The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-07-31
WOULD SAVE
PARCEL POST
Appeal to People to Resist At
tack by the Railroads

railroads have taken hand In the
fight on the postofice department be-
| cause of Postmaster General Burleson's
order extending the parcel post weight
limit and reducing the rates, and IA
general warfare is looked for members
of the House have taken an appeal to
the people to Save the parcel post"
Letters have been sent by Represen-
tative d. j. Lewis of Maryland. to
heads of farmers oranges i'm a dozen
states, and this argument is made:
| Should the administrative powers
clause in the parcel post law be strick-
post will be killed it cannot be ex-
banded and we will have lost the work
of forty years. Letters and kilograms
should so from every leading farmer
TO his senator to his congressman and
to the postmaster general demanding
| that the law be let alone and the SER
vice of the parcel post extended. Mo-
er the farmers strike now the less
likely will be that we shall have anoth-
er fight. We must save the parcel
post"
Congressman Lewis is the father of
the parcel post Commenting on the
partial reconstruction OF the parcel
post service within the l50-mile zones
to become operative Aug. 10, he says
that 1t means the beginning OF the end
Of the express companies in America.
He said the parcel post will gradually
absorb the small retail package bust
ness of the express companies until
the latter's margin of profit is wiped
out and they will be operating at a
! loss.
Thirty per cent of the express COM
panies' gross revenues, according to
Mr.. Lewis. comes from the transporta-,
ton of packages weighing between one
and nineteen pounds. Mr.. Lewis add
ed that the express companies, in their
briefs filed with the interstate COM
merCe commission, which the latter
rejected, protest against lowering their
rates, contending that four per cent of
their gross revenue is all the net profit
they make. With parcel post rates
averaging from one-half to two-thirds
lower than the express rates within
/ l50-mile distances. Mr.. Lewis feels
confident that the government will
easily absorb more than $6,750.000 OF
the express companies gross business,
which is sl6S,00O,000. Mr.. Lewis add
ed that the big surplus held i'm re-
serve by the express companies is
more than sufficient To pay off dollar
Tor dollar the amount originally invest
cd i'm express stocks and bonds and
that, therefore, the stockholders and
bondholders will not suffer loss.
Asked for his views on the parcel
post changes, Mr.. Lewis said: The
new rates of a cent pound with "a
weight limit of twenty pounds, good
Tor $50 miles in any direction from
point Of shipment, and one-half cent
pound for local delivery, including ru-
raj routes is in itself a parcel post
system far excelling any other known
to the English speaking race. The 100
mile is an air line. by rail ii means
more than 225 miles. This is a larger
haul than the average for Great Brit
ain, where the rate is two cents
pound and weight limit eleven pounds.
Moreover, up to that distance and
that weight limit il substitutes the best
and cheapest transportation in the
world for what has hitherto been the
dearest and the worst-the service of
[ he American express companies.
which, compared with the service in
other countries, shows rates over three
times normal. with three-fourths of the
potential traffic in our country des-
| troyed as consequence.
The new rate of one cent pound
with a charge Of 9 cents for five
! pounds. as against twenty-five to for
ty-five cents by the express companies,
Of charge of fourteen cents for ten
pounds. as against a charge of twenty
four cents for twenty pounds, as
against from thirty-five to seventy
cents by express. but inadquately in
dicates the great public service, saying
nothing Of the 25,O00,OOO farmers who
will receive this service"
| THE report of the express compan-
les To the interstate commerce com
mission show that 80 per cent of their
| revenues were derived from packages
weighing from / to 10 pounds. The
reduction Of the parcel post rates from
one half to one-fifth will surely take
all such business to the postoffice, eX-
cept where the shipper does not care
how much the rate may be
| Il have said 80 per cent of the gross
revenue of the express companies
| (about $4,000. 000) came from ship
ments of 10 pounds and less, which
amounts to 3 per cent of the number
Of shipments and per cent of the to-
tai weight carried. Meanwhile I'm 1917
less than per cent of their gross rev
enues was net profit. and the taking
away of 20 or 3 per cent of the gross
revenues can only mean that their
margin of profit will be entirely wiped
out. Their profits amounted to only
2 cents on each shipment. while the
postofiice will make at least cent on
the scent shipment and from to 10
cents on 2O-pound shipments. The
express companies declared that they
could not lower their rates. Yet the
postal system by the genius OF its or
ganization and ability to do small