pounds. Last year the postoffice handled 429,OO0. .OOO pounds of publishers merchandise.
 Now, we propose that our whole people shall enjoy not simply this but better service--1 cent a pound on mall parcels down to F cent a pound T less on large parcels; postal insur- Ince; the issuance of postal currency or the convenient payment of sI,a n |