The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1911-03-03
Let Us Have a Parcels Post
IN THREE PARTS-PART 2
UNWISE OPPOSITION OF THE SMALL
MERCHANT

UNwISE OPPOSITION OF THE SMALL
7 MERCHANT
/ Reference, of course. is had to
the fears which the merchants of
the country towns entertain as
to the effect of the parcels post
upon their business. The coun-
try merchant has come to accept
on this point the sophistical, dis
ingenious and dishonest argue
ments of the express lobby skill
fully put out through agencies
whose Ieal purpose is concealed.
The arguement t h a t cheap
transportation of parcels will
lnJure the country towns is ex-
actly as reasonable as the con-
tention that London and New
York, Hamberg and Liverpool,
Seattle and Sidney, must be in
jured by the railways and steam
ships which, bringing all parts
OF the world into close and easy
communication, would make it
impossible tor great and denomi-
mating centers of population,
commerce, and industry to oexist.
every body can see how absurd
such an argument would be.
The best possible transporta.
ton facilities constitute the first
requisite to making a great city.
Commercial centers are prosper
Gus and important in proper
tion as they have adequate. eff
cient and cheap transportation.
This is as true OF the country
town with single railroad line
as it is OF a continents metropo-
lis with halt a hundred great
railroad systems pouring their
tonnage into its terminals and
with the ships of all the seven
seas unloadinh their carRoes at
it's wharves.
1t is an axiom that good amp
lie, aud cheap transportation
actually makes commerce. The
country town which has no rail-
road always wants one. The
hamlet which has no post office
is forever riding the neck Of its
congressman until it gets one.
Great cities vote millions to
build artificial harbors, to pro-
vide free wharfage, and to in
crease every possible facility for
cheap and rapid transportation.
There are no communities that
need Improvement of transpor-
tation SO much as the country
towns which have been misled
into opposing the parcels post.
The country merchant has been
made to believe that the parcels
pase would take his business
away from him and give it to
the mail-order house in the great
city. 1t would do nothing of the
kind. On the contrary, it would
give the country merchant the
one facility which he does not
have now; it would place him
on a parity with the merchant
in the great city.
! Quick, cheap transportation
would enable him to buy better
and cheaper. He could sell many
articles from catalogue instead
OF having to carry them in stock
He could create a mail-order bus
mess OF his own in his surround
ing territory. The local mer-
chant who conducts his business
we'll has nothing to fear from
the mail order house. Farmers
and citizens prefer dealing with
the home man, and the parcels
post will give him many advan-
tages that will enable him to in
crease his trade to proportions
which are now impossible.
OF course, this does not apply
to the country merchant who
buys his goods badly or at high
prices, and who gives long credits
and sells at long prices. Parcels
post or not, his day is doomed
More alert men, with better bus
mess ideas, will soon occupy his
place. The alert, hustling mer-
chant will use the parcels post
so effectively that the old sleepy
heads day will end just that
much sooner.
Continued Next Week