The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1908-01-11
RAYvILLE. Md, january list, 1908.

De IOl0rab0Q
RAYvILLE, ND. January LIST, 1908.
Editors Union The establishment of a Par
cells Post has been discussed by the agricultural
papers and by some of the magazines for several
years, but the great city dailies and the country
newspapers have had very little to say on the
subject.
The average American citizen has cherished
the patriotic opinion that the public conve-
niences of the United States are far greater than
those of other enlightened nations, and until
this opinion is shown to be unfounded there
will be no united effort to persuade or compel
the Government to give the American people
postal facilities equal to those of Great Britain
and the German and Austro- Hungarian empires.
Having compiled some statistics from reliable
sources will, with your permission, lay them
before your readers for their earnest considers
ton.
One writer has said that commerce in its final
analysis resolves itself into the delivery of par
GELS, and as civilization develops commerce di-
vides itself more and more into parcels, and the
carrying of packages must play constantly in
creasng part"
Since the establishment of the Rural Free De-
livery system the want of parcels post Is felt
more keenly than ever before by those living
remote from cities and towns, and while the OPP
portunity is afforded of having packages of mer-
chandise weighing four pounds, or less, deliv-
cred by the rural carrier. the cost of carriage in
many instances exceeds the cost of the article
itself, and if an article is wanted in hurry,
that weighs over four pounds and is not kept in
the country store it is necessary to send to
distant city-go several miles to an express office
for it--and pay more than the value of the arti-
Gle in express charges.
The statement has been made, and can easily
be verified, that the rate charged on packages
by the United States Postofice Department is
six thousand per cent. greater than the German
rate. In the United States merchandise rated
as fourth class matteris6 "a cents for four pounds,
and if the package weighs over four pounds 1t
will not be received at all. An extra charge is
made for registration and its safe delivery is not
insured.
This same package can be posted In London,
England, carried across the Atlantic Ocean and
then taken in United States mail car and car
ried across the American continent and deliv-
cred in the remotest suburb of San Francisco
for how muchP For one-fourth less than you,
Messrs. Editors, can have four pounds Of type
sent from Baltimore to Towson. Instead of
being limited to pounds at l6 cents per pound,
you can send IL pounds from London to San
Francisco at IL cents per pound, and, in addi-
ton, have it insured at a nominal cost.
But this is notan exceptional case, as England
will carry package from Edinburgh, by way OF
London, Egypt, Suez Canal India and Hong
Kong to Shanghai and deliver it to the home OF
the receiver for IL cts. per pound, or three
fourths of what you pay from Tows0n to Bal
timore.
Great Britain is not exceptional in her postal
liberality Hon. Mr. Heaton, M. p, who has
made postal reform special study, claims that
Great Britain is as far behind Germany and
Austria in their postal systems as the United
States is behind Great Britain.
If q Baltimore manufacturer sends 4-pound
package to Towson-a distance of seven miles
he pays "a cents postage, but the German manu-
facturer can send package Weighing rs pounds,
under the German postal system, distance Of
ten miles for six cents.
While the United States Postoffice Depart
ment refuses to accept package weighing over
pounds Germany has extended the limit to
ITO pounds, and by a postal agreement with
Austria a merchant living in the north of Ger
many can ship package weighing Ito pounds to
the southern limit of Austria and have it deliv-
cred at the home of the consignee for 30 cents,
and for cents extra its safe delivery will be
guaranteed. Thus the merchant of Baltimore
pays six thousand per cent more to our Post
Office Department for sending package to Tow
son than the German merchant does to the ex-
IRENE limit of foreign country.
When John Wannamaker was Postmaster
General he said: ut is true that parcels could
be carried at one-twelfth of the present cost,
but there are four insuperable obstacles in the
way of carrying parcels by the Postoffice De-
partment. First-the Adams Express Com
pany second the American Express Company;
third, the Wells Fargo Express Company !;
fourth, the Southern Express Company"
| In Great Britain, Germany and Austria the
postal laws and regulations seem to have been
made for the benefit of the people, while in the
United States they seem to have been made for
the benefit of the various express companies.
The common people have been blinded 80 long
by the great corporations that control the means
of transportation and practically control the
law making power, that anyone who protests
against the present state of things is liable to be
called socialist. or an anarchist, and as your
correspondent favors a cheap parcels post, even
if it does deprive the express companies of some
of their enormous profits, suppose he will be
termed an anarchist or socialist. But he is
really AN OLD-TIME REPUBLICAN.