St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1909-06-26
Editors Urged to Push Ac-
uOn ON Bills Against
Government EnyeI-
ope Printing.
TALK BY ]. M. COTTON
Some Interesting Facts in
Regard to the Busi-
ness as Affecting
Printers.

once there was a boy who was run
nlng a moving machine. The ma
chine was old, the sickle dull, ther
was Wire grass in the meadow, an
both the mares of his team wer
fretting over their absent colts. Adj
TO those troubles the fact that tn
rlles were so thick that the horse
would not stand a second, and yoo
nave condition that appeals to tn,
average boy as one that is almos
unbearable. You, yourself, cannot ap
preciate it unless you, like the writer
/ have been there. This boy was no
exactly Sunday school boy-that is
not the ideal, at least, as besides cry
ing as hard as he could cry over his
troubles, he was swearing as best he
could, between sobs, aud filing the
circumambient atmosphere with sui.
phurous blue vapor.
A good Quaker came along about
that time and was sorely shocked
over the unregenerate condition OF
this youth. He chided him severely
and then gave him some fatherly ad-
vice on the very bad habits that he
was getting in to. III
The boy listened respectfully. But
when the Quaker let up for second,
he said: That's all right for you,
but try it and see how it is yourself.
You get on here and go one round
without swearing and I'll give you this
five-dollar bill. /"
The Quaker was frugal, withal, and
thought to make five dollars very
easy, so he accepted the banter. The
boy climbed down and the Quaker
climbed up and the machine began to
click.
It didn't click for long, however, as
the wire grass soon checked up the
dull sickle, and then it had to be
pulled out by hand, while the horses
were stamping and fretting and pull
ing ahead. Before the Quaker was
half way around he gave it up and sig
nailed the boy to come. When this
urchin arrived the Quaker said !:
Thee can keep the five, and here is
another, if thee will get up here and
swear, hard enough to do this subject
justice. I"
Now, that's the way | feel about
this governent-printed stamped enve-
lopes. You have asked me to say
some things about this business, and
i do not feel equal to the occasion. |
am like the Quaker. And II give five
plunks to any one of you who
will get up here now and cuss this in
defensible interference on the part of
the government as it should be cussed.
/ simply cannot do it myself.
Ainsworth is a good town. 1t pat
ron;zes its newspapers much better
than the average town Of its size.
Ainsworth is good town, and in the
main its businessmen are loyal to
the town and to each other. But we
have some who, while talking loudly
about the ruinous competition of the
mail-order houses, send regularly for
the goyernment-printed stamped enve-
lopes,
[ said government printed" I
do not mean it. That was slip of
the tongue. They are not printed by
the government. The government
hires firm in Dayton, o., to do the
work. The government simply acts
AZ aren't or sales manager for that
concern. The records show that the
volume Of the business for the fiscal
wear ending June |, 1908. amounted to
ffhe enormous sum of 81, 672, 789. So
coming from every state in the union.
If il safe to say that if this work had
been left to the printers Of this coun-
frv 1t would have netted them at least
S55l1 600. The Dayton office is grind
ING out 4, 900, 900 envelopes every day,
ana we are sitting on our launches
wondering what we had better do
about it.
The government receives less than
50 cents d thousand for taking orders
for these envelopes, transmitting them
to the print shop at Dayton and dellv-
ering the envelopes to the consumer
al his post Office by registered mail,
collecting the money for them and
naving Ii over to the Dayton printers.
There IS a positive loss to the gov
on every order so taken.
And vet the Postmaster General comes
rarniarly every winter and asks con-
rrass 10 raise the postage rate on
saroy,d class mail matter to cover the
annual deficit in his department.
81 Ha iustifies himself in this printing
IL the envelopes by saying that the
,.a+,1rn card on the envelope saves
,asnv letters from going to the dead
letter Office and thus saves the tune
If his clerks. We had better do like
England does, make it obligatory by
law to have a return card printed or
,rr;tfen on every envelope before it is
!, aiIabIe. Then let the government
Eaen ses its hands off and give the print
ers change.
aontinI1e in such work, let US enlarge
.,g,e,, agsr it-take in the grocers, the dry
.Lapo5s ao.l men. the clothiers, the mil
EneTs the druggists and every other
i:ls1o ,.l1eAf hnsiness-drift into socialism,
.,,.ra .l.,. and simple. It is gust as fair for
pa plss as for the other. My, what a
s,as,,l p,,a would 90 up all over this land if
the government should become the
Gales I'll agent for some big grocery house
s DAYTON and send out circulars
tsbaro,1rf II the postmasters all over the
i..,d -, asking for patronage IN that linz,
losa.s,nac;ally ls.saa If, as in the case Of t.sf
ss.a,tssalones. the government sholl9
e..rsas $3.50 II transport the groceries by
81 as,.;sfared Gre mail To the post offlge Of
fbe purchaser.
Tts all wrong. i . unfair. ait y
u ;,,a,ss competition. The goTer ment