The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1912-05-23
Parcels Post Bill Would Bar
Them From an Education.
MOTHERS SHOULD ORGANIZE
Auburn llkened to Your Town-What
the Mall Order and Parcels Post
Mean to You and Yours and Why
You Should Get Together and
Fight.

whit nobler than you, mother. Your
dream for your boy may not be so
a~mbitious-but II Is In your breast.
1t was born with the babe, and as
your heart throbbed with the ecstasy
of motherhood there came to abide
with you a great hope-a hope that
has been and is your dream! And
the dream is that the boy shall be
noble and upright and true and uc-
cessful. No matter what individual
things you may hope for in the boy,
your dream is that he shall be all that
l have enumerated above. And to
help him be what you want him to be,
you will show a Spartan's courage,
Withstand a Savior's cross. Mothers
have suffered and died for sons
throughout the worlds history-and
you are a mother!
In life you are for everything that
helps the boy, against everything that
hinders him. And above all, no mat
ter how poor you are, you want your
boy to have an education. You pray
that he may have just a little better
chance in life than his father had.
You want him equipped with the train
ing so necessary in the game OF life.
You realize, in a vague sort OF way,
what the struggle is among men, and
you would press your heart against
his armor and buckle on his sword
with clinging fingers of love.
Monster Stalks the Land.
MA4kaH fhAra ctaIL. %hro.Irh Skn
land today a growing power to defeat
your dream, a power which II given
rein will take from your boy the
chance you have prayed and hoped
and petitioned for-the chance of an
education. That power, mother, is
THE PARCELS POST. The name
should be forever hated by you. 1t is
the tool of greed, the means by which
the Midas-like mail-order houses may
gather into their Golfers more gold at
the expense of you and yours.
Let me tell you why the parcels
post, now proposed as a law, strikes
at your hopes for the boy.
The parcels post is being backed
by the mail-order houses. Building up
the mail-order houses means tearing
down the home town. Tearing down
the home town means taking away
the high school. Robbing you of the
high school means that your boy will
fail of an education unless you have
money to send him to college!
And the sad part Of it is, you-and
there are thousands of you over this
land-have moi the money to send the
boy away to school!
Samuel Eels says the hope of the
nation lies in the boys and the aigh
schools. What about the nations hope
when the high school is taken away
from the country town because the
people of that town have made it pos
sible for the mail-order houses to rob
the children of an education?
Suppose We Study the Situation.
Mother, let's look into this thing a
bit. Let's you and / sit down here in
the cool shade of the veranda and talk
like human beings who are trying
earnestly to get at the truth OF things.
| Let's be honest with each other. Let's
get the kernel of truth from the shell
Of ignorance.
For the time being you and l live
in Auburn-once the fairest village
of the plain. And it is lourishing
now as We talk. Auburn has four
dozen stores, a blacksmith shop, livery
stable, real estate Office and AL the
other places of business common to a
typical country towr. In fact, Auburn
has about all the stores it can sup
port.
And at the time we begin this talk,
Auburn enjoys the trade of all its peo-
pie and the farmers from the sur
rounding territory. Auburn is not a
large town, but it's residents are rea-
sonably prosperous. There are the
p~rovident and the improvident, the
enterprising and the plodders, the
town drunkard and the town gossip
but nobody is really in want. Occa-
sionally some unlucky person gets
struck by the tail of the financial kite
and is temporarily in distress, but the
good people of the community rush In
and care for that mans family and
get him on his feet again.
What Happens to Auburn.
And into this ideal country town
one day there stalks the destroyer!
The parcels post bill has passed God
grant that 1t never shall) and the mail
order houses are at the throat of Au-
burn. From the mail car OF the one
train a day there is thrown a wagon
load of catalogs. The curious people
of Auburn take them home and that
night in Auburn every unth:nking in
habitant is engrossed in the pictures
and prices. They are gratified and
outraged to learn that a certain bar
OF soap can be bought for n half cent
a cake less at I'ingbang & Co.'S, Chi
cago. than from Brown, their home
grocer. There are a few other prices
that appeal to them, some OF them, to
be sure. on things they eve had
thought of buying, but appealing for
all that. And Trey argue that they
have a right TO spend their money
where II will bring them the best re-
turns.
What is the result?
The next day a great big bunch Of