Free press., 1906-09-22
MERCHANTS ATTACK
PARCELS POST PLAN
League Exposes Scheme Of Cata-
lOgue Mall Order Houses.
BIG CAMPAIGN STARTED.
Country-Huge Postal Deficit
May Be Prevented.


America, with headquarters at $50
Broadway, New York City, for the pur-
pose of opposing the efforts of the cata-
logue mail order houses to saddle on the
United States government, through the
establishment of a domestic parcels post,
the bulk of their expenses of delivering
goods to purchasers.
The smaller the merchant, the smaller
the jobber, and the smaller the manu-
facturer the more vitality is he affected
by the parcels post plan advanced by the
catalogue mail order interests, for its es-
tabl:shment by Congress would enable
the big corporate houses to completely
underSell the small merchants and drive
them out of business.
This would mean calamity to thou
sands of communities, closing up small
shops, throwing employees out of work,
canceling the orders TO jobbers and man
ufacturers, cutting down the business of
local banks, reducing the advertising in
local newspapers, and depreciating prop
erty values in the smaller communities.
And all for the unfair enrichment of the
few men controlling the catalogue mail
order business of the country, who de-
sire to have the government deliver their
sales at ruinously low prices.
The establishment of domestic par
GELS post means the multiplying by many
times of the already enormous annual
deficit of the Post Office Department, a
deficit which increased from less than
$4,000, 600 in 1902 to more than $I4,5oo,-
600 for the fiscal year 1905. For the
fiscal year ending June 80, 1906, it is
believed the deficit will exceed $I5,5oo,-
600, while competent authorities figure
that under a domestic parcels post the
annual deficit would reach an annual
total of $I5o,ooo,ooo.
Such a deficit would have to be made
good by the government through the tax
alton of the whole people, falling largely
on the men who would be injured by
the business gains of the catalogue mail
order houses. Thus summed up, the
campaign of these catalogue mail order
houses is to compel the small merchants
of the country to pay the cost of their
own determination. The plan would fail
if the government were to carry parcels
at rates which would make the estab-
lishnent of parcels post self-supporting,
and accordingly the rates fixed by the
catalogue mail order interests would pro-
vide a revenue estimated at not more
than one-seventh the cost to the gov
ernment for handling the business.
These proposed rates range from one
cent for package weighing three ounces
or under to FIVE cents for one pound
packages, with an increase of two cents
per pornd additional until a limit of
eleven pounds is reached. Thus, an
eleven pound package could be sent from
one end of the country to the other at
a cost of twenty-five cents to the ship
per- while the government would have
to spend approximately $T.75 to handle
the business. Not satisfied with this, the
catalogue mail order houses want a free
insurance on each package up to $40,
with exceedingly low rates for registra-
ton and insurance for larger amounts.
At the present time only the hrst-class
mail, consisting of letters and postal
cards, Is carried by the government at a
profit. This class of mail matter, which
aggregates less than IA per cent of the
total mail tonnage handled annually,
provides revenue amounting to 80 per
cent Of the total receipts annually.
The profits from first-class mail busi-
ness are more than offset by the losses
in the handling of mail of the other
classes. Under the present postal laws
parcels may be sent through the mails
readily at any time as fourth-class
matter, the uniform rate being one cent
an ounce or sixteen cents a pound.
Reports of the Post Office Department
show that at the present rates fourth
class matter just about pays its own
way, but these rates do not give the
catalogue mail order houses the unfair
advantages they seek.
Representatives of the catalogue mail
order houses, in urging the establish
ment of domestic parcels post, cite the
example of Germany, where there is
such a system, and where the postal
department annually earns a surplus
about equal to the present deficit in
this country. They do not, however,
point out the fact that the average haul
of parcels In Germany is forty miles,
while the average, parcel haul IN this
country is 442 miles, or more than eleven
times 'Lwhat It is in Germany. Neither
do they point out that in Germany the
population is dense, running nearly soc
to the square mile, while in the United
States il is scattered, and averages less
than twenty-five to the square mile. The
carrying charges here and the cost OF
distribution over wide areas would make
the cost to the government far higher
than in any European country
Postmaster General Cortelyou, in his
annual report for 1905, calls attention TO
the fact that the department, should a
parcels post system be established
would get the bulk of the money-losing
long hauls, while the more profitable
short hauls undoubtedly would go to the
express companies, which, operating un-
der the zone system, would make de-
liveries between nearby points at rates
far under the uniform rate charge OF
the government for all points. Such g
system, if established, would turn our
mail trains into freight trains, and make
our small post Offices freight depots.
II is to fight this insidious plan to
crush out the small merchants and make
the victims stand the expense that the
Merchants League of America is work