The Brinkley argus., 1912-12-27
By EDWARD B. CLARK.

With the coming of the New Year -Na United States government will en-
 into a new fe's If enterprise be tfansmittal Of merchandise by what is known as the parcel post. For years there has been a demand for such system of inexpensive transmittal of packages. The camps of favor and disfavor of the parcel post scheme have been about equally divided Finally at the last session Of congress bill was passed which will put the plan into operation, but only 1t must be said in little more than an experimental way
 It is the intention of Uncle Sam to move rather slowly in the parcel post matter He wants to find how popu- lar 1t will be. how much it will cost the government. and whether there is to be a profit CT loss at the end of each year r is found that the plan is succes rom the point of view Of the people which means the government also. the parcel post will be extended until finally il reaches the proportions which It's proponents say they believe 1t Is destined to as- sume
 Zone Sys.-n Explained.
 II is nc exaggeration to say that thousands upon thousands of inquir- ies have been made of the postmaster general as to just what the parcel post will mean to the people. It was the law Of congress establishing the system which made provision for division of the country into zones [ and into B 900 units which are to be used as centers in describing the cir cles which mark the boundaries of the zones There has been no clear understanding. apparently, of this zone system but really it is a very simple matter
 The accompanying map shows the country divided into zones from the unit in which Washington Is sit uated. as the center. Accompanying the map is a table showing the rate of postage per pound for parcels from Washington to places within aIi tho zones
 Each unit contains an area thirty miles square Now each unit Is center from which the zones are drawn and so every unit In the comn- try no matter where it B situated sill have zones drawn fgQus <. ,ast exactly s Washing geas~EHaa them drawn from nor iaatauea take keokuk Ia. which Is iu unit In the fifth zone. From that will be crawnl circles ex- actlv as they are drawn from Wash ineton and they will be mum bered from Keokuk as number one just as they are numbered from Washington as number one Of course however. Zone Six will have a different geo. graphical position ss related to Keo- kuk than it has as related to Wash inston but as the ra,.ius of the circles drswn from Keokuk is the same leus1n as the radius of the circles drawn from Washington. Keokuk's Zone SIX will be just as far from it's center as Washinetons Zone Six is.
 How Rates Are Fixed.
 It can be seen from this readily enough that the postal rates from Washington to it's particular zone will be the same as the postal rates from Keokuk to it's particular zones Each unit being about thirty miles square will of course contain in most cases a number of postofiices but each office in the same unit is considered as be- ing the center of the circles from which the 29nes are drawn. The rates Of postage are fixed from the
 it in which the sending postofhce Is
 uated but the price to every place Il any zone is just the same. To H. uAtrate 1t will cost exactly the same amount to send a parcel from Wash ington to Erie, Pa that 1t costs to send 1t to Atlanta, Ga, because Erie and Atlanta with reference to Wash ington are situated in the fourth zone The rates therefore are fixed from the unit in which the postoffice Is located, but they are the same from that office to any point in any one zone.
 It will be seen by reference to the