The Madison journal., 1912-11-30
The Parcels Post.

par VIII iHauR uTdtc ies Po
post, and We will have chance to test
its value. 1t has taken long time to
convert Congress or the country on the
subject, and to put the United States
in line with the rest of the postal world.
The new system goes into operation un-
der unfavorable conditions. The amount
allowed by Congress for the experiment
is much too small, and the Post Office
Department will be seriously handi-
capped by the lack of FUNDS to operate
the parcels post properly. The rates
proposed are excessive as compared
with those OF other countries operating
the parcels post. The zone arrange
ment, by which the charges are based
on the distance the parcels are carried,
is reasonable and sensible, but is likely
to cause some little confnsion at first.
The reduction in rates, as compared
with the postal and express charges
now prevailing, is so lrttle compara-
lively that it is not likely, for the pres
ent at least, to bring about any mate
rial revolution in the transportation of
packages.
None the less, the new system is
viewed with great apprehension and
suspicion by many as likely to change
conditions. commercial as we'll as pos
tai. A few days ago an outburst from
a political economist was published
which saw in the parcels post the ruin
or destruction OF the country. 1t would
propagate, he insisted, the urbanism
or Capitalization that wrecked the Ro-
man empire. The big cities would COB
BILE up all the trade through their mail
order houses, and would wipe out the
smaller towns. This has been the ba-
sis of most of the opposition to the
parcels post in the past, and it has
brought forth many thousands OF pro-
| tests against it, To meet these objec-
tions the zone plan was adopted, and
will, We believe, prevent any such GEN.
trallzation as was feared. The railroads
do not like the change, which they fear
will hurt their express business. There
have been numerous protests from rail-
road men, and the roads themselves
will probably put as many obstacles in
the way as possible.
Thus the system will he inaugurated
under unfavorable conditions of lacl,
OF money, excessive rates and railroad
and other hostility--all of which can
not fail to have some adverse effect on
the experiment. On the other hand,
the advocates OF the parcels post count
on big boom in the business. This is
altogether improbable, and would, as a
matter of fact, do more harm than good
for the Post Office Department is by
no means equipped to handle the busi-
ness should it be deluged with parcels.
The chances are that the parcels post
will enjoy rush at first. as all new ser
vices do; that great many persons
will try it because it is a novelty; but
that this rush will be followed by a
shrinkage when the novelty wears off
We will then make test of the expert
ment and will be able to determil e
whether the United States can make
this system as practical and as conven-
lent as all other countries have found
it. The appropriation made by Con-
gress is nothing more or less than its
consent to let the Fost Office try this
experiment. 1t must. however, be tried
fairly and properly, and no combina-
tion or effort to defeat it will be toler-
ated py the people who expect good
results from this extension of the pos
tai system. After two or three years.
test, we would be able to determine
whether the system can be operated
successfully in this country, and we
can then fix . rate sufficient to pay for
operation of the service, which rate,
we believe, will be much smaller than
that now proposed. 1t must be, as We
have said, fair trial, and the parcels
post net loaded down a. other branches
of the postal service have been by car
rying large amount Of matter free,
under franks, or at lsss than the cost.
The parcels post must not be used by
the government for an immense amount
of stuff to be dumped into it,. so as to
compel the people to pay higher rates
than are actually necessary to carry
free the parcels of Congressman and
the departments.