The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1912-02-09
Congressman Lewis Urges the
Adoption of the Parcel Express.

OOQRT0SSIudA h0Wl0 OlSOS ohO
Adoption Of the Parcel Express.
In the House OF Representatives,
Washington, d. c., on Saturday, Febru-
ary ard Representative David J. Lewis,
our able and fearless Congressman from
the Sixth Congressional District, adj
dressed the House of Representatives
upon his pet subject-Postal Express.
He spoke as follows:
The high cost of living problem, now
before the nation, resolves itself into a
simple proposition. 1t is how TO trans
port small h,pmenls-quantiues to suit
The Ultimate purchaser from the pro
Queer to the consumer. This sort of
transportation is now denied and the
high cost OF living is the inevitable result.
THE railway does business entirely bv
wholesale Its minimum is the one
hundred pound shipment. Its transport
tation practices, especially its tranSporta-
ton accounting, render it incapable of
economically handling the small ship
ment. One does not look to the freight
depot for packages dispatched to the
consumer. The railway charges, based
upon the handling OF the larger shipment,
imposes an unconscious, and unlntended,
but none the less prohibitive, penalty
upon the movement of any small ship
ment to market by that transportation
medium.
Mr.. Lewis then read the list of 20
operations essential to the dispatch of a
Shipment by freight, no matter how
small the package.
I'VE look to the express company to
carry small packages" said Mr.. Lewis.
1T ought 10 do il but it does mot; and
it cannot The express company follows
the railway lines 1t does not, and can
not reach the $4,000 600 farmers and the
other ruraltes who comprise nearly a
| third of our entire population. 1t has to
sustain transportation accounting bur
| den of II needless items to every pack
age, involving an enormous and unnec-
essarv expense. which should and could
! be covered by a postage stamp. Its
| rate making processes are unnatural.
In ten countries of Europe, not bless
/ ed with express companies, but possess
! ing an express service run in the public
interest, the average express charge is
! FIVE times the average freight charge.
| Our express companies exact IS times
the average freight charge, three times as
much as the European shipper PAYS.
This has brought about a contraction
of the small package traffic in the
| United States to such an extent tina
| while Europe averages nearly 200 pounds
per capita each year. America ships only
! 90 pounds per capita i'll the same time, TO
| the great damage of The railways, the
shippers, the producers and the CON
! sumerS."
Mr.. Lewis argued that while the ex
press rates are entirely too high their
/ practices are such that the eXorbltant
! charge is mainly absorbed and thus no
margin is left upon which The regulation
| NAV seize; and he declared that no regu
! lation can successfully be attempted
! through the Interstate Commerce Com
mission.
Parcels post is not the remedy" Mr..
Lewis declared. Eight cents a pound.
or $500 ton. even if nationwide, is no
! answer to a condition that cannot sur
! vive an average express charge OF S3I. 20
ton less than cents a pound. The
local merchant needs a reduction OF
rates if he is not to be throttled by the mail
order house. He needs a preferential
rate and his location deserves it, No
!
merchant that imposes rigid limit OF
weight or OF overcharge against his use
should be written on the statue books.
An adequate system should include
| united system of transportation from
the farm 10 the city and the city TO the
! farm, with no gaps of double cost to
the seller or buyer. To get such A sys-
, tenn tine low rates enjoved by the express
cOmpa les are necessary, and no private
! plan can ever give the desired benefits,
| because no private necessity for profit
will ever admit the public service motive
! The public management will articulate
the country and the town, cut the express
rates in half and thus develop a new in
dustrv- suburban gardening, where the
| poor man who has Worn out the best
| years of his life in industrial occupations,
may end his days in the peaceful tilIing
of the soil. thus doing his share to reduce
/ the high cost of living.
"A few DAYS ago shipment consist
I my OF two dozen eggs. a dressed fowl
three pounds OF butter three pounds Of
sausage, ten pounds of country cured
! ham. and halt a buShel of apples which
cost on the farm Sass, was sold in Cen
ire Market, Washington, d. c.. only 20
miles away for S. IS. FIVE could have
sent this by postal express to the con.
sumner, the cost would have been q
/ cents for delivery, and one famiiy's high
1 cost OF living problem has been solved
These necesSarieS are indispensable,
and il is the duty OF Congress to give
/ Sarious consideration as to whether they
/ can afford to neglect this opportunity to
/ thus afford at once a wide market on one
hand and chance fer lie on the other
TO millions OF our fellow country men,
/ when doing so can injure no legitimate
| interest anywhere"
! MIR. lewis was congratulated by Re.
publicauS as well as the emocrats on
his speech Judge Prouty, Of Iowa.
told him that II was one of the best
speeches that he ever heard in the House
OF Representatives.