The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1911-07-13
Express Companies aud Parcels Post.

I
gratitied TO learn that the later
state Commerce Commission ha'
decided to investigate the opera
tions of the express companies
There is such a crying need fol
this investigation that many peo
pie have wondered why it should
have been so long delayed. The
public Is, and for years has been
greatly dissatisfied with the ser
wee which these com panies sup
ply 1t has been forced to pay
an extortlonate price for poor
article, and it has been system
atically treated in a way more
suggestive of brlgandage than ol
business. That the rates collect
ed and paid under compulsior
are excessive does not admit oi
doubt. This Is proved conclusive
ly by the inordlnate profits which
the companies divide. They are
so rich that they are afraid tC
show their balance sheets, and
feel constrained TO dlssimulate
their gains by means of the vari-
Gus devices employed to that end
by high finance. Stockholders
who want a more liberal dlstribu
ton are kept IN the dark, and
when they go INTO court, as they
do occasionally, they are present.
ly shown the door.
But the time comes when
further concealment is lmpossl.
BILE, when something must be
done to relieve the pressure of
thefull.to bursting IL easure bags,
and then we see such a spectacle
as was presented a few months
ago, when the Wells Fargo Com.
pany, after having paid eight per
cent. for years on an artificlally
inflated capital stock, suddenly
declared dividend of three hun.
dred per cent, one third IN stock
and two thirds IN cash. A large
was IN this way made to
the capitalization, but no one
fears that the eight per cent.
will be interrupted,
and in circles which are best in.
formed, there is somewhat con.
tident expectation that the ac-
emulation of another surplus
will proceed at a sufficiently rapid
rate to provide the means for an
other 300 per cert. distribution
before many more years have
passed. Such profits involve IN.
charges and yet the ex.
press companies are guilty of
even more Objectionable
han the rapaclous character of
he tolls enforced. 1t is unnec.
,ssary to go into particulars.
Every one who has dealings with !
hem knows exactly what is
meant.
They ought to be investigated,
md investigation should be dras.
ic. They seem to have had an
nkling of what was intended, as
few days ago they filed sched.
lies showing material reductions
rom previous rates, but so far
IS this eleventh hour repentance
vas an attempt to anticipate and
o forestall the impending in.
Jury, it will surely fail of It's OBJ.
ect The Commission may be
rusted to conduct an inquiry
which shall be impartial in It's
pirit, answering in It's direc.
ION and exhaustive in It's scope.
md as that inquiry is expected
o occupy an extended period, it
light most advantageously be
by the enactment
4 Congress cf a law for the IN
ttution of an effective parcels
ost, such as the influence of the
xpress companies has heretofore
cen powerful enough to prevent.
o begin with, the country will
g satisfied with something less
ervlceable than the parcels post
t Germany, where packages
as much as 10 pounds
re carried through the mails at
hat appear by comparison to be
IdicuIcusly low prices. We
lay get there by degrees, but at
resent no more Is asked than