The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-10
CARTER TALKS ON
 POSTAL SAVINGS Postmaster Also Discusses the
 Parcels Post EXPLAINS BILLS PENDING Ht Says Parcels Post Is Especially Framed to Give Advantage to Home Merchants-Features
 of Savings Proposal.
EXPLAINS BILLS PENDING

At the meeting of the Commercial club yesterday afternoon Postmaster J. Rivers Carter addressed the club on
 two of the most important questions which are now pending before the na-
 tional Congress, the parcels post and
 the postal savings bank MT. Carter re-
 ceved the attention of the club mem
 bers. and his ideas were applauded at
 numerous times. His talk Is one which
 will interest every person in the state,
 and is a part of an educational sys-
 tenn to bring around public opinion in
 favor of the idea. He said:
 These propositions have both been
 evolved by the present Postmaster Gen. eral an energetic and enterprising functionary of the government. This
 is true not only in his own field of ac- tion. but he desires the postmasters
 especially in the larger cities. to em-
 ploy the same energy.
 Lately he has passed the word along ] that he desires that the postmasters of ] this class be used as an intermediary
 spokesman with the people, giving the
 department an opportunity of making
 
 i commercial bodies what is pending be- i fore the Congress along the line of proposed laws for the benefit of the
 postoffce department, and the recom-
 mendations of this department as to ] congressional action. A i Hitherto this has been learned
 through our representatives in Con-
 gress. As to the Alabama delegation, i we have no member of the House of
 Repres sentatives who is a member of ] the committee on postofhces and post roads. In the Senate we have a mem ! Der on that committee, Senator John H. Bankhead of Jasper. From time to time have had many conferences with Sen
 ator Bankhead over matters relating to the department, and he has evinced as much interest in affairs as if he were
 a postmaster himself.
 q do not doubt that so far as inter- est in the matters pertaining to that committee and the furtherance of postal
 matters generally Senator Bankh cad is i as fully alive and abreast with the various matters as is any senator who is on that committee. As to Senator Johnston, his committee assignments are along entirely different lines, and consequently he Is not much in direct contact with postal matters. Interested In Europe.
 The present Postmaster General
 came into his office following dis tinguished service abroad First of all,
 as l recolect it, he was ambassador to
 the court at Rome, from which posi- tion, for reasons well known and upon his own motion, he sought removal,
 and was transferred to the ambassador i, ship at St. Petersburg. Returning to ] this country he was made Postmaster General.
 While in Europe he became inn pressed with many features of the postal system, and some of the suc- cessful operations he sought to intro duce here. Two of these features are
 the parcels post and the postal savings
 bank, which I will briefly discuss be-
 fore the club this afternoon.
 "The proposition of the parcels post has
 been pending many years past, but has never been reduced to any definite terms and details Long before I was connected with the postoffice department, I had the i impression that the principal opposition | to the parcels post came from the ex- press companies. l do not doubt but that | this erroneous opinion has been taken by | a majority of our citizens. While the | express companies do oppose it from the standpoint of competition, the principal | opposition does not come from them. By I far the most potent opposition has come | from the country merchants.
 "The bill now before Congress elimin- | ates the objections which the country
 merchant has found. There was hitherto proposed a bill for parcels post on a
 fiat rate all over the country just as the 2-cent stamp carries letter today. But
 there is now provided a margin of pro- l lection in favor of local communities. | Lest some of my fellow citizens have | jerked at the term protection I substi- l ute the expression, "a differential in | favor of the territory from which the rural routes eminate
 Under Present Law
 Under the present law the parcel mail | in this country is limited to four pounds at 16 cents a pound. Under the terms of the postal convention between this coun- | try and Europe we have to transmit | packages up to Il pounds at 12 cents an ounce. Under the operation of this law a citizen of Birmingham might send I through the local postoffice a 4-pound package to New York for GA cents, and an 11-pound package to England for 4S | cents, which would also pass through the | New York office.
 Not only Is this a discrepancy in | rates adverse to us, but if package | brought to the Birmingham office weighed | Az pounds it would have to be rejected | on account of overweight whereas an H. pound package would pass on to the for | eign address. The present administration | of the department feels that this in- | Justice should no longer obtain. It is, | therefore, proposed that over the coun- | try at large merchandise packages up | to Il pounds be transmitted at 12 cents | an ounce and that there be a parcels | post designed expressly for the rural | service considerably below this rate. l ''The rate that is proposed here applies | to the office of origin from which the | rural carrier goes out, and provides for packages of Il pounds weight The rate l is cents for the first pound and cents l for every pound thereafter. Thus if a | nackage went out from "a merchandise | house in Birmingham weighing Il pounds l the arte would be 25 cents. If an 11-pound 1 package came to any citizen on our | rural routes of Birmingham, from any | great department store of the northern | cities the rate would be $1.25.
 | ssrh;a r,rovides A very safe margin of