Los Angeles herald., 1907-11-03

our country patrons and that because
of 1t insanity Is on the decrease.
| 1 want to draw to the attention of you
gentlemen at this time certain features
and inconsistencies in connection with
the parcel post service. In the first
! place it does not seem to be understood
| by many of our people that we have a
| parcel post at present. The rate Is 16
cents pound and the limit of weight
four pounds. To illustrate the incon-
gruitles that exist Any individual ell
tering the postoffice here in Boston, or
in any other city or town in the country,
with two parcels, each Weighing four
pounds, can send one parcel to New York
for GA cents, while for the other parcel,
which is addressed to some one in a
! foreign land and goes vi,L New York, he
will have to pay but 4S cents, for the
reason that the rate to foreign countries
is IL cents pound, while the rate to our
own people Is 16 cents pound. Should
the packages weigh four and one-half
pounds each, the one addressed to the
friend in New York would have to be
refused by the postmaster, while the one
addressed to the person in the foreign
land and which would be accepted would
be forwarded to New York and then on
to its destination. The parcel for the
foreign country would be received In
most instances even II 1t weighed as
much as eleven pounds, and forwarded
to any one of twenty-five foreign coun-
tries Therefore 1 assume that our rep
resentatives In congress will realize that
they cannot afford to stand for a policy
that compels our own people to pay
cents more on packages to people living
in the United States (and even then per-
mits them to send only four pounds)
than on packages to people living in
twenty-five foreign lands, for which they
need pay only ~ cents a pound, and
which may weigh up to eleven pounds.
Two interests are opposing the extern
sion of parcel post In this countrywide
express companies and the country retail
merchants. The latter fear that the mail
order houses will derive benefit to
their own disadvantage. 1t is in con-
nectlon with the country retail mer-
chants that / desire to speak especially.
l propose to recommend the establish
ment of parcel post on rural routes
which will meet the objections of the
small storekeepers and retailers. This
Will be boon to our rural population
and to the storekeeper, as the latter can
receive his orders by mail or telephone
and dispatch the desired merchandise by
the rural carrier The farmer will be
saved from hitching up his horse and
losing the time he needs for planting or
harvesting his crops, and 1t will enable
the storekeeper to increase his, sales and
meet the requirements of modern trade
If my recommendations are adopted It
VIII cost IL cents pound for the mail
order house to send parcels to the rural
delivery patron from any city postoffice.
while for delivery from the distributing
office of the rural route, or If mailed
by patron of any rural route for de-
livery to patron on the same route or
at the distributing postoffice of said
route the charge will be but cents for
| the first pound and cents for each ad-
ditional pound up to II pounds, or 25
| cents for a package weighing eleven
| pounds. In Germany the small store
keeper has not this advantage in COM
peting with mail order houses, but he
has adapted himself to the situation and
| in many instances has become the agent
| in his town, thus supplying the people
! with goods which it Is impossible for
| him to keep liz stock without a great
outlay of money.
| am also considering the advisability
| of recommending a local parcel post de-
| livery at city free delivery postoffices
but In order to install such a system it
will be necessary to obtain from con-
gress special appropriation to acquire
wagons and automobiles to do the re-
quired hauling. AS already stated there
| is parcel post existing in the United
| States today, but at a rate of Is cents
per pound and a limit of four pounds
| The object of my recommendation to
congress will be to get a decrease that
will meet the rates charged for parcels
sent by post to other countries. In other
words, a reduction of 4 cents a pound
and an increase in weight which will
compare in some measure to that which
has been adopted by other highly civ
| ilized nations An eleven-pound limit
will, however, be far from the maximum
established by France Ctwenty-two
pounds, Germany C10 pounds), and Bel
gium d32 pounds),
| Another matter of great public interest
which L shall recommend for the con-
| sideration of congress is a postal savings
bank system, which has been adopted
| by many countries in the last thirty or
forty years. These banks were estab-
lished in England as early as 1861 in
| France in 1882 and in Austria in 1SS3
Now, with us in New England, we real
| lie that the necessity for postal savings
banks Is very much less than in many
other parts of the country, and this is
demonstrated by the fact that in New
! England the average distance Of the
savings bank from the postoffice is about
! fifteen miles; in the middle and western
states it is about Twenty-Five miles; in
the southern states thirty-three miles,
and in the Pacific slope states fifty-ave
miles.
We desire to encourage among our
people economy and thrift and by the
use of the postal savings banks to give
them every opportunity to husband their
resources. The policy will not be to
cH-pete in any way with the savings
banks, but rather to encourage the habit
of depositing savings, The people that
we shall want to reach are, first, those
who have not the facilities at hand for
depositing their money in a savings
bank, and secondly, the foreign popula-