The Mena weekly star., 1907-11-07
WILL WE HAVE A PARCELS $
 POST?


 session of Congress and have always been defeated by special interests are the laws to protect the people rom the adulterators of foods and f,edicines and the necessary change of the postal regulations to establish, or, more accurately speaking, ex- tend the parcels post.
 Until the last Congress every effort to protect the people of the country from the greed of those who would sacrifice health and life for the sake of making money through the adulteration of food, medicine, etc., was placed at naught by the business" interests that not only made it a point to have thelr own tools among the membership of that law-making body, but also to reinforce them by paid lobbyists.
 The statement of food experts and eminent physicians that the most deadly of our diseases, the great white plague, was largely a result of the detererious food furnished the people had but little effect on the class that was growing powerful and rich at the cost of the nations health.
 But the last Congress passed a pure food act, and now government experts say that it is already en- forced to the extent of 95 per cent, and few violations are intentional
 "a big victory for righteousness that came after hard and long fight.
 Postmaster General Meyer is fol lowing the steps of numerous prede- cessors in advocating the extension of the parcels post in the United States in manner to give the peo- pie rates similar to those enjoyed by other nations. The greatest organ ized opposition has come from the express companies. Like the food adulterators they maintained repre- sentatives and lobbyists in Congress and have thus far defeated every effort made for the protection of the people from the exorbitant and arbitrary rates of the express com panies. Supporting this fight on the parcels post as proposed have been the retail merchants who, right or wrong, feared the encroachment of the mail order houses on their business through the reduced rates proposed.
 It seems now that this latter oppo- sition has been largely removed by the bill outlined by the postmaster general and with the publicity that has. been given to the subject of the wrongful influence on legislation of corporations, it is probable that the proposed measure will become a law at the next session of Congress.
 In this connection the following interview with Elisha Winter, New England organizer of the National Association of Retail Merchants, will be good reading to merchants and others interested in the question of cheap rates for the carriage of parcels:
 Country merchants all over New England rejoiced yesterday, follow ing diffusion of the reports of Post master General Meyers speech in Boston Saturday, which, they say, gives them their first recognition at the hands of government officials.
 The only opposition to such a proposal as that made by Mir. Meyer, said New England Organizer Elisha Winters of the National Association of Retail Merchants to a reporter for The Herald, will come from such houses as seek to put fraudulent goods before the public, against which we have been fighting.
 MT. Meyer gives us recognition for the first time to an extent we had never expected, and his proposal will benefit every one in thisscountry except fakirs and frauds.
 We now have the Aubuchon bill. which is being introduced in the Missouri legislature. That bill pro- vides for the compulsion of honest advertising, and when it is passed it will prevent the sending out of cata- logues of fraudulent houses.
 The idea as set forth by Mir. Meyer meets with praise everywhere among the farmers and merchants. y
 Mir. Winters also wrote as follows to Postmaster General Meyer under date of October 15.
 Dear Sir::-I had the pleasure of hearing your address last Saturday evening at American House, Bos- ton, on the proposed parcels post measure you will recommend to Con- gress.
 What l think of your address is partly shown from interview in Boston Herald. From being your extreme opponent l am now your strongest possible supporter. While