The Nevada County picayune., 1912-07-19
THE: BREAD LINE
How Proposed Parcels Post Dill
 Will Affect II.
MEANS MORE BOYS TO CITY
What Young Country Lads Go Through Before Swallowing Their Pride and Getting in Line-Why German Mail Hauls Are Cheap.

nne-an attenuated string of hungry, hopeless men, ont of money out of luck, out of everything worth while in this world. Many ot these men would work If they bad chance but the city is filled with unfortunate, ahlebodied fellows who haven't the chance and while they lock for means of sustenanee, they become tempo rarily bad citizens, objects ot charity, some of them criminals. For man will steal when he is hungry enough or sandbag when he is in desperate straits. Law doesn't mean much to the poor devil whose stomach fs emp ty and whose body is weak from cX- posture. Oftentimes arrest means jail which is better than no shelter at all.
 And as observed this line of men, I could not but wonder how much longer and more desperate It would be under the parcels-post. mail-order system-the system that would drive so many more country men into the metropolis. there to swell the misery and labor disafectionsi
 There are already too many people in the cities As upright, honorable Americans who love the flag. We should work for legislation and con ditons that will turn the tide from the city to the country towns. We should build up the small town and encourage small farming around these towns, fer from such environment spring rugged. intelligent sons and red.ipped, healthy daughters to take the nlace Of the really great men of the nation We have too many bread lines as 1t Is; what We want E more country folk and fewer city folk. The parcels post will give us more city people, driving the country people into the moil of the metropolis. The par cels post Will deliver for the mail or der houses supplies Tor every house hold at moral and financial loss to that household and i'll so doing will starve out the country merchant, crowd the country mechanic into the city, put trayeliug men off tue road, send the country doctor to be city grafter along with thousands of such 1lk now skinning the people In the cities. The parcels post will close the lawyers offices in rural towns, throw the stenographers out of situations, discharge all but few of the preach CTS, discourage the music teacher, en- tice the farmers daughter to the cities, steal the manhood of country boys for city mills-and. in q word, ruin the country town!
 You don't believe 1t?
 How much more business can you lose from your village without sacri- fcing a merchant or two or dozen: Are the merchants of your town get ting rich from their stores? Suppose the parcels post enables the mai o1r- der houses to secure onet to's'fid or 'he b,,ei, An, T by your home business men. Doesn't it stand to reason that the town will be injured?
 The mail order houses are now do- ing millions of dollars of business in the country towns. Wouldn't the towns be more prosperous fl this money went to the home merchants?
 And as the country town is being injured the lure of the city appeals more and more to the country boy and as he goes in countless numbers, the bread line grows longer and hum grier. hope burns to the empty brazier, leaving only the ashes of despair.
 Parcels post. as advocated. is simply another method ot distribution, an- other way of serving the people. Now we get our supplies hy freight through the local dealer. Under the proposed parcels post Ne would cut out the dealer and let Uncle sam take our taxes and pay for service which VIII enable the mail order houses to ship HIS anything. anywhere. mp 10 eleven pounds in weight fer tHe same price just as a tWa=eeuL stamp VIII fake a letter anywhere in tha Gulted states The friends Of parcels post po.nt at England and Germany and say "Sce how nice'y it wogksi7
 But wait. The average haul for mail matter in these parcels post eoUu. tries is 40 miles, against 5to in the United States. And the man just out- side of Chicago would pay nc less Tor the transportation of his quart ot prunes or his dress suit than the gen. tleman who lived in Oregon and like wise bought from a Chicago eata- log. But 1t costs more to send these articles to Oregon! Who pays the ay- craze difference? Oh. Uncle Sam. And you pay Uncle sam--or help 10 pay him.
 It now costs about 24 cents to send out the aYerage-sized catalog of the big mail order houses. Under the par Gels post law the eatalog would go Tor cents This would mean moro Nalogs More catalogs mean more
 'ers, more orders mean less busi-
 Y for the home merchant and all
 Vlls that follow.
 Sany owns her own railroads
 @s no charge for carrying the
 ~te this big advantage. Nil-