The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1908-01-10
POSTAL REFORM
An important Ruling by the Post.
office Department.

Office Department.
Subscribers Must Pay Up Promptly
or Their Paper Will Not be Car
ried by the Mails.
The Postofflce Department has is
sued the following order:
A reasonable time will be allowed
publishers to secure renewals Of SUBJ
scriptions, but unless subscriptions
are expressly renewed after the term
for which they are paid within the
following periods-dalies within 8
months, triweeklies within months,
semiweeklies within nine months,
weeklies within one year-they
shall not be counted in the legiti-
mate list of subscribers, and copies
mailed on account thereof shall not
be accepted for mailing at the second
] class postage rate of cent pound,
but may be mailed at the transient
second class postage of l cent for
each four ounces or fraction thereof,
prepaid by stamps affixed. The
right of a publisher to extend credit
for subscription to his publication is
not denied or questioned. but his
compliance or noncompliance with
this regulation will be taken into
consideration in determining wheth-
er the publication is entitled to trans
mission at the second class postage
rates.
Under this order all newspapers
will have to come to the cash in ad-
vance system almost or be heavily
fined for violating it. At present
newspapers are circulated free in the
counties in which they are publish
ed and one cent per pound for pa
pers sent out the county. Under the
above order any publisher that sends
his paper to subscriber who Is in
arrears more than one year for a
weekly, nine months for a semi
weekly, six months for a tri-Weekly,
six months for daily will have to
pay one cent postage on each paper
sent out by him to such subscriber.
This is tax that no paper could
stand and so they will all have to
come to the cash in advance system,
which will be better for all. The
subscription price to a newspaper In
the majority of cases is very small
amount. There are few subscribers
but could pay it Regularly and would
if compelled by the law to do so.
The newspaper is usually lenient
creator and therefore comes last.
This ruling Of the postoffice de-
partment might turn out to be
blessing in disguise to the country
press and it's subscribers. 1t will
cut off all dead heads and subscrib-
ers who will not pay, and in conse-
quence there will be very little loss
to the publishers. They can then all
publish better papers, which would
benefit those subscribers who always
pay anyhow. The honest man who
expects to pay for his paper would
lust as leave pay for it in advance
as any other way.
There is not paper published
that gives almost unlimited time to
subscribers but what loses hundreds
of dollars every year from this source
alone.
There is one class of publications
that would suffer, and that is the.
mail order journals, and it Is doubt
less this class the government is af-
ter. AS the Minneapolis Tribune
says, "The department has been try
ing to get rid Of carrying periodicals
that collect a nominal subscription
price once to get in the second class
and are continued Indefinitely free
on the pretex of long credit"
The country paper will certainly
not be injured by the cutting down
of the free circulation Of mail order
Journals 1T is pity the govern
ment cannot distinguish between the
two. for the mail order journal is the
chief sinner in this respect, and is
responsible for burdening the mails
with tons of matter for the sole pur-
pose of carrying advertising.