Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1913-01-01
grlN PARCEL POST
Rates ARE FIXED
c63rges Are Regulated Under
the Zone System.
BIG ENTERPRISE LAUNCHED
Eleven Pounds Is the Limit In
Welght for a Single Package
Anything That VIII Not In
lure Other Mall Can
Be Sent.
BY EDWARD 3. CLARK.

With the coming Of the New Year
the United States government will en-
ter into a new field of enterprise
the transmittal of merchandise by
what Is known as the parcel post.
For years there has been a demand
for such a system Of inexpensive
ransmittal Of packages. The camps
Of favor and disfavor Of the parcel
post scheme have been about equally
divided Finally at the last session
Of congress a bill was passed which
will put the plan into operation, but
only it must be said in little more
than an experimental way.
It is the intention of Uncle Sam to
move rather slowly in the parcel post
matter He wants to find how popu-
lar It will be. how much 1t will cost
the government, and whether there is
to be a profit or loss at the end of
each year If it is found that the
plan is successful from the point of
view Of the people, which means the
government also. the parcel post will
be extended until finally it reaches
the proportions which it's proponents
say they believe it is destined to as
sumo
Zone System Explained.
It is no exaggeration to say that
thousands upon thousands of inQuir-
les have been made of the postmaster
general as to Just what the parcel
post will mean to the people. 1t was
the law Of congress establishing the
system which made provision for a
division of the country into zones
and into So 600 units which are to be
used as Centers in describing the cir
cles which mark the boundaries Of
the zones. There has been no clear
understanding, apparently, Of this
zone system, but really it is a very
simple matter
The accompanying map shows the
country divided into zones from the
unit in which Washington is sit
uated, as the center. Accompanying
the map is a table showing the rate
Of postage per pound for parcels from
Washington to places within all the
Genes.
zach unit contains an area thirty
miles square. Now each unit is a
center from which the zones are
crawn and so every unit in the coun-
tTy no matter where IT is situated will
have zones drawn from it just exactly
as Washington has them drawn from
IL For instance, take Keokuk. Ia,
which is in a unit in the fifth zone.
From that will be drawn circles ex-
aetly as they are drawn from Wash
Agto7 and they will be numbered from
hsoauk as number one, just as they
are numbered from Washington as
number one. OF course. however,
zone Six will have a different geo.
graphical position as related to Keo-
6uh than it has as related to Wash
iGEto0. but as the radius of the circles
oTaWn from Keokuk is the same
length as the radius of the circles
o'av0 from Washington. Keokuk' S
zone Six will be just as far from its
center as Washington's Zone Six is.
How Rates Are Fixed.
u can be seen from this readily
enough that the postal rates from
Washington to its particular zone will
De the same as the postal rates from
heokuk to its particular zones. Each
unit being about thirty miles square
VIII Of course contain in most cases a
number of postoffiees, but each office
10 the same unit is considered as be
Ing the center Of the circles from
which the zones are drawn. The
rates Of postage are fixed from the
init in which the sending postofice is
situated but the price to every place
IN any zone is Just the same To IL
'ustrate, it will cost exactly the same
emount to send a parcel from Wash
mgton to Erie, Pa, that 1t costs tc
send It to Atlanta, Ca, because Erie
and Atlanta with reference to Wash
mSton are situated In the fourth