The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-12-08
For Forty Years.

For Forty Years.
| For forty years the American peo-
| pie have demanded a parcel post. For
| ty-three countries already have par
| eel post, and there is no record OF
any foreign country ever having dis
! continued such service after having
started it.
| The first zone is quadrangular, but
not square in shape, since it is bound
ed on east and west by meridians of
longitude which, of course, converge
as they SO north and diverge as they
go south. All other zones are rough
! ~ circular in shape. Zone two in
4 cludes all units of area outside zone
one which lie either wholly or in part
within a circle drawn from the center
of given unit of area, the circle to
have radius q $50 miles.
The third zone includes all the ter
ritory outside of zone two, within he
radius of a circle of 800 miles, and
with the same proviso that all units
of area through which its boundary
circle passes are part of that zone.
The fourth zone has {, radius of 600
miles, the fifth zone a radius of 1000
miles, the sixth zone radius Of 1,400
1,S00 miles, and the eighth zone in
cludes all units of area outside OF
zone seven
The matter of units Of area and OF
zones is somewhat complicated. But
1t seems much more complicated than
it really is. The reasons for estab-
fishing such a system are clearly set
forth by Senator Bourne, in his re-.
port on the postoffice appropriation
bill There are some 10000 post
Offices in the United States. With
"a map OF 10 feet wide and 10 feet
long an effort to designate the post
Offices on such map would be like
printing the Lords prayer on the
head of pin
If the shipper has no rate book
and map of his own, he will ask, a,
the postoffice what the rate is. The
postmaster or clerk will take a direc-
tory and find quickly, by means of
marginal thumb index the state to
which the package is to be sent--in
this case, Virginia-find the postof-
flee, Alexandria, after which name
will be a number indicating the quad
rangle or unit of area in which Alex
andria is located The number on his
chart will readily indicate in which
zone Alexandria is in relation to New
Jersey.
AS Alexandria is within 300 miles
of New York, 1t would come in the
third zone. The rate in the third
zone is seven cents for the first pound
and five cents for each additional
pound or fraction of pound. So
four-pound, five-ounce parcel, will re-
quire q cents postage to be carried
from New York to Alexandria, which
sum the citizen will affiN in parcel
post stamps and his parcel will be
delivered within due course.
at costs now Ga cents to send four
pounds Of books either across the
city or across the continent Under
the parcel post law it will cost eight
cents to send the same package
across the city and As cents to send
it across the continent.
AS it is at present, if housewife
in Orange, N. j., wants to order five
pounds of coffee from New York
house, the express company win
charge her 80 cents to deliver it,
while the parcel post service will ask
her but II cents. If her package is
eleven pounds in weight, the express
rate is the same as the parcel post
rate, 35 cents, but in San Francisco
she would find parcel post little
cheaper than express on eleven
pounds from New York-$132 as
against $165.
"On her five-pound tea package
across the continent, however, she
would gain a slight advance over
the previous price, paying so cents to
the government as against 80 cents to
the express company.
for paTcels up 10 and including
four ounces in weight, the old rate
is preserved. And when it comes to
local and rural free delivery hauls,
the one-ponnd rate Of FIVE cents sim
ply shuts out all possible competi-
ton
Some New Facts.
Yesterday Dr. Moorehead received
some additional instructions from the
postoffice department at Washington