The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-06-12
PARCELS POST AND
PENNY POSTAGE
(New Haven Register.)

The results accomplished by Post
master General Hitchcock in finally
bringing the expenditure of the. Post
Office Department within it's income
deserve great praise although, as the
New York Evening Post points out,
it is only fair to say that the deficit
in the preceding year was very small
and the natural increase in gross bus
mess made the achievement referred
to easier than it seems at first sight.
And now the question will arise as
to what should be done when an act
ual surplus accrues to the depart
ment. Shall we try one cent postage;
parcels post; or shall we try to re-
duce the general foreign rate to two
cents as has been done in the case of
Canada, Great Britain and Germany;
Or shall we cheaper the magazine
rate?
The first popular demand will prob
cells post. Both of these have an at
tractive sound to the popular ear. But
would either be wise vet from the
standpoint of the public'S real inter-
est? Would not an improved letter
service at two cents be better than
the present service at one cent? In
London, Paris and Berlin letters are
delivered practically all day from early
morning until late at night In New
Pork and Chicago they begin earlier
in the morning and stop delivery In
some parts of the cities at five or six
o'clock. In some parts of residential
New Haven letters are not delivered
in the morning until after the head
of the house has gone down town for
the day and there is no delivery half a
mile from the center after, say, three
or four o'clock. Would not the value
of the post office be far greater If there
were more deliveries and better SER
vice at two cents than an inferior SER
vice at one cent? If a local note could
, be mailed in New Haven in the morn
ing and a reply be had by night 1t
would be worth something to the New
Haven public. In a large city 1T would
be worth even more.
The benefits of the parcels post have
been diligently extolled by some en-
tEusiasts and on it's face it is certainly
a popular idea The rates charged In
some instances by the express COM
panies, especially on small packages,
have helped the parcels post idea more
perhaps than it actually deserves. but
if the express rates were somewhat
lowered by the Interstate Commerce
Commission in the extreme cases ana
the present merchandise postal rate
continued or perhaps the limit of
weight increased, it is hard to see just
where the real benefits of the parcels
post would come in. One fact should
be remembered by those who are loud
est in their demands for the parcels
post 1t is really in the last analysis
a subsidy to the mail order business
houses in the large cities, just as the
magazine rate, resulting in enormous
cost to the public is a subsidy to the
magazines, enabling them to ship the
greater part of their circulation from
500 to 5000 miles at less than cost
while the dear public pays the bills.
The magazines tried to get back at
the newspapers on this issue because
of the newspaper pound rate. The
newspapers showed that their average
carrying distance was only from so
to 100 miles for nearly their entire edi-
ton while the magazines carrying dis
tance was from fifteen to twenty times
that distance on a large part of their
issue Then, too, the newspapers were
carrying to the people reports of leg
islative, judicial and commercial af-
fairs that the state and the people
ported to them.
In conclusion, then, we believe the
real need of the post Office department
is for improved service and not for
lower rates. A two cent rate Is low
enough if the service is good enough.
When the letter carrier service Is
maintained in cities of the first class
from a. m. to 9 D. m, every hour,
and in cities like New Haven from Z
a. m to p. m, with collections up
to midnight, then if there is a surplus
well and good, but until then it Is our
opinion the public would rather have
two cent postage and allow mail order
houses to get along with the merchan-
disc rates and express companies, which
they seem to be doing very success
fully at present. One mail order house
in Chicago did a business Of sixty MIL
lions last year and paid enormous
stock dividens besides its regular cash
dividends. Why then should the peo-
pie, and especially the people in towns
like New Haven and Hartford. subsi-
die the mail order concerns in the large
cities to the detriment of their local
businesses and pay half the expense
of sending magazine advertising half
or two thirds way across the CONT