The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1908-05-03
Cold Feet and the Parcels Post.

a good many OF our congressman
need foot-warmers every time they
contemplate the possibility Of a
parcels post. That isn't all they
need, however. They ought also 10
provide themselves with q range
finder for their minds.
The grave danger to parcels de
livery through the mail, as these
legislators apprehend, is that the
country merchant viii be crowded
out of business by the mail-order
and wholesale houses. 1t is useless
to deny that the average stOrekeeper
in the small town shares and nur-
lures this fear. At his conventions
he adopts resolutions vigorously de-
claring against the extension of the
mail service, and demanding 10 be
allowed TO continue in business.
Yet this argument fails for two
reasons, two reasons as plain as the
label on bottle Of vinegar
1. That the welfare of the whole
country cannot long be disregarded
for the suppositional profit of the
small merchants.
>. That nothing serves the mail
order houses and the wholesale
merchant so well as a regulation
like the present four-pound limit
which prevents shipments save in
the quantity.
y 7. Bachelor. master of the Ma
tionaI Grange, made this latter rea-
son clear in an address TO the New
Hampshire Retail Grocers' Associa-
ton at Manchester, y. II, not long
ago. Said he:
The grocer who opposes the parcels
post is opposing the establishment OF
a daily delivery 10 his rural customers
at the minimum OF cost 20 both him
self and his customer. If the farmer
must buy in quantities at long inter
walls, and provide for delivery at great
cost and Inconvenience 20 himself. why
not buy direct from the wholesaler. and
from the wholesaler. regardless Of dis
lance who viii lay down the goods Il
the farm at the least COST
Continue the present : 1nditiOns and
the retail merchant. the GT Icer included,
is doomed so far as the larger part Of
his rural trade is concerned. Establish
the parcels post with daily delivery 10
the farm, and the retail merchant has
at the very least. a fighting chance 70
not only hold his own. az X now stands.
but 10 regain the position he occupied
before the combination between the eN-
press companies and mail order houses
threatened him with destruction.
This was a man speaking for the
farmer. for the very buyer whom
the town merchant hopes to keep.
Mr. Bachelor knew, and every
grocer at that convention knew.
that today rUraI carriers are dis
tributing supplies for the nearby
merchant st rates fixed according
TO the drivers personal Judgment
The goods SO carried range from q
paper of pins TO a barrel of -four
This service IS only an mixing OF
that which proper parcels post
will make possible.
1t would give new breadth to the
town dealers offer Of Immediate
delivery" Ii would break down a
discrimination on the part of the
express companies in favor of the
long shipment which now practi.
cally precludes deliveries under
twenty-five miles. It would put the
merchant in a position of holding
his own by reason of better anC
cheaper service, instead of by rea.
son of political intimidation.
\ meeting TO consider certain
postal reforms is TO be held in this
city next Tuesday evening. The
Postmaster General is expected tc
/ speak. and the Postal Progress,
! League is TO be in charge. If those
gentlemen are in earnest they vii
gather at that meeting every one
of these thin-socl1ed Congressmer
they can reach, and drive home th,
lessons of this speech from Mr.
Bachelor.