Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1910-11-18
Increased Postage Rates.

ing increased postage for the advrr
Using part of the magazines are only
digging their own graves, for they
! will be the next sufferers. The Re
publican administration proposes to
save at the spigot, by advocating in
creased postage on Second-clasS mail
matter and a reduction on first class
mail from two cents to one cent for
letters, while wasting millions at the
bung-hOle. But very few people
have been benefited by the decreased
postage on foreign letters from five
cents to two cents, the banks and
importers being the principal bene-
ticiaries of the decrease. Compare
lively few Americans write to or re-
ceive letters from foreign lands, so
the reduction in postage is for tho
benefit of the few at the expense of
the many who. pay by far the most
Federal taxes in proportion to their
incomes.
To increase the postage on maya
zines will be likely to force the ten
cent magazines to increase the price
to fifteen cents per copy, and the
yearly subscription price will be in
creased from one dollar to one dollar
and fifty cents or even to two dol
lars. There again those with small
incomes will suffer-
While millions are annually wasted
on extravagaut appropriations for
the army and navy; for expensive
commissions for this thing and that
thing; for highly paid attorneys to
investigate corporations by the De-
! partment of Justice, which has never
resulted in one malefactor of great
wealth being put behind the bars,
the saving by. the Postoffice Depart
ment is a mere fea-bite. The evolu-
ton of the determination to make
| the postal service self-sustaining
should be a lesson. to newspaper pro-
prietors.
The so-called reform began by re-
fusing the cent pound rate to what
the department in its 1908 report
called " trashy publications, issued
principally foradvertising purposes.
There was not much objection to
that, but it was just the opening
wedge. for the next reform was to
curtail the issue of sample copies; the
next, to cut off the giving of credit
for, subscriptions. = Now: the next
reform is to charge extra rates
for the advertising pages of maya
zines.
-. All this, however, is but prelimin-
airy to the real object, which is to
cut off the free postage on the weekly
newspapers within the county where
published. and to increase the second
class rate from one cent a. pound to
something near what the department
declares. is the approximate cost,
that, is 81 cents a. pound. Why it
costs SO enormously. to carry second
class mail will not obeuconsidered at
this time. but tits evident that there
must be great waste somewhere; for
the express companies, which are
thot6riols exxtortionists, do not aver
fage such high rates, and they, call for
and deliver parcels free to their pa
irons in the larger cities.
1t Is 81 importance to newspaper
publishers to investigate this pro-
posed increase on the postage of
magazines, for there is no reason
why the Sunday papers. at least,
should not be dealt with in the same
manner! But the metropolitan pa
pers are amply able, as are most Of
the magazines, to take care of their
Town interests, and it is the smaller
dailies and the weekly newspapers
(which must be prepared for higher
postage'rates in the near future, un-
less they take the necessary steps to
protect their interests.
| II postage rates on magazines and
newspapers are increased. the pub
fishers must increase the price of
their publications, and the public
will have to pay the bill.
APING MoNARcHiAL CUSTOMS. -
Why is it that in this Boosted Repub-
lie, people sometimes. on occasions