The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-05-05
COWLES TELLS
ADVANTAGE OF
PARCELS POST
Distance Not Element in the
Cost of Transporting a Com
modify He Tells Business Men
Secretary of Postal Progress
League is Closely Questioned
by Commissioner Taylor and
Others

Laying down the dictum that the
cost of transportation is regardless Of
the distance traversed, James l.
Cowles, secretary-treasurer of the
Postal Progress League, addressed a
meeting of the Bridgeport Business
Mems Association, last evening, and
most brilliantly advanced the cause
of the parcels post
At the. end of his address he was
questioned by a number of business
men, who advanced objections to the
parcels post idea These Mr. Cowles
answered, although his questioners re-
fused to accept some of his views
Mr.. Cowles particularly addressed him
self to the bugbear advanced by enc
mics of the parcels post, that such
an institution would ruin the trade of
the local merchants by placing the
country's commerce in the hands of
the great mail order houses. He
claimed on the contrary that the par
GELS post is the only salvation of the
small Cities and that the railroads and
express companies alone are respon-
sible for the growth of the metropol-
itan centers.
Mr.. Cowles opened by flinging a few
bouquets at the post Offices methods
of delivering It's mail, by carriers
endurance. He said 1t is small won
der the department shows a deficit
when its business Is done in this style.
He depicted the postal service Of the
future, with moving post offices, pneu-
matte tubes, endless belts. and other
devices to destroy distance and time.
Getting down to the parcels post
his own with the New Haven road
in 'SS. He then owned two paper
mills at Windsor Locks. The road
against him 20 per cent.
in freight rates and put his two mills
out of business. Since then, Mr.
Cowles says, he has devoted his life
to the solving Of that problem Of rate
and he believes that
the parcels post IS the great solution
of the difficulty.
las long as the railroads and ex-
press companies can dictate where our
goods and our persons shall be, then
the railroads and express companies
hold US in just as complete servitude
as any master in the South held his
slaves before the war" said the
speaker.
Mr.. Cowles then explained his state
ment that the cost Of transportation
is regardless of the distance traversed.
That is to say, If there is a train
running regularly from New York to
Boston, it doesn't cost any more to
transport package the full distance,
than to transport the same package
from New York to Bridgeport, or from
New York to Harlem river, or from
Bridgeport to Stratford. This holds
true up to the capacity of the train
in question and Is equally true of the
passenger and freight services.
1t is on this theory, declared Mr..
Cowles, that all modern railroads and
A. T. -,
ed that this very argument was bril-
liantly advanced by the railroad men
themselves in explaining their flat
rate to all milk product within $50
miles of New York. He quoted the
prevailing tendency to grant flat rates
east and west Of the Mississippi. He
declared that the very. life of New
England has been made possible in
the past by this theory and its work
ing out in practice. He declared that
New England's future existence is de-
pendent upon the retention and extern
sion of this policy, through a parcels
post with a flat rate for practically
the entire country.
He declared that the American Elk
press Company has just accepted a
contract from the British government
to deliver British parcels anywhere
within the United States for "a cents
for packages Of to IL pounds. Here
is an instance Of the cost of trans
portation being regardless Of the dis
lance traversed He showed the i'm
mense value OF parcels post to the
New England manufacturers. enabling
them to place their wares directly be
fore customers all over the country
He showed that under present condi-
tons, 1t costs twice as much to SEND
packages from small cities as to SEND
the same packages the same distance
from large cities. This is due to the
fact that all large cities enjoy i'm
mense natural rebates from express
companies and railroads. Thus the
larger the city, the more rapidly is
business forced in its direction. The
express and freight rates are con-
stantly battering down the smaller
places in favor of the larger one.
parcels post, says Mr.. Cowles. is the
only salvation Of the smaller cities. =