The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-11-19
PAKCELS PUS(
Rate to Europe Less Than In This Country-Benefit to Farmers on Rural De- livery Routes
Marcus NJ. Marks,

| chairman, committee on POStdl All l fairs, Merchants Association of 1 New York.
 German Parcels Post Wagons in New York City.
 Exclusive Service The Survey Press l Bureau0
 Parcels-post may we'll be consider | ed under two distinct heads: First, ! general parcels-post, applying to ! packages of merchaniSe sent by mail | to any point here or abroad without l special reference to rural delivery. | Second, parcels-post confined to rural 1 free delivery routes.
 Some fear that an extension of the l general parcels-post whereby large l packages may be forwarded by ma l, | at very low rates, from the great bus
 mess centers to the consumers in the | towns disastrously; that there will
 result monopoly of business by cat 1 aIogue houses in the large cities at | the expense of the country stores. It is universally agreed that the de- velopment of the town as the centre of rural community should not be in- 1 largely for it's prosperity upon the | healthy growth of our towns. This | feature of the poss ble operation of a genera! parcels-post should therefore receive the serious consideration of lawmakers.
 
 the general parcels-post in some for i eign countries. particularly Germany, l and the great advantages accruing g l thereby to the mass of the people, i should not be overlooked by those | who are studying the broad quest on of it's, possibilities in this country. ] Wh' 'le suspending our judg~en re- i garding the wisdom of extending the general parcels-post system we must
 recommend that certain fragrant in-
 consistencies now existing be prompt : 1y removed.
 1 At the present time parcels may be ! mailed from the United States to al- i most all foreign countries at the rate . of twelve cents a pound, whereas the
 charge is sixteen cents a pound, B Ia
 per cent more. for parcels sent by post
 from one part to another of this
 more to nal a parcel to your next
 door neighbor than it does to send ! 1t across the seas.
 1 Again, our present general parcels 1 post system permits the sending of
 packages up to eleven pounds to most 1 foreign countries, whereas at home we i are limited to four.
 l These inequalities. discriminating l against our local business, should be ! removed at the earliest date, as so
 strongly advised by former Postmas- | ter-Genera1 Meyer.
 I
 ral delivery routes in the United | Sta ties. A mail carrier passes over i each of these routes daily. This car 1 rier is prohibited by law from de1iv- i ering anything but mail matter. The i we. gft of parcels is limited to four
 cent per ounce or sixty-four cents 1 for a four pound package. This high l charge and low limit of weight pre-
 vent millions of people who live along i these rural routes from enjoying the
 full benefits of package service. Carriers do frequently serve the peo-
 pie by bringing parcels in violation of 1 the law: but this is to a limited de- | gree and at high charge. It will be very easy to utilize the existing ma 1 cfinery of the rural delivery routes 1 for the greater benefit of the farming community and the Country store | keeper as we'll.
 To help counteract the present ten- dency toward leaving the farm and Hooking to the large cities this effort will be we'll worth the while There is provision in the Ben ton in rate and an increase in size of packages perm tied on rural routes. these changes to affect only such par cells as originate and are delivered on the same rural route. In other words the intention is to extend the advan-
  tua1 benefit of those only who reside within their boundaries.
 The farmer and the town will thus be brought into closer touch: the for n1er will find market for fruits and garden truck not otherwise available: the latter VII cultivate an additional output by being enabled to supply the farmer daily with many articles which, for lack of reasonable trans portation facilities he is now compell- ed to do without.
 There are those who oppose any new development in rural parcels-post de- livery because they fear that this will be an enternp wedoe to the extension of the general parce1s-post system. The conside-at on of the extended use of our rural routes should not be clouded by such contingencies. Pro- gross would always be blocked, were the ghosts of possible far-off conse- uuences to be allowed to bar the way. We should consider the welfare of the farmers and their communities; if they prosper, the cities will naturally share the good results.
 Parcels Post Made in Germany. The express strike in New York city has attracted attention to the desira- blity of parcels post and led Mayor
 Gaynor to wonder why our country
 did not have such a system as "every other clV1l1ZeQ country aces. An interesting fact in connection
 with this discussion of the parcels
 post is pointed out in a recent issue
 of The Survey which says, wagons bearing the legend Parcel Agency for
 the Imperial German MaiI' may be seen every day on the streets of New
 York. That is. the German govern ment offers in New York for the ben eft of its citizens at home service that our own government, will not render us It is good evidence that
 John Wanamaker hit the nail on the head when he said some years ago
 that there are just four insurmount-
 able obstacles to the introduction of
 a parcels post system in the United
 States These four obstacles are the American Adams, Un ted States and Wells Fargo Express Companies. MT.
 Wanamaker's opinion is quite widely shared.
 "Since his retirement as postmaster general the government has arranged by treaty for an exchange parcels post
 service with forty-three foresgn coun- tries. AS result a parcel may be
 mailed from Santa Fe to Smyrna,
 DaIny. Wei Hai Wei, or MonteT' deo which cannot be posted to Dallas. Den yer or New York Parcels can be sent from Berlin to Brooklyn that can- not be sent from New York to Brook lyn."
 SMALL, FIRE IN FOUNDRY