The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-03-24

at the expense of the public the government shall
be charged rate of 4 cents pound
In opinion this seems to be an emnently fair
proposition. Why should the Government be forced
shoulder and from its profits the revenue
derived from the carrying of first and fourth class
postal pay the money into the pockets of the
magazine publishers? We the word Government"
but matter of fact it is the people who pay the
profits in the end.
There is no doubt but that letters be carried
cent instead of two, and still allow of fair
margin of profit to the Government AS has been
pointed out the 900 loss in the carriage of
second-class matter magaznes-the terms near
ly synonymous-is decreased to large extent by the
profits the carriage of irst-class matter letters
Taking these facts into consideration it can be easily
that every time you put two cent stamp
letter that could be carried for cent you pay the
second penny to the magazine publishers This is not
fair, it is right, it ought to be changed. Mr.
Hitchcock has devised a means of changing it. That
means ought to be tried
Of if it is tried it will cut down the profits
of the publishers Wherefore the howl that has been
raised against it. But it will not wipe those profits
out if the statements of the publishers in regard to
the they derive from their advertising pages
true. Those pages will still produce comfortable
margin of profit and the burden of the annual loss
will be taken away from the Government and the peo
pe and placed the revenue-producng pages of mag
azines where it belongs
Mr.. Hitchcock studied the matter of postal rates
with great before he recommended that the ad-
versing pages of the magazines be taxed nearly
in accordance with the service they obtained. The
storm of protest against this recommendation by the
publishers shows how close the of the question
the Postmaster General has come Every means at
the command of the publishers and it is well known
that the strings they pull strong indeed has
been and will be used to prevent the act pending
to become law
Hitchcock the President of the United States
have been accused of everything that the magazine
publishers could think of to them 1t has been
said that the law is to have the effect of driving
those magazines known the "muckrakers" out of
business entirely and is because of the fact that the
trainers of this act afraid of just such maga-
zines that this law has been drafted These state
ments of the publishers have done more to hurt their
side of the than any other thing, because
no in their proper imagnes for moment
that either the President the Postmaster General is
acuated by improper motives is prompted by politi
cal considerations
The analogy of the business man holds good, any
you look at it, and the recommendation that the
act be made law is clearly proof that the two
men who responsible for the attempt to stop
this enormous leak each year good business men
and merely trying do their duty they it.
To them and to the people who hold them responsible,
that duty to check abuse wherever it is found.
Surely it is abuse of the postal service that
zines carried for cent pound when in
reality they cost the government nine. This abuse
ought to be remedied and to mind the recommenda-
ton of the Postmaster General is the effective
means of doing. Let hope that Congress will
be buldozed into discarding the proposed
ment and that the magazines shall hereafter pay their