Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-10-17
OPPOSE PARCELS POST
Rural Merchants and News
papers in Iowa Prepare to
Block Mail Order Plans
L FORM ORGANIZATION
Papers Will Lead Fight and Counter
act Influence of Eastern Publications
Delegation in Congress Will Be
Appealed to to Oppose Proposed
Special to Times-Republicnn.


Des Moines, Oct. 17.-Country mer-
chants and weekly papers in Iowa
are preparing to organize to fight the
plan to establish parcels post law
as advocated by the postmaster gen
eral of the United States and the big
mail order houses.
mail order houses, are booming the
plan which will make it possible to
ship anything, including meat, eggs,
and what not, thru the mail, so long
as it does not weigh over eleven
pounds. The cost will be but II cents
pound. according to the proposed
bill.
The local papers In the little towns
in Iowa will organize to lead the fight,
for they realize that if the bill is
passed it will drive out of business,
or nearly SO, a, large percentage OF
small town merchants. This means a
cessation Of local advertising and an
paper Already the mail order bust
ness has badly crippled the country
press in Iowa and the proposed law
would finish many papers.
IoWa's senators and congressman
will be appealed to to defeat any such
bill, and meetings Of newspaper men
will be held this winter to denounce
the parcels post. On the other hand
many residents in small towns and on
farms will fight for the measure, for
they assert they can do much better
thru the mail order houses than with
the country merchant. In Clarke coun-
ty, for instance, it is estimated that
half of the retail business goes to the
mail order houses and the other half
to the merchants of Osceola and MUIR
ry.
Equal suffragfsts of Iowa will soon
ally themselves with the labor party
and do their best to further its cause.
At least this is the strong sentiment
now prevalent at the state convention
Several of the prominent speakers
have come out openly expressing the
greatest sympathy with Meyer and
Haywood. They have expressed great
satisfaction that the trial between cap
ital and labor, as they term it, ended
as it did.
In a talk before, the convention,
Mrs. RoWena Stevens of Boone, state
regent of the d. A. r., made an elo-
quent appeal to. the suffragists to ally
themselves with the labor cause. Her
appeal met with instant response.
In her annual address, Mrs. Bertha
Wilcox state president. urged the
women to use the state funds for the
attempt to secure municipal and school
suffrage.
The address of Louis Post, editor Of
the Chicago Republic, was one of the
chief events of the convention. Mr..
his audience from the start. He is a
fearless speaker at all times.
1T is only because women make
their influence felt to some extent that
our public life is tolerable at ALL" said
Mr.. Post. He made strong argu-
ment in favor of women suffrage and
stated that to admit the right of pro-
lection Is to admit the right to vote.
$50
Passenger tariffs are In bad shape all
over Iowa, with the possible exception
of Des Moines. Altho the 2-cent fare
has been in effect since last July, the
railroads haven't completed their clas-
sifications and In the smaller cities of
the state the agents are instructed to
sell tickets on 2-cent basis without
regard to competing roads. An anus
ing mix-up is the result in many cities
where there is more than one railroad
connecting with other towns, altho the
mileage may be different For instance,
the rate from Des Moines to Burling-
ton over the Rock Island, is 1886, while
from Burlington to Des Moines over
the same road and same route, the rate
is 1896 The extra sixty cents Is not
explained by the local agents. The
Des Moines agent has been instructed
to meet the rate given by the Burling-
ton route which has shorter line, but
the agent at Burlington has not re-
ceived the new classification and
charges straight 2 cents mile.