Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-09-27
oday the cost Of sending packages

uniform in Germany as letter postage
except that for distances Of less than
ten miles it is only half as much as
for longer distances and you can send
an eleven-pound package across ,he
German empire for a little over one
cent per pound and 1t will be delivered
just as letter. For packages over elev-
en- pounds the rate is fixed according
to the weight Of the package and the
distance it is to go. The rate Is uni
form up to 100 miles and is increased
for distances between ten and twenty
miles, twenty and fifty miles, 100 and
$50 miles, and is uniform for distances
over $50 miles.
What can be sent by parcels post
Practically anything but explosives
although the postal authorities may re-
fuse to accept very perishable pro-
ducts, and at their discretion may in
crease the rate up to one-half the orig
inal rate for very bulky packages. The
packages are delivered and taken fol
shipment in the country just as other
mail is handled and in most parts Of
Germany two rural deliveries a day
are made, in all cases at least one
Moreover, packages may be sent COL
lect through the post, and will be deliv-
cred, collection made and remitted to
the original sender for a small fee. On
the streets of Halle dozens Of parcels
post wagons can be seen at any time
Of the day making their deliveries, and
on each wagon Is sign, Packages re-
ceived," and anyone having a package
to send needs only give it to the men
on one Of the wagons. When one sees
what a convenience the parcels post Is
and how much 1t means to the eco
nomic prosperity and welfare of both
the man on the farm, and in the city,
it is hard to realize how any interests
have been strong enough to hold back
legislation establishing it in our own
country. 1t is a thing that must come
and the sooner the better for the pub
lie.
The holiday season that is just past
has given an opportunity to see the
parcels post working at full capacity.
Coming and going on every street
could be seen the parcels post delivery
wagons piled high with packages. Two
men with each wagon one as driver,
the other as deliverer, rapidly distrib-
uting Christmas packages to rich and
poor alike, for everyone here uses the
parcels post to send packages and
thinks no more Of 1t than Of sending a
letter. What a contrast it has been to
our American method Of having all our
packages handled by express compa-
MES. At home in Columbus, o., live
just outside of the zone in which the
express companies make deliveries Gan
arbitrarily fixed district Of very limit
ed area) and each week get a basket
of butter, eggs, poultry, etc., sent from
my farm some thirty miles away. The
basket must not only be taken to the
express office some five miles from the
farm, and sent by express to Colum-
bus at a cost Of thirty cents, but l
must go to the express office in Colum-
bus and get 1t. With parcels post
such as Germany has the basket would
be taken from the farm by the rural
mail delivery and delivered to my
house in Columbus, and 1t would cost
twelve cents instead Of thirty.
Such a convenient method Of trans
portation naturally has marked in
fiuence on the various industries and
in no one is it more important than In
agriculture. Here it works both ways
it furnishes the farmer a convenient
and cheap method Of getting his pro-
ducts on the market and an equally
good way of getting his supplies from
the city.
Among the agricultural products that
are sent by post, butter ranks first es-
pecially from northeastern and north
ern Germany. 1t is sent to the large
cities of central and western Germany
In the railroad station in Berlin OF the
lines coming from eastern Germany
thousands of packages Of butter are
handled every day. At the minimum
rate of the German parcels post which
allows five kilograms I'll pounds) to
be sent any distance in the empire for
fifty pfennig az cents) the cost OF
transportation is small matter, con-
sidering that the package is both
called for and delivered.-H c. Price
in Rural New Yorker.