The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-03-27
PARCELS POST.

that Measure is In Interest
Of the People.
March Is, 1912.
Dear Sir: Your letter Of recent
date asking me to vote against the
! parcels post bill has been received. l
have received several letters of a
| similar nature, and the fact that they
are almost exactly alike, in phraseol-
Ky and general construction, con-
vinces me- that they are being In
spired from some common source. l
| cannot help but wonder If the express
| companies are not using some mer-
| chants organization to pull the chest
nuts out Of the fire for them.
/ believe in frankness in. all things,
and l shall deal frankly with you. In
the first place, the bill now before
| congress IL not a bill to establish q
parcels post system, though it Is un-
doubtedly a step in that direction. The
law now permits packages weighing
| four pounds or less to be sent through
the mails at the rate Of 16 cents a
pound, or 1920 per ton. This bill pro-
DOSES to reduce the rate to twelve
| cents per pound, on rural routes to
towns having rural routes. II the bill
| becomes q law the practical erect OF
It will be to permit merchants at
Anderson, say, to send packages to
customers. on the rural routes going
| ont from Anderson at the rate of IL
cents per pound, while persons living
on the routes can send packages to
Anderson at the same rate. Merchants
at Charleston or Chicago sending
packages TO- people on the rural routes
at Anderson would have to pay the
| old rate of 16 cents per pound. How
| will a bill Of this kind hurt the
southern merchant and manufactur-
er," as you claim in your letter!
1t cannot possibly hurt them, and
I ann convinced that 1t will bene1tthem
and the whole people as we'll. In view
| of this statement Of the case, do you
think / am justified in the belief that
these letters protesting against this
bill are being inspired by those who
see in It a step toward a general par
cells post system, which might nur.
them! No, business interest In this
country would be hurt by the parcels
post system save the express COM
panies.
believe 1t will be only. a few
years until we will have a general
post system In this country, and with
We lights now before me am ready
to vote for such a bill when 1t comes
up.
The only argument I have eVer
hoard against the parcels post sys-
tenn is that it would help the mail
| order houses at the. expense OF the
merchants in the small towns. I do
not believe it would have that effect
at all. The home merchant has every
advantage. The people Of his commun-
ity know him, and If he Is the right
| kind of a merchant they will have con-
adence In him. He is willing to- make
| good mistakes and to make his goods
satisfactory If they turn out to be un-
| satisfactory. His expenses are less
than the expenses Of the mail order
house in the big city, and he car sell
goods Just as cheaply as they possibly
can. The personal equation counts
I for a great deal Ia merchandising, as
in everything else, and the merchant
| who does a clean, straight business
| will make and hold friends and GUS
toners that no mail order house in a
| distant city can take from him. If /
were a merchant I would not admit
that I could not do business among
people who know me in competition
| with a merchant in a distant city
who was totally unknown in my COM
munity.
The United States Is the only civil
lied country in the world that has not
a parcels post system-which Is simp-
ly a cheap mode Of transporting small
packages Of merchandise. The raj
roads will not make a charge for less
than 100 pounds, and many Of them
will not accept small packages at all:
The packages weighing less than four
pounds now can go by mail ct the
rate of Is cents per pound, or $500 per
ton. The average freight rate is $1.9Q
per ton, and the average express ratio
Is $751; per ton, making the average
for transporting express 14.53 to LIN
ten countries of the old world the aV-
erage express rate is 5.23 to 1.These
foreign countries have very much low
er express rates than we have, but
they also have the parcels post system
for small packages. Yet the parcels
post system has not hurt the merch-
ants In the small towns Of the old
world, and the mail order business In
these countries has not been devel-
| oped to the extent that it has in this
country, showing very clearly that the
parcels post system has not affected
| either the small merchant or the mail