The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1906-04-25
ward Islands or anywhere else in the em-
pire, to any other point in the empire, at
'nited States domestic service

IL pounds. az
Compare these rates with those of the
United States domestic service:
pounds. .48
pounds Y parcels) )............. 81 II
IL pounds q parcels) ............ 1.76
A package may be sent from Berlin to
San Francisco, up to pounds six ounces
for thirty-eight cents. The same weight
may be sent from San Francisco to Ber-
lin for sixty cents. a Congress, domi-
mated by express and railroad influences,
requires Americans TO pay sixty-four
cents to send four-pound package ny
mail from one village to the next, or to
another address in the same city.
Even more absurd, ridiculous and out
rageous than the discrimination made in
favor of foreign countries in our mer-
chandise postal rates are some of the
clasifcations of matter under the domes-
tic laws. There are five classes of do
mestic mail matter, as follows:
First Class-Lehters and all sealed
communications, two cents an ounce.
Second Class-Newspapers and other
periodicals mailed by publishers, one cent
a pound.
Third Class-Printed matter and some
articles of merchandise, one cent for two
ounces; weight limit, four pounds.
Fourth Class-Other kinds of mer-
chandise than those included in third
class, one cent an ounce; weight limit,
four pounds.
Franked Matter-Mailed by Congress
men, free; no weight limit.
The first, third and fourth classes are
the only classes with which the public
has to deal. The only way of determin-
Ing whether matter is third or fourth
class, shall pay eight or sixteen cents a
pound, is by absolutely arbitrary ruling
of the Postoffice Department. l have
known a question as to whether an arti-
Gle was third or fourth class matter to
| stump the entire working force of post
office, clerks and postmaster included,
and finally have to be referred to the de-
partment for a decision. Can anything
more supremely ridiculous be imagined
Here are a few of the absurdities in
the present classification:
Printed books, eight cents pound.
Blank books, sixteen cents pound.
Visiting cards, printed, eight cents a
pound.
Visiting cards. blank, sixteen cents a
pound.
Easter cards printed on paper, eight
cents pound.
Easter cards printed on silk, sixteen
cents pound.
Advertisements printed on ordinary
paper, eight cents pound.
Advertisements printed on blotting
paper. sixteen cents a pound.
Beans, peas, potatoes, nuts. ETC., for
planting, eight cents pound.
Beans, peas. potatoes, nuts, etc.. for
food, sixteen cents a pound.
For seven years Postmaster Generals
and their assistants have urged Congress
to do away with these absurdities by
consolidating the third and fourth class
es of matter under the title of ''merchan-
ounces. This emant the re-establishment
of the American parcels post as it exist
ed in 1874. four-pound parcels post, at
eight cents pound.
As matter of fact, taking up this
statement or explanation str ously, it is
just a little more absurd than the claesi-
fication itself In the FIRST place, the
idea that the change is made to save
bookkeeping is ingenious but, silly, for
the enc reason that there isn't any book
keeping done in connection with the third
and fourth classes. It's just matter of
selling stamps, and the only question is
how many stamps. So far as the sug-
gestion for an entire new classification is
concerned, there isn't much e.se to
Classify. With these two classes consol-
idated the mail claesihcations with
which the public would have 10 do would
be as follows
First Class-Letters and postal cards.
Merchandise Everything else.
What classification could be simpler
What other classification is needed?
FLORIDA AND CAROLINA RE-