The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-04-14
Opposed to Any Measure Deal ing With Subject Except Che That is Self Sus-
 tdining

Alderman H. H. Jackson Fore.
 most Advocate of Proposition
 Figures Taken From Re.
 ports of P. o. Department
 Hartford, April 14-Bridgeport was practically ''the whole thing at the hearing yesterday on the establishing of a parcels post, before the commit tee on Federal Relations. of which Senator Paddock is chairman. Its chief advocate aside from its sponsor in the House, was Alderman H. H. Jackson of Bridgeport. Opposed to it and presenting many grounds for their opposition, were S. E. Vincent and Andrew M. Cooper of Bridgeport All were listened to with close atten- ton by the committee and a. fair gathering of interested persons, and 1t is reasonable to say that more actual information regarding mail service was disseminated yesterday than has be- fore been the case in many month.
 When Senator Paddock, chairman opened the hearing Representative Hyde of Canterbury, the father of the bill, was the first speaker. He urged favorable action, saying that the pro- posed parcels post would be of special value to farmers and others who lived remote from thiclzly settled districts Mir Hyde pointed out the disadvant- ages under which the farmer lived his inability to procure things with the same ease as his city neighbor, his isolated situation. parcels pos' would be of benefit to him and was | ofn fo ho
 Alderman Horace H. Jackson, 8 prominent bookseller of Bridgeport was the next speaker, and was in fact the only man present who advanced any arguments in favor of the adop- tion of the resolution and the estab- lishment of a parcels post service Ten years ago. when he first became interested in the subject, he was op- posed to a parcels post. Five years later he again took up the study of the subject and at that time what he learned caused him to favor it, al- though he was told by friends that to advocate a parcels post was suicidal policy for him from a business stand point.
 he saw a parcels post in operation, a parcels post that was properly man. aged And it was his opinion that it had not affected the stores to any extent in either the large or the small CT cities.
 Under our present laws, it was pos sible to send a pound of printed mat ter to California all the way from Maine for one cent. Why should not it be possible to send a pound of other material at the same cost. The ex- press companies made an excessive charge for the transporting of pack ages where there was no competing service There was indignation all over the land because of the extraor- dinary earnings and dividends Of the express companies. These very d1vl- dends. that of the Adams Company o1 $25, ,000, GOO, for example, were argu- ments in favor of parcels post.
 Much was said about the advantage a parcels post would be to the mall order houses. In a business career III Bridgeport he knew of but two pack ages having been sent into that city by the large mail order houses.
 Personally he was in favor of parcels post. Of all the citizens od the country, 67 per cent. did not dwell in cities This large percentage de served service. And even though Il might jeopardize his business future he wished to go on record in favor o1 the parcels post because he believed it would be of benefit to the country at large.
 T. E. Crowley, representing num- Der of labor organizations of the State, spoke briefly in favor of the proposed plan. His opinion was that such a service would be of benefit to practically all; that 1t had not been installed before this solely because o1 opposition of the express companies.
 Strong arguments against any pan yet advanced for the establishment o1 a parcels post were advanced by An drew M. Cooper and Samuel E. Vim cent of Bridgeport Both these gen. tlemen, made it plain to the commit tee that they were not opposed to a parcels post service in itself. but were opposed to one that did not pay us own way And both presented facts and figures to back up their claim that no plan yet put forward was any where near self-supporting. On the other hand they offered as evidence the deficit which is a yearly occur renee in the post office department at present, pointed out how business IS now done at loss, and practically that a parcels post would not also DC operated at a big loss.
 Opening the arguments against the proposed bill, MT. Cooper pointed out the fact that in Germany, where the parcels post was in operation, there were no large stores. In 1act, ne noticed in his visits to Europe thai there were no large stores in any ot the cities outside of London. Paris and Berlin: this in spite of the fact that MT. Jackson thought the parcels post had not affected the stores IT Germany.
 .I favor a parcels post" said MT Cooper, "but I favor it only on self sustaining basis. Of all the plans tha have been put forward up to this very minute, not one can be shown to DC self sustaining. The magazines have created a sentiment in favor Of par cells post. But they are in the position of the pickpocket who shouts 'StoI thief in order to distract attentlor from himself. They enjoy spec1a privileges which you and l pay for They do not want those privilege! taken away. And so they agitate fol a parcels post that will, they hope make the public forget entirely the fact that they get from the govern ment service at one cent that the pub l lie itself pays eight cents for"
 i As an instance of the worth to pub fishers of this discriminatory rate, MT Cooper mentioned Everybody's Maga zine. Started originally by JohT | Wanamaker to advertise his store, ht sold it eventually to the Ridgway
 Thayer company for s10,000 and tha cOmpany in turn sold it to the But